Sunny returns to the badlands just in time.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Into the Badlands' second season is getting down to the wire, and that means it's time to start bringing the main cast back together. That's exactly what "Sting of the Scorpion's Tail" accomplished this week. After last week's relatively underwhelming installment, it was nice to see some significant progress as the show built towards a big showdown between Sunny, the Widow and Quinn.
It certainly didn't hurt that this episode opened strong with one of the more memorable fight sequences of recent weeks. I really enjoy the fact that every fight in this show feels a little different from what's come before, either in terms of styles used or cinematic influences. This one had a vague wuxia quality to it, with the emphasis on billowing billowing curtains and graceful swordplay. It reminded me more than a little of the showdown between Broken Sword and the King of Qin in 2002's Hero.
Aside from delivering more of the martial arts spectacle this series does so well, the opening served as a stark reminder of how drastically the balance of power is shifting in the Badlands. Widow and Quinn have succeeded in wiping another of their enemies off the board. With the traditional Barons dropping like flies and Sunny and friends finally making their way back home, it really does feel like the stage is being set for a major game-changer in the next two weeks. It's hard to imagine Quinn clinging to life much longer, especially with all the extra motivations he's offering Sunny to finish the fight they started in the Season 1 finale.
This also proved to be a very Quinn-heavy episode, which as usual is both a good and bad thing. It's always fun to watch Widow and Quinn interact, as it's clear both are very eager to take care of business and resume trying to kill one another. This episode also succeeded in shining a light on Widow's losing battle to maintain her morality. She's reduced to trying to justify handing Veil over to Quinn, telling herself and her daughter that she sacrificed one life for the good of countless others. Tilda clearly isn't buying it, hinting at an impending rift between mother and daughter in the near future. It seems very likely at this point that Widow will emerge the victor in this current Badlands civil war, only to lose the respect of her girls once it becomes clear how much she had to sacrifice to earn that victory.
We also saw plenty of Veil and Lydia this week, gaining insight into the private hell these two women now live as Quinn's captives. Veil's character arc has been hard to watch this season, as she's suffered so much and been given so little chance for revenge. Seeing her forced to marry and be bedded by the man who murdered her parents almost seems to be pushing things too far. I'm relieved that the writers stopped short of having her be raped by Quinn. That seems like an unnecessary burden to place on the character when she's already been given ample reason to fear and despise her new husband. At this point, I sincerely hope that Veil will be given the opportunity to exact a little vengeance before the season is through.
Elsewhere, Sunny, Baijie and M.K. made it about 30 feet underneath the wall before their long-distance trek hit another major snag. For Sunny, a man who's been struggling to put his past behind him all season long, this was an opportunity to put his reputation to use and work his way into the good graces of Baron Chau. I was glad to see the writers didn't go out of their way to play up the "Is Sunny a traitor?" angle. That would have been a pointless waste of time. Instead of slowing down his journey, this latest setback wound up propelling Sunny, Baijie and M.K. along and putting them directly in the Widow's path. And in the process, we got to see another big, character-defining moment for Baijie, as he could easily have left all this chaos behind and instead chose to plunge back into the lion's den alongside his new friends. That moment was both rousing and a bit foreboding. I'm not feeling confident about the odds of Baijie surviving the end of the season, and he may well have sealed his fate by choosing to remain in the fight.
All of this culminated with another terrific fight scene, as Sunny and Widow found themselves fighting side by side against Chau's Clippers. This was yet another example of the show's ability to handle large-scale battle scenes with dozens of combatants at once. The fight was chaotic, yet also graceful and easy to follow. There also a certain satisfaction in seeing these characters reunited and fighting a common enemy. Though it's doubtful this alliance will last very long. Widow may well be hoping that she can use Sunny and M.K. to consolidate her power and eliminate her ally. But she may be in for a ride awakening once Sunny finds out how Veil was treated during her brief time under Widow's "protection." At the rate things are going, it'll be a wodner if any of these Barons are still alive by the end of the season.
The Verdict
After a disappointingly slow episode, Into the Badlands regained some of its momentum this week. There's was plenty of bloodshed and martial arts goodness to go around, but also no shortage of character drama. Some of that drama seemed a bit much (mainly where Veil is concerned), but there's a definite sense that things are heating to a boil just in time for the season finale.
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