Iron Fist, Season 1, Episode 3: Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch
Can I just say how much I like the opening? The combination of the entrancing, dance-like kung fu moves and the Mao Bi-esque inkmarks that opening!Danny makes as his fists and feet swing through the sky? That's beautiful. And finally, I can say that the show at least finally attempts to do some pretty martial arts moves in a pretty cool (though basic -- I have watched way too many kung fu movies than is healthy) action sequence between Danny and Wing early in the episode, plus a brutal one between Wing and some jackass ring fighter.
Oh, and there are some nice drops to Chinese culture with the Buddhist offerings, animal-style kung fu and references to hungry ghosts, which are pretty cool, I suppose. Doesn't make up for the fact that a Caucasian man is teaching a Chinese woman how to do Chinese martial arts, though, which I am trying very hard not to go on a full-on rant about, only justified by the explicitness that Wing is a practitioner of Japanese Bushido instead of kung fu.
But more importantly finally, the plot moves on, and Danny gets some semblance of interest beyond being a crazy super-sheltered dude. We get a proper goal for him beyond being an enigmatic kung fu hippie -- he wants to prove his identity. He gets to shack up in Wing's dojo, and later on in-between plot moments gets pissed at the disrespectful students and gives the a little lesson... though his self-righteous attitude pisses Wing off because, well, as much as she's a stern sensei with a code of honour she also acknowledges the real-life problem of bullies and the dojo is as much an escape and a hobby instead of a warrior-training regimen like what Danny's used to. Danny's characterization in this episode is a lot better compared to the previous two episodes, and him being uncomfortable on a hotel bed and instead opting to sleep on the floor is far, far more effective at portraying Danny's 'not used to the modern world' thing more than any stupid comment he makes in the previous two episodes.
The Meachum family's pretty fucked up, yeah? Harold is a very abusive parent, a different kind of abusive than Patsy's mother in Jessica Jones. He refuses to tell Ward the reasons why he wants things done, why he wants to have Danny Rand on their side, why he wants the mysterious piers, yet he keeps talking about how he loves his child, how he wants to leave a legacy to his child, but in the same breath demeans him, physically abuses him with a kidney punch and thinks he's absolutely incapable, all the while stringing his kid along with words of 'I love you'. Harold is a dick in a different way to Joy, not telling his daughter that he's even alive, and no doubt stringing Ward to keep it a secret from her... and she hasn't known that since she was thirteen. Her pouring her heart out to Danny is a cheap 'oh man her life is so tragic especially because her family's fooling her' trick, but it's still pretty effective.
Joy and Danny's conversation go straight to money, and Joy offers Danny what's basically reimbursement, a fair amount of money as long as he changes his name and doesn't continue being Danny Rand, something that Danny takes absolute offense to... though to be fair, Joy did keep the company afloat for more than a decade, while Danny knows jack shit about running a company. It's more about the way she did it more than the money itself, though, I think.
Danny looks up Jeri Hogarth, Jessica Jones's old lawyer boss, and finally realizes how people think, and quickly rattles off an anecdote from their shared past. See, why couldn't you have done this in episode one in front of Joy and Ward? Jeez. Very convenient that Jeri's so indebted to the Rand family that she's willing to front Danny for new clothes and to represent him, but if the alternative is spending 60 minutes trying to recruit Jeri, I'll take this.
Meanwhile, Harold is definitely under the employ of the Hand (or is that Madame Gao? She's certainly not part of the Hand, unless something changed since Daredevil's second season...) who is pissed off that Harold left his post stuck pretending to be dead in his penthouse, and forces him to kneel and hurt his hand on glass. Yeah, suffer, you abusive jackass! Meanwhile, his children go off on a little jaunt to earn the pier Harold needs by some blackmail to the seller, basically promising an organ donation that his dying son needs... but Joy is pissed that Ward isn't telling her the whole story, especially when Danny shows up, telling him that he's allied with Hogarth after Ward's men tried to burn down some hospital records... and Hogarth comes through by producing a fingerprint on some old sculpting arts'n'craft thing of his. Ward is flustered, but even more so when his father reveals how powerless even he is in all this.
There's a nice parallel to Cottonmouth and Mariah from Luke Cage as this, too, is a family-team formed of a brother and a sister. Ward is privy to all the dirty stuff, like being a huge jackass to Danny, sending men to kill Danny numerous times and generally acts as the bigger threat, but he balks at actually killing Danny himself, and is visually uncomfortable at his sister's cruel manipulations involving a child's donor organs. Joy, meanwhile, is the more supportive of Danny, with the M&M message and taking him at face value and not knowing about her father, but at the same time her methods are more cutthroat, making use of her friendliness and niceties to manipulate both Danny and the dude they're buying warehouses from. It's a far more interesting take on them, where both have their varying shades of gray, not just 'good sibling, bad sibling' as the first two episodes implied was the simple solution to the two of them.
Oh, and Wing goes to the illegal underground fighting arena that her student has been participating in, and it's a pretty awesome and brutal fight that mixes both dirty fighting and some cool kung fu moves. It's clear that Wing's a lot less experienced than her stern discipline would have her, because while she wins, her 'clean' way of fighting did leave her exposed to some biting and dirty shots. A bit hypocritical, because as we learn she's not there to make an example out of her student or something like that, but to get money to pay for the dojo.
Overall, a fair bit better than the previous two episodes. It's still nothing particularly special that'll stand up to the other Netflix superhero shows, but at least it's being an interesting, if not innovative, superhero show.
There's a nice parallel to Cottonmouth and Mariah from Luke Cage as this, too, is a family-team formed of a brother and a sister. Ward is privy to all the dirty stuff, like being a huge jackass to Danny, sending men to kill Danny numerous times and generally acts as the bigger threat, but he balks at actually killing Danny himself, and is visually uncomfortable at his sister's cruel manipulations involving a child's donor organs. Joy, meanwhile, is the more supportive of Danny, with the M&M message and taking him at face value and not knowing about her father, but at the same time her methods are more cutthroat, making use of her friendliness and niceties to manipulate both Danny and the dude they're buying warehouses from. It's a far more interesting take on them, where both have their varying shades of gray, not just 'good sibling, bad sibling' as the first two episodes implied was the simple solution to the two of them.
Oh, and Wing goes to the illegal underground fighting arena that her student has been participating in, and it's a pretty awesome and brutal fight that mixes both dirty fighting and some cool kung fu moves. It's clear that Wing's a lot less experienced than her stern discipline would have her, because while she wins, her 'clean' way of fighting did leave her exposed to some biting and dirty shots. A bit hypocritical, because as we learn she's not there to make an example out of her student or something like that, but to get money to pay for the dojo.
Overall, a fair bit better than the previous two episodes. It's still nothing particularly special that'll stand up to the other Netflix superhero shows, but at least it's being an interesting, if not innovative, superhero show.
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