Into the Badlands Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Sting of the Scorpion's Tail
Ron Gilmer
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All the work Sunny and his crew did to get back into the badlands ended, sadly, in predictable fashion.
On the rather subdued Into the Badlands Season 2 Episode 8, Sunny takes a major gamble in his quest to reunite with his boo Veil and finds out he does indeed have a son. Good times!
Bajie's deal with the smugglers blew up in their faces, but we kinda expected that, right?
NOTHING is ever easy in the badlands. The scene where Baron Chau's clippers unloaded on the bus with arrows reminded me of the old Clint Eastwood movie The Gauntlet with similar results.
It was kind of silly, the overkill of arrows, with no one inside getting hurt. That was one action sequence that fizzled, which is very rare: I'm not gonna lie, the lack of a payoff was a little disappointing.
One action scene that did NOT fizzle was the opener, with The Widow attacking Baron Hassan's camp.
The dreamy fight that took place in, out, and around a bunch of hanging sheets brought back memories of the kinetic confrontation between Jennifer Garner and the great Will Yun Lee in the movie Elektra.
Yeah, the movie wasn't great, but the fight sequences were top notch, particularly the one I mentioned. If you haven't seen it, by all means, check it out.
And not for nothing, but I'd LOVE to see Will Yun Lee do a spot on Badlands: he'd be perfect!
Baron Hassan: Please, I'll support you.
The Widow: I could have used your support at the conclave. Now I only need one thing from you, Hassan. It's your head.
The Widow does NOT play, as Hassan found out.
It sucks to get your arm lopped off, but at least he wasn't in pain for long, considering he lost his head seconds later. OUCH!
As I've said many times before, The Widow is by far my favorite character.
She at least has a humanitarian agenda: rather than plunder, pillage, and oppress everyone, she has a soft spot for all the cogs, and wants them to be free to live their own lives.
I don't like her throwing Veil and Henry under the bus, but I get why she did it: greater good and all.
This still puts her at odds with Tilda, but it seems she's all in, despite Veil trying again to turn her against The Widow.
Sunny's plot worked like a charm, and the fight to dispatch Baron Chau's clippers was fun to watch.
The looks between Sunny and The Widow were delicious: they are both stone cold killers, and their glances spoke more about their common mindset than a million words.
The Widow: Sunny, if you kill me, you will never find your family. I know where Veil is, and your boy, Henry.
Sunny: Tell me where.
The Widow: I'll tell you everything that Chau can't, but not if I'm dead.
Bajie watched the fight go down, but Sunny and M.K. don't know he's still with them.
It should be very interesting when they all finally link up again. The prevailing theory about The Widow being Flea is certainly plausible.
If she is in fact Flea, the reunion with Bajie could be very explosive.
The falling out between Sunny and Bajie was, thankfully, short-lived, but it brought up the problematic dynamic between them.
Bajie: Can you count? There are too many of them, you can't kill them all.
Sunny: I don't plan on killing anybody. All I need to do is talk.
Bajie: Hey, I'm the king of bullshit, and even I couldn't talk my way out of this.
Sunny: Your bullshit's what got us here in the first place, remember?
Yes, that was played for laughs, but a deeper sense of betrayal happened later.
Before Bajie discovered that Sunny gave him a get out of jail free card, he was rightfully pissed off, and he hit Sunny right where it hurts.
Bajie: I saved your life, and so did that kid.
Sunny: I have to get Veil and the baby back.
Bajie: And what kind of man will you be when you do, huh? What will there be left? You'll have Veil, but I was right about you. You'll always be a killer. Go on, clipper, run along. You're Baron's calling you.
This has been examined many times in the series: Sunny's shame about his murderous past, and his abject fear of passing his deadly legacy to his son Henry.
He can never seem to escape it, but his ability to kill keeps himself and those in his orbit out of trouble, so it seems like it's a necessary evil at this point.
OK, guys, it's time to go there: Quinn and Veil. WOW.
I don't know about you, but I think Quinn is the scariest perv on TV today, hands down. That dude gives me the creeps, BIG TIME.
He's always had a very unhealthy relationship with Veil and Henry: blame it on the tumor if you want, but it doesn't make it any less gross.
The dinner scene with Quinn, Veil, and Lydia was VERY disturbing. Quinn, eating a practically mooing steak, slurping blood off his lips: damn!
His grunts were on the level of Tom Hardy, but even more cray cray.
Then came this:
Quinn: My intention is to make Henry my rightful heir. Veil and I are to be married.
Veil: You can't be serious.
I can't believe Veil was able to keep it together. I'd have thrown up all over Quinn's dinner plate!
She is one cool customer.
I know she's trying to not lose her shit so she can protect Henry, but it's almost an impossible task.
But, as we saw later, her true feelings flooded out:
Veil: You don't understand. Maybe, maybe I can make it through the ceremony, but I will not, I will not consummate this sham with the man who butchered my parents. I won't. I can't. I'll kill him first.
Lydia: No, you can't do that, that will put your life in jeopardy.
Veil: I don't care.
As icky as the wedding ceremony was, the "consummation" scene was truly cringe-worthy. YUCK!
I felt so bad for Veil, with that sweaty, disgusting, crazed murderer pawing at her like a piece of meat.
Thankfully, Lydia came to rescue.
Lydia: It's Sunny. He's Back.
Quinn: Sunny? How can that be?
Lydia: The report. He's joined forces with The Widow, and he's no doubt coming to find you.
What I don't get was Lydia, moments before, trying to run away with Henry.
Did she really think she could get away? Was she really going to leave Veil? That's cold.
Poor Veil: everyone and their mother is screwing her over. She deserves so much better. But at least she got some good news for once.
He's alive? He's alive!
Veil [to Lydia]
Sunny need to rescue her STAT!
This one was a bit of a change of pace for me. The Quinn/Veil scenes were very creepy: Madeleine Mantock gave a gut-wrenching performance as Veil. Kudos to her!
Writer LaToya Morgan did a masterful job as usual, ramping up the tension between the two in the pivotal dinner scene.
The plot was advanced as needed, and all the chess pieces are being moved into their proper spots for an explosive final two episodes, so I'm still stoked.
I gave you my two cents: now give me yours. Are you excited about the impending Sunny/Widow/Quinn smack down? Will Sunny and Veil EVER find happiness?
And just what do they do with all the dead Baron's heads?? Hmmm.
As always, you can watch Into the Badlands online, right here on TV Fanatic!
