Sunny meets the Moon.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
So many great adventure stories hinge on two warriors meeting on a bridge, and that was the case with Into the Badlands this week. This episode introduced a memorable new player in the form of Moon (Westworld's Sherman Augustus) even as a major new showdown loomed for the Barons of the Badlands. And even if the end result felt very much like a transitional episode, there was no shortage of entertainment to be had this week.
Augustus certainly impressed in his debut performance. It takes a special kind of physical presence to share the screen with Daniel Wu and actually make him look like the underdog in battle, and Augustus pulled it off. Basically a wandering, masterless samurai in this post-apocalyptic wasteland, Moon is a clear reminder of what fate lies in store for Sunny if he fails to track down his family and reclaim what he lost. Maybe the parallels were a little too blatant (especially with the "on the nose" Sunny/Moon thing), but their half-camaraderie/half-rivalry dynamic worked well.
Moon's presence also allowed Sunny to switch from the Jackie Chan-inspired fight sequences we've seen in recent episodes to more traditional weapons-based combat. Overall, this episode was a little lighter on action than its predecessors. But we did get two great sequences book-ending this episode. The battle with the bounty hunters in the early moments of the episode was good, chaotic fun. But it's really the final battle between Sunny and Moon that stole the show. That fight did a great job of pitting Moon's raw power and anger against Sunny's more acrobatic style. Not since he fought the three Abbots in the Season 1 finale has Sunny confronted a more dangerous or capable opponent.
One welcome touch with both fight scene sis the fact that even Baijie got the chance to show off a little. While clearly not a trained killer, Baijie seems to have a few moves of his own, which only calls into question once more what else he might be hiding from Sunny.
Following last week's near Widow-less episode, it was nice to see Emily Beecham take on a more prominent role again. Widow has rapidly developed into a more relatable and complex character this season. She's still a dangerous threat (as we saw in the premiere), but there's a certain desperation to her quest now. There was even a fatalistic quality to both Widow's dialogue and Beecham's performance this week, hinting that she doesn't necessarily expect to return from the conclave. It would be a shame to lose Widow so soon, but it would be interesting to see Tilda step up and try to fill the void she leaves behind.
Stephen Lang's Waldo is adding further spice to the ongoing turmoil between Widow and Tilda. Lang makes for a great grizzled mentor figure, albeit one with a shroud of uncertainty about him. He's already betrayed one Baron, and there's no guarantee he isn't maneuvering Widow to her death by insisting on accompanying her in Tilda's place. Whatever his motivations, Waldo's increased role this season is appreciated. As haphazard as some of the performances are on this show, it always helps to have another reliable face in the mix.
Elsewhere, M.K. continued his training under the Master's watchful eye. Though as we saw, apparently that eye isn't so watchful as to prevent him from exploring the seedy underside of his new home and some of the darker secrets the Abbots are hiding. The cold, grimy operating room made for quite the contrast with the otherwise organic, inviting surroundings we've seen from this monastery. M.K. may be looking to cut his training short at this point. That's probably a good thing, as his storyline is starting to feel a little repetitive after three weeks in a row of training.
Thankfully, the Quinn family had a smaller role this week, though Marton Csokas' Quinn was all too happy to hog the spotlight whenever possible. His hammy performance is even more grating than t was in Season 1, which makes these scenes a bit of a slog. At the same time, there were some pretty intriguing developments during these scenes. For one thing, we learned that Veil has been tricking Quinn into believing his brain tumor has been cured, giving him a false sense of power and arrogance. There's an interesting power dynamic between the two now. She holds his life in her hands, but she also runs the risk of attracting his wrath when he does figure out the truth. No doubt she's going to regret keeping the real X-rays stashed away in that desk drawer. The already tense relationship between Veil and Quinn has suddenly become that much more suspenseful.
Lousy accent or not, Csokas did deliver a very magnetic performance in the scene where Quinn confronted his runaway Clipper-in-training. It offered a real sense of how this sickly former Baron is able to attract followers with such fanatical devotion. The young runaway entered the room terrified for his life and left it with no desire other than to live up to his Baron's powerful words. A man who can lead with that level of skill is clearly not someone to be written off.
Again, this episode felt like a very transitional chapter in the larger Season 2 road map. Even the confrontation with Moon seems to have amounted to little more than a layover in Sunny and Baijie's ongoing trek. But "Red Sun, Silver Moon" did set a number of wheels in motion, and the next episode promises to be very eventful now that all the Barons have gathered in one place.
The Verdict
While it played like a middle chapter between larger conflicts, this week's Into the Badlands still had plenty of memorable action and character drama to offer. Sunny's rivalry with Moon offered plenty of both, while the Widow's upcoming confrontation with her fellow Baron's promises big changes to come for the show's status quo.
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