Tag: Into the Badlands

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Into the Badlands’ — Snake Creeps Down

by Eric Francisco

There’s one week left in Into the Badlands, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. A plodding, busy episode leaves a questionable status quo to set up for its (presumed) finale. Will it be enough?

Let’s get this out of the way: the action remains superb. The fight in The Fort dungeon between The Widow and Sunny is among the best in all of TV action to date, and very few shows are willing to be as ballsy as Badlands. If the show doesn’t get an Emmy for stunts it’ll be a crime.

But otherwise, Into the Badlands suffers this week to juggling too many arcs and as a result, not feeling like we’ve gone anywhere. Quinn now knows M.K.’s secret, and Jade is most likely dead (presuming, since Quinn looked all kinds of disheveled when he sees M.K.). Those are the biggest developments. Can you think of anything else?

Granted, Veil now knows Sunny was involved with her parents’ murders, but Quinn was straight up lying to her or twisting the truth to fit his reality. But what will she do? I think she may have seen through Quinn’s lies and poisoned his precious Jade, but when could that have happened? (Side note: It’s gotta be Lydia who killed her. It makes the most sense.)

Sunny is really ceasing to be the star of his show. How he’ll manage to get out of the Badlands when the ticket price is M.K.’s head is his biggest challenge right now, and that went entirely unanswered this week. Also unanswered is what Ryder’s plan against his father is. After meeting his grandfather (Alien fans, it’s Lance Henriksen!) and failing to get the answers he seeks, Ryder arrogantly walks off determined to figure it out himself. One throwaway line by Henriksen’s character hints that M.K.’s dark power is more widely known, but Badlands doesn’t care to explore that further at the moment.

But will it really matter? Quinn is dying. They could literally just wait it out, but The Widow appears to be the impatient type. I can’t recall if she knows he’s sick (I feel like he does? Somebody must have told her. I think Ryder told her?) but I do know that it’ll be used against him. That much is obvious.

Into the Badlands heads home next week, and maybe for the final time as the show hasn’t been renewed yet. Would you want it to? There’s still a lot to explore, and I hope we get that chance.

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Into the Badlands’ — “Two Tigers Subdue Dragons”

by Eric Francisco

If you went crazy wondering where last week’s Into the Badlands recap/review went, you can embrace your sanity now: I didn’t write it. Sorry, previous commitments stopped me from writing, but I’m here this week for “Two Tigers Subdue Dragons,” a middle-of-the-road episode with an awesome climactic fight and some neat twists to hook us for next week.

Spoilers are ahead.

Heavy on plot and heavy on action, “Two Tigers Subdue Dragons” propels us forward at a brisk pace as the first season of Into the Badlands approaches its end. (Already? I know! Snuck up on me too.)

The big twist we need to wrangle with: Zephyr is in cahoots with The Widow herself, and now Ryder has joined their alliance. Quinn’s once dominant stranglehold over the Badlands is crippling within his home. What do you think will kill him first: his illness or his own blood?

Elsewhere, Sunny has a tough time ahead of him. The River King, the only safe passage out of the Badlands, will have to offer M.K.’s head as payment. It kinda sucks since half the reason he wants out is because of M.K. Speaking of that kid, I’m beginning to suspect (and perhaps fear) we may not learn his origins and how he got his powers this season. Next week’s preview focused on a showdown between The Widow and Sunny, which is enough to take up its own episode without having room for M.K.’s backstory. They very well could explain M.K.’s origin, but it’s just unlikely.

I’m in love with how every Baron has their own flavor. We’ve seen enough of Quinn and his southern samurai, while The Widow’s navy bowler hat ninjas were cool while they lasted. I’m totally feeling Jacoby’s Scottish pirates: their costumes (black plaid? DOPE.), their gear, and the swagger they carried themselves with made me want to know more about them. I’d watch a whole episode around Zephyr (whose actress reminds me so much of Katie Sackhoff).

Next week isn’t going to be fun for anyone. Sunny will have to decide what he does with M.K., and he’s going to have the redheaded roadblock that is The Widow standing in his way. Ryder has aligned himself against his father, and with only two episodes left in the season that’s going to blow up in someone’s face.

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Into the Badlands’ — “Fist Like a Bullet”

by Eric Francisco

In its second week, Into the Badlands proves it’s the show you wanted it to be with outlandish characters, dazzling fights, with only a passing facade of deep, mature storytelling. Sure, it’s there, but it’s not what you came for.

Beginning with the introduction of Emily Beecham’s The Widow and ending with a bombastic fight in an abandoned steel mill with someone’s life quite literally hanging in the balance, Into the Badlands has made no assumptions about the show it wants to be: Thrilling, exciting, with just enough brains in its story. With M.K. having escaped Quinn’s fortress, he finds himself in no better company: Under the care of the The Widow, who herself is after a boy after extraordinary powers who, hey, happens to be M.K. It’s not explicit if The Widow knew all along — I don’t think so, but I won’t be surprised if she did.

