[This is a review of Into the Badlands season 1, episode 5. There will be spoilers.]
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Into the Badlands delivered its best episode to date with a wonderful complex hour of television that put our heroes and heroines through the ringer in more ways than they could handle. As always, poor Sunny is stuck in the middle.
It's definitely not easy being the deadliest Clipper in the Badlands with a girlfriend and a baby on the way. Sunny is still seeking for a way to pay the River King. Remember, the King's price is MK's head, but you can see the doubt in Sunny's eyes every time he looks at the young Colt. While Sunny and MK aren't best buddies, it seems unlikely that our favorite Clipper would betray the young man's trust. After all, he needs the jumbled information inside MK's head if he's ever going to get Veil out of the Badlands.
Speaking of our lovely medicine woman, the scene between Veil and Quinn was fun to watch. As if he couldn't sink any lower, Quinn reveals how much of a bad guy he truly is when he lies to Veil about who really killed her parents. Quinn may be the king of all jerks, but he's no idiot and probably didn't believe Sunny when he said that she was no different than any other girl. He's trying to drive a wedge between them in order to keep Sunny close, so let's hope it doesn't work.
Ryder wins the "most improved player" award this week with his arc, as he goes off in search of allies and answers. He's the hardest character to root for, but Oliver Stark found a way to make Ryder more human this week. His conversation with Waldo was difficult to interpret, since we're really not sure which side the wheelchair riding Clipper is on. In his words, he's "on the side of the winners," so is that Sunny, or Baron Quinn? Ryder's other encounter was with his grandfather (Penrith), who appears to be a man of the cloth. Seeing Lance Henriksen (Aliens) was a joy and we learned that he is aware of people like MK. Apparently MK is a "dark one" and is in need of cleansing.
The thrilling conclusion to 'Snake Creeps Down' featured the match-up we've all been waiting for. We know Sunny is the baddest Clipper around, but The Widow is a formidable foe herself. Sunny looked like he wanted to kill her, but not enough to chase her down after her escape. Also, Sunny seemed determined to torture Tilda in order to get the information he desired. Do you think Sunny would have followed through, or was he simply putting on an act for MK's friend Bale?
Next week is the season finale where we will hopefully find out what happened to Jade. Quinn's former "second wife" was supposedly poisoned by Lydia, so it will be interesting to see if she was being nice to Jade this week in order to kill her. Stay tuned to see what happens next.
Into the Badlands continues with 'Hand of Five Poisons' next Sunday @10pm on AMC. Check out a preview below: