History Series / IntoTheBadlands

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions:
** Christianity is a thing of the past in the Badlands, to the point that most people don't even know what it was. Quinn makes it clear to his Clippers that ''he'' is the [[AGodAmI only God they worship.]]

* {{Flynning}}: Seen in the show's many sword fights. Even more egregious, though, is the obvious mistimed choreography that has actors moving off the mark, hesitating, and/or ending up a move ahead of their opponents.

* VowOfCelibacy: Clippers, at least in Quinn's service, are not supposed to get into relationships but sex is clearly allowed. Quinn explicitly promises his Clipper recruits that if they succeed they can have their choice of women and he's aware of Sunny's past relationship with Zephyr, while Waldo scoffs at Sunny's concern that Veil is pregnant with Sunny's child. Waldo states that most Clippers (at least the male ones) have offspring all over the Badlands. Sunny's problem is that he fell in love.
%%* So far, each Baron's Clippers prefer different weapons.
%%** Quinn's favor swords.
%%** The Widow's butterflies like their knives, but her men use swords like Quinn's Clippers.
%%** Jacobee's use Pickaxes.
%%** The [[spoiler: Black Lotus]] introduced midway through season 3 seem to favour miniature Meteor Hammer/Mace combos, with heads stylized to look like a spiked lotus flower.

* WouldntHitAGirl: Averted totally as women fight (and are in some cases killed by) men in equal measure to the males.

The show is especially notable for its style - rather than a traditional ''Film/MadMax'' wasteland, the Badlands cover sprawling poppy fields, lush forests, damp swamps, and snowy mountains. Cars are common, but firearms are nonexistent - characters do battle with swords, crossbows, and other medieval weapons in fight scenes heavily inspired by {{Wuxia}} films such as ''Film/HouseOfFlyingDaggers'' and ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'', creating a very unique take on the standard AfterTheEnd setting.

* InvincibleHero: Sunny rarely loses a fight, even when he's drastically outnumbered, and if he does, he usually wins the rematch. Other established Badasses like the Widow somehow become less badass just by facing off with him. Ironically the only [[spoiler: non-superpowered]] person to land a cut on him without any help was some random assassin-prostitute who was easily dispatched shortly afterwards. Then again, she worked for the Widow and was willing to and did die for her, so its stands to reason that she might have been actually one of Widow's clippers gone undercover.
* KarmaHoudini: So far in Season 2, [[spoiler:The River King has yet to appear again let alone get his comeuppance for selling Sunny off into slavery earlier in ending of the first season]]. He finally shows up again near the end of the first half of the third season, [[spoiler: and even though it looks like he's going to pull off another [[KarmaHoudini]], he isn't so lucky.]]
* KickTheDog: When his son is lying on what could well be his deathbed and Lydia is laying into him for [[spoiler: killing the only surgeons in their territory]], Quinn pointedly takes Jade into the room next door and proceeds to have sex with her. ''' ''Leaving the door open,'' ''' and kicking three dogs for the price of one.

* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:In contrast to his being an AnticlimaxBoss in first season, Quinn's final battle with Sunny involved ''two'' fakeout deaths from being stabbed through the torso until he finally goes down. Not bad for a man supposedly dying from a massive brain tumor.]]

* RuleOfCool: Presumably why the Widow's able to fight in those ''incredibly'' high heels.

* SecretlyDying: [[spoiler:Baron Quinn]] is diagnosed with a brain tumor and will be dead before the next winter solstice, but will brutally kill anyone who finds out. [[spoiler:In the second season, it's subverted: He's still alive, but ironically still has the tumor.]]

* SheIsTheKing: Even though she is a woman, The Widow is only ever referred to as a baron, not a baroness, the latter title being reserved for a baron's wife.

* RecycledInSpace: The entire premise of this series is essentially ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' with elements of Westerns, the Antebellum South, and dystopia.

