Posted in: AMC, Review, TV | Tagged: amc, daniel wu, Into The Badlands

'Into the Badlands' S03, Ep15: Body Count Rises with "Requiem for the Fallen" (SPOILER REVIEW)

Part of me really wonders if a lot of the character deaths that have been happening these last few episodes would have come along if this was just the end of the third season of Into the Badlands, instead of the end of the entire series.

"Requiem for the Fallen" opens with a brief and brutal fight, and a shocking death that is made even more so by the sheer brutality of it. The fact that it was a fairly major character made it even more jarring.

After Lydia's (Orla Brady) death two weeks ago, it feels like the body count for long-term characters is going to go even higher.

Pilgrim (Babou Ceesay) has settled on a grim interpretation of the teachings of Azra, and believes that those who won't accept his army of Dark Ones deserves to die- and that belief is leaning towards killing anyone without the Gift now, a fact that Cressida (Lorraine Toussaint) suddenly finds alarming. There's more spooky magic stuff going on in this episode, and I think Cressida is starting to have second thoughts.

There are a couple of scenes between Ceesay and Toussaint that are just fantastic to watch- he's pure, unbridled power in action, and she's realizing that she's backed into a corner. There's a lot of subtle acting going on beneath all of the gravitas. It's Shakespeare in the Badlands, and it works wonderfully.

M.K. (Aramis Knight) has completely lost his way, and now he's horribly scarred after being caught in an explosion at the Battle of Sanctuary. If Pilgrim is the Magneto of Into the Badlands, M.K. is definitely its Anakin Skywalker. Yeah, I know they're separate franchises, but it fits. I have some lingering concerns that M.K.'s story is going to be vastly truncated with only one episode left to tell it.

Sunny (Daniel Wu) and Bajie (Nick Frost) make it back to the Badlands, and Sunny is finally reunited with his infant son, Henry. Sunny makes overtures towards peace with the Widow (Emily Beecham), but Minerva is having a crisis of faith- Pilgrim is just too powerful, how do they stand a chance?

Now, we're headed towards next weeks finale, where somehow, some way all of this is supposed to come together. Will there even be anyone standing at the end?

Into the Spoilerlands

Moon's (Sherman Augustus) talk with Minerva about raising a child during dark times was an interesting way to bring bodily autonomy into the narrative. Minerva has a lot to think about now that she knows she's pregnant.

Pilgrim's horrific execution of Nix (Ella-Rae Smith) was as gruesome as it was unexpected. Nix was one of my favorite characters on the show, and I really don't feel like her story was done. Then again, I don't feel like this story in general is done. The whole fight did a good job of illustrating how powerful Pilgrim has become, though- if he can just rip someone's head off, what chance does anyone really have?

Seeing the look on Bajie's face when he saw those nunchucks was priceless. At last his hands are complete, right? Bajie fights are always a treat, but Bajie fights with nunchucks? Priceless. Especially so when he's dropping Black Lotus goons like he's the world's greatest fly-swatter.

That fight with the Black Lotus was pretty excellent, too, with a really unexpected ending. Looks like Sunny has a small army of his own now, thanks in no small part to Kannin (Eugenia Yuan), Sunny's long lost sister.

On Monday, May 6th, AMC will broadcast the last ever episode of Into the Badlands. Here's a look at "Seven Strike as One":

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