WARNING: Spoilers for the latest episode of Into The Badlands.
Monday night’s episode of AMC’s Into the Badlands saw the beginnings of the Widow (Emily Beecham) turning over a new leaf. Since the post-apocalyptic martial arts series first premiered, Minerva has ruthlessly pursued power by trying to take control of the Badlands, but a new development has caused her to adopt a new goal.
In February, AMC confirmed that Into the Badlands would end after season 3. On Sunday, the series returned for a long hiatus with a two-night event to kick off the show’s final eight episodes. In “Chamber of the Scorpion”, the Widow’s war against her enemy, Baron Chau (Eleanor Matsuura) was interrupted by the Master (Chipo Chung). The Widow has a fierce battle with the Master, but was defeated in the end. The Master explained that she wants Minerva to shift her attention to a more pressing threat: Pilgrim (Babou Ceesay). The Widow eventually agreed to help fight Pilgrim on the condition that the Master restore her Gift, the mysterious ability that was lost to her long ago.
In Monday’s episode, the Master puts the Widow into a dream-like state where she experiences a world where she never lost her Gift. In this alternate reality, the Widow is viewed as a cruel tyrant. Though Minerva appears to recognize the horrors around her, she ends up going along with this harsh new reality and kills Gaius (Lewis Tan), who she wrongly believes betrayed her. The Widow is attacked by the Raven, who is revealed to be the Widow’s good side. According to the Raven, Minerva has been keeping the light within her buried. The dream ends with Raven murdering the Widow.
Widow’s “death” clearly symbolizes a new direction for the character. It appears that Into the Badlands is setting the stage for Minerva to finally become one of the good guys, which has been a long time coming.
Back in Into the Badlands season 1, Sunny (Daniel Wu) and M.K. (Aramis Knight) were caught in a power struggle between Quinn (Martin Csokas) and the Widow. After discovering that M.K. possessed the Gift, the Widow kept him as a prisoner while trying to win him over to her side. The Widow’s war with Quinn, ambitions of conquest, and her interest in M.K.’s power have kept her at odds with Sunny throughout the series. However, Minerva isn’t without a few redeeming qualities. She has at times displayed a great deal of compassion for her people and those close to her.
While Minerva has previously expressed a willingness to form a temporary alliance with Sunny in order to defeat a common enemy, the remainder of Into the Badlands season 3 may see Minerva become a truly trustworthy and reliable ally for the first time, as both Sunny and the Widow will need to team up to take down Pilgrim and his army.
