Over the years, Dom’s crew has grown and grown in the Fast and Furious series, recruiting outcasts with their own special skills. Sometimes the gang even doubles down, as there are now multiple members who are expert hackers and skilled in martial arts. But out of all of them, Tej is one of the smarter characters, as he has even outsmarted Dom and Brian in some cases.
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If it wasn’t for Tej, the gang would have been killed multiple times over, and they certainly wouldn’t have been successful in the bank heist in Fast Five. Between being multilingual, the most level-headed, and a hacking genius, Tej has come a long way from the street racing hustler he once was in Miami.
Making Money Off The Top of Street Races

Tej wouldn’t win the Hunger Games, but he’d make a lot of money acting as a bookie for the elite betting on who would win. When audiences first met Tej Parker in 2 Fast 2 Furious, he was living in Miami making money off the top of illegal street races and even jet ski races.
He was smarter than to bet his own money or even risk his life by racing himself, and he instead worked as a middle man and a bookie, arranging the races. It was an easy life for Tej, and it’s almost as if Dom and Brian ruined his life by inviting him to Rio, as it’s been one death-defying adventure after the next ever since.
He Had The Idea Of Living A Quiet Life Before Brian
Dom is inspired by Brian’s decision to hang up his cape by retiring from the adventures and leaving the gang behind in Furious 7. In F9, Dom does the same thing, choosing a quiet life on a farm over the globe-trotting exploits of the crew. However, Brian gets too much credit for that idea, as it was Tej who first wanted that as far back as Fast Five.
When discussing what they were each going to do with their $10 million, Tej said all he wanted was to open a garage and work on cars for a living. He was ridiculed by Rome, but other characters have followed suit in the time since. It doesn’t make much sense, as Tej already owned a garage in Miami, but it’s the boldest decision any of them made at that point.
Speaking Portuguese And Spanish
A few members of Dom’s crew are bilingual, as Han can speak Japanese and Gisele has shown that she can speak a little Cantonese too, but Tej can speak three languages. He has shown his multilingualism on several occasions, as he can speak both Portuguese and Spanish.
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Of the main crew who have been present for all the movies since Fast Five, nobody else has been able to speak with the natives of Spanish-speaking countries except for Tej. Dom tries, but all he really knows in Spanish is “la familia.” Though Don and Tego, the two prison bandits who were in Fast and Furious and part of the crew in Fast Five, could speak Spanish, that was their native language.
Saving Rome’s Life On The Ice
There have been so many occasions where Tej has borderline bullied Rome, as he always makes fun of his idiocy and mocks his plans, but they’re really like brothers at heart. In Fate of the Furious, when they’re taking on a giant submarine, Rome is driving a Lamborghini but sinks below the ice.
For a moment, it looks like Rome is a goner, but Tej saves him by launching a lampoon at the door of the Lambo, and Rome is pulled out of the ice. Nobody in the crew has that same kind of ability to think logically under pressure as Tej did, and it’s one of the many examples of Rome and Tej being BFFs.
Hacking Into Reyes’ Safe
The giant set piece of Fast Five is the vault that is being dragged across Rio by Brian and Dom in two muscle cars. It’s a spectacle and the start of the trend of high-octane stunts in the series. But though that was the exciting part, there’s no way Brian and Dom would have been able to access the $100 million that’s inside of it.
Though Reyes’ vault can’t be opened without a handprint, Tej was still able to hack into the computer and open the safe. However, it’s another part of the Fast and Furious series that doesn’t make sense, as he was just a mechanic last time audiences saw him.
His Sky Dive Idea
Knowing that there was way too much security around Mose Jakande’s base for them to simply sneak in, the crew had to come up with a plan to stealthily make it in there. It was Tej’s brilliant idea to drop into the base from the sky, skydiving in cars with parachutes. It’s the most Fast and Furious-like plan that there has ever been, and it made sense.
The car skydive was one of the best plans the crew had, and it worked, as they freed Ramsey from captivity without alerting any kind of security. But it was again another excuse for Tej to bully Roman when he was too scared to jump.
Hacking Into The Etihad Towers
Another epic moment in the series comes when Brian and Dom steal a supercar at the top of a skyscraper in Dubai and crash it through two other buildings. But that again wouldn’t have happened if not for Tej. Brian and Dom were ultimately useless in the scene, as they not only couldn’t unlock the Lykan HyperSport, but they caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage too.
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Tej was the real hero, because he was the one who hacked into the Etihad Towers and unlocked the prince’s vault. That isn’t the only time that Tej flexes his skills in front of the gang in the movie, as Furious 7 sees him at the top of his hacking game. Later in the movie, with help from Ramsey, Tej hacks God’s Eye to regain control of it.
Inventing A New Harpoon That Uses Nos
In Fast and Furious 6, Tej designs and builds a harpoon launcher that would later be imperative to saving the gang’s lives. Rome thinks it’s nothing but a toy, but he later learns that it can cause some serious damage after almost killing Han and Dom. There are times when Rome was the smartest in the room, but that was not one of them.
The invention combines two classic staples of the Fast franchise, harpoons and Nos. Harpoons have been used to kill people, save people, and even disable the engines of cars with the completely made up ESD harpoon launcher in 2 Fast 2 Furious. Nos has been heavily featured in every movie (it was even used for the spacecraft in F9,) and it was hilariously attached to the harpoon.
Using The Magnet To Cause A Diversion
After the gang retrieved the magnets in Edinburgh in the truck, Tej expertly uses them when the bunker is infiltrated. He uses them to cause a diversion when they come face to face with Jakob’s men, and it’s what helps the crew escape.
The whole magnets sequence is a big moment for Tej. Not only does the whole magnets phase of the movie see him use that logic that other members like Rome lack, but the scene in Edinburgh sees him as a skilled martial artist too, which is a first for the character.
Going Into Space
Fans loved everything about Rome and Tej in F9, and that culminated in the epic space sequence in the final act of the movie. Tej spearheaded the whole thing, with a little help from the Tokyo Drift crew and Rome as a reluctant co-pilot.
He wasn’t just the smartest person in the room, but he was one of the most heroic, as Tej, as well as Rome, risked his life to destroy the satellite after plan A was a no-go. And in fairness to Rome, it was Tej who actually needed some motivation this time, though it’s usually the other way around.
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