Into the Badlands Season 3 Episode 15 Review: Requiem for the Fallen

| April 30, 2019 |

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This Into The Badlandsreview contains spoilers.

Into the Badlands Flavor 3 Episode 15

I walked past a billboard the other day that said "If you lot want to alter your future, change your now".

That phrase sums upward this entire season of Into the Badlands for me.

Instead of delivering a gloomy funeral procession hinted at by its name, "Requiem for the Fallen" looks to the future. It reminds united states that the one thing all of its characters desire the nearly right now is alter — just a little scrap of modify to make the future better for the side by side generation. After all, it'south the just noble act that can collectively wash the blood off these weary killers' easily. Information technology'south the utltimate act of redemption, really, and it'due south no wonder it's the holy grail in their final quest.

I affair is shockingly clear later on watching this episode of Into the Badlands : Pilgrim is a Large Bad with 2 capital Bs. How bad? Let's simply say the opening teaser for "Requiem for the Fallen" made me actually despise his character for once, something that probably needed to happenb before the big battle with the Badlands Avengers happens next episode. Later on a cursory showdown, Pilgrim brutally murders Goose egg by ripping her head off with his bare easily. Afterward, he casually tosses it downwardly a set of stairs, and walks away without even flinching.

Obviously, this is an unforgivable act. The affect of Nix'due south expiry feels ten times worse than that of Lydia's downfall at the easily of Cressida in "Curse of the Cherry Rain". Merely why? As characters get, Nix (Ella-Rae Smith) wasn't exactly the most well-adult ever. You lot could tell from the showtime that she was introduced to serve a part, much similar Sunny's sis Kannin. Except in Nada's case, we weren't quite sure what the function was until she started actively working for the side of good with Sunny and Bajie.

Turns out she was a sacrificial lamb similar her brother Brush, who too met his untimely end at the sanctimonious, blood encrusted easily of Pilgrim. But we were meant to care about Cypher past a casual interest in a side grapheme. The writers went out of their style to brand sure that nosotros cared. We were supposed to believe in the redemption of a nighttime-eyed 1, even if we knew deep downwards information technology wasn't going to turn out well for her. Nosotros wanted Nix'southward redemption arc to exist a reflection of The Widow'due south because we we've been finding a newfound promise and courage in the strong female characters that Into the Badlands has only begun to wield wisely.

Only simply like that bare look in her eyes suggested during so many of the scenes she was shoehorned into equally an reconsideration, Nix was pretty much just a glorified plot device in the stop, a connective tissue, and she had served her purpose. Or, rather, her purpose was fulfilled hither, by dying in the opening minutes of "Requiem for the Fallen", right before the serial finale, proving her character was but a means to the end for Badlands ' final story arc.

Despite how much Pilgrim appeals to us (cheers to Babou Ceesay's fantastic performance which more than deserves an honour of some kind), nosotros need to recognize him equally the terrible threat to the Badlands that he actually is. He promises freedom from the Barons, certain, but he himself is a Baron at heart. He operates like i. He treats people similar 1. He's no better than Quinn — and even though I'1000 Pilgrim fan, I'd fence that he'due south worse. Pilgrim is and so much more sympathetic and manipulative and likeable than that neckbeareded villain ever was. Pilgrim was an excellent grapheme to bring into play during the final twelvemonth of Into the Badlands because of all the conflicting emotions he fills both the characters and the viewers at dwelling with. Well played, Millar and Gough.

Besides his cruel killing of Nix, Pilgrim is seen throughout this episode explaining his master plan, and making certain that everyone — especially those closest to him — understand what he wants, and what his vision for Azra is. He comforts M.Thou., who is yet nursing his wounds from the terrible boxing during last week's episode. He engages in some philosophical discourse with Pilgrim (go figure) in which he explains how he's using his gift to keep the hurting abroad, simply it generally feels like he's only killing time in the break room, smoking a joint and waiting until he'southward needed in the finale.

