Iron Fist S01E08 Review: Drunken Fist

Iron Fist, Season 1, Episode 8: The Blessing of Many Fractures

Oh, hey, another episode with martial arts fighting! They really should've done this, or the Scythe fight, or the twin Russians, as part of the first episode instead of 'Danny barely gets away from a bunch of thugs'. Both the main battles between Colleen and the Hand henchwoman with a sword, as well as the Iron Fist's fight with Zhou Cheng, who gets my vote as the best martial artist in the show, are a delight to watch, less so for the brawl at the end which isn't helped by really fake-looking axe props. 

Still, it's a step back compared to the previous episode. The Ward/Joy stuff was, in Ward's own words in this episode, 'cliche and pathetic'. There was some nice writing with Joy talking about how she looks up to Ward for doing what he does in Rand Enterprises so smoothly (even though of course, we know Ward is just following daddy's orders) and she wants to fight for a position she's reached. She's hired a certain drunk P.I. hint hint nudge nudge to take compromising photographs because coincidentally apparently every single person on the board is an adulterer. Also Ward tries to cut a deal behind her back because of course he does. And when it turns out that the slow moments of brother-sister bonding is going to get us some revelations, Ward freaks out over seeing blood all the time and tells her sister to fuck off, making a good chunk of this episode feel pointless and unnecessary. 

The therapy session between Claire and Danny also felt absolutely awkward and shoehorned in, with relatively poor writing that feels like it's supposed to be the outline of the conversation instead of the actual conversation itself. And the actual trip to China feels very convoluted. Why did Madame Gao go all the way to China when she's pretty much waving her superiority and untouchability in front of Danny? If Rand Enterprises has presumably cut off Danny and the Meachums' funding, where did they get money for the very first-class-looking airplane tickets? Did we really need that scene where Claire can't find her phone which fell off the dashboard? And Claire and Colleen pointing out that, hey, Danny doesn't even have a plan on how to deal with Gao, which they point out as absolutely dumb... then decide to follow Danny anyway. What the shit?

Danny's naive, I know, but jeez, a lot of what he's doing is utterly stupid, even by TV hero standards. Ward even points out the idiocy of hoping that the Hand will just shrug and abandon their operation and business by destroying one factory, instead of, y'know, retaliating and (to Danny) killing Harold. Claire and Colleen both also point out the stupidity of a lot of Danny's plans and actions in this episode, where he's basically chasing any thread he can about daddy's death. Shit, man, just because Gao knew your father (and anyone can look up his father's name and say it to unsettle him) doesn't mean she killed him! And apparently Madame Gao is the only person allowed to use paralyzing poison, because of course Danny recognizes that the same poison the Hand goons use on their axes are the same ones that killed the pilots of his childhood plane, and therefore, Madame Gao (who, in Danny's mind, is the only one with such a poison) killed his parents. 

Also, where is that powerful one-hand shove that she did in their previous encounter?

Also, you guys are going to fight the Hand, you'd think Claire would call in at least Daredevil for help. I mean, I know it's impossible, but at least handwave an excuse, or write Claire out of this particular raid, because now she looks like an idiot.

So much of this episode is just poorly-executed character moments and a plot that jumps all over the place, but there's a highlight, which is the fight between Zhou Cheng, Defender of the Hand, Disciple of the Qilin or whatever his title is, who employs a very wuxia-inspired drunken fighting. There are some really awesome moves in that fight, and Zhou Cheng's drunken fighting moves includes some highlights like butt-shoving Danny, that spinning thing he does to lean on the ground, and using his alcohol jug, connected to his hand with some rope, to whack Danny. And Zhou Cheng raises some great questions, and without really knowing what the reasons are for Danny leaving K'un Lun, it really doesn't paint a very favourable image for our hero -- especially combined with his very childlike tantrum when planning out stuff with Claire and Colleen earlier in the episode. Zhou Cheng points out, rightfully so, that even though his masters might be murderers, at least he's not dishonourable the way Danny is, abandoning his post like that. He's just charismatic, mixing in taunts and boasts "I need to keep my dragon sedated!" and honestly I'm pretty sure I'm rooting for him. 

Of course, Danny wins because he's the hero, and proceeds to beat up Zhou Cheng's face into a pulp (a very unfortunate image), something that's oh so EVIL. Because they're not trying to stop a ninja drug cartel or anything, no, beating someone's face to a pulp is totally going too far. Really, Claire, you went on this journey to get payback for your dead friend, were you expecting to serve the evil ninjas a subpoena? It's one thing to contrast Daredevil and Punisher's methods. It's another to be complete morons without a solid plan to end this without bloodshed. And honestly, Danny sics a triad gang to shoot up one of the Hand's factories, and Colleen is totally fine with that. Suddenly worrying about accidentally killing Zhou Cheng and potentially killing Madame Gao is wrong?

So yeah. A combination of bad writing and inconsistent motivations and reverting Danny back into 'clueless idiot' from his previous 'charmingly naive' personality, really makes this episode more miss than hit. And when the stereotypical Asian kung fu minion who shows up for all of ten minutes is much more likable than our protagonist, something is seriously wrong in your writing. At least we get proper kung fu fighting in this episode.


Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Jessica Jones finally gets a shout-out after Madame Gao left her out in her 'metahumans that showed up in New York' roll call! It's not explicit, but the hypercompetent, always-drunk private investigator that Joy hired is totally her.
• Likewise, while not explicit, the letter that Claire receives is definitely from Luke Cage, who's 'unavailable' because he's in prison, but Claire identifying him as a love interest pretty much seals his identity.