SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Fightland Season 1, Episode 5.
Fightland Season 1, Episode 5 confirms everything that Starz viewers have already been able to guess about the show. “I Want This” features several climactic moments, but most of them have been sorted a long time ago. That doesn’t make it any less exciting to watch as these major plot twists come to fruition.
Firstly, the episode deserves some criticism for not answering the cliffhanger it started with. The fate of Richard Pepple‘s character Gary Kilroy remains uncertain, although a late-episode phone call saying that Gary isn’t doing well implies he might be killed off anyway. But viewers’ number one question is whether or not Gary dies, and they still don’t get an answer. And that’s not the only plot point that gets short shrift: when Kim Harper (Tahirah Sharif) gets thrown out a window Line of Duty-style by Lazaro, the episode never comes back to that either.
The majority of the episode is almost out of a video game, following Duke and Jay as they embark on a rescue mission to find Joy’s son Aiden, who is now confirmed to be Duke’s son (although he tells Jay that he doesn’t know if he’s the father). It culminates in a sequence where Duke storms through a tower block, dispatches several nameless Russians, and then briefly fights Sergei before shooting him. Jack Bauer would be proud of him. It’s exciting to watch, and satisfying because Aiden is saved, but it’s a lot more narrow plot-wise than other Fightland installments.
The best moments, ironically, have very little to do with action. Just before Kim gets attacked, she has a tough conversation with her police partner Lewis. Lewis had plenty of potential but he gets his biggest bit of character development just before he’s shot in the head. Frustrated with Kim, Lewis appeals to her by referring to them as “us,” implying that at one point they had a personal relationship. That could’ve been a great extra layer to their dynamic, showing an important relationship for Kim with someone who isn’t Duke, except Fightland kills Lewis off instead.
Even better is an argument between Duke and Jay, featuring an incredible performance by Tyler Conti. When Duke tries to leave Jay at home, it turns into Jay admitting that he has massive survivor’s guilt over Calvin’s death, as he had relapsed on cocaine the night that Calvin was murdered. Duke and Jay end up coming to blows, as Jay wants Duke to hurt him—but this desperate fight is more emotionally painful. The two end up nearly in tears as they talk about both the past and Duke’s possible future with a son, yet maybe without his father. Both Conti and Howard Charles are amazing in this scene, yet Conti truly proves that Jay is more than Duke’s sidekick.
Elsewhere, Fightland Episode 5 deserves credit for not lumping the Russians together as one faceless group of bad guys. Cebella’s relationship with Nikolai is front and center for obvious reasons, but the episode also devotes a few scenes to one of Sergei’s henchmen developing a rapport with Aiden. Kaz dies for it—but not before he tells Aiden where to hide and saves his life. It’s nice that all the “bad guys” aren’t written the same; it would be too easy, and too boring, to just have a bunch of Sergeis running around.
It all builds to the scene everyone knew was coming since the series premiere: Duke confesses his love to Joy just before Kingsley comes down the stairs. Obviously Kingsley had to return at some point; actor Nicholas Pinnock wasn’t credited as a guest star. Plus, writing-wise, referring to Kingsley like a ghost would eventually lose its steam and it would totally undercut Duke’s arc, since Duke’s entire mission is to get revenge against Kingsley. So the end of “I Want This” is no shocker, but at least Fightland viewers know that this is the beginning of what should be a fantastic showdown arc.
Fightland Season 1, Episode 5 is a flawed episode, with significant dangling plot points and too many needle drops that have started to distract from the action. Yet it also includes Tyler Conti’s best performance of the season and it does knock a lot off of the writers’ to-do list. It’s exciting, it’s chaotic and it lays the foundation for bigger and better things.
Fightland airs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Starz and streams on the Starz app. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Starz.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
