Into The Badlands - General Discussion

[Guest]

This topic replaces the old Into The Badlands forum which has been vaulted at the location below:  http://forums.previously.tv/forum/1931-into-the-badlands-v/

[DavidJSnyder]

Eight remaining episodes will start broadcasting March 24th, but that's the end for the show.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtrxE5sF4z3/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=6lq6ciqvyac6

[Stardancer Supreme]

I better get those Blu-Rays.  This is such a great show! AMC thinks TWD is better for their bottom line? Ugh.

[jhlipton]

I'm glad that they're wrapping it up, and that they knew beforehand that this was the end.

I'm ready for Sunday (1st new episode) and Mondays (all other episodes).

[SimoneS]

First, I feel conned. They didn't say initially that these would going to be the final eight episodes. So screw, AMC. Now on the show.

Obviously Sunny isn't dead. I keep waiting for his gift to reawaken for him to go a killing spree. Maybe this "death" is that thing or maybe he finally encounters the person who buried his gift before the series is over.

Someone needs to beat the crap out of MK. He is so ridiculous now. 

Nice to see Nathaniel and Lydia connecting.

[SimoneS]

I didn't realize AMC moved the show to Monday night. I caught it by accident. I am glad that Sunny is on his way to see the Master. Nice that Nix has woken up to Pilgrim's bullshit and is helping him. MK is still a fool. I am glad that Henry is "safe" with Lydia and Nathaniel. Baji is a court jester, but I like him anyway. Glad to see that Tilda and Gaius are safe also.

I thought that Cressida was Pilgrim's sister so imagine my shock when she grabbed his penis. Oh well.

[Shriekingeel]

I liked this show when it was about baronial intrigue. Since it became about a bunch of people in kimonos I don’t know, not so much. 

Yes, I know it’s really about the fights. 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

I watch the show mainly to see Emily Beecham,😀

[Kimmel77]

On 3/26/2019 at 3:21 AM, Shriekingeel said:

I liked this show when it was about baronial intrigue. Since it became about a bunch of people in kimonos I don’t know, not so much. 

Yes, I know it’s really about the fights. 

I'm the same. I loved the black-eyed stuff, but not center stage. There is no mystery anymore to the show. Glad its ending because season three hasn't been entertaining for me.

[mjc570]

Nick Frost is so inappropriate for this show that it absolutely killed my interest in Sonny and his storyline. MK was such a bad actor with such a badly written part that I always ff.   I really only watch it for the women - especially the widow, but also Lydia (and Nathaniel) and Tilda.  Those parts are gorgeous, and the fighting choreography is beautiful. 

[mjc570]

Well, I'm done.  As I said above, Nick Frost just killed it for me - I don't care how good the FX are, I'll never accept him as any kind of martial artist, or even a credible inhabitant of that world.  I fast forward him (and MK, another pet hate) and really watch for the widow, but now that Nick has joined forces with her, I am stuck.  What a waste of Daniel Wu. 

[SimoneS]

Nothing much to say about the last show, except I like that Nix is now allied with Sunny and cheered with Sunny put that pike of iron into annoying MK's back, so deserved. I don't know how they are going to string out the next six episodes to defeat Pilgrim, but it is the end so I will stick it out. I do wish they would take those ugly cuts off gorgeous Daniel Wu's face.

I always laugh over people's reaction to Baji as a martial artist. It really is preposterous. I usually roll my eyes at his agility and chalk it up to magic. 

[Rambler]

I didn't realize this show was back (way to go AMC advertising department) so I binge watched the latest three episodes. My thoughts: Awesome fight scene between Sunny and the Widow just makes me wish that they had made the entire season about Sunny and the Widow fighting for control of the Badlands instead of the Pilgrim and monastery storylines, which are garbage. Yes Nick Frost is terrible in his fight scenes, but the guy who plays Pilgrim isn't much better. They both look like a couple of big potatoes fighting. The Master is your cliche Buddhist monk type who only speaks in riddles that no one understands. I find myself hoping that someone will smash that smug look off of her face. MK is useless as always. Tilda is underused, but Nix seems like an acceptable replacement. I miss the crusty dude in the wheelchair, he was cool. If the Black Lotus are such awesome fighters and they hate the black eyed people, why aren't they trying to stop Pilgrim? On a more positive note, Emily Beecham in a fight scene against herself is probably the greatest thing I've seen on television this season.

[Tachi Rocinante]

I don't mind the Bajie fight scenes because most of the "regular" fight scenes are unbelievable and defy physics anyway. (But still beautifully done.)

Was that supposed to be Quinn? Or someone that looks like him?