The show is especially notable for its style - rather than a traditional ''Film/MadMax'' wasteland, the Badlands cover sprawling poppy fields, lush forrests, damp swamps, and snowy mountains. Cars are common, but firearms are nonexistent - characters do battle with swords, crossbows, and other medieval weapons in fight scenes heavily inspired by {{Wuxia}} films such as ''Film/HouseOfFlyingDaggers'' and ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'', creating a very unique take on the standard AfterTheEnd setting.

* WeaponOfChoice: So far, each Baron's Clippers prefer different weapons.
** Quinn's favor swords.
** The Widow's butterflies like their knives, but her men use swords like Quinn's Clippers.
** Jacobee's use Pickaxes.
** The [[spoiler: Black Lotus]] introduced midway through season 3 seem to favour miniature Meteor Hammer/Mace combos, with heads stylized to look like a spiked lotus flower.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: An albino armadillo is the symbol on Quinn's flag.

* AdultFear:
** Both Sunny and Veil feel this for their unborn child, who would be killed if Quinn ever found out about its connection to him.
** Veil's situation in season 2. [[spoiler: She's held prisoner by Quinn, a psychopath who grows increasingly obsessed with her and her son. When she manages to escape, the Widow sends her right back to Quinn, who then forces her to marry him]].

* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: [[spoiler: In order to make Henry his rightful heir, Quinn forces Veil to marry him.]] Of course, [[MaritalRapeLicense that's not his only motive.]]

* SecretlyDying: [[spoiler:Baron Quinn]] is diagnosed with a brain tumor and will be dead before the next winter solstice, but will brutally kill anyone who finds out.[[spoiler:In the second season]][[spoiler: though it's subverted as he's still alive but ironically still has the tumor]]

* RealityEnsues: Baron Quinn [[spoiler: attacks the Lodge and conquers the Widow's lands]] with such ease that one wonders why he didn't do it in the first place... until it becomes apparent that doing so has left his forces spread too thin, and additionally made all the other barons angry at his upsetting the balance of power. He also [[spoiler: gets killed pretty easily by Sunny despite his famed battle skills and heaps of proven cunning, seeing as he's [[DentedIron past his prime]] with a [[SecretlyDying secret brain tumor]].]]

* HistoryRepeats: The series mixes and mashes feudal societies from all over the world and throughout history -- [[JidaiGeki feudal Japan]], ImperialChina, [[TheMiddleAges medieval Europe]], [[UsefulNotes/AntebellumAmerica antebellum South]] -- and shows that they are NotSoDifferent in any ways save name; [[ProudWarriorRace an ideology of glorifying endless war]], [[NoBloodForPhlebotinum monopolization of resources by a small elite]], [[MightMakesRight the domination and exploitation of the weak by the strong]].

**

** Season Two brings in [[spoiler: the Master of the temple M.K. is currently training in.]]

** Quinn is not subtle or elegant: his style is direct and power-driven. [[spoiler: Averted in the season 2 finale. Once Sunny manages to disarm Quinn's long sword he responds by using two sais, effectively disarming Sunny despite being at a reach disadvantage. It's during this time that Quinn uses a more elegant weapon, a more complex fighting style and different tactics than anything up to that point. This suggests that Sonny was the ultimate opponent: Quinn could be brutal and simple with everybody else but it took Sonny to force him to change things up.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: When the captured Ryder clippers refuse to join Widow's revolutionary forces, she tells them that they're free to go and nobody will stop them. [[spoiler: Of course, once they're gone, there's no rule against Tilda [[PayEvilUntoEvil killing them for what they did to their women]].]]

* RoaringRampageOfRescue: Since the very start of season two,[[spoiler: Sunny's sole mission was to be reunited with Veil and their newborn child.]] Once he learned that [[spoiler: the Widow had solded Veil out and she was forced to marry Quinn, it only fueled Sunny more, even knowing how dangerously outnumbered he'd be.]]

