Into the Badlands Season 2 Episode 8
Getting back into the badlands was Sunny’s main mission this year – which makes a lot of sense, given the show’s title and all. This episode is where he finally makes it in, but it comes at a price: serving as a clipper for Baron Chau, whose cogs kidnap him, Bajie, and M.K. This isn’t too bad story-wise because it continues the series’ latest trend of forcing its menagerie of characters to interact with each other to keep that plot thing moving. It’s a pretty decent plot so far, even if it has some focus issues, since it works fairly hard at keeping us on the edge of our seat with thrills lifted straight off of the assembly line. But now the show has surrendered itself to the power of “convenient coincidence” where situations converge because it saves time, speeds things up, and keeps the momentum going. But said ploy was merely a means to an end for Sunny, who really needed to figure out where his baby mama is being held. Running into the Widow (and eventually joining forces with her) not only helped him do that, it facilitated a clear pathway into the show’s big season finale conflict: Sunny vs. Quinn – a fight we’re dying to see. Alright, so technically we’re not that desperate to see it. It’s more like we’re ready to get it over with because it feels drawn out at this point. And here I am making minor complaints that the show is too fluky to expedite the main action. Sigh. I really am hard to please. But seriously, folks. Let’s get this drama out of the way so we can build a more stable foundation for Season 3. Other than that, it was cute to see M.K. and Tilda reunited for a brief moment towards the end of “Sting of the Scorpion’s Tail.” It’s clear from her reaction to even hearing his name that she still has feelings for him despite her recent sapphic tendencies. But are they still mutual? Yeah, probably. Oh, and would you look at that. Once again, Bajie shows up just in time at the end – again. He doesn’t do much to bail our (other) main characters from double crossing Chau’s clippers, but he did manage to wind up at the right place at the right time once more. Convenience, folks. That’s the name of the game.
