Fightland Episode 3 Recap: Will Ezekiel’s Actions Create A Rift Between Him And Cebella?

Confusing your opponent is one of the best strategies of war because when they are thrown off, they mix up their cards and usually end up making silly mistakes. In “Fightland,” Duke is doing the same; the way he has cut Lorik’s tongue, it resembles the Russian method of torture. Meanwhile, Lazaro has made a much bigger stir by killing Simeon and dumping his body in the Thames River. While Duke, Lazaro and Jay plan on hitting Marshall’s casino harder than ever, it turns out that Simeon’s sudden disappearance has caused an immediate effect. Lazaro finds out that Simeon was talking with a stranger (who is actually Kim); even though he follows her to a nearby food joint, he ultimately loses track of her. 

Spoilers Ahead

What Does Kim Want?

It turns out that Kim and Simeon Marshall worked together for some business that was going on without Ezekiel or Cebella’s knowledge. The day Simeon was supposed to meet Kim, he mysteriously disappeared, leaving her worried about the whole thing. My best guess is that Kim is working against the Marshalls and she probably wants to expose Kingsley, since Lewis, the man she has teamed up with, is a cop. So, it’s highly likely that Simeon was just an informer whose task was leaking insider information, most probably about the boxing match fixings. Since Simeon is out of the equation, Kim has nobody in the Marshall gym who is closer to Ezekiel or Cebella except Duke. Her affection towards Duke is real, there’s no doubt about that; but the way she accelerates things and gets into the hot sauna with him, it shows that she is desperately trying to flip him in her favor. But Kim is missing the whole point here since Duke is already working against a corrupted billionaire like Kingsley. 

Why Does Cebella Suspect Nikolai?

Since the Albanians are already fighting against the Russians (actually, with every gang they could find), Duke wants a massive showdown between them. Although Nadim is not making a move, Duke’s actions have rung a bell in Cebella’s mind, who is in a fling with Nikolai. A part of her wants to save Nikolai since she loves him, but the other part constantly reminds her that cutting off the tongue is an old method used by the Russians to punish their enemies and traitors. Although Nikolai explains to Cebella that he has no role behind Lorik’s death, he fails to vouch for his henchman, Sergei. Cebella doesn’t believe him easily because somewhere deep down, she thinks of him as just a Russian gang member who works for the Marshall’s for money.

What Pushes Gazzer To Lash Out At Duke?

Gazzer was never the same after his younger son, Calvin died and elder son, Duke was imprisoned; those eight years were really difficult for him. He tried his best to move on from the past but the painful memories are too much for him to handle. When Duke was released and he walked into the gym, Gazzer thought that it was going to be a new beginning for the former boxer. As a boxing coach, he thought that he would be able to see Duke fight again in the ring. However, when he sees Jay and Duke whispering among themselves, Gazzer realizes that something is fishy. Duke stays silent and never informs him about what he is doing in his life lately, which spikes Gazzer’s curiosity. He somehow figures out that Duke is trying to do something illegal, even if he is unable to know the details. Just when Jay goes out after handing over the IED explosive to Duke, since he wants to cause an explosion in Marshall Casino, Gazzer walks in. The old man’s short but powerful monologue, and his lashing out is completely valid if you see the whole picture from his eyes. He does not want Duke to lose his freedom and stoop so low that the society stops looking at him with respect. Gazzer does not know that Kingsley is behind Calvin’s death and that’s why he considers Duke – who’s just trying to take revenge – a terrorist.

Why Does Duke Risk His Life?

Before Gazzer and Duke had a fight, there was an intense showdown between the former boxing champ and Jay. It is visible how Jay got into the game just because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jay helped Duke because he is a friend but he did not sign up for killing innocent people. Although Duke wanted to cause a stir, Jay grew furious because his friend did not think about the human factor. When Lazaro gets there with Duke and plants the bomb, both of them let out a sigh of relief because it’s the perfect operation. However, once Lazaro goes to put the compromised shipment inside the compound, Duke notices that a security guard is still on duty. Despite knowing everything about the five-minute-long timer (which goes down to two when he notices the guard), Duke rushes in to save the man. Duke knows that he is just doing his duty, since he doesn’t know what’s going on in Kingsley’s business, he deserves to live. 

Why Can’t Joy Move On From Duke?

Joy knew Duke for ages because the two of them were together since they were kids. Things got tough, Duke got jailed, Kingsley knew about their illicit affair and last week, we saw how Joy ignored the former champ after he got out of jail. Joy tried her best to live her life as a single mother and she wanted to be responsible towards her child, Aiden and that’s one of the main reasons why she walked out on Duke. However, Joy is not ready to move on from Duke. In Kingsley’s absence, she is trapped in a house all the time by Cebella and wherever she goes, her driver, Langston, keeps tabs on her. Joy is not able to conduct her real estate business since Cebella restricts her from spending Kingsley’s money. It is extremely tough for Joy to stay away from Duke since he is the same man with whom she once used to share her feelings. Joy has nobody to open up to and she is tired of living inside the prison that Cebella has created for her. Joy falls into Duke’s arms when she cannot take it any longer  and they end up getting close, just like the good old days. 

Will Ezekiel’s Actions Create A Rift Between Him And Cebella?

Ezekiel and Cebella are siblings but they have some differences that they don’t want to settle. Although Cebella thinks that the Russians are innocent behind Simeon’s death or the casino blast (because she doesn’t want to lose Nikolai), but Esekiel thinks that Nikolai has killed Lorik. On the other hand, Duke’s primary plan is to make Ezekiel feel that the Albanians are guilty (because of Nadim’s disrespectful attitude)but when it fails, he taps into a bigger factor that can bring down the Marshall empire. Since Ezekiel wants Duke to accompany him in killing Nikolai, this will trigger the other Russians, who will instinctively join the fight. If they manage to kill Nikolai, this action will cause immense pain to Cebella, who will never forgive her brother for this act. Cebella’s hateful and aggressive nature will get fueled more from the grief of losing Nikolai; there’s a high chance that she ends up opposing her own brother. However, even if that happens, Duke will not remain safe since Cebella already saw him following Simeon on the night of his departure (the former boxing champ forgot to check his surroundings). Let’s wait till next week and then we will get to know if Duke and Ezekiel are able to kill Nikolai or not.

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