![]() ![]() There is something about cheesy done right that is simultaneously comforting and exhilarating, and I think Into the Badlands finds that sweet spot.Ĭome on, a show this crazy can’t be all good. There is nothing on Earth outside of the Kraft factory that is cheesier than Full House, and that is getting a revival on Netflix. Combine the sci-fi elements and the artistic decisions and you end up with something that looks, well, cheesy. So, yeah, it looks a little cheap, even though it clearly isn’t. There are ornate sets and costumes, but they’re all rendered in a sort of saturated color scheme that reminds me mostly of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, the one with Kevin Sorbo. ![]() The way the show is shot is a little odd. This show is happy to just be a genre piece, a bit of grindhouse fare on an arthouse channel. Also, the show doesn’t really elevate the comic-esque material as The Walking Dead does. If any of the elements seem too outlandish for certain viewers, the show is probably going to lose them, but those willing to submit to the world-building will be thoroughly rewarded. The viewer just has to accept a lot of different things and go along for the ride. You’re welcomed into this fully immersive universe with its own rules, words, fashion and way of doing things. I’m a big fan of comic books, and watching Into the Badlands is kind of like starting a new comic book series. It may be different, but is it good? I think so, yes, with some caveats. But even so, there is no real comparison to this show. Also, each baron has his own color scheme, banner and allegiances, as with the different houses on Game of Thrones. There is a bit of a Game of Thrones vibe too, with this universe that is like ours but very different. Yes, Sunny is your classic TV antihero who has to choose between serving his baron and escaping with his pregnant girlfriend, Veil (Madeleine Mantock). It is absolutely bonkers and there is nothing else like it on television, which is what makes it so appealing to me. Each sequence is incredibly choreographed, like a tap-dance number with 40 dancers all doing the same thing at once.Īlly Ioannides as Tilda in Into the Badlands. It’s sort of in the Kill Bill style, where each fight is a dramatic tableau set in a picturesque location – a rainy street, a factory, a forest glen – that quickly fills with bloody corpses and snapped limbs. Is the fighting good? It is the absolute best fighting you’ve seen on TV. Sunny, the clippers and the barons all are masters of martial arts, the over-the-top kind you see in Hong Kong action movies where it seems like they can fly. And didn’t you say something about martial arts? Yes. Each sequence is incredibly choreographed, like a tap-dance number with 40 dancers It turns out he has some mysterious dark powers that make him special. In the series opening, Sunny finds MK (Aramis Knight), a cog who has been kidnapped by a bunch of nomads. Quinn’s main clipper is a guy called Sunny (Daniel Wu), whom he found orphaned as a child and treats as a member of the family. There are also marauding packs of “nomads”. He has both a bunch of “cogs”, who are the slaves who work the fields, and highly trained “clippers”, who are his enforcers. The baron we know the most about is Quinn (Martin Csokas), who grows opium poppies, for instance. They each make all their money off of one crop. What exactly happens? So, seven different barons, who are sort of like plantation owners, rule this country. It could be a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away. It sort of looks like 1886 but it also sort of looks like the future, so who knows. Well, actually, we don’t know if there was an apocalypse or if it’s in America. So, what is this thing, then? You know, just your standard martial arts show about warring barons and their minions in a post-apocalyptic America. It’s on AMC, so it has to be a prestige drama with lots of antiheroes going through existential angst in the suburbs, right? Oh, golly, how wrong you are. When does it premiere? Sunday, 15 November, at 10pm EST, right after The Walking Dead, which means AMC is really invested in its success.
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