Into the Badlands (pilot)
Into the Badlands is a post-apocalyptic dystopian martial arts series that is a very loose adaptation of Journey to the West. Which probably tells you whether or not it's or you already.
IN THE FUTURE war and whatnot happens and there was chaos blah blah blah normal ONTO THE PLOT. (It actually does open with an Every Post apocalyptic Dystopia Ever voiceover that made my eyes roll even if it did set the tone. Just go with it.) After lots of war and fighting and death several barons took over, and and took the people in their various territories under their protection. Eventually, "protection" became servitude and eventually slavery, as the residents fell further and further into debt with their protectors. The Barons' enforcers are called Clippers, and as guns are outlawed, hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, and swords are back in style. (Not out of style: motorcycles, leather trenchcoats, sunshades, and southern accents.)
The main character, Sunny (played by Daniel Wu) is the head Clipper for one of the Barons, named Quinn. Quinn's estate is blatantly based on a southern plantation, though the social system seems to be based more on feudal domains than anything else, despite the aesthetic. The plantation aesthetic is, in the pilot at least, very much not on the nostalgic side, as a lot of the focus is on how Quinn sees himself as the benevolent baron but isn't benevolent at all, and that no one would be there if they thought they had a choice. After killing a gang of thieves, Sunny finds a boy named M.K. locked in a trunk. M.K. claims to be from the lands outside the Badlands, and that he and his mother came to the Badlands to find out information about a mysterious condition of M.K.'s (Note: Mother is missing, but not fridged at this point.) Sunny takes M.K back to Quinn's estate, where he's thrown in an arena with other young men to see who's cut out to be a Clipper. Meanwhile, Quinn's wife, Lydia, has apparently passed what Quinn considers to be her desirability date, and he's having her arrange his marriage to Jade, a young woman who was a worker on his lands. Lydia is concerned that Quinn intends to overlook their son as his heir and produce a new heir with Jade (Lydia, you are pretty impressive and would probably be so even if you weren't played by Orla Brady, but your son is a wimpy bully and a douche. IJS.) There's also Sunny's lover, Veil, a doctor on the estate, who seems to be encouraging Sunny to pack their bags and run, and is possibly the only truly decent person in the show, with the possible exception of M.K. Meanwhile, The Widow, called such because she murderered her husband, another Baron, and declared herself Baron in his place, is plotting things, and her plots involve M.K, though M.K. doesn't know what her interest in him is. Quinn objects to her calling herself a Baron, but Quinn is a misogynistic douche and slaveowner, so who cares about his opinion? (I can be more generous with Lydia because because her power and autonomy depend on his not tossing her to the side.)
While it's extremely unlikely that anyone is actually going to India for sacred texts, but it is very important that Sunny is played by a Chinese man (Daniel Wu) and that M.K's actor (Aramis Knight) is of both Indian and Pakistani descent. Daniel Wu is also a martial artist which means we get real actualfax fight scenes. The difference between fight scenes with a real martial artist and well choreographed fight scenes with amateurs is astounding, so it's nice to see the real thing on television. (I keep wanting to make a comparison to Basil Rathbone, a trained and talented fencer, always losing duels to actors who were clearly inferior fenders to him in all those swashbucklers. I mean, I like and own a lot of those swashbucklers. IJS.) The pilot as two extended fight scenes in which Sunny takes down groups of armed opponents with a lot of skill and little flash. The fight scenes are gorier than most television shows, but certainly not the goriest. I actually found the blood from the fight scenes less disturbing than the artfully displayed corpses in a lot of procedurals. I was more bothered by the bones breaking, which were accompanied by very loud snaps and twisted body parts.
The worldbuilding is a bit shaky at this point, relying more on striking visuals (And the shows is seriously stunning. AMC possibly literally poured money into it.) and atmosphere to establish the world than anything else. It does, however, do a very good job setting up a dark and depressing world, and conveying a sense of helplessness, despite the bright colors and open spaces. It also manages to create a dark and depressing world without having a single woman beaten, raped*, murdered onscreen, naked, or otherwise attacked. (So sad that that has to be pointed out.) Sunny does kill at least one woman in his first fight, I believe, but it's done as matter of factly as his dispatching of the men he's fighting, and the camera angles and focus doesn't change to linger over her death body like so many shows do.There’s also a scene at the beginning where Sunny finds a young girl who has been murdered, but again, there’s none of the prurient interest or lingering camera (on her, at least) that we usually get with dead women. Violence involving women =/= violence against women, and I hope that's something the show actually does get, and this isn't a one off. I know from stills that there's at least one fight scene with The Widow coming up, and that she has a teenaged female assassin in her employ.
A perfect show? No. But it has a strong start, and a lot of potential.
*While Jade's consent in her marriage to Quinn would be considered questionable at best, we don't see enough of her to really have an idea of what's going on there beyond Quinn deciding he wants a pretty young woman as his new wife. I am watching for that plotline to go horribly wrong, but hoping it doesn't. I mean, they got Sarah Bolger for Jade, and I choose to believe that's because they have plans for her.
