AMC's Into the Badlands, a new martial arts/sci-fi series

[JD]

I fell behind not long after the second episode so I had been avoiding the thread until I got caught up.
I am loving the show. The fight scenes are awesome, it's got an interesting world, and Sunny is a cool hero.
I'm really hoping Ryder's alliance with The Widow doesn't work out. I don't see him being a very good Baron.
I loved the fight scene at the cemetery.
I wasn't to surprised Lydia knew about Jade and Ryder.
I've been trying to figure out, is Tilda the Widow's real daughter? She kept calling her mother, but I wasn't sure if that was just what all of her girls call her because she did refer to them as sisters and I doubt they are all her daughters.
It's weird seeing Steven Lang as a good guy.

 

[Anwar]

If the Widow is the same age as her actress, then she's only 30 or so. That means none of her soldiers (who are clearly teens or older) could be her actual children.

And it was awesome watching Lang's character clobber the kid repeatedly from the wheelchair.

 

[JD]

That was a great scene. I am curious if we're ever going to get to learn the backstory of Waldo, Stephen Lang's character. I just remembered one other thing I was curious about. Waldo always calls Sunny Sunshine, I'm wondering if that is his actual full name or just a nickname.
I was thinking that The Widow looked pretty young to have a daughter as old as Tilda, but Hollywood is notorious for casting people close in age as parent and child.

I just checked the character bios for The Widow and Tilda on AMC's website for the show and it just talks about The Widow just being Tilda's Baron, so it looks like they aren't related by blood.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If the Widow is the same age as her actress, then she's only 30 or so. That means none of her soldiers (who are clearly teens or older) could be her actual children.

And it was awesome watching Lang's character clobber the kid repeatedly from the wheelchair.

Puberty can strike crazy early. Consent is decided on and re-decided upon at each Barons whimsy. There's some sister wive shit going on, so each wife is the mother to all her husbands children "equally".

 

[Anwar]

That was a great scene. I am curious if we're ever going to get to learn the backstory of Waldo, Stephen Lang's character. I just remembered one other thing I was curious about. Waldo always calls Sunny Sunshine, I'm wondering if that is his actual full name or just a nickname.
I was thinking that The Widow looked pretty young to have a daughter as old as Tilda, but Hollywood is notorious for casting people close in age as parent and child.

I just checked the character bios for The Widow and Tilda on AMC's website for the show and it just talks about The Widow just being Tilda's Baron, so it looks like they aren't related by blood.

Lang's character was Sunny's predecessor, the Regent (which means Top Clipper and Military Adviser to the Baron). Seeing how he's clearly older than Quinn I'm guessing this means he helped him become the Baron.

I assumed Sunny was trained by Quinn, but it's possible he was trained by Lang.

 

[Christopher]

Didn't Sunny actually say to MK that Lang's character trained him?

 

[Morpheus 02]

That was a great scene. I am curious if we're ever going to get to learn the backstory of Waldo, Stephen Lang's character. I just remembered one other thing I was curious about. Waldo always calls Sunny Sunshine, I'm wondering if that is his actual full name or just a nickname.
I was thinking that The Widow looked pretty young to have a daughter as old as Tilda, but Hollywood is notorious for casting people close in age as parent and child.

I just checked the character bios for The Widow and Tilda on AMC's website for the show and it just talks about The Widow just being Tilda's Baron, so it looks like they aren't related by blood.

Lang's character was Sunny's predecessor, the Regent (which means Top Clipper and Military Adviser to the Baron). Seeing how he's clearly older than Quinn I'm guessing this means he helped him become the Baron.

I assumed Sunny was trained by Quinn, but it's possible he was trained by Lang.

Quinn clearly has been a Clipper earlier in life. Perhaps he was trained by Lang, but chose to be Baron, while Lang wasn't interested in the job. Or perhaps what caused him to be wheelchair-bound is what gave QUinn his opportunity.

With the magic that surrounds MK...I'll let that be a part of why we should accept the no-guns world they've created.

So are we just going to be dealing with 3-4 Barons a season, and rotating them every year?

 

[JD]

That was a great scene. I am curious if we're ever going to get to learn the backstory of Waldo, Stephen Lang's character. I just remembered one other thing I was curious about. Waldo always calls Sunny Sunshine, I'm wondering if that is his actual full name or just a nickname.
I was thinking that The Widow looked pretty young to have a daughter as old as Tilda, but Hollywood is notorious for casting people close in age as parent and child.

I just checked the character bios for The Widow and Tilda on AMC's website for the show and it just talks about The Widow just being Tilda's Baron, so it looks like they aren't related by blood.

Lang's character was Sunny's predecessor, the Regent (which means Top Clipper and Military Adviser to the Baron). Seeing how he's clearly older than Quinn I'm guessing this means he helped him become the Baron.

I assumed Sunny was trained by Quinn, but it's possible he was trained by Lang.

I must have missed or forgotten that bit.

 

[Morpheus 02]

epic battle at the end of episode 5, though a couple of the weapons used were also scene in the Shaw Brothers move 5 Element Ninjas a.k.a. Super Ninjas.

also, Tilda seemed extremely off her game...

 

[sojourner]

The weapons seen are common to a thousand different martial arts movies. Nothing novel there.

 

[Christopher]

epic battle at the end of episode 5...

I was laughing at the self-indulgence of having Sunny just happen to kick the Widow into an armory...

I thought it was heartwarming to see Jade and Lydia finally getting along, until I realized that they were bonding over harvesting opium poppies. Not exactly a wholesome and uplifting activity. And it looks like Lydia might have just been trying to get close to Jade in order to poison her, maybe? I hope not.

