For me this episode is one of the best of the whole series and it has nothing to do with the literal mission they are on but the screaming loud subtext of the Opium Wars.
The fact that Cool Breeze is force-injected heroine by the Chinese intelligence officer is a play on the British forcing Opium on China and fighting wars for the right to deal the most additive substance known to man to an entire country when China started to seize the goods. A direct result of these wars and their aftermath was that China went from being one of the most (if not the most) advanced culture of the time to being a basket case for over a hundred years. A period from which it is just emerging.
You can read the Opium Wars on Wikipedia.
The fact that Cool Breeze is force-injected heroine by the Chinese intelligence officer is a play on the British forcing Opium on China and fighting wars for the right to deal the most additive substance known to man to an entire country when China started to seize the goods. A direct result of these wars and their aftermath was that China went from being one of the most (if not the most) advanced culture of the time to being a basket case for over a hundred years. A period from which it is just emerging.
You can read the Opium Wars on Wikipedia.
