Does "post-apocalyptic wuxia western" sound like the kind of thing you'd be into? Because it sure as heck does mine! And yet I find myself only lukewarm on Into the Badlands, at least so far.
Following an unspecified catastrophe, a section of the world has come under the control of a group of "Barons": men and women who hold power through personal strength and charisma, and who rule over a society of free citizens and indentured servants known as "cogs". Each Baron controls certain resources, and is served by an army of trained killers known as "Clippers", who are led by whichever one of them is the most deadly. Oh, and the Barons have banned guns, so all killing is done up close and personal, with swords and axes and fists and suchlike.
Into the Badlands charts, in parallel, the power struggles among the Barons, and also the efforts of some of their subjects who are trying to escape the messed up society of which they are a part. There's lots of skulduggery, secrets, and shifting alliances, all of which are liberally punctuated with lashings of over the top martial arts action.
As I said above, it's a show filled with ingredients I like, and yet when they're all put together this particular dish doesn't quite come together for me. I think it's mostly the characters that are the issue. They all feel a bit archetypal - terse bad-ass, conniving heir, whiny guy with powers, leather clad vixen, etc - and I haven't really warmed to any of them over the six episodes of season one.
I'll give season two a shot at some point and see if it warms me up to the show, but right now I wouldn't really recommend it until that "post-apocalyptic wuxia western" pitch is something you just can't stay away from.
No comments:
Post a Comment