Into the Badlands Season 3, Episode 13: Black Lotus, White Rose

This week’s Into the Badlands was full of revelations as we learned the pasts of Sunny and The Master, while also getting our first glimpse of Azra.

As we wind down the third season (only 3 episodes left!) it’s beginning to feel more and more like the creators were prepared for Into the Badlands to be cancelled. So many loose ends are being tied up and so much information is coming out. The latest episode was no exception as it was both action packed and full of information.

Let’s go over the main events from the latest episode of Into the Badlands Season 3, Episode 13:

Kannin and Sunny

At the start of the episode, we see Sunny being brought into a large prison which is apparently called Razor Ridge. It’s the Black Lotus outpost. Magnus tells Sunny that Bajie is dead before his sister comes out of the shadows. She’s with the Black Lotus and tells Sunny that Ankara didn’t know the whole story. Rather than kill her, she says that they saved her when she sacrificed herself for him.

Sunny does not believe that the woman before him is his sister Kannin so she touches his forehead to unlock some of his memories. He sees his young self and young Pilgrim practicing together (Sunny wins of course.) After the fight young Sunny and Kannin walk outside of the building they were in and we see Azra. It’s what remains of what appears to be a major city with skyscrapers that have not been properly maintained. It’s beautiful compared to what we see in the Badlands.

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Magnus explains that the dark ones were the ones that destroyed the old world. The Black Lotus was all over the world and were taking out the dark ones to save humanity. When Sunny leaves the room he kisses Kannin before calling her a filthy dark one and telling her she is on a time to unlock Sunny’s gift. The sand timer is important to Sunny’s childhood.

The second flashback

When Kannin unlocks more of Sunny’s memories, we see he and Pilgrim receiving their Azra pendants as the guardians of Azra. Sunny’s dad then receives a message and takes Sunny with him to the courtyard where three Black Lotus are being held on their knees. When they won’t speak, Sunny’s dad goes dark and kills two of them. He then sits a timer on a rock and tells Sunny that if he doesn’t tell them how he got there before the timer runs out, Sunny is to kill him. He tells young Sunny that killing is his destiny when the boy says he doesn’t want to do it.

Later in the episode, Sunny and his sister are talking alone and he tries to tell her that Magnus is no different from what his baron was and that he’s using her. She continues to try to convince him that Magnus is right before telling Sunny that he (Sunny) is the reason that Azra was destroyed.

Bajie and Ankara

Last week I told you that Bajie took his last breaths, and he did. We return to the barn to see that Ankara is alive and Bajie is definitely not, but the witch still has some juice left and uses it to revive the big guy. She tells him that Sunny is at Razor Ridge but that he can’t save him, before she does finally die. Bajie ignores her warning.

MK and Pilgrim

Back at the Monastery, MK is upset when he can’t find his friend from his time there and The Master tells him that not everyone survives the needling process. He goes to kill her but Pilgrim stops him before giving yet another speech about how he’s there to liberate The Master’s prisoners. While they’re chanting his name he coughs and there is blood in his hand. (No one else noticed.)

Later, Pilgrim comes to tell The Master that he has everything he needs but he’s having a hard time. Black ink is coming from his eyes. She tells him that he’s pretending to have power but true power hides until it is ready to strike. She knocks MK back and begins choking out Pilgrim. She tells Pilgrim that he treats the gift as if it is a weapon he can wield but it is not, that’s when MK stabs her through the back and saves Pilgrim.

Pilgrim tells MK he will stand by his side as his most trusted warrior and one true son as he carries him out.

Gaius and Tilda

Gaius, Tilda, The Widow, and Nix are all together after taking down Chau in the last episode. Gaius is proud to be the last Chau standing after how his family treated him. The Widow and Tilda share a look as the only acknowledgement that their issues are behind them.

Tilda thanks Nix for helping the Widow handle Chau and her people before sending her to tell Lydia that the war between the barons is over. Gaius realizes that he hasn’t won Tilda over as far as his relationship with The Widow. Tilda tells him that if he breaks Minerva’s heart, she’ll cut out his. They head back to Chau’s headquarters to tell Chau’s people that she is dead.

Ada

The Widow meanwhile heads to the Monastery and finds the Master barely alive. She tells Minerva that Pilgrim is taking his new army into the Badlands and asks Minerva to take her to the mirror chamber where she gave the Widow the vision a few episodes ago.

The Master takes Minerva into a vision with her. It’s a house on a snowy mountainside. She says that this was the last place she was truly happy. She was just Ada, but when she was 10 she pricked her finger and the world went dark. When she came to she had broken her brother’s neck and her parents were mortified. She thought that the Monastery would be a safe place but she turned it into a prison. She acknowledges that Pilgrim wasn’t completely wrong about her.

She is dying and she tells Minerva to create a world where there are no more Masters. She also tells her to strike Pilgrim now because he’s weak from waking the sleepers. When Minerva comes out of the vision, The Master is gone.

Sunny’s gift

Back at Razor Ridge Bajie has arrived to save Sunny but Sunny stops him when Magnus tells the sister to kill herself for him. Now Sunny and Bajie are both prisoners as Magnus is finally going to have Sunny’s sister awaken his gift so he can be used as a weapon.

She shows us the last memory. Young Sunny, instead of killing Magnus freed him and this was the beginning of the end for Azra. Sunny now tells his sister to remember that she is not in love with Magnus. That she is his slave and that he forced her into his bed. We see these horrible memories and when Kannin touches Sunny she goes dark and breaks him free.

A fight ensues and they break Bajie free as well. She stops short of killing Magnus and just knocks him out and the three escape.

Conclusions

At the end of the episode we see Pilgrim having some sort of ceremony to welcome his new recruits. We then see the Widow setting the Monastery on fire and Gaius raising his sister’s head at the top of the steps at the Chau residence. His sister’s soldiers kneel and refer to him as Baron. (There are tears in his eyes.) Finally, at the very end we see Sunny toss the Azra necklace that previously defined him now that he knows its roots.

Into the Badlands returns next Monday at 10/9 Central on AMC. Just 3 episodes left.