IN THE FUTURE war and whatnot happens and there was chaos blah blah blah normal ONTO THE PLOT. (It actually does open with an Every Post apocalyptic Dystopia Ever voiceover that made my eyes roll even if it did set the tone. Just go with it.) After lots of war and fighting and death several barons took over, and and took the people in their various territories under their protection. Eventually, "protection" became servitude and eventually slavery, as the residents fell further and further into debt with their protectors. The Barons' enforcers are called Clippers, and as guns are outlawed, hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, and swords are back in style. (Not out of style: motorcycles, leather trenchcoats, sunshades, and southern accents.)
The main character, Sunny (played by Daniel Wu) is the head Clipper for one of the Barons, named Quinn. Quinn's estate is blatantly based on a southern plantation, though the social system seems to be based more on feudal domains than anything else, despite the aesthetic. The plantation aesthetic is, in the pilot at least, very much not on the nostalgic side, as a lot of the focus is on how Quinn sees himself as the benevolent baron but isn't benevolent at all, and that no one would be there if they thought they had a choice. After killing a gang of thieves, Sunny finds a boy named M.K. locked in a trunk. M.K. claims to be from the lands outside the Badlands, and that he and his mother came to the Badlands to find out information about a mysterious condition of M.K.'s (Note: Mother is missing, but not fridged at this point.) Sunny takes M.K back to Quinn's estate, where he's thrown in an arena with other young men to see who's cut out to be a Clipper. Meanwhile, Quinn's wife, Lydia, has apparently passed what Quinn considers to be her desirability date, and he's having her arrange his marriage to Jade, a young woman who was a worker on his lands. Lydia is concerned that Quinn intends to overlook their son as his heir and produce a new heir with Jade (Lydia, you are pretty impressive and would probably be so even if you weren't played by Orla Brady, but your son is a wimpy bully and a douche. IJS.) There's also Sunny's lover, Veil, a doctor on the estate, who seems to be encouraging Sunny to pack their bags and run, and is possibly the only truly decent person in the show, with the possible exception of M.K. Meanwhile, The Widow, called such because she murderered her husband, another Baron, and declared herself Baron in his place, is plotting things, and her plots involve M.K, though M.K. doesn't know what her interest in him is. Quinn objects to her calling herself a Baron, but Quinn is a misogynistic douche and slaveowner, so who cares about his opinion? (I can be more generous with Lydia because because her power and autonomy depend on his not tossing her to the side.)
While it's extremely unlikely that anyone is actually going to India for sacred texts, but it is very important that Sunny is played by a Chinese man (Daniel Wu) and that M.K's actor (Aramis Knight) is of both Indian and Pakistani descent. Daniel Wu is also a martial artist which means we get real actualfax fight scenes. The difference between fight scenes with a real martial artist and well choreographed fight scenes with amateurs is astounding, so it's nice to see the real thing on television. (I keep wanting to make a comparison to Basil Rathbone, a trained and talented fencer, always losing duels to actors who were clearly inferior fenders to him in all those swashbucklers. I mean, I like and own a lot of those swashbucklers. IJS.) The pilot as two extended fight scenes in which Sunny takes down groups of armed opponents with a lot of skill and little flash. The fight scenes are gorier than most television shows, but certainly not the goriest. I actually found the blood from the fight scenes less disturbing than the artfully displayed corpses in a lot of procedurals. I was more bothered by the bones breaking, which were accompanied by very loud snaps and twisted body parts.
The worldbuilding is a bit shaky at this point, relying more on striking visuals (And the shows is seriously stunning. AMC possibly literally poured money into it.) and atmosphere to establish the world than anything else. It does, however, do a very good job setting up a dark and depressing world, and conveying a sense of helplessness, despite the bright colors and open spaces. It also manages to create a dark and depressing world without having a single woman beaten, raped*, murdered onscreen, naked, or otherwise attacked. (So sad that that has to be pointed out.) Sunny does kill at least one woman in his first fight, I believe, but it's done as matter of factly as his dispatching of the men he's fighting, and the camera angles and focus doesn't change to linger over her death body like so many shows do.There’s also a scene at the beginning where Sunny finds a young girl who has been murdered, but again, there’s none of the prurient interest or lingering camera (on her, at least) that we usually get with dead women. Violence involving women =/= violence against women, and I hope that's something the show actually does get, and this isn't a one off. I know from stills that there's at least one fight scene with The Widow coming up, and that she has a teenaged female assassin in her employ.
A perfect show? No. But it has a strong start, and a lot of potential.
*While Jade's consent in her marriage to Quinn would be considered questionable at best, we don't see enough of her to really have an idea of what's going on there beyond Quinn deciding he wants a pretty young woman as his new wife. I am watching for that plotline to go horribly wrong, but hoping it doesn't. I mean, they got Sarah Bolger for Jade, and I choose to believe that's because they have plans for her.