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Into the Badlands

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Well, that happened.

Yep. Though I have to say, he looked less than 100%. Maybe not really capable of fighting anymore. Also, that baby looked way too pale to be the kid of those two characters.
 
Finally got caught up and then watched the 2nd new episode of the season, gotta say I'm pretty pumped for what this season seems to have on offer.

Escaping the Mousetrap
So Bajie and Sunny manage to work together just long enough to kill the large and frightening "Mouse Trap", who dies in excellently over the top fashion (I half expected to hear someone shout "SUNNY WINS. FATALITY!"). I have to say I was very impressed with how different the fight was from previous ones we've seen Daniel Wu execute, while last season was all silky-smooth wire fu, his first couple of fights have been more Jackie Chan in style, with lots of environmental aspects in play. I have to say I really like the dichotomy we get between things inside the Badlands and outside of them, while inside the Badlands is a sort of weird mixture of a wild west and kung fu movie, outside of it is pure Mad Max style apocalypse. We also got a glimpse of the buddy-cop dynamic in play between Bajie and Sunny is single-minded to a fault, but Bajie knows the land and knows how to get back into the Badlands, forcing Sunny to work with him. I'm betting by season's end they'll be the best of friends.

Facing Your Demons
Cliche as it may be, MK's battle with himself was one of the best of the sort of "fluid-calm" style martial arts fighting we've seen in two seasons and Aramis Knight does an admirable job of pulling off the complex sequences...if only he would stop hamming it up quite so much on the acting. Unfortunately, MK's darkness doesn't look like it can be beaten anytime soon, despite "The Master" fast-tracking him, he eventually gets hit ribs punched in in glorious fashion.

Quinn Gets Creepier
If you loved Marton Csokas' over the top portrayal of Quinn last season, you've got to love what we've seen so far of him this season. Stabbing people in the eye for looking at Veil's breasts, drinking blood, blood baptisms and dragging out his sentences even farther and harder, he's having more and more fun than ever. Of course, if you didn't like Quinn last season....well this won't help things.

Baron Politics
Just a quick side note: Is it too much to hope that Ryder finally gets what's coming to him at this Conclave? It probably is, but I have to say I really don't like his acting or the character.
 
A less than amazing episode in my opinion, but still entertaining.

Over the Moon
In another show, Nathaniel Moon's back story would be the start of the show with Moon as the main character on a path towards revenge. Much as one would expect given the naming dynamic (Sun/Moon) Moon is meant as a mirror and/or foreshadowing of Sunny's path, driven to madness by the violence of the world, his loss and his guilt. The fight between Sunny and Moon was a bit of a let down, I hoped for more from what are supposedly the two greatest clippers ever, but I suspect we'll see Nathaniel Moon again. If I was a betting man, I'd say that Moon will kill Bajie and then block Sunny from reaching the Badlands until he kills him.

The Widow Has Fangs
My bet is that those two giant hairpins are stilletos and the Widow is going to use them on unsuspecting barons at some point next episode. Also, putting Tilda in charge is a mistake, I'm gonna bet she screws up the Widow's plans somehow.

Drawing the Darkness Out
It turns out there's another way to draw out the power within the super kung fu kids...but it doesn't look good for the kids. Somehow, I suspect that MK is going to find another way to master his powers since he seems to be pretty much done with "The Master" and her mysticism.
 
I thought it was a good episode but I agree that the fight between Sunny and Moon was a let down.

I'm disappointed with where they're going with MK. I was excited to see some cool super Kung Fu action but it's been a let down and MK needs to stop his whining.

I'm way more interested in watching Black Widow. Let this be her season.
 
Arguably the best episode of the season was one in which the two main characters did virtually nothing; MK's non-twist twist took up maybe five minutes of screen time and Sunny didn't show up at all. I'm not so sure it's a good sign that the most interesting bits don't involve the two main characters on the show, but when a whole episode can focus on the "side characters" I'm not sure it matters.

A System Built on Death
In finally getting a look at the other barons we come to understand why they dislike the Widow so much. Baron Chau lays things out bluntly to the Widow, she's a threat not just because she seeks to free the workers that are key to the Barons remaining in power, but also because she hasn't gone through the system. It's not that the Widow killed a baron and took his place, she did so without first going through the indoctrination process of being a colt and then a clipper, a trained and cold killer indoctrinated into the "kill or be killed" cult of thought. In the Badlands you either remain a slave forever or become a killer, that's the social contract; a different path threatens that system. The Barons want the Widow dead, but they might have been smarter to make the Widow take the deal; her rebellion only works if people believe they can escape the system by joining her, compromise would weaken her position.

