Into The Badlands, Season 1, Episode 2: “Fist Like A Bullet”
Original airdate November 22, 2015.
Synopsis
An attempt on the life of The Widow (Emily Beeckman) reveals struggles for power between the Barons. After escaping from Baron Quinn’s (Marton Csokas) fortress, the mysterious M.K. (Aramis Knight) finds himself in The Widow’s territory. He meets Tilda (Ally Ioannides), one of The Widow’s top warriors, and they become friends. The Widow suspects M.K. could be the one with mysterious abilities the she’d been seeking, so she orders Tilda to attack and draw blood from M.K. However, Tilda only pretends to attack M.K., and The Widow gives him to a nomad group she has been working with.
Meanwhile, Sunny (Daniel Wu) finds out his Baron Quinn is dying, and Quinn orders him to slaughter his personal doctor, who also happens to be the adoptive parents of Sunny’s pregnant lover Veil (Madeleine Mantock). Sunny refuses, and Quinn carries out the killings himself, and this tragedy convinces Sunny to finally decide to try to leave the Badlands with Veil. In a showdown between Sunny and some some nomad bandits who have stolen some of Quinn’s opium, M.K. saves Sunny by killing the nomad leader. Sunny decides to take M.K. as his apprentice to train him how to fight.
Symptoms: Molly’s tattoo of a Japanese kanji character upsets both parents, but where Allison is upset about the tattoo itself, Ken is bothered that it’s specifically a Japanese tattoo, launching a disagreement about Ken’s Korean-ness. Fearing that his kids aren’t in touch with their Korean heritage, Ken is determined to establish new Thanksgiving traditions, without Allison’s input, in order to express his cultural awareness. In the subplot, Julie invites other “Thanksgiving orphans,” including Damona, Clark, and Pat, to her place for a holiday party.
Prognosis: In the next scene, Ken explains to Clark how his father taught him about his culture and “how not to control my temper!” I love this line; I love that it plays on a stereotype that Korean Americans joke about all the time. Near the end of the episode, Ken and his father have a heart-to-heart where a funny joke about alcohol could really have been a home run, but the writers passed on this opportunity, much to my sadness. Still, although some of the mechanics of this episode (such as the weird interactions at the dinner table) don’t work very well, the addressing of an issue that mixed-Asian families in this country are keenly aware of, right alongside other issues of family, parenting, and rebellious teens bodes well for the remaining two-thirds of the season.
Microsynopsis: Jessica’s mother announces that Thanksgiving dinner will be at the Huangs’ house this year, over the protestations of Jessica’s sister Connie. Louis and Jessica feel pressured to outdo Thanksgivings past with their special Huangsgiving, but Jessica believes Connie’s supposed marriage problems with Steve are a staged effort to steal the attention. Susan Park, C.S. Lee, and Rex Lee return as Connie, Steve, and Jessica’s college boyfriend Oscar. 
Bad: This episode is all over the place and very little of it is very interesting. Oscar’s a huge distraction, Eddie and his cousin are good for two jokes (one about changing musical tastes and one about sexy women on the Internet) but mostly just take up space, and I’m a big fan of Honey, but she and her husband show up for dinner just to serve the plot, and it’s boring. The main conflict, Jessica’s and Louis’s efforts to salvage a doomed feast, is just kind of a yawn.
Symptoms: Ken’s sister Wendi (Margaret Cho), a physician with a nationally syndicated television program, is in town to tape a few episodes. The Welltopia gang is excited about being in her studio audience, while Ken’s family is thrilled for her success. Ken, who is largely responsible for Wendi’s becoming a doctor in the first place, is resentful of the attention everyone lavishes upon her, and a guest appearance on her program turns into a spat between siblings.
Prognosis: I’m big on character development, and there’s some good movement in that direction here. Ken’s parents are pretty cartoonish, but his sister gives the main character some history and context, important for the long-term health of the show. There’s a little bit of that with Clark and Julie, too. The trend is still upward, but oh, the slope is barely detectable sometimes.
Microsynopsis: Eddie is about to turn twelve, but this year he informs his parents that he doesn’t want a party or any gifts except cash. He asks if he can have a “chill, regular day” hanging with his friends at the mall. Jessica and Louis agree, but they later discover that Eddie is throwing his own party without his family’s involvement. They confront him, and he confesses that he feels his parents are “too strict” and that he “can’t be himself” when he’s at home. Emery and Evan decide that they’ve had enough of being the invisible sons at home, and set out to be bad boys in order to get some attention.
Bad: I’m not sure how bad it is, but I was more than a little uncomfortable with the portrayal of Dave’s family. I know it’s an exaggeration of sorts, and I’ve known families that weren’t too far off, but it felt just a little mean-spirited, and I can’t say why. It’s the only downer on what’s a pretty upbeat episode.
