SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Fightland Season 1, Episode 8.
The Fightland season finale provides enough answers for fans of the Starz drama, but “You Won’t See Me Coming” also feels too much like a finale. It’s more manufactured to get the show to a Season 2, rather than providing the explosive experience that viewers have enjoyed most of the rest of the season. It’s not a bad episode because there’s closure—but it doesn’t live up to Fightland‘s own high standards.
Season finales are expected to be massive episodes, and especially in crime dramas, there’s room for plenty of high-stakes action. That goes double for a show called Fightland that hasn’t shied away from huge scenes before. Unfortunately, there are very few moments in Episode 8 that have that kind of propulsive momentum, either physically or emotionally. Things start with a great fight sequence between Duke Kilroy and two henchmen in a prison cell, but that’s the most action-packed moment.
The script gets credit for actually killing off Kingsley Marshall. The issue with Kingsley is that from his return, he’s never been half as fleshed out as the other main characters. He’s a one-dimensional villain with no redeeming qualities, and that’s reiterated here as he goes around antagonizing everyone like this is “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” It short-changes actor Nicholas Pinnock to an extent, and there’s really nothing for the character to do but die. Which, of course, presents a logistical problem because then Fightland needs a new antagonist.
Enter Zeek Marshall, and actor Charles Babalola does an excellent job leaning into Zeek’s heel turn. It’s very clear what Fightland is trying to do; it knows Kingsley had to be handled, so the writers create this arc of Zeek having had enough and becoming the bad guy. That’s an idea that has merit, because the show’s established Zeek’s frustrations throughout the prior seven episodes. Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t work—the big scene in which Zeek and Cebella confront Kingsley is more of a muddle of emotions than an intense final showdown, Zeek isn’t the one to pull the trigger (that’d be Cebella), and then there’s this still not quite convincing idea that Zeek masterminded the Vegas attack in the series premiere. He even has a “here’s what happened” speech to Duke, spelling it all out. That just makes it feel more like a last-minute plot twist, as if the writers are also explaining it all to the audience. Plus, Zeek reveals he has at least one mystery associate, and Duke officially jumps back into the boxing ring. All of these reveals in the final fifteen minutes are clearly dangling plot points for next season.
But Fightland isn’t the first show to do that; it’s very common for TV series to cram plot twists and/or cliffhangers into finales, in order to get the network and the fans to want more. And the messiness of that last act would be more palatable if there was enough of an emotional payoff in the rest of the episode. None of the character arcs feel like they have that crowning moment. The final conversation between Kingsley and Duke, as the former is dying—what should be the capstone to the whole season—pales in comparison to their previous one-on-one. This one is mostly just to point Duke in Zeek’s direction. And all of the female characters in particular are underutilized. Even though Cebella fires the fatal shots, Anita-Joy Uwajeh has had bigger scenes earlier. Anyone still rooting for Duke and Joy will be dismayed that there’s no last face-to-face between them, although to be fair, Episode 7 also pretty much destroyed that relationship.
All of this said, the Fightland season finale does address the Kingsley problem and clearly sets up what the show wants to do next season, so viewers aren’t left wanting for answers. They’re just left wanting more. Because this show definitely deserves a second season, particularly on the back of an ensemble that’s delivered consistently strong performances. Howard Charles has done some of his best work as Duke Kilroy, and Uwajeh has been a revelation as Cebella. Babalola now has even more to play with as Zeek enters his tyrannical era. Tyler Conti had some fantastic moments playing Jay. There’s also room to develop Joy now that she isn’t tied to either Duke or Kingsley. This is a great group of actors, and for the most part, the writing pushed incredibly hard. Just at the end, the show became more focused on putting on a show—much like the big fight at Tottenham—than staying with what made it so damn good.
Fightland airs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Starz and 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.
