Into the Badlands - 'White Stork Spreads Wings'

"Let us duel on this not-at-all-meaningful chessboard floor."

We open with Quinn leading a retributive raid against the Widow's manor after the attempt on Ryder's life. We established last episode that the Widow's forces are small, and with Sunny having slaughtered about forty of her nomad reinforcements, Quinn's clippers suffer only minor casualties, while the Widow loses most of her remaining bowler hats, and sends her girls out via a secret passage. She engages in a long, close fought duel with Quinn, and while eventually overwhelmed she escapes when he is gripped by a seizure. Meanwhile, MK sneaks away from lookout duty to swipe the Widow's book about his home city.

For the remainder of the episode, people are pissed. Like... everyone be pissed about something. The Baroness is pissed that the Widow got away and now the other Barons are up in arms and Quinn's Clippers are trying to hold two domains. Quinn is pissed about the same things, and the fact that the Baroness is right. Both are pissed that Ryder is still in a coma and the Baroness is extra pissed that some fool killed the Doctor. Jade, Quinn's new fiancee, suggests bringing in her old friend Veil and the Baroness is first pissed that her son is to be treated by a cog doctor, then pissed at Ryder because he tried to have the Widow killed and failed. Tilda is pissed at MK for being in on the raid. MK is pissed at Sunny for not teaching him to fight and Sunny is pissed at MK for being a total Anakin.

The Widow takes her girls into hiding and sends Tilda to extract their spy from the dollhouse, but she is too late and the girl jumps off a balcony to her death rather than let Sunny capture her. MK takes the book to Veil to read - because he sees her reading one book, so she must be able to read all books, right? - only to learn that it is in fucking Quenya or something. And the Baron decides that Veil is the one to save him from his brain lesion, which is going to end well.

With war looming, Sunny is sent to reach out to Zephyr, regent to Baron Jacoby and Sunny's former lover, and at this point I start to wonder why anyone is all that surprised that the Widow and her girls are badass. The chief enforcer of one of the seven most powerful men and women in the known world is a woman; why is it such a shock to Johnny Nomad that a girl can kick his ass?

Other than that little inconsistency, the worldbuilding and action in Into the Badlands continue to be excellent, with 'White Stork Spreads Wings' adding some broad character notes to the mix. Notably, I continue to root for the Widow in all this, since Sunny and his wheelchair-bound badass mentor are about the only really likeable characters in the Baron's camp and she has much better management skills; you can't see Quinn covering the rear while his colts escaped.