A world where guns have been banished and the Badlands are controlled by Barons and their armies known as Clippers. A diverse group of characters, including an Asian male lead and a complex female villain that I love. Kick-ass fighting scenes that include martial arts and swords. These are just a few reasons why you should watch AMC’s Into the Badlands. Season 2 debuts on Sunday, March 19 at 10 p.m., and this is a perfect opportunity for me to convince you to watch this fun and unique show. Season 1 was recently added to Netflix. It’s only six episodes long, so you can easily catch up before March 19!
Here, I’ll elaborate on the reasons I stated above. Warning, there will be spoilers, but nothing too major!
The Badlands: The show is set several centuries in the future, where the Badlands are ruled by seven barons. The show does a good job of not dumping a lot of exposition on us. It simply places us into this new world and slowly introduces us to it. The most interesting aspect to me are the Barons. In season 1, we meet three of them. Quinn, the most powerful Baron, controls and produces poppy flowers, which are harvested for opium. Minerva, known as The Widow, is the newest Baron after the death of her husband. We also meet Jacobee, who is one of Quinn’s few allies. Each Baron has their own flair, from their clothing attire to the symbols on their flags. Quinn invokes the armadillo on as his symbol; The Widow uses the butterfly; and Jacobee has a mining pick. Each Baron also employs their own armies, all of them trained with deadly fighting skills.
The Cast: Led by Daniel Wu, the cast is made up of a diverse group of men and women of different races and ages. Wu portrays the most dangerous Clipper, Sunny. Sunny works for Quinn, and although he is a killer, you see moments of humanity when he rescues a boy named M.K., who carries a dark secret. The majority of the show’s storyline revolves around Sunny and M.K.’s relationship, but one of my favorite characters is The Widow. She’s a total badass as you can see in the video below. Warning: The video is pretty bloody!
Which leads me to…
The Fight Scenes:
I could just keep posting YouTube clips of the show’s fight scenes, but I’ll stop. What I admire about this world is that there are no guns (they have been banned by the barons and pretty much don’t exist in this world, as explained by showrunner Al Gough), but it’s just as deadly without them. Visually, it’s more interesting, especially when you throw in some swords and knives!
Bonus: As a Linkin Park fan, I was thrilled to hear the theme song is by band member Mike Shinoda. Plus, the opening credits kick ass!
So, if you’re a fan of interesting world-building and excellent fight scenes, I hope you’ll join me on March 19 for season 2 on AMC!
This is a show I recorded on a whim and didn’t expect to like given that I’m not a fan of martial arts action. But the story, characters, and world are surprisingly compelling. I like it far more than the disappointing Preacher.
Oh, Preacher…. Ron, did you ever read the comics on which its based? I know the finale FINALLY brought us to the point where the comics started, and I’m all for adapting the source material in new and interesting ways (I am a HUGE fan of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal, for example), but the changes they made the Jesse’s father in the show was a step too far for me.
Now this show looks interesting. What Nu describes reminds me a bit of the comic book series Lazarus for some reason. I need to check this out!