S01.E03: White Stork Spreads Wings

[formerlyfreedom]

As Sunny begins to train M.K., the boy struggles to learn discipline. Meanwhile, Quinn seeks retribution against The Widow and faces the consequences.

 

 

[Stardancer Supreme]

Where to begin?

 

If Quinn knew about Sunny and Veil, how could he not know that Ryder is boffing his soon-to-be second wife under his own roof?  Was Veil's daddy the only doctor in town? Seems like a stupid idea to have killed him, huh Baron?  Now you want to blackmail Veil into saving you?  The other Barons hate him. The tumor can't kill him fast enough for me.

 

M.K. - This one is too damn lucky. I did enjoy Sunny knocking him off the wall and having his ass handed to him by a regent in a wheelchair.  He's gonna get his new boo Tilda killed if someone tells the Widow she was talking to him outside the Doll House.

 

Angelica was a badass until the end.  She knew what would happen to her if Sunny got her to the Fort.  Death before Dishonor.

 

Ryder was messed up practically from the beginning.  Mama told him that he wasn't about the baron life! I guess he's going to plot against her like he is against Quinn. 

[SimoneS]

I watched this tonight. It wasn't bad, but the world still unconvincing. I am just glad that it will no longer air after TWD, disrupting my viewing of TD.

[placate]

This show has so many issues.  It's still pretty but it just makes me scratch my head.  Quin and the Widow segregate the sexes for their fighters for some reason and their fighters are pretty much illiterate and can't have sex.  Why?  How did giving up guns launch everyone into Depression era technology and illiteracy?  Why don't they train males and females?

 

Every time I see this show, it just makes me want to watch Bunraku again.  That was a great martial arts flick, this is just boring.

[Stardancer Supreme]

The Widow's girls don't seem to be illiterate. She probably cares a bit for her fighters.  Quinn? Just wanted bodies to fight for him.  Typical of most men in power.  The other Baron mentioned, Jacoby, has a female Clipper as his regent who apparently messed around with Sunny in the past. 

 

I don't think that the Clippers can't have sex; they can't have families, since they are beholden to their Baron. It would be silly to tell a killing machine that he can't get some.  They are encouraged not to get attached.  Probably by Barons killing the women.  Ugh. 

 

So many questionable things going on in this show. I just wish it were written better!  (What i seem to be saying about 90% of the shows I watch. Heh.)

[shrewd.buddha]

Is Sunny supposed to be the hero of this story? Because I'm not feeling it. Being the stoic right-hand henchman to crazy evil Baron Brain Tumor isn't making me sympathetic to his situation, no matter how conflicted he may be. I think we are all past the excuse of "I was just doing my job". 

And it only makes Sunny seem selfish that he finally decides to plan an escape when the stakes are his own child and baby-mama. He was okay with looking the other way until now? 

 

Unfortunately, that leaves no one else to root for. I'm not really interested in the desperate housewives drama that is brewing at Baron Brain Tumor's plantation. And in general, the whole theme of women as second class citizens feels like a big step backwards (even tho it is supposed to be like 'the old days' in a post-apocalyptic future). 

 

I believe we are going to have to leave The Badlands behind ... The fight choreography is still pretty, tho. 

[johntfs]

Maybe I looked at it wrong, but it seemed like the Widow's book was full of chemistry or physics equations instead of a true language.  Also interesting that Veil didn't recognize it as chemistry or physics and thought it was a language.  Presumably people are kept as ignorant as possible so they won't discover/rediscover gunpowder, etc and overthrow the swordocracies.

[AzureOwl]

I don't think that the Clippers can't have sex; they can't have families, since they are beholden to their Baron. It would be silly to tell a killing machine that he can't get some.  They are encouraged not to get attached.  Probably by Barons killing the women.  Ugh. 

 

That's what came across in the first episode. One of the guys training the colts even told them that when they became clippers they would be able to sleep with whoever they anted. 

 

Is Sunny supposed to be the hero of this story? Because I'm not feeling it. Being the stoic right-hand henchman to crazy evil Baron Brain Tumor isn't making me sympathetic to his situation, no matter how conflicted he may be. I think we are all past the excuse of "I was just doing my job". 

And it only makes Sunny seem selfish that he finally decides to plan an escape when the stakes are his own child and baby-mama. He was okay with looking the other way until now? 

 

I think that is kind of the point of the show. The Badlands are a shitty place, inhabited by shitty people. You are either a victim or a victimizer, and the only way to be anything else is to leave. 

[paigow]

Is Sunny supposed to be the hero of this story?

No. But he is the catalyst. By teaching the kid, he is shaping the saviour of "civilization". Like Darth Vader, Sunny is on a journey of quasi-redemption via sacrificial death for a good cause despite his past sins.

[bentley]

It would help if the lead were a better actor. His permanent stone face and flat line readings make me wish for someone far more charismatic in the role. I'm more interested in the Widow and her backstory.