[jhlipton]

On 4/5/2019 at 5:14 PM, Tachi Rocinante said:

Was that supposed to be Quinn? Or someone that looks like him?

It definitely looked like him.  Can someone remind me of his (supposed) status the last time we saw him?

[SimoneS]

Farewell, Baji and Ankara. Ankara's story about Sunny makes sense. It always felt like the gift was hidden in him which was why he was such a good fighter. I am sure that is Sunny's sister in the preview. 

MK is such a shit. At least, the Master is still alive.

I won't miss Baron Chau. Her casual cruelty was the last remnant of the Baron class and reminded me of Quinn.

[Rambler]

I get this funny feeling that the old woman is still alive and will use her magical powers to revive Bajie. Since he died, he will probably come back with some sort of ridiculous superpower. If he is dead for good, I won't miss him much, although he was good for a chuckle or two occasionally - like speculating on what a hawk tastes like while the others are trapped in the car with looks of disgust on their faces.

[jhlipton]

This has turned into a humorless slog, and I really don't give a crap which of the three sides (The Master and her gang, Pilgrim and his gang, or not-Quinn and his gang) wins.  Hypocritical Sonny, who killed a LOT of women as Quinn's Cog, can bite me.  But I'm sure the show will end with him and The Widow making up and walking hand in hand into New Azra.  Blech.

ETA:
Newly Woken Sleeper: I did this to protect my family!
MK: They're prolly dead or gone.
NWS: Well, OK, then, I don't need to go and try to find them, to see if they are alive!  Tell me more about your venture.

Gah!  He deserved to be put to sleep.

Edited April 12, 2019 by jhlipton

[SimoneS]

I just show the promo for Monday:

Bajie is still alive.

[SimoneS]

Yep, Bajie is back alive. Ha. Sunny's sister does not look Asian as a teenager. Come on, show, better casting. I am annoyed that Sunny has not been given his gift back. Also, I though Waldo found Sunny as a baby. Oh well. M.K. needs to be stabbed through the heart before the show ends, but I will settle for him losing the gift so someone can kill him.

[jhlipton]

3 more episodes to go.  Yay!

They needed to move The Master off the board, but having MK stab her in the back, like she wouldn't have known he was there, was just DUMB.  "I have been laying low so I can strike at the right time, which is when your number one warrior is right behind me!"  Gah!

The way Marcus treated Sanzo's sister was also dumb.  "We need her to turn in about an hour, and also, too, we need to make sure everyone knows Marcus is Eeeeeeevil, so let's have him treat her like a dog. "  Gah.

At least The Widow and Tilda are back on speaking terms, at least for the next five minutes!

[SimoneS]

WTH, Lydia is dead. If they can bring Baije back to life surely they can bring Lydia, right?

WTH is wrong with Sunny's sister? I can't wait for Pilgrim, his sister, and MK to get what they have coming to them. I hope that Sunny destroys them with his gift.

[jhlipton]

"Lydia, you are so great!  You can balance love and leadership (unlike me, who got a child through divine intervention, apparently), so you should lead the Badlands (because we can only have one leader, and who needs democracy!) when this is done.  Oops, spoke too soon!"

These people are all so dumb.  If they know Cressida is a witch, don't put her in with potential "spell stuff" -- they should have put her in the brig to start, with her hands, fingers and mouth bound.  Also, the time to set the trench on fire was while they were crossing it (with the arrows to keep them pinned), or else before they crossed it, not after!

They've totally given up on "who beats whom", haven't they?  Folks without the Gift can do the same stuff that those with it can (such as Moon's acrobatics).  It's all about what looks "cool" and logic be damned.

At this point, I'm just letting the show run out.  I have zero interest in the Widow's miracle child, Sonny's son, or really anyone else.  Truth be told, I'd be just as glad if Marcus killed the lot of them.

[Destiny74]

2 hours ago, jhlipton said:

These people are all so dumb.  If they know Cressida is a witch, don't put her in with potential "spell stuff" -- they should have put her in the brig to start, with her hands, fingers and mouth bound. 

Thank you!   Yes!  Why would they even let a witch have candles and the ability to murmur?  I'd have tied her up and taped her mouth shut.  Then again, why send Lydia to kill Cressida by herself.  Shouldn't she at least have had a couple of guards to go with her?  Sloppy.

[SimoneS]

Minerva is pregnant. Gaius is happy. She isn't. I can't blame for her thinking about having an abortion given the world they live in. I know Nathaniel is grieving, but coldly telling her to have an abortion was harsh. I just hope she waits until they defeat Pilgrim to decide.

