Review
Snake Creeps Down – All the backstabbing and some of the secrets are coming unraveled in this episode but at the same time new ones are coming out that leave us wondering if we knew anything at all going into this episode. First we find Quinn’s house falling apart with Jade presumed dead, Ryder attempting to overthrow his father and Sunny hiding a dark secret from Quinn. I have to wonder who poisoned Jade and how. We didn’t see her eat the soup but Quinn did and only she got sick. I at first was going to lean towards Lydia who has a track record for it but the more I think about it the more Veil seems the best person.
She is angry with Quinn but also can’t kill him for it would result in some other baron taking over. So as her way of getting back at Quinn she kills Jade, her childhood friend who has, in her mind, betrayed her. However we also know The Widow has a spy in the fort, and it could have been them who did it.
MK and Sunny’s relationship continues to jump back and forth through out the episode at one point getting very teacher/mentor when MK compliments Sunny on his teaching and training while Sunny retorts back that he did think about killing MK at least once. Then as the episode closes MK kills his only friend among the colts when he is trying to kill Tilda. However, the other colt was getting annoyingly cocky and macho and had it coming.
The most interesting thing was Ryders grandfather who clearly knew a lot more about Azra then he led on. The Widow knew from translating the book and she gleaned at least one important piece of information. The more MK uses the more his life force is taken and he will die if he continues to use it. Ryders grandfather called MK a ‘dark one’ and that they need to cleanse him. Religious zealots are always a plot point in post apocalyptic world’s where God is been forsaken in the traditional sense.
Into The Badlands: Snake Creeps Down may have also cleared up one other plot point while making us start from scratch and that is the thought that Lydia might be MKs mother. Based on the timeline we know of now from Ryders talk with her father, it doesn’t seem possible. So back to the drawing board there. Next week is the final episode of the season and then its waiting time for AMC to announce whether they will renew the series or not. Right now its holding over 3million views in LIVE + 3 numbers an even higher in LIVE + 7. With those numbers during non-TWD lead ins, renewal seems a lock in for the series.
Orla Brady as Lydia, Sarah Bolger as Jade, and Marton Csokas as Quinn- Into the Badlands _ Season 1, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Patti Perret/AMC
Recap
Sunny finds himself having nightmares about MK. I mean who wouldn’t, he would scare the shit out of anyone when he is in his ‘dark one’ mode. Turns out the decision of bringing MKs head to the river king is not the easy decision he might have thought it was at the start. MK is proud of himself for his diligent training despite the fact that Sunny won’t even look him in the eye right now.
MK and Sunny are sent on a mission to find the widow and kill her quickly. The Widow is winning the hearts and minds of his COGS by offering them a better life then they had with Quinn. Her actual motive was to test each of the boy COGS to find the one with powers. Sadly she doesn’t know that its MK and he isn’t among them. Tilda finally puts two and two together and realizes that what she saw during the parley with MK is what her mother was looking for. She also finds out that if he continues to use his power, it will kill him.
MK and Ryder have ‘fishing’ conversation as MK tries to lie while Ryder tries to pry information out of him knowing he is the one The Widow was looking for. In a last ditch effort to prevent the crops from spoiling, Quinn listens to Jades idea of having the clippers help in the fields. However during his speech he has another attack in front of his men. This can never happen again so he lets Veil use the poison to try and cure him.
The conversation gets interesting when Quinn reveals he knows Sunny told her the truth about her parents. He taunts her to go ahead and kill him right there and nobody would know. However she doesn’t do it knowing what Sunny said and the fact that once he is gone, there is nothing between them and the other barons. MK reveals he knows Veil is pregnant and now Sunny’s motivations all make sense.
MK and Sunny have a fun and witty conversation about his training and Sunny as a teacher. Sunny reveals to MK that he got the compass to work when setting it inside the book. Tilda is sent out to check the traps. Ryder goes to see Waldo about the pendant asking why his mother knows so much about it. We find out Waldo was the one who saved Ryder as a child when the nomads took him. Ryder beats around the bush when asking Waldo about whose side he would be on if Quinn is gone. Waldo responds that he is on the side that wins.
Waldo recommends he see his grandfather about the pendant, Lydia’s father. MK nearly walks into one of The Widows traps when Sunny spots it and stops him but the other clipper with him ends up getting caught and snaps his ankle. Lydia comes out to help Jade in the fields and the two seem to mend their relationship and tell each other they will survive this together.
Ryder arrives at a small camp outside the fort and meets his grandfather. He asks him about the pendant. He knows the city is called Azra. Its a story told to orphans. He convinces Ryder that its nothing more then a children’s story. He is a preacher of sorts, in the badlands where god is hard to find. After Ryder leaves, his grandfather tells the others to gather, there is a dark one in the fort and that he will need to be cleansed.
While on watch MK runs across Tilda and tries to get her to leave before being found out. She warns MK to get out of there before everyone finds out. MK thinks that Tilda is his center, the one way he can control is power. MK asks Tilda to run away with him but Sunny walks up and asks how long this has been going on. The other colt walks up and to save face, Sunny gets rough with Tilda and she gets feisty. Tilda bites off the other colts ear, nice.
The Widow finds out that Tilda has been taken captive and sends word to a spy in the fort to give her passage so she can go in and save Tilda. Quinn wakes up after his treatment to find Lydia sitting next to him, worn out from working the fields. Sunny walks in to inform Quinn of the captive. Quinn tells Sunny he is no longer allowed to see Veil anymore.
Sunny prepares Tilda to be tortured, both of them knowing there is no other way to protect MK. Jade walks in with some soup for Quinn that Veil recommended but she made the soup. Suddenly Jade collapses and starts to foam at the mouth. Someone poisoned her but the question is how? Suddenly The Widow shows up to save Tilda.
Sunny and The Widow duke it out as MK tries to free Tilda only to be hit over the head by the other colt. Tilda and the colt fight it out as MK is left locked behind the jail cell. After Sunny nearly has the Widow dead to rights, they both stop as they hear someone get thrown across the room. MK is in his ‘dark spirit’ mode after he cuts himself on purpose. With a single push he kills the other colt. Tilda runs off with the Widow as Sunny watches MK collapse. Sunny runs off to catch the Widow but she escapes. In the back, Quinn watched everything unfold.