The Badlands Get Artsy
The show opens with Quinn quoting, badly, Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice" poem, he stops to focus on the fire portion...but the poem actually ends talking about ice. Later, when confronting Ryder in the maze he mistakes a statue of Laocoon for Cronus, while Cronus was infamous for devouring his children to prevent them from Laocoon was quite the opposite, defying the gods to try and save his children against two serpents. Significantly, the statue of Laocoon was missing both of his children but still features the serpents, a parallel to Quinn who has now lost both of his "sons" (Sunny and Ryder) but still wrestles with his own personal venoms in the form of brain cancer and hatred.

Veil Makes Bad Plans
Look, between the whole "kill Quinn slowly" plan and the totally botched escape plan let's just say that say that Veil doesn't make good decisions. Forgetting to check the guard for keys after knocking him out cold or trying to lock him up or tie him up is a major screw up on the back up plan too. Side note: I didn't think that Veil was going to die, but kudos to the Badlands for showing a very different type of fight, a dirty desperate scrabble between a woozy trained killer and a woman who really has zero training in a fight.
 
Well said. I thought it was a fantastic episode and the best one so far. I feel bad for Veil, I get her cause but I can't wait to see what's going to happen now to her.
 
I wasn't able to write last episode due to personal life stuff, but there wasn't a whole lot to go into. This episode provides a bit more fodder. First, quick side note, I'm with team farmer guy; MK steals a carrot from his garden and he's the bad guy that has to get an axe to the brain?

On Apocalypse and Abbots
So, a personal theory of mine after this episode: MK and Eva find an old, mostly intact hotel from pre-apocalypse, discussed said apocalypse and found a "Wired" magazine (I wonder how much they paid for that placement?) that talks about a utopian city that MK recognizes as Azra; this can't be a coincidence. Add in that we saw the Abbots turn on the building's electricity somehow and that said lights disappeared when they went all "dark mode" and I have a maybe not so crazy theory: the "gift" destroyed the world somehow. Perhaps the residents of the pre-apocalypse world used some sort of advanced genetic modifications to make people with "the gift", but were unaware of the dark side until it was too late and they killed most of the world's population. Or perhaps they drained all the electricity away with their darkness? Or maybe the people with "the gift" used to have even greater power? I'm sure we'll get more answers as the show reveals more about Azra. Either way, I'm pretty sure MK's powerlessness is only temporary and we'll see it pop up again next episode. Side note: I feel like we were supposed to feel bad that Ava died, but given that she's had maybe 45 minutes of the screentime it's hard to feel bad for her, badass final kill though.

Wait, What?
So uhhh, sudden lesbianism. Tilda's make out with the former doll whose name I can't remember seemed weirdly forced; much like Ava's death it's hard to really feel any of this has actually been properly built up to since Tilda and this girl have had about 10 minutes of time together on screen. Also, I really feel like this woman is actually a traitor planted by someone, maybe Chau, to betray Tilda at the worst possible moment. I've also got to say that Tilda seems like she has no idea who she is or how to handle people outside of killing; when it's time to get to the bloody, dirty work of killing people she's a stone-cold assassin, but outside of it she's some sort of emotionally vulnerable, easily manipulated little girl, not exactly what you want from your second in command. Easy to see why the Widow trusts Waldo's advice so much more initially.

Wait, WHAT?!
So Bajie is a former abbot and used to have the gift? Oooookay then. I'm having a hard time buying the idea that Nick Frost used to be a mystical murder man. Also, how the hell did MK "lose" the gift? How did Bajie? How the hell does this crap work? I guess we'll get more answers soon, I have to say that I really liked how this fight played out, it was pretty clear that Sunny, MK and Ava were outmatched and were going to die until Bajie showed up, plowed one down with the truck and did his Vulcan neck poke thing. Side note: I feel like we were supposed to feel bad that Ava died, but given that she's had maybe 45 minutes of the screentime it's hard to feel bad for her, badass final kill though. The preview has me curious to see what's going on with Sunny, and the normally stoic warrior having to confront what he's done in terms of sheer numbers could be fascinating.

Veil Makes Horrifically Bad Plans
Quite frankly, I forgot all about Veil, Tilda and the Widow's previous little snafu; probably because there was a year and a half break between seasons. Waaaay back in season 1 the Widow was gravely injured, Veil talked about how bad a person the Widow was to Tilda and gave her two vials, one of medicine and one of poison, and gave Tilda the choice to kill the Widow or save her, Tilda told the Widow about that choice and was convinced to give the Widow the healing vial. Well, things come back around for Veil which just proves exactly how incredibly stupid Veil's plans are. STOP MAKING PLANS VEIL! I am so done with this whole "Veil in trouble" plotline at this point; I'm pretty sure she won't survive the season so can we just get it over with now? Side note: Lydia's creepy sex session with Quinn is confusing as hell.
 
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