Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 8, 2018

Into the Badlands hasn't reached the television zenith achieved by other AMC programs of recent vintage like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, but its quick-fire, six-episode first season certainly put it on the map, and in the conversation should future seasons build on its excellence. A dense, detailed, gritty, and action-packed tale of a post-apocalyptic world where guns are no more, where feudal systems have risen, and the human condition really hasn't changed all that much, the show, from Creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, proved to be one of the best new things on television, taking an assortment of somewhat stock ideas and putting them together in new and interesting ways. Season two, expanded to ten episodes, bears much of the fruit that started to grow from season one, building on everything, making each episode bigger and badder, the characters more fully defined, the world larger and more complex and more dangerous.

Clipped.

Official synopsis: Season two of the martial arts drama finds Sunny (Daniel Wu) and M.K. (Aramis Knight) separated and scattered to the wind, each imprisoned in unlikely places. While M.K. struggles to control his powers, Sunny is determined to fight his way back into the Badlands to find his family — or die trying. On their journey, Clipper and Colt are assisted by new allies whose motivations may be anything but pure. Meanwhile, The Widow (Emily Beecham) continues to consolidate power against the other Barons, while a dark and mysterious threat prepares to exact revenge on them all. Alliances are struck, friendships betrayed, and by season's end, Sunny and M.K.'s lives will be forever altered.

Season two enjoys the added breathing room four additional episodes provide. Its ten episode-run is almost double the debut season’s six. And with the world established and the characters already put through the ringer in season one, season two begins with ample opportunity to amp up the drama and excitement alike, and it doesn’t disappoint. Action is more intense, character building more substantial, world shaping more thorough and skillful. Perhaps most satisfying is the additional space the show affords to all of its characters, whether considering broad-stroke narrative arcs or critical character nuance. Sunny certainly remains the central figure, though part of the season focuses on his journey to return home to the Badlands where conflict like neither he nor the show have ever seen before certainly await as the show works towards another showdown between himself and Quinn, who has survived his wounds at Sunny’s hands at the end of season one and is angling to regain his power and demonstrate his command of himself, his world, his subjects, and his family through the season. The season sees flourishing arcs for other central characters as well, including Veil, M.K., and The Widow, the latter of whom is the season's most interesting, complex, and unpredictable character.

Action once again defines the show, and action is once again terrific. It’s the highlight of every episode, eclipsing the solidly constructed dramatic currents that just never quite excite the mind as thoroughly as the swordplay and violence stimulates the external senses. Action is big, very well choreographed, and the actors (and stuntmen) show no signs of stumble or weakness in delivery. It’s bloody, it’s intensely fun, and when matched with the storytelling chops the show does manage to build, it’s all the more impressive, but the pure aesthetic portion certainly wins out. Dramatic performances are a little less exciting. The cast as a whole never quite gels, and the show both benefits from and suffers under the quality of performances; some actors soar, others struggle to emote with any consistency and depth. One highlight is newcomer Nick Frost as Bajie. He’s a rotund picker who happens to be chained to Sunny, gets to know him and his true identity, and turns him in to the foreman in an effort to secure his own freedom. Unfortunately for him, the tables are turned (how can anyone trust someone who rats out a friend?) and he finds himself forced to fight alongside the ex-clipper as they try to escape and ultimately make their way back to the Badlands. Frost injects a healthy dose of comedy into a show that didn’t necessarily need it but isn’t worse off for it. Season two’s grim stories (including Quinn’s violent resurgence) and bloodshed galore still dominate, and even as humor is not necessarily key to the show’s well-being, the occasional laugh does help the season maintain a little added energy and sense of forward movement.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season features a sharp and clean digital image. Textural efficiency is a highlight. Detailing rarely wants for improved definition. Dense facial hair, dirt and grime caked onto skin, pores, frayed clothes, and rough and raw terrain never disappoint. Sharpness is consistently impressive and clarity is exceptional; the image excels in this area. Colors are likewise impressive, offering plenty of vitality to brilliant shades of blue clothes, red blood, green vegetation, and other splashes of color against the largely barren, earthy and black and gray colors that tend to dominate, but not exclusively. Black levels are pleasantly accurate, as are skin tones, all of which are very deep and very firm. Image clarity is wonderful; there's nary a soft or smudgy corner. Noise is kept to a bare minimum and is usually only visible in lower light shots. No other serious encode or source artifacts are immediately obvious. This is a very high quality, high yield 1080p release from Lionsgate.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack offers pleasingly spaced music, active surround wrap, impressive front-side width, and quality instrumental clarity. The track rarely plays large, at least not compared to some high-end films. There's a pleasing low end depth, a well defined supportive bottom, to various action and music effects. The stage never wants for much more in the way of essential spacing, and action details find commendable spacing and clarity, but the track isn't super-aggressive, not capable, or willing, to belt out the sort of fundamentally exuberant, boundless energy music and effects found on superior tracks. Still, essentials are presented in good working order, and explosions generally pack a healthy enough punch while sword-wielding action scenes offer plenty of clanks and chaos around the stage. Dialogue is never hard to hear or lacking lifelike clarity.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Where as the season one Blu-ray contained a handful of featurettes, season two's release is much more sparsely supplemented. Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season contains deleted scenes for nine of the ten episodes (only episode nine comes up empty) on disc three (1080p, 22:48 total runtime). Disc one houses trailers for Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead (1080p, 0:49 total runtime). A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Into the Badlands has yet to mature into one of television's top shows, but season two pushes it further into relevancy. More breathing room to define characters and splash the screen with action and blood, it's become a richly realized escape that's on the precipice of something special. Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season's Blu-ray delivers excellent video, adequate 5.1 lossless audio, and a supplemental section made entirely of 20+ minutes of deleted scenes. Recommended in conjunction with season one.