AMC's Into the Badlands, a new martial arts/sci-fi series
- Thread starter JD
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That's an interesting theory, I still see it as a Mad Max Wasted Lands but I can also see your point on a alternative timeline or alt-history. As a series its a good watch, a visually striking kung fu dystopia story
Yeah, I was a little surprised we didn't get a big fight between Sunny and Quinn, but I guess they were already planning the big fight against the Abbots and figured that would be enogh of a fight for the episode.
I'm pretty sure Sunny was going to back for Veil after he dealt with Quinn, but then he was attacked by the Abbots and taken by The River King so he never got a chance.
Lydia went back to her father who raised her in that religion. So it really wasn't that random. There was way to much stuff set up here for them not to be going back to these characters.
[/QUOTE]This kind of stuff happens all the time in Wuxia.
I don't know? I would assume the vintage tech, the old factory buildings, trade in opium flowers and people holding onto icons of their past mad-max style would mean it is on Earth, the models of a broken Washington Capital...but I can't be sure
highly entertaining show nonetheless, great watch!
They've been clear in all of the interviews this is our future.
I loved the finale.
Lots of interesting stuff going on.
I was pretty shocked that The Widow was another Dark One.
The Abbots were an intriguing new addition to the world.
Jade poisoning herself to get rid of Lydia was a shocking moment on her part. I wasn't entirely sure that was the case, until she glared at Lydia.
It will be interesting to see if Quinn survives. In a show like this his wound could be survivable or not just depending on what the writers and actor want to do.
I'm very curious to see what happens with Lydia, Veil and Tilda.
I loved the big fights at the end.
I really hope this comes back, because I'd hate for the last scenes with Sunny and MK to be the end.
Here's something I don't understand. Why was the River King so pissed off at Sunny? From what I saw, he said "if you find and bring me the boy we have a deal". He didn't even know of Sunny's connection to the boy and it sounded like a pretty open ended deal to begin with. So where did the "no one betrays me" angle come from?
Which is exactly the problem -- the choice to build the climax of the season finale around a new threat that's only just been introduced, instead of around the established character conflicts that have been building all season. It felt like a sudden change of subject. Too many TV writers these days use serialization as an excuse to avoid having to come up with satisfactory endings. Everything is just "to be continued," a perpetual second act. Good finales bring closure while also leaving room for continuation. This finale was cursory in wrapping up the season's threads because it was more interested in setting up next season's threads. And that actually makes me less interested in seeing next season, not more. Because the lack of good closure left me unsatisfied and gave me less confidence that whatever they do next would be satisfying.
Which, again, was the writers' choice, to abruptly veer off into this new storyline and leave the prior storylines unsatisfactorily resolved. Sunny's intentions are beside the point, because he's just a character. It's the writers' intentions and choices that I have an issue with.
I didn't say it was random. I said it was too abrupt as a narrative choice. Again, it's like it just suddenly veered off in a new direction and didn't work well as closure for what had come before.
Maybe. But I'm not sure I'll be coming back.
This kind of stuff happens all the time in Wuxia.
I don't know? I would assume the vintage tech, the old factory buildings, trade in opium flowers and people holding onto icons of their past mad-max style would mean it is on Earth, the models of a broken Washington Capital...but I can't be sure
highly entertaining show nonetheless, great watch!
They've been clear in all of the interviews this is our future.
I loved the finale.
Lots of interesting stuff going on.
I was pretty shocked that The Widow was another Dark One.
The Abbots were an intriguing new addition to the world.
Jade poisoning herself to get rid of Lydia was a shocking moment on her part. I wasn't entirely sure that was the case, until she glared at Lydia.
It will be interesting to see if Quinn survives. In a show like this his wound could be survivable or not just depending on what the writers and actor want to do.
I'm very curious to see what happens with Lydia, Veil and Tilda.
I loved the big fights at the end.
I really hope this comes back, because I'd hate for the last scenes with Sunny and MK to be the end.
No, I think Sunny was going to leave with the doctor, but thet River King knew that wasn't MK's head that Sunny gave him. Quinn was dying and MK was last weapon, his son was going to take over. Any fight between Quinn and Sunny would've been anti-climatic to me anyway.
There is nothing in that article relating to the "ban on guns" conceit in the show.
ETA:
Well, if Ally Loannides role as Tilda doesn't last, she has a great character on Elementary that deserves to show up again.
