Into The Badlands “Black Lotus, White Rose”

Not too long ago, I learned Into the Badlands filmed it second and third season in Ireland around Dublin.  That was pretty cool since I actually went there for a spring break vacation back in 2009 (pro tip:  do not arrive on St. Patrick’s Day because it’s a national holiday though they don’t celebrate it the way we do in America).  As such, when the Black Lotus took Sunny back to what looked like a fortress, I recognized it as Kilmainham Goal, a former prison-turned-museum that has appeared in multiple movies and TV shows.  Likewise, I am pretty sure a library seen in this episode is the one for Trinity College, where the Book of Kells is kept on display.

That about does it for cool observations for this week.

But as much as I’ve been complaining that Voltron waited until the end to fill in backstory, why would I not do the same for Into the Badlands?  I mean, we only have three episodes left after this one, and we’re finally learning where Sunny came from and what happened to his sister Kannin.

Simple:  this wasn’t necessarily intended to be the final season.  I have no idea how many seasons they wanted for this show, but the network canceled it unexpectedly.  This actually feels like a good enough time to tell us where Sunny came from.

So, here it is, Sunny came from Azra, the mystical city he’s been trying to find ever since, and Kannin (not dead) can use her Gift to revive his memories.  The Black Lotus, whose numbers now include Kannin, want to wipe out everyone with the Gift since that’s what they say destroyed the Old World.  But their leader talks to Kannin the same way Quinn used to speak to Sunny, so Sunny ain’t fooled for a minute.  Plus, Bajie shows up because the Mad Witch used her gift to revive him just before she died.  You can’t have this show without Bajie.

Now, Sunny does convince Kannin to help him, so there’s a cool escape, but we do see a bit of young Sunny, sparring with a young Pilgrim, gaining an initiation to their society, but he needs to kill a member of the Black Lotus that got himself caught.  Sunny didn’t do it because…the guy is still sitting right in front of him.

Man, I’ll bet the leader guy was sorry he tried to gaslight a Gifted woman.

Regardless, Sunny, Bajie, and Kannin leave the prison fort.

And over at the Master’s place, M.K. stabs her through the chest when she tries to take down a weakened Pilgrim.  She doesn’t die right away.  M.K. gets promoted because M.K. is a weasel with anger issues, but the Master hangs in there until the Widow comes back, explaining that yes, the Master maybe deserved that because the Monastery was there to act as a prison for the Gifted because the Gift is really freakin’ scary.  Plus, it does seem to be killing Pilgrim.

The episode ends with a somewhat badass-sounding cover of “The Sound of Silence” as Sunny and his group leave the prison, Gaius claims his position as the new Baron Chau, the Widow burns down the Monastery as the Master wanted, and Pilgrim, well, he has a bigger army than before.

See, that’s how you dispense backstory at the right time.