 

[DWF]

The fight between Sunny and the Widow reminded me of Michelle Yoah's fight Zang in CT/HD. And yes Lydia clearly wants Jade out of the way, that was kind of foreshadowed last week.

 

[DWF]

Plenty of revelations in the finale, Sunny and the Widow are kind of related as well, I wonder how they lost the powers that MK has. And Quinn was too clever for his own good, I have to think he somehow survived Sunny's attack. And for once Sunny was outcalssed,although the monks seemed to like the agents in the Matrix movies. And t does seem as though Jade poisoned herself. I have to wonder what Tilda's choice was now, otherwise there's been a massive change in the balance of power among the Barons.

 

[Christopher]

I found the finale kind of unfocused. Some of the threads were wrapped up too abruptly, especially Quinn's fate. I'd thought there'd at least be a big fight between him and Sunny. And Veil was just left behind? Lydia just became a nun? With Sunny and MK being taken away, and with this supposedly being based on Journey to the West, I'm not sure the show will ever return to this territory and these characters, so are these cliffhangers or just endings? Either way, it didn't feel like it held together well.

And these other Dark Ones (?) just showing up at the end for a big fight was kind of cursory too. Why did Sunny fight them? Why didn't he stop to ask who they were? Especially once he saw them do the eye thing, shouldn't he have instantly realized a) they were probably on MK's side and thus not his enemies, and b) he was crazy to fight them? You'd think he would've stopped and tried to talk. Plus there's the complete improbability that he could've survived being magic-punched by three of them at once and knocked through a wall. Unless there's something supernormal about him too, something that makes him ultra-durable.

 

[DWF]

I found the finale kind of unfocused. Some of the threads were wrapped up too abruptly, especially Quinn's fate. I'd thought there'd at least be a big fight between him and Sunny. And Veil was just left behind? Lydia just became a nun? With Sunny and MK being taken away, and with this supposedly being based on Journey to the West, I'm not sure the show will ever return to this territory and these characters, so are these cliffhangers or just endings? Either way, it didn't feel like it held together well.

And these other Dark Ones (?) just showing up at the end for a big fight was kind of cursory too. Why did Sunny fight them? Why didn't he stop to ask who they were? Especially once he saw them do the eye thing, shouldn't he have instantly realized a) they were probably on MK's side and thus not his enemies, and b) he was crazy to fight them? You'd think he would've stopped and tried to talk. Plus there's the complete improbability that he could've survived being magic-punched by three of them at once and knocked through a wall. Unless there's something supernormal about him too, something that makes him ultra-durable.

Quinn's fate is undecided I would like to think,even if he survived though he still has a tumor which will kill him. And Sunny did say he had a medallion just like Mk, the Widow also came from their it explains how she susvived being kicked though a brick wall last week.

MK, The Widow and Sunny seem to ned each other, MK had teh metallion, The Widow had the book and Sunny the compass. They would seem to each other.

 

[atlantalliance]

Are we even certain that this is set on Earth?

I don't know? I would assume the vintage tech, the old factory buildings, trade in opium flowers and people holding onto icons of their past mad-max style would mean it is on Earth, the models of a broken Washington Capital...but I can't be sure


highly entertaining show nonetheless, great watch!

 

[Arrrrgggh]

I got the impression that it's alternative history Earth rather than a portrayal of a future apocalypse. Have we seen any technology at all that comes from anything beyond the 60s or 70s or so? They have electricity, so computers and other electronic devices should be viable, yet I can't remember a single item even hinting at their existence, even in Quinn's office. In fact, the most advanced thing I remember seeing are his speakers... and I had a set just like that back in the 70s.

That said, the thing I don't understand is how did the Widow's girls take out all of Quinn's clippers and cogs during the sneak attack? Sure, they would have had little trouble taking out more than they themselves lost, but all of them? It's especially odd given how much they reinforced the fact that Quinn had a larger clipper force than all the other barons, with a strong implication that it was large enough to make it so that even if 3 or 4 of them joined forces they'd still be outmatched.

Sure, they're implied to be ninjas vs. Quinn's samurai, but that doesn't make them incompetent. Not to the point where they'd be decimated by such an attack. If it were, the Widow could have struck at any time back when she had her full army available...

Regardless, I'm really enjoying the series and look forward to more episodes.

 

[Anwar]

The Cogs didn't put up much of a fight, if they fought at all. And I think they only had a small force of Clippers at Quinn's Mansion while most of them were in the Widow's territory scouring it.

 

[Christopher]

I got the impression that it's alternative history Earth rather than a portrayal of a future apocalypse. Have we seen any technology at all that comes from anything beyond the 60s or 70s or so? They have electricity, so computers and other electronic devices should be viable, yet I can't remember a single item even hinting at their existence, even in Quinn's office. In fact, the most advanced thing I remember seeing are his speakers... and I had a set just like that back in the 70s.

I'd wondered that myself, but I'm told there was a modern motorcycle in one or more episodes and maybe a fairly modern car as well.

The thing is, it takes more than electricity for computers to work. For one thing, they rely on rare-earth elements that are, well, rare and in finite supply. For another, they're really hard to repair if you're in a post-apocalyptic world and the high-tech factory infrastructure for getting replacement parts made is no longer around. Pre-electronic technology can be repaired by any competent mechanic or smith or craftsman, but if the infrastructure behind the microcomputer industry has collapsed, and people are isolated in local groups where they have to make do with what knowledge and resources they have, then once all the computers have broken down, there's no way to repair or replace them.

 

[sojourner]

They've shown 60's era vehicles.