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Its story is not so scifi fanatsy, because it could have happened just look at how the Japanese re-acted when Portuguese ships arrived or how Commodore Perry shocked them. When Portuguese landed on Tanegashima Island, outside Kyushu and they brought with them a new technology firearms, it sent the Japanese nation into a panic, the entire nation was sealed and all contact with the outside world banned. A warlord Hideyoshi starts warring across Japan and finally wins the civil war with this new Portuguese technology, his decree was plain, all guns, the swords, all the canon and bullets would be melted down to supply steel for a new peaceful society, to supply nails and bolts for a temple containing a huge statue of the Buddha. This statue would have been twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. Western observers or missionaries' who manged to sneak in see it all, a Jesuit Annual Letter reported that Hideyoshi deprives the people of their arms under the pretext of devotion to religion'. Once the swords and guns were collected, Hideyoshi had them melted into a statue of himself, like a typical dictator.
In the link I was pointing out how Creators and Writers have gone online to take on the critical fans, they don't need clap out all the numbers like a Muppter show or to paint by numbers on tv....something needs to be left for people to think, for people's imagination.
There what you got a bunch of ruthless leaders in Post-Apocalypse world, they rule like religious zealots and re-write history like warlords or like a religious creationist, some of them seem to be very eager to return to the old ways, old social systems, old medicine methods, old tactics of war, a very basic life
Many of blamed the indulgences and technologies of the previous world for creating this post-apocalyptic planet....and you still want them to join the dots for you
that's just my view on it
if you think about it you might find your own reason as to why barons would ban guns
In the link I was pointing out how Creators and Writers have gone online to take on the critical fans, they don't need clap out all the numbers like a Muppter show or to paint by numbers on tv....something needs to be left for people to think, for people's imagination.
There what you got a bunch of ruthless leaders in Post-Apocalypse world, they rule like religious zealots and re-write history like warlords or like a religious creationist, some of them seem to be very eager to return to the old ways, old social systems, old medicine methods, old tactics of war, a very basic life
Many of blamed the indulgences and technologies of the previous world for creating this post-apocalyptic planet....and you still want them to join the dots for you
that's just my view on it
if you think about it you might find your own reason as to why barons would ban guns
I don't know if there's a ban on guns, but it seem like there's very little in the way of manufacting, hence the old cars. There might be guns out there but little ammo for them and nobody to repair the broken guns. Without guns though there's a more formal society in terms of fighting.
It's not a question of "why" to ban guns, but "how". On an island like Japan where you can minimize outside influence it's possible. But this show is set in the (former)southern US with unknown groups outside the borders of the 5 baronies. And we know that there is something out there because our protagonists are trying to escape the baronies to begin with. So what's to stop some marauding band of outlaws with guns to come roaring in and just mow the baronies down?
There seems to be enough manufacturing going on somewhere for lightbulbs. And all that oil one of the barons is producing is being used for something. Considering how much farther down the technology tree both of those are after guns and gunpowder it's hard to imagine one of the barons wouldn't start a secret project to build something simple like some kentucky long rifles. Nevermind some group outside the baronies having guns.
They're gonna have to do some pretty big contortions to explain why guns don't exist anywhere. In a controlled society of the baronies, ok, you can hand wave a "ban" on them. In the lawless wasteland? Who's enforcing that ban?
There seems to be enough manufacturing going on somewhere for lightbulbs. And all that oil one of the barons is producing is being used for something. Considering how much farther down the technology tree both of those are after guns and gunpowder it's hard to imagine one of the barons wouldn't start a secret project to build something simple like some kentucky long rifles. Nevermind some group outside the baronies having guns.
They're gonna have to do some pretty big contortions to explain why guns don't exist anywhere. In a controlled society of the baronies, ok, you can hand wave a "ban" on them. In the lawless wasteland? Who's enforcing that ban?
I got the impression that it was more of a "gentleman's agreement" more than anything. Sort of a "if any of you decide to use them, the rest of us will gang up and annihilate you for using them."
As for why, it probably just had to do with resources, which is how the baronies seem to function. Which ever one was responsible for creating gunpowder or ammunition (or other forms of modern weaponry) would easily be the single most powerful barony, so in order for there to be peace amongst them, they decided to just outright ban them. And since the barons pretty much control every inhabitable part of the land that isn't some kind of inhabitable wasteland, the lowly peasants wouldn't have the resources to manufacture them even in defiance of the barons -- and if they did, again, all of them would gang up and decimate them for daring to do so.