Bajie had a couple good lines; the first about Gaius being brave enough to hook up with Flea and then telling Giaus that he should ask him what it is like raising a child because he spends more time with Henry and was practically his mother. So true. Sunny's life really is going from one mindless violent drama to another. I wonder if he will die in the finale? If his sister is able to release his gift and Pilgrim isn't alive to stop it, then...

I am glad Pilgrim's girlfriend now sees that he is a monster. Hopefully, she uses her magic to help defeat him. 

MK deserves all that pain and suffering. Talk about a character that went dark. He went from an annoying, but well meaning young man to a merciless monster.

Poor Tilda. Her heart is broken.

[FlowerofCarnage]

The only redeeming thing about this past episode was seeing Magnus die at the hands of the woman who abused and raped for years.

[SimoneS]

Guess, the show didn't know that it would be cancelled. Oh well, farewell.

[Shriekingeel]

That really sucks. Middle finger to fans of the show, to end on a cliffhanger like THAT one.  

[SimoneS]

Sunny didn't die, his gift has been awaken, and guns are coming to the Badlands.

I am glad that Tilda is still somewhat alive. MK turned into a horror show. I thought he was going to walk out of that explosion, glad he didn't.

[ratSenoL]

Well, that was ... unsatisfying.  I know it's implied that Sonny and Tilda live, so that's cool. But it just ended so abruptly when it seems like there's more story to tell.  Oh well, such is the life of a SF fan: always falling for shows with rich worlds and interesting characters with lots of story potential only to have SYFY or AMC or Fox yank them off the air just as the story telling was getting good.

I can't remember ... did Baji and Kannin survive?

[rwlevin]

1 hour ago, ratSenoL said:

I can't remember ... did Baji and Kannin survive?

Amazingly enough, yes. By the end, all the heroes, the dark one with blonde dreads and Cressida survived. Tilda was on death’s door and The Master is now a force ghost, teaching Sunny how to fight guns, I guess.

 I did think it was really nice that the murder of her daughter (or so she thought) is what reawakened The Widow’s gift, kind of like how the memory of his mother’s murder reawakened MK’s. At least she didn’t go crazy like he did.

Edited May 7, 2019 by rwlevin

[sd dude]

Wow.  That ending was surprising.  I must have imagined it but I thought I saw or read something from the creators acknowledging that they knew this was the last season and that the final episodes would bring some closure to the series.  Clearly not so much.

The gun cliffhanger is a bit peculiar and underwhelming to me.  The badlands and surroundings have powerful explosives at their disposal, so the re-emergence of firearms doesn't seem like such a stretch to me.  I tried to do my own mental fanwanking/worldbuilding to explain why it would be such an enormous threat to the world.  We don't know precisely how the badlands came into being, but presumably it is a post-apocalyptic world that might have emerged after a "war to end all wars" with the deployment of devastating weapons.  The convention of the badlands to revert to samurai style weapons and warfare perhaps was a way to prevent such an armageddon from happening again.  But none of that is canon, so it is all my own mental masturbation, and as I wrote above, the factions in the different conflicts seem to have and use impressive chemical explosives at times, so not sure what makes a gun such a big deal.

[Iguessnot]

I know a few of us were surprised that Pilgrim and Cressida were a couple, and in her little speech, she said on of the ways she loved him was as a mother. So exactly how was their relationship introduced? Maybe that's why many of us were confused.

Sonny, Baji and Gaius seek out the Black Lotus because they are the only ones who can handle the Dark Ones, but they defeat the Black Lotus themselves. A serious story telling problem.

I enjoyed the fighting choreography, but everyone did the same stuff so Dark One's advantage was muted. I did enjoy The Widow turning dark and showing some new powers. 

The Widow tells the medic not to tell anyone about her pregnancy, but once Gaius knows, everybody knows. 

I didn't like how they had the Widow tell Gaius he had no say in the matter of her pregnancy while at the same time Sonny is telling her that Henry has given him hope and makes the fight for the Badlands worthwhile.  An awkward clash of storylines. 

The Widow is a warrior baron. If she didn't want to continue the pregnancy, she would terminate it. This isn't a modern legal drama, so why muddy the narrative with that throwaway line? Gaius' surrendered reaction only continued to make him look like a weakling.  

Nathaniel telling her to get rid of the baby was harsh but it fit the narrative and his straightforwardness. 

[Miles]

Season 2 finale: I specifically told Sunny "cut his head off". I man how can you not see a pattern at that point? The main antagonist always comes back one last time, after you already thought he was dead. It's hack screenwriting 101.

[angora]

Especially since he literally cut at least one person in half while he was fighting his way through the bunker. You can do that, but with Quinn, you're just gonna stab him? Come on, Sunny, you've been through this with him before! Take no chances!