The Widow is gearing up for war. Aligning herself with other barons and demonstrating the walking Panzer tank of destruction that is her teenaged daughter (and obvious love interest for M.K.), Widow is saddling up for a confrontation with Quinn. She doesn’t need to, however, if she knew the most important thing: He’s dying. In a harrowing moment, Quinn orders Sunny to execute the doctors who failed him — and foster parents to his beloved Jade.

Heavy-handed? Sure. But it’s exactly the kind of cheap drama you want in a genre series like Badlands.

So what’s next? M.K. finds himself back under Quinn’s eye but is quickly placed under Sunny’s wing. Behind Quinn’s back, Sunny will train M.K. and, along with Jade, will make their way out of the Badlands. Slowly, but surely. Of course they won’t exit without a fight, but based on the thrilling choreography Badlands has shown in just two episodes, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.

“Fist Like a Bullet” was when I knew Into the Badlands lived up to my expectations. The pilot was great, but when you carry high expectations every misstep taken feels bigger than its supposed to be. Whenever Constantine boo-boo’d its storytelling, it ached because I wanted something flawless when what I got was only just “good” or even “okay.” A good that wasn’t quite good enough was the pilot, but “Fist Like a Bullet” was good in the exact way I wanted it to be.

I’m genuinely excited for next week. It’s good to be genuinely excited.

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Into the Badlands’ — “The Fort”

by Eric Francisco

Of all the scripted shows airing on AMC, once the home of Mad Men and afternoon broadcasts of Clark Gable movies, it’s unbelievable to think it’s the zombie show that is the least stylish. The Walking Dead is certainly the most expressionistic by far, but it lacks a confident swagger commonly held by gritty comic book movies. Into the Badlands has swagger in spades, along with a political power struggle that’s a bit of a paper-thin Game of Thrones. The premiere episode, “The Fort,” has the unenviable task of needing to set up before the party can really get started. On the bright side, it has some fun along the way.

Whatever happened that caused the world of Into the Badlands to become is of no concern. It was a bad war, and now everything looks like the antebellum south again. Sprawling poppy fields, slaves, and a collared “baron” (Quinn, played by Marton Csokas) could have you mistake this kung-fu mash up for a Civil War period piece, if not for famed Hong Kong actor Daniel Wu as Sunny — a distinctly Asian man — having the tippy top spot in Quinn’s Clipper army.

Sunny is Quinn’s most ferocious dog on a leash. What he lacks in literacy (“I prefer Cat in the Hat better”) he makes up for in street smarts and how to kill dudes. But he’s begun to crack, wondering what the 400 some odd bodies he’s stacked up all in Quinn’s name. Wu’s performance grounds Sunny; I think if anyone else were to portray him Sunny would be a failure of a character, but Wu excels in cold, humorless expressions that say a lot about his internal monologues. It’s debatable to say Wu isn’t actually the central character of Into the Badlands — it’s very much treading ensemble territory — but how Sunny would fit in the whole show is the dealbreaker that thankfully isn’t broken at all.

There’s a political power struggle in Into the Badlands that adds a large scope to the show’s world, but it pales to prestige contemporaries like Game of Thrones. Like Thrones, everyone who holds sway in the Badlands are after more of it but there are lesser stakes. Why does The Widow (Emily Beecham) want to kill Quinn? Because she’d succeed him. And then… yeah. More power.

However, there’s Orla Brady’s Lydia, the jealous wife of Quinn who has taken an eye towards a younger woman, Jade (Sarah Bolger). And there’s Quinn’s son, Ryder (Oliver Stark) who is an arrogant dick and a disappointment in his father’s eyes. And Jade and Ryder are fuckin’! Like a real period drama, there’s a heavy soap opera family drama hiding in Into the Badlands obscured by the bloodshed and steampunk.

But dead center of the coming war is Aramis Knight’s M.K., a young boy from a far off city who wields unbelievable power that both Quinn and, very likely the Widow, will play tug o’ war over. His origins are linked to Sunny’s, whose search for salvation possibly lies in his past. (Could M.K. and Sunny be brothers? Makes sense.) Like the Hulk, if M.K. is sliced by a blade he loses inhibition and rages like a beast with strength, precision, and brutality that far exceeds Sunny. Think Arrow‘s Mirakuru, but worse. It’s the most “supernatural” element in Badlands but given the show’s grounded dystopia it would be far too out of place. I wouldn’t rule out some fringe science that exists outside the Badlands, which have been walled off and isolated for untold generations.

He’s escaped, but it won’t be for long.

The political landscape is altogether a weak sum of parts, but it smartens up the ass-kicking. The show’s breathtaking action will stun anyone unfamiliar with modern kung-fu, who I suspect are the majority staying tuned in from The Walking Dead. People will be enamored by the action, but there’s just enough robust characterization that keeps the violence from being as senseless as Sunny’s past kills.