Cressida herself begins to have second thoughts about Pilgrim's goals after she has a vision of the future in which snaps her neck right after singing the glory of his new Azra. This is a nice moment, but it feels like it could accept come up a bit sooner in the season, like a couple episodes agone maybe. Only that wouldn't have served the last story arc very well as having Cressida doubt Pilgrim means we wouldn't accept ballsy sequences like the ominous Red Pelting sequence or Lydia'south bump-off. Also, Cressida is a very active character who wouldn't hold dorsum in using her powers confronting Pilgrim, so redeeming her also soon would definitely spoil the finale fun.

So what caused this sudden change of heart for Cressida? The exposition robot herself, Sunny'south sister Kannin, was the kung-fu catalyst. Well, kind of.

She shows up to confront Pilgrim (aka Taurin) and Cressida, offering to save them from his dangerous vision of Azra, which she mentions is built on a history of genocide — something that he willingly accepts. Kannin tells Cressida to look deeper to see the truth nearly where Plgrim's path will take them. Pilgrim takes Kannin to the Pinnacle Sleeping room to prove her wrong. She refuses to run into things through the evangelical, self-righteous lens he does and tells him that the bedroom is not a temple just in fact a laboratory for manmade evil and nothing more. The go into a duel and Pilgrim uses one of the monoliths to take away her night gift.

Meanwhile, Sunny and Bajie finally run into back up with The Widow and the rest of the superfriends. Oh, and Henry, too. Call up when he was the number one plot device this show could brag about? Thank the gods for Season 3, am I correct? Only their reunion isn't a nostalgic one; they spend their increasingly limited screen time in the most efficient way possible past using it to strategize their next movement against Pilgrim. Sunny admits to The Widow that he is ready to put their complicated history aside so that they can fight the last battle together.

But The Widow comes to terms with a truth that she's been carrying, one that she has simply become recently aware of thanks to Cressida'south warning: she's pregnant. She tells other characters about this eleventh hour twist, Gaius (father of the kid) included, and each person has their own unique slice of advice for her. The virtually memorable response was from Nathaniel Moon, who told her to get rid of it. At first, he seems to say this in retaliation for what happened to Lydia because he blames The Widow for this heartbreaking event. And aye, that may take fueled his response just a teensy bit.

Simply Moon brings up a good indicate, and one that threads itself through the rest of the this hour: who in their correct mind would want to raise a kid in the unforgiving postal service-apocalyptic globe that they live in? Fifty-fifty if our heroes were to transform the Badlands into a more than peaceful environment that isn't ruled by power hungry Barons who want to enslave anybody in sight, information technology's withal not exactly the kind of prophylactic, cuddly kind of world that you can raise a family unit in.

Then again, family is all anyone has now in the Badlands. It's the only thing that matters. If you recall most information technology, family is a main motivation for well-nigh of the characters on either side of the spectrum: building a family, preserving it, and extending that feeling to others. When you take no home anywhere, your domicile is everywhere, later on all.

And then found family — the kind that you claim or that claims you — is the virtually prominent kind of family in the show. The Widow, Tilda, and Gaius; Sunny and Bajie and Henry; Lydia and Nathaniel Moon; Pilgrim, Cressida, M.Yard., and the Dark Ones. These are all family units, clans that are worth fighting for. In that sense, y'all could say this show has become a "clash of the clans" (for lack of a better term.) Much like the Barons before him, Pilgrim's tyranny masquerades nether the guise of his family unit values. But The Widow sees through this. She used like tactics to command her ain army of cogs.

In the terminate, Sunny, Bajie, Gaius, and Kannin squad up to entreatment to the Blackness Lotus to gain their help in battling Pilgrim. This ends with Magnus dying at the easily of a distraught Kannin, who reveals to Sunny that her gift is gone and the Meridian Chamber is not active so there's literally no time left. We know this, as well, seeing as how next week'due south episode is the show'south last. Whose association survives the clash? Whose idealistic dreams will remain intact? Tune in next week — same Badlands time, same Badlands channel! (I've been waiting a long time to say that.)