The Into the Badlands season 2 finale has come and gone, leaving us with plenty of heartbreak and questions, such as what does that final scene mean?
Into the Badlands season 2 has been one hell of a journey. We’ve seen Barons rise and fall, alliances made and broken, and families come together only to be torn apart again. More than one major character met their end this year, and those who have been left behind will need to find a way to gather their courage and strength for what’s to come.
One of the most mysterious aspects of the show has been the ever-lingering idea of Azra, the mythical city M.K. has been looking for since we first met him in season 1, episode 1. Along the way, we’ve learned very little about what lay there, other than the potential for sanctuary and peace, but we have learned there are a lot of people seeking this haven.
One of those people is Nick Frost’s Bajie, who quickly made his own mark on the show as a hilarious and lethal sometimes-ally to Sunny. We knew from the beginning he wasn’t someone we could trust, but over the course of 10 episodes, Bajie has found a balance between self-sacrifice and doing what’s right. He’s come a long way, and he’s been a better friend because of it.
But he’s still got his own motives, though we’re not sure yet if they’re selfish or otherwise. During the final battle between Sunny and Quinn, Bajie takes on the insane Baron’s second in command. He slices the man’s throat with little to no effort, but gets a pair of scissors in the gut as a result. When we saw him collapse into the chair at the end, I was afraid this was the end of another fantastic character.
Luckily, Bajie is tough. When Sunny goes searching for him, the chair is empty and Bajie is nowhere to be found. We find out he’s taken Sunny’s motorcycle, the book, and the compass, and is heading toward a watchtower on the coast. When he arrives, he locates a bank of computers, inputs the correct signal, and begins to broadcast Morse code before collapsing to the floor, looking a little worse for wear.
There’s a lot to digest here, but first and foremost I hope Bajie makes it out of the season alive. He made such an impact on me in season 2, and he knows so much about Azra, the Abbots, and M.K.’s power that it seems like he’d still be useful to the plot of the show. It’s true that he’s injured and a long way from his friends, but if Quinn can survive a sword to the gut, Bajie can manage to live through a pair of shears to the stomach.
Seeing computers on the screen was a bit jarring — in the best possible way. We know Into the Badlands takes place in the future, long after the world as we know it has collapsed, but everything about its aesthetic is a callback to days before modern conveniences. Seeing those computers means we’ve only seen a portion of what this show has to offer, and that excites me more than anything else.
But it’s the signal Bajie sends that is the biggest mystery of all. What does the Morse code say and who is he sending it to? How much more does Bajie know about Azra? And, most importantly, how will this affect the show going forward? It’s likely to bring more trouble to the Badlands, in one way or another.