[formerlyfreedom]

I'm finding The Widow absolutely mesmerizing. I'm okay with the lead, my take on the role is that he seems to be accompanying the story, rather than being the center of it? Maybe I see it that way because of how interesting I find some of the others...

[Netfoot]

 Like Darth Vader, Sunny is on a journey of quasi-redemption via sacrificial death for a good cause despite his past sins.

 

What???

[terxav]

M.K. is infuriating, i wanted him to pay the price for his stupidity this entire episode. 1) he enters the widow's house during the raid to steal a book he somehow believes is owed to him. 2) he walks in on Sunny & Veil because he is curious 3) he enters Sunny's bedroom to take a book he can't read & then sneaks away from the fort to visit Veil demanding she read the book for him. What? He comes across as spoiled, entitled for no reason. I wish he got busted and was put in confinement to teach him restraint. Sunny is in a precarious position that is constantly being made more difficult by M.K. If they eliminated his character from the story they could have every plot with more development of the characters with the elimination ofM.k

M.K. 'S MO - do exactly what ever places your allies in bad situations, if he were a little younger his actions could be chalked up yo immaturity but with his age they come across as stupid.

[Shriekingeel]

I'm finding The Widow absolutely mesmerizing. I'm okay with the lead, my take on the role is that he seems to be accompanying the story, rather than being the center of it? Maybe I see it that way because of how interesting I find some of the others...

+1. Emily Beecham just commands the screen in this.

[tennisgurl]

I like the Widow and her fiefdom/plantation, plus the character herself. She by far has the most real presence of any of the characters.  

[johntfs]

I'm liking this more as time goes on, even though I still have problems buying the world.  It just feels a little... fetishy to me.  Like, a writer has a nudity/underwear fetish so he writes "After the Great War there was a terrible shortage of fabric or clothing so people must walk around wearing bikinis or thongs."  I mean, okay, fine, no guns.  But what about chainmail or ringmail and leather with shields?  I get the feeling that if a few of the characters from Vikings or Game of Thrones hit the Baronies, they'd stomp them into a mudhole simply because they can protect themselves from sword based attacks using, you know, armor.

[Netfoot]

I get the feeling that if a few of the characters from Vikings or Game of Thrones hit the Baronies, they'd stomp them into a mudhole simply because they can protect themselves from sword based attacks using, you know, armor.

 

Indeed.  And while they're all turning backflips and making wooshing noises with weapons that are part bludgeon and part axe, one wonders how many would survive against a skilled swordsman with a foil or even an épée!

[johntfs]

Indeed.  And while they're all turning backflips and making wooshing noises with weapons that are part bludgeon and part axe, one wonders how many would survive against a skilled swordsman with a foil or even an épée!

If you're talking about Vikings, probably they'd survive pretty long.  foils and épées are fairly light weapons.  A Viking would sue his strength and shield to smash aside such a weapon and deliver a strike with his ax-bludgeon that the lighter weapon would likely be unable to block.  One of the more interesting moment in Spike-TVs Deadliest Warrior series came in Viking vs. Samurai.  The samurai advocate demonstrate the power of the katana by slicing a pig carcass in twain with one stroke.  Then they put Viking ring mail over another carcass.  That carcass remained unharmed and only a couple of the metal links of the ring were slightly bent by the katana's blow.  There's a reason that people who fought primarily with melee weapons wore armor.

[thuganomics85]

Yay, Ellen Hollman (Zyder) has arrived!  At least she will hopefully put her skills she used in Spartacus to good use.  Of course, it looks like she and Sunny had a thing, so I'm already treading a love triangle.  Or is already a rectangle, since Quinn is already creeping on Veil.  Then again, he's engaged to Jade, who is banging Ryder, so fuck it: apparently everyone is having or wanting sex with each other on this show.

 

The Widow is still probably my favorite character, but I'm kind of bummed that she more or less loss to Quinn, and probably would have been dead, had that tumor not decided to flare up at that very moment (what a coincidence!)  I would have figured she'd be able to handle him, but I guess I underestimated his fighting skills.  

 

M.K. is still annoying.  Even getting his ass handed to him by Waldo really didn't seem to knock out any of his arrogance.

 

The fight scenes continue to be the best part, but that goes without saying at this point.

[Netfoot]

A Viking would sue his strength and shield to smash aside such a weapon and deliver a strike with his ax-bludgeon that the lighter weapon would likely be unable to block.

 

Providing the foil hadn't flicked out 12 times in half a second and turned his heart into a pin-cushion.  

 

The Widow is still probably my favorite character, but I'm kind of bummed that she more or less loss to Quinn, and probably would have been dead, had that tumor not decided to flare up at that very moment (what a coincidence!)  I would have figured she'd be able to handle him, but I guess I underestimated his fighting skills.

 

I was also a little annoyed that the Widow was dispatched, along with all her forces, in a few minutes, and sent packing.  And personally saved only by the timely intervention of fate, rather than by her own hands.  But then, she is only a woman, correct?

 

M.K. is still annoying.  Even getting his ass handed to him by Waldo really didn't seem to knock out any of his arrogance.

