Fightland Season 1 Episode 5 Review: I Want This Delivers One Hell of a Homecoming

Critic’s Rating: 5 / 5.0

5

Five episodes in, Fightland finally delivers the payoff that all that family drama, revenge, and tension have been building toward.

I Want This starts cashing in on relationships, resentments, and secrets that have been simmering since the beginning, while adding a few twists that make an already complicated story even messier.

And Fightland doesn’t ease into any of it. Before the 15-minute mark, feelings are confessed, alliances are tested, and loyalties start shifting.

Duke Finally Lets His Guard Down

I’ve been waiting all season for a real moment between Duke and Gazzer. I finally got it, just not the way I wanted it.

When the Russians retaliate by attacking the Marshalls’ gym, Gazzer is badly injured.

There’s no room for the usual tension between him and Duke. In that moment, Duke is simply a son terrified of losing his father.

The second Duke actually calls him “Dad” — that one little word- it got to me. It was a moment we’ve been waiting for between the two, and the hour cashes in on it in a satisfying way.

Whatever happened between these two still hasn’t been revealed, but the love has always been there under the surface. They’re just both too stubborn to say it.

This isn’t the big reconciliation I’d eventually like to see, but in this moment, it’s enough. Duke holding onto his father and begging him to hang on says plenty.

Mama Bear Has Been Poked

Cece has been working my nerves lately, especially when it comes to Joy.

I can respect that she’s a boss and knows how to handle business, but the way she keeps shutting Joy out of decisions about her own life and child has gotten old.

Joy has taken a lot this season without pushing back.

Fortunately, for our entertainment, that changes when Cece tells Joy that finding her kidnapped son Aiden is none of her business.

Excuse me? What? That’s her child we’re talking about!

To say the tension is thick in that moment would be an understatement, and that’s when we get to one of Fightland’s juiciest moments.

Joy gets fed up, hauls off, and slaps Cece so hard I felt it through the screen. I have to admit, I rewound that part and watched it again.

Cece didn’t even retaliate; she couldn’t. Even she probably realized that she earned that one.

Honestly, that slap is one of my favorite moments of the series so far because it feels like Joy is finally finding her voice and coming into her own.

Joy also overheard Cece and Nikolai’s conversation about the kidnapping and immediately demanded answers. So she is no longer letting Cece off the hook.

Mama Bear has officially been poked.

Jay Finally Breaks Under the Weight of Guilt

Jay’s confession delivered one of the episode’s strongest character moments.

He revealed that he struggled with substance abuse and fell off the wagon the night of Kingsley’s fight. Because he wasn’t there when Kingsley and Calvin were attacked, he’s convinced himself he failed them.

That explains why Jay keeps following Duke into danger. He’s trying to make up for something he believes he should have prevented.

I’ve had a soft spot for Jay since Fightland Season 1 Episode 1, and this only makes him more compelling. He’s raw and real, a good person who has done some bad things.

Duke’s response, though, was hard to watch.

Jay was standing there in tears, baring his soul to him, and Duke called him “pathetic.”

I get it. Duke lost his brother, but Jay has been like a brother to him, too. He deserves more than a cheap shot when he’s already beating himself up.

Jay is already carrying guilt like a backpack full of bricks, and Duke basically tosses another one in. Not exactly best-friend behavior.

The Russians Need a Kidnapping Manual

Sergei taking Aiden goes too far even for Nikolai.

But surprisingly, the kidnapping also provides one of the hour’s few lighter moments. These Russians may be dangerous, but they are terrible kidnappers.

They offered Aiden cigarettes and asked if he wanted to drive a Ferrari. A nine-year-old boy? Really? What kind of kidnapping is this?

The funny thing is, they are dead serious. It’s one of the very few laugh-out-loud moments in the series.

Fightland could use more little breaks like that. The story carries so much emotional weight that a little humor gives it some much-needed room to breathe.

Kingsley Marshall Returns With Perfectly Bad Timing 

Of course, Duke is the one who finds Aiden, takes out a few more Russians along the way, and brings him home safely to his mother.

The reunion brings a much-needed moment of relief before Duke finally lays it all out for Joy, telling her he wants her, Aiden, and the chance for the three of them to be a family.

For someone who has spent most of the season keeping his feelings buried, it’s a huge moment. Then Kingsley Marshall comes strolling down the stairs.

This man has been MIA all season; nobody knows where the hell he’s been, and he shows up dressed to the nines like he just got back from a party.

Talk about a grand entrance and perfectly bad timing.

Kingsley may only appear in the final seconds, but his return changes everything.

The head of the Marshall family is back, Duke has just admitted exactly what he wants, and things are about to get even messier.

Over to you, Fightland Fanatics.

What does Kingsley’s return mean for Duke and Joy, and where in the world has he been all this time? Let’s talk about this wild twist.