AMC's dystopian future series kicks ass but rarely takes names.
Warning: Full spoilers for Into the Badlands: Season 1 follow.
On a very surface level, Into the Badlands' first six episodes were enjoyable to watch, if not appointment television. As I mentioned in one of my early episode reviews, AMC's fusion-future setting and story elements felt like a first-year film student had made them, and that didn't really change over the course of Season 1. Usually, the world-building felt like it was stitched together from other, better universes, creating a mismatched patchwork. The acting here was also hit-or-miss, which didn't help things.
Granted, some characters and story elements would come to play off each other in fun or interesting ways. Daniel Wu as Sunny, for instance, turned out to be a strong, compelling lead, and his character's internal struggle was a constant high point in the series -- especially as it pertained to his Baron master Quinn (Marton Csokas), Colt apprentice M.K. (Aramis Knight) and secret paramour Veil (Madeleine Mantock).
Likewise, the rival Baron Widow (Emily Beecham) and her daughter Tilda (Ally Ioannides) made good foils for the previously mentioned characters. Tilda's arc in particular also had shades of Sunny's, which showed that each side of the fight had its own flaws.
Alas, for every good character there was also a dud -- pretty much all of Quinn's family, for example. In almost every single episode, Ryder (Oliver Stark), Lydia (Orla Brady), Jade (Sarah Bolger) and, by extension, Quinn almost always bogged down the main story with extraneous subplots like Ryder's coma, Jade and Lydia fighting over Quinn, and Jade and Ryder's love affair. That's not to mention Csokas' jarringly hammy portrayal of Quinn, which, again, took me out of the story more than a few times. To the series' detriment, it presumed we cared about any of these characters when they themselves never proved why we should care about them.
Marton Csokas as Quinn in Into the Badlands
As a result, much of the overarching narrative got pushed aside or drawn out to the point of tedium. Despite the show's numerous MacGuffins -- the pendant, the compass, the book and even M.K. himself -- none of them really shed any light on the mysterious Azra and what lies beyond the Badlands. Ultimately, we knew about as much about those things as we did at the end of the first episode. If anything, said plot coupons gave us more questions than answers. Luckily, the finale offered a few clues as to where they might be going with things like M.K.'s powers and the Abbots.
But let's talk about the thing that really worked in Into the Badlands: the action sequences. While the story and character elements were indeed a mixed bag, the fight scenes were consistently awesome and made the series worth watching week to week. From Sunny's first skirmish with the bandits to his final showdown with the Abbots -- and everything in between -- this show put its money where its mouth was when it came to delivering top-notch action in a stylistic way. I just wish the framework surrounding that had been a bit more engaging.
The Verdict
If nothing else, Into the Badlands' first season featured some of the most brutal and beautiful fight scenes in recent memory -- especially on TV -- with Daniel Wu's Sunny taking point on most of them. Also, the series has set up a good mystery that will hopefully pay off in some respects as the show goes on. Unfortunately, many characters and storylines failed to deliver, often dragging episodes down and getting lost in their humdrum universe. Quinn's whole family was a major problem in this regard. That said, AMC's latest series was still fun to watch (more often than not), despite its notable flaws.
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