 

Sunny:  "Wait on the balcony, and block her if she tries to escape."

MK: "No, I'll wait right here on the ground, because it's easier than climbing up."

Sunny:  <¡Whap!> <¡Whapp!> <¡Whappp!> <¡Whapppp!>

MK:  Oww!  Owww!  Owwww!  Owwwww!

 

They should let me write these things.

[AzureOwl]

I was also a little annoyed that the Widow was dispatched, along with all her forces, in a few minutes, and sent packing. And personally saved only by the timely intervention of fate, rather than by her own hands. But then, she is only a woman, correct?

I don't think that was the implication. We have been told that Quinn is feared because he was the largest and more powerful clipper force in the Badlands. He should be able to curb stomp any other baron in a one on one battle. Anything else would've been inconsistent with what we had been told before.

And this episode makes evident the reason why he simply doesn't do it all the time. He can crash the other barons one on one but he can't take several of them simultaneously or when trying to hold unto more than one territory.

I'm liking this more as time goes on, even though I still have problems buying the world.  It just feels a little... fetishy to me.  Like, a writer has a nudity/underwear fetish so he writes "After the Great War there was a terrible shortage of fabric or clothing so people must walk around wearing bikinis or thongs."  I mean, okay, fine, no guns.  But what about chainmail or ringmail and leather with shields?  I get the feeling that if a few of the characters from Vikings or Game of Thrones hit the Baronies, they'd stomp them into a mudhole simply because they can protect themselves from sword based attacks using, you know, armor.

That's not so much a fetish as a handicap of the genre. Despite the setting, this series is basically wuxia, with all the tropes and conventions associated with that genre.

Complaining about lack of armor or realistic fighting in a story like this is akin to complaining because law enforcement does nothing to put a stop to vigilantism in comicbook stories or about the palatial size of the dorm rooms in every movie set in college.

Edited December 2, 2015 by AzureOwl

[johntfs]

I don't think that was the implication. We have been told that Quinn is feared because he was the largest and more powerful clipper force in the Badlands. He should be able to curb stomp any other baron in a one on one battle. Anything else would've been inconsistent with what we had been told before.

And this episode makes evident the reason why he simply doesn't do it all the time. He can crash the other barons one on one but he can't take several of them simultaneously or when trying to hold unto more than one territory.

That's not so much a fetish as a handicap of the genre. Despite the setting, this series is basically wuxia, with all the tropes and conventions associated with that genre.

Complaining about lack of armor or realistic fighting in a story like this is akin to complaining because law enforcement does nothing to put a stop to vigilantism in comicbook stories or about the palatial size of the dorm rooms in every movie set in college.

 

I think for me it's an Uncanny Valley effect because of the way that world almost makes sense.  No guns, sure.  Very limited literacy and education would be very effective in keeping people "in their place."  No one's going to reinvent gunpowder if they can't read the formula and don't know how chemistry works.  So, I can see how things would work here in a real way, but that "reality" makes me suddenly aware of all the flaws that remain.

[paigow]

I get the feeling that if a few of the characters from Vikings or Game of Thrones hit the Baronies

The only guys from GoT that would die are the ones that use wooden swords...

[Ronin Jackson]

I finally got around to watching this episode. I think there's a key ingredient missing in this show: a sense of humor. It seems to be taking itself awfully seriously... certainly the actors are. But the writing and story isn't strong enough to shoulder all that gravity. If it loosened its tie a bit and grinned a little the shortcomings might not stand out so much.

[jhlipton]

I finally got around to watching this episode. I think there's a key ingredient missing in this show: a sense of humor.

 

Indeed.  If you're going to be trope-y to the Nth degree, and have actors that all sound flat, you've got to add at least a little self-awareness,  It's a total yawn-fest for me.

[Bec]

It was funny when the old guy in the wheelchair beat up MK, though. "And I won't even use my legs." I totally saw it coming, but I'll take it. Damn that kid is annoying, so it makes me happy when somebody on the show smack him (I can pretend they're doing it as an extension of the audience, hee). I also liked when Sunny pushed him off the wall.

 

Veil is getting a little more of a personality, that's a plus. Before she was just "Sunny's pregnant girlfriend" to me. Helps that she's getting scenes with people other than Sunny now.

 

The lack of realism doesn't bother me so much, I just pretend this is a totally different world from ours that doesn't need to line up with any of our Earth logic. Maybe it helps that I grew up on the wuxia genre. Though all of the books I've read in that genre took place in the past instead of the future. And somehow they manage to be pretty good at convincing readers that a whole lot of outlandish stuff actually happened in real historical times. But then, they didn't change too much about what technologies were available and what hierarchies there were and what social mores people followed. So it kind of eases you into believing in martial arts giving people almost magical abilities.

 

This show is taking a lot more liberties when it comes to making stuff up. So I get why people might feel a disconnect and find it hard to suspend disbelief by this much. This is only 3 episodes in, so I'm gonna wait and see if it holds together better once I get used to this weird-ass world.