AMC funded a third season!
Yay!
I missed a few episodes when season two was aired, and figured it was dropped for good and didn't really pursue them.
But with the news that Season 3 is going to start on April 22, bought the BluRay of the second season and sat down for some quality binge watching.
I can't find much to fault the writing and direction on - it's pretty crisp (especially season two) without a lot of filler, the action is great, and the look is fantastic. They don't go for artsy jump cuts or "mood shots," as they don't need to. The art department has dressed everything and everyone so well that they don't need to.
Unlike the Walking Dead where characters will do things completely unnaturally to the way they're set up to justify a plot twist or set up a future event, they pretty much stay true the whole time.
As one can tell, I'm pretty excited about this.
[Wall of text follows, one can skip it if they like]
For those who've missed this one completely:
It's the post-post apocalypse. While they're super vague as to what happened, they do a few establishing shots and use a couple pieces of music in common with the Walking Dead early on.
Firearms have been effectively banished within the huge enclave - a walled area the size of a state - and the lands divided by seven Barons. It's a feudalistic society, with most people being serfs ("cogs") with few rights and owned by the Barons, sworn knights ("Clippers") to enforce the status quo, and the Barons themselves, represented by an animal. Each of the Baronies specializes in a crop or product; we're introduced to the Armadillo barony, lead by Quinn, which pretty much focuses on poppies and opium production.
The title of Barony must be taken. Sometimes it's by named successor, sometimes proclaimed by a family member, but can simply be taken by force. In Quinn's case he started out as a cog in the fields, volunteered for Clipper training, and rose to be a Baron (they're never clear how this happened, but knowing Quinn it wasn't by vote of the other Barons - which can also happen - but by force). In the case of The Widow, she killed her Baron husband and took control of the fiefdom, which has a small oil field and refinery.
All of the Barons are always in competition with each other, and a war between any of them (or all of them) is always a possibility.
Every Baron has a Regent - read "Hand of the King" - who is usually the best Clipper they have. Also read Samurai, as they're sworn to their Baron, are forbidden to wed or have children, and wield a lot of power as adviser.
It's here that our protagonist, Sunny, comes in. Super martial artist with swords, he has 404 kills when we meet him, as evidenced by the tattoos on his back that all Clippers get. He takes down a group of raiders with skill, grace and ease. Lots of wire work - awesome.
He has also fallen in love with the Cog town's doctor, and she's pregnant. The choice for a Regent is clear - they must abort the baby or both the baby and mother will die (and possibly Sunny as well). She's not real keen on that idea, and neither is he.
Enter magic
Sunny was found as a toddler next to a stream, and his one possession was a mysterious compass that has an outline of a city skyline and points in different directions. He doesn't really know what it means.
When he was killing the raiders who had taken down a shipment of Cogs, he finds that they had taken one and put him in a box, to be delivered to The Widow. He's unremarkable except for a pendant that has the same skyline as the compass around his neck.
Sunny takes him to Quinn and discovers that when cut, the boy's eyes first glow, then turn totally black, and he becomes a killing machine. It's called the "Dark Gift" and it's very rare and sought out. Sunny keeps it secret, and the kid says it's a representation of Azra, a mythical city of peace and prosperity.
[Season One]
The first season is them escaping the Badlands, which includes a war between The Widow and Quinn, the latter suffering from a brain tumor and becoming more and more unstable. Quinn is thought to be killed, but Sunny's gal pulled him away and saved his life (only to become his prisoner). Sunny and the boy manage to get passage, but it goes all wrong. Sunny is sold into slavery and the boy turned over to The Abbots, who have the whole Raʾs al-Ghūl's training fortress thing down pat. They begin his training and it goes wrong, of course. He escapes, but not without losing his power.
Sunny meets Bajie, as they're chained together to work in the mines. Bajie is played by Nick Frost, of the Simon Pegg movies (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, etc.), and does a fantastic job. He's not the comic relief or the sidekick. He decides to help them, but has his own agenda as well - he was once an Abbot, but has also lost his powers in leaving them.
They make it back to the Badlands after a series of plausible adventures, where Quinn has been building up a team of loyalists and ready to take revenge on his son (who betrayed him at the end of season one to take the Barony) and The Widow, who instituted it.
I won't spoil it, but it's friggin' great as the Barons are all in turmoil - with several of them dead - The Widow seemingly on top, with Sunny very pissed about being betrayed on all sides and wondering whether to just kill everyone or take care of his infant son.