At least that's the only thing that makes any sense to me.
As for why, it probably just had to do with resources, which is how the baronies seem to function. Which ever one was responsible for creating gunpowder or ammunition (or other forms of modern weaponry) would easily be the single most powerful barony, so in order for there to be peace amongst them, they decided to just outright ban them. And since the barons pretty much control every inhabitable part of the land that isn't some kind of inhabitable wasteland, the lowly peasants wouldn't have the resources to manufacture them even in defiance of the barons -- and if they did, again, all of them would gang up and decimate them for daring to do so.
At least that's the only thing that makes any sense to me.
When you no longer can reload and your bullets run out it goes down to Numbers. For example look at history and how Ethiopian natives were able to slow down Italian fascists and flip Mussolini's tanks on their heads, Chinese armed with simple pitchforks, knives and sticks caused huge problems against foreign Imperial Navy and Foreign Armies, China and its numbers in the Boxer Rebellion started an uprising against the spread of Western and Japanese influence....or look at the trench battles of WW1 all of the guns had basic bayonets on top for that final battle, so if you look at history you will see how it is possible to hold turf with lesser weapons.
It could also be that 'Baron' leaders have assassins and spies deep in every territory, in a close quarter combat a knife becomes a far more effective weapon than an M-16, a Barrett M82 or an AR-15...and it doesn't sound like they build much tech in this fictional Madmax style Badlands, it does not sound like they can manufacture something of this sophistication anyways. That level of building and production often requires computers and precision engineering, maybe they could manage a cool set of muskets for something. If the barons already have people hidden in foreign turf they would lose. In a close quarter fight, with thieves and spies on the streets you are not going to be using a big ass firearm, you are going to carry something smaller and lighter. Why do you think Navy Seals, Foreign Legion, US Delta, Spetsnaz, SAS, ROK S.Korean specials all carry a blade even today....if you put two guys into a phone box, one of the has a large firearm like an A-15...they other guy as already taken his knife out...which guy are you going to put money on, which one do you bet on? Two guys fighting inside a phone box, one is trying to draw a long firearm, the other already has his knife ready to kill...which one wins?
^I'd think that if two guys were in a phone box, odds are that they'd be Superman and the Doctor. Or Bill and Ted...
Yeah, those examples were all pretty one sided. The thing is with all of those examples, it never lead the side with the guns to give up guns. They just came back another day with more guns/ammo.
Now try imagining the Native americans against the Gatling gun.
Besides, I'd shoot the guy before we got in that telephone box. Indiana vs the swordsmaster.
Now try imagining the Native americans against the Gatling gun.
Besides, I'd shoot the guy before we got in that telephone box. Indiana vs the swordsmaster.
They do still have access to ranged weapons (I'm pretty sure I saw a few in the armory), plus Kung Fu wire magic. I'm pretty sure Sunny, for example, wouldn't have much trouble taking on a group of enemies with firearms. Then you have the so-called Dark Ones as well, which apparently aren't as unique we were lead to believe. Which in turn suggest actual magic/psionic powers exist in the setting to boot.
And again, the Barons and other powerful figures pretty much control all of the habitable territory in the region. Even if a small band -- and it would be a small band -- of outlaws managed to manufacture their own guns and ammo, they'd be up against the entire might of the Barons in taking it down. Nevermind that there isn't anything saying they, themselves, couldn't pull out firearms in order to roflstomp said outlaws, only to return them back to wherever they're keeping them in case someone else decides to make the same mistake.
I mean, chemical weapons are banned throughout most of the world. Does that mean there are no chemical weapons? Nope.
And again, the Barons and other powerful figures pretty much control all of the habitable territory in the region. Even if a small band -- and it would be a small band -- of outlaws managed to manufacture their own guns and ammo, they'd be up against the entire might of the Barons in taking it down. Nevermind that there isn't anything saying they, themselves, couldn't pull out firearms in order to roflstomp said outlaws, only to return them back to wherever they're keeping them in case someone else decides to make the same mistake.
I mean, chemical weapons are banned throughout most of the world. Does that mean there are no chemical weapons? Nope.