** The previous Baron Chau avoided this problem by having all his daughters start out as Colts and working their way up.

* ThePromisedLand: The City of Azra, a fabled land free of inequality and violence... and the Barons' control. It is said to lay beyond the Badlands. MK claims to be from there and know the way back.

* AFatherToHisMen: The Widow is this in a very literal fashion when it comes to her female Clippers. They all call her Mother and relate to her as if they were her actual children.

** The Barons are the overlords, who run their own fiefdoms,

** In Season 2 we see more: Pickers are miners and outside of the Badlands are all sorts of people from the mysterious Abbots to Smugglers and Nomads

** Pilgrim's fighting style is graceful and fluid like water, nodding to his religious idealogy (baptism): he alternates between flowing like a river to deflect opponents and hitting like a tsunami if he puts his weight behind his blows.

* GenreShift: The first half of the pilot makes the story seem fairly mundane, aside from the stylish martial arts fights. Then, M.K. is cut, and his eyes turn black...

* TheGreatWall: [[spoiler:The southern border of the Badlands is one of these. Sunny is bewildered upon seeing it; given the Barons can barely keep oil refineries running, he can't believe they built a metal wall dozens of stories high and over five hundred miles long. Bajie says that it was there long before they came to power, and no-one knows who actually built it]].

* InvincibleHero: Sunny rarely loses a fight, even when he's drastically outnumbered, and if he does, he usually wins the rematch. Other established Badasses like the Widow somehow become less badass just by facing off with him. Ironically the only [[spoiler: non-superpowered]] person to land a cut on him without any help was some random assassin-prostitute who was easily dispatched shortly afterwards.
** Then again, she worked for the Widow and was willing to and did die for her, so its stands to reason that she might have been actually one of Widow's clippers gone undercover.
* KarmaHoudini: So far in Season 2, [[spoiler:The River King has yet to appear again let alone get his comeuppance for selling Sunny off into slavery earlier in ending of the first season]].
** He finally shows up again near the end of the first half of the third season, [[spoiler: and even though it looks like he's going to pull off another [[KarmaHoudini]], he isn't so lucky.]]

** Baron Quinn seems to subscribe to this view since he claims that power should be taken, not just inherited. However, he is quite dismissive of The Widow for doing just that by murdering her husband. It is unclear if he has an issue with the fact that she is a woman, or if he thinks that the rule should not apply to spouses. He himself killed his old baron and took his land.
*** It is implied that the Widow assassinated her husband, as opposed to openly challenging him to a duel, and Quinn mentions doing to his Baron.

* RealityEnsues: Baron Quinn [[spoiler: attacks the Lodge and conquers the Widow's lands]] with such ease that one wonders why he didn't do it in the first place... until it becomes apparent that doing so has left his forces spread too thin, and additionally made all the other barons angry at his upsetting the balance of power.
** He also [[spoiler: gets killed pretty easily by Sunny despite his famed battle skills and heaps of proven cunning, seeing as he's [[DentedIron past his prime]] with a [[SecretlyDying secret brain tumor]].]]

* SupernaturalMartialArts: [[spoiler: The monks who beat up Sunny and kidnap M. K use this]]

* UnderestimatingBadassery: The nomads in the pilot don't think that a single Clipper will pose much of a challenge, and end up on the receiving end of a CurbstompBattle.

* AmazonBrigade: In addition to her regular Clippers, The Widow has an all-female corps of lethal warriors called Butterflies.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The map [[http://www.amc.com/shows/into-the-badlands/exclusives/the-world#territories-anchor on the show's website]] indicate that the territories controlled by the Barons strech from the Mississippi River all the way to the Rocky Mountains, a situation which would make the traveling times in the show quite absurd.

** Sunny is Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King, a parallel that becomes even more apparent in season three, when Sunny expertly uses a quarterstaff to kick some ass on a few occasions.

* ManInWhite: The Preacher is dressed in white head to toe. Given that he is the only character who wears that much white, he stands out a lot.