‘Into The Badlands’ Season 2 Premiere Recap: This Show Packs A Punch

Into the Badlands on AMC is still creating beautiful violence in a gritty post-apocalyptic world as it goes into its second season.

INTO THE BADLANDS SEASON 2 EPISODE 1 RECAP

After the finale of season one sent many of the characters off on different journeys, giving them each more purpose in the new season. We find Sunny (Daniel Wu) on a quest to find his lover and child, and M.K. (Aramis Knight) using his powers to find his mother.

Thanks to the production’s relocation to Ireland, the scenery has become even richer and more robust. Like the first season, season 2 spent no time delving back into the story to remind viewers what occurred during the last 6 episodes. It wasted no time in jumping right into a brutal fight scene to start the season off right.

Sunny is stuck in a labor camp, not without putting up a fight, but it is a fight he loses. While chained in his bunk, he has a vision of Veil and their kid, before being awakened by his new ally Baije (Nick Frost). Despite being a forced friendship, their’s is a friendship nonetheless.

M.K., on the other hand, is going through an angsty period while teaching kids his shared power. He is angry he has not yet met The Master, but lo and behold, he soon does, and she stops him one night attempting to take Sunny’s old compass on his way to Azra.

Angry, M.K. attacks the Master, but she makes it clear that she has been with him every step of the way, and knows all about Sunny, Tilda, and Azra. She wins the fight, but breaks her arm in the scuffle. She simply waves a hand over the bones and they repair, making M.K. imagine what powers he could one day possess.

It appears the chaos is just beginning, following last season’s death/disappearance of Quinn, leaving Ryder in charge. We learn that the economy in the Badlands is suffering greatly because of political and social upheaval. Plus the working conditions are terrible and laborers and slaves are fleeing.

Tilda and The Widow show up and, clearly on a mission to take the land back from Ryder. They attack the refinery and find Jade. Instead of killing her, they send a message through her back to Ryder, saying the oil fields will belong to them again, and if Ryder resists, more blood will spill “and most of it will be his.”

While season 1 survived mainly off of the beautifully shot fight scenes, season 2 appears to be more about class and status. The premiere set up the goals of the season nicely, with each character after his or her own desires. The big reveal at the end shows Sunny’s child being a born, a son, and the man who helped deliver the baby was Quinn.

Stay tuned next week for episode 2 on AMC.