When Shook came home for a break this last week, he showed me an episode from the show Deadliest Warrior. It was the Green Beret vs Spetsnaz episode. I found it very interesting. I'm not sure if they've ever had a face-off in real life but on the show, they did. This was episode 6. There has been about 9 or ten episodes so far. I've only watched the Green Berets episode and the Yakuza vs Mafia episode.

I don't know much about the Green Beret or the Spetsnaz but I do know about the Prohibition-era Mafia and the Japanese Yakuza. As far as I am concerned, this match-up makes more sense than a few of the others in the show. Mafia and Yakuza are very close in terms of purpose, methods and armament. They might differ in terms of refinement and profile but that's about it. So, for them to go head to head is acceptable even if I did find it very testosterone overloaded. I'm not sure if it was for dramatics or real but at one point in the show, the two younger members from both sides looked like they were about to go into an impromptu brawl right on the set. The older guys, being veterans of the 'game', held back. And I was impressed that both the older guys were real soldiers of their organisations. The mafia guy was the cousin to Joe Bonanno. All Mafia fans know Joe Bonanno - head of a Mafia family in the 1950s/60s, I think he was shot while at the barber's. The Yakuza guy was also a real member. They listed him as a Yakuza descendant who openly said it was a way of life for him and his family. His brother's in it, his son's in it. Notice how he used his brother's and not his brother was or is.

The only problem I had was the situations for some of the tests. One example was where they tested the Yakuza ceramic grenade against the Mafia Molotov cocktail. The ceramic grenade was tested in an open area with 3 dummies situated at varying distances form the grenade which is tied to a string. It is then triggered and the computer calculates the distances, affect and power. The grenade does what the Yakuza wants it to - basically injure, disorientate or confuse the people it is aimed at. Then, tested against this is the Mafia Molotov cocktail. However, the situation given is that it is thrown into a car with two dummies in it and then the effects are measured. Do you see my problem with this? One is in an open space while the other is in an enclosed space. The premises/aims of the two are not taken into account. Is it to cause fatal injuries, is it to just scare or is it merely to distract?

Then later, they test the short range weapons; the Mafia sawed-off shotgun against the Yakuza Walther P53, I think. I can't get my head around it. How do you test a shotgun against a handgun?! Granted I was very impressed with the Walther. The Yakuza guy (who was pretty hot, by the way!) let off one shot through the test skull's eye socket and the bullet blew the back of the skull off. The Mafia guy went in pointing his shotgun and blew half the test dummy's body off! Again, what was the point? As far as I am concerned, you want to get the job done but don't have any skilled shooters, yes, the shotgun works. You only need to aim at the body and the pellets do the rest. It's also noisy. You want low profile and finesse and skill, you go for the Walther.

Then they tested the Yakuza nunchakus against the Mafia baseball bat and the Yakuza Sai against the Mafia ice-pick.

After each test, the simulator expert will key the results into his computer and then run a simulator programme at the end of the show. The programme will show the events and the results of a face-off between the two sides.

I enjoy the show because I love to see how each weapon fare against each other. Then the simulation at the end is like watching a little fight which might/might not have happened. I'm just wondering what premises they use when they decide which warriors fight against each other. Is it like economics where all other matters remain constant or do environments and situations play a part? Some of it don't seem very fair or logical.

So far they've done Apache vs Gladiator, viking vs samurai, spartan vs ninja, pirate vs knight, maori warrior vs shaolin monk, William Wallace vs Shaka Zulu and IRA vs Taliban.

I don't understand half of the pairings. Like spartan vs ninja. It makes no sense. Ninjas are stealth while vikings depend on brute force and scare tactics. I would have paired the Vikings with the Pirates as they both depend on their vicious reputations to precede them as well as their seafaring skills. I would also have pitted the Apache against the ninja as they both use stealth, gladiator against the spartan and samurai against the knight.

But that's just me. However, I do enjoy the show. If you can, try to catch the show. But only if you're a history nut or a weapon freak or both.