Iron Fist, Season 2, Episode 4: Target: Iron Fist
Unlike most of my reviews on this blog, I actually write Iron Fist reviews as I watch them, becuase of my pretty open disdain with the series. Admittedly season two has been a bit of an improvement, but it's not quite super-good yet. The plotline is at least being moved along at a decent pace, even if that in medias res bit in this episode was wholly unnecessary and more jarring than anything. This is a goddamn binge-watch Netflix series! You don't need this, which leads more to the mindset of "fuck, did I misclick and skip an episode" rather than the sense of tension they're going for.
Anyway, in this episode, we get the confirmation that the long-running plan with Davos and the weird magic bowl he stole with uncomfortable sex and partnered up with Joy for is... is to steal the Iron Fist from Danny Rand. Something that I kinda-sorta can relate to, considering Davos's backstory. It's just that... it's completely confusing just why Davos really even needed Joy. Was it just to get that magic bowl? It is kind of refreshing after three episodes of genuinely just dicking around and not doing anything, Davos just strolls up to the docks, and kills everyone to get the previous-Iron-Fist-mummy for whatever vaguely-defined ritual they are doing here.
Oh, and Danny and Colleen try to have a sit-down with Sherry Yang, and Danny discovers both Hai-Qin Yang's condition, the magic stroke pressure point strike and gets a lead. For all his talk about wanting to get the triads to make peace, after leading the two to the docks, the whole triad subplot just gets dropped.
Anyway, in this episode, we get the confirmation that the long-running plan with Davos and the weird magic bowl he stole with uncomfortable sex and partnered up with Joy for is... is to steal the Iron Fist from Danny Rand. Something that I kinda-sorta can relate to, considering Davos's backstory. It's just that... it's completely confusing just why Davos really even needed Joy. Was it just to get that magic bowl? It is kind of refreshing after three episodes of genuinely just dicking around and not doing anything, Davos just strolls up to the docks, and kills everyone to get the previous-Iron-Fist-mummy for whatever vaguely-defined ritual they are doing here.
Oh, and Danny and Colleen try to have a sit-down with Sherry Yang, and Danny discovers both Hai-Qin Yang's condition, the magic stroke pressure point strike and gets a lead. For all his talk about wanting to get the triads to make peace, after leading the two to the docks, the whole triad subplot just gets dropped.
We get the grand return of Misty Knight in this episode, showing up to tell Danny and Colleen how much they fucked up, because the people that showed up at the triad sitdown were policemen, and they botched up a sting operation and put Misty's buddy in the hospital. Dammit, Danny! To be fair, Misty is more than understanding, but when she offers to work together and to let the NYPD handle everything, Danny just... buggers off to do vigilantism on his own. I can't blame the writers -- abandoning any sort of duty for his own ego and self-importance is one of Danny Rand's many, many flaws, so it's definitely in character, and, thank god for it, the dude gets punished for it. Is it a sign in why the show fails because I genuinely root for everyone else other than Danny, despite Danny being the protagonist? There's certainly a lot of likable characters in this show -- Davos, Colleen and Misty being the highlights, and even Ward. Sometimes. Maybe. Ward and Joy's scene in this episode got a resounding m'eh from me, just a rehash of what they did previously.
Joy gets to do some interesting things, I suppose, talking with Mary and basically enforcing the dissociative-identity-disorder thing, and ends up siccing Mary Walker on Danny. And Danny's unwillingness to fight Mary ends up with him drugged, beaten half-to-death and then strung up before Davos while the power of the Iron Fist is transferred to Davos. Or, well, that's what it looks like, anyway.
Ultimately, Danny's relatively small role in this episode -- other than basically pouting, delivering exposition and getting into an action scene -- honestly allowed for far more interesting plot points to shine. Always a great choice to bring Misty and Colleen together. The episode certainly has interesting things going on, but with us nearly at the halfway point of the season and the plans of the villains seem unnecessarily complicated for what could've been done in a much simpler way, while the heroes just flounder around ineffectively. Perhaps it's just as well that Danny loses the fist, and that the series doesn't get a third season -- Danny Rand is a character that works best in small doses and action scenes, not as the headliner of his own show.
Joy gets to do some interesting things, I suppose, talking with Mary and basically enforcing the dissociative-identity-disorder thing, and ends up siccing Mary Walker on Danny. And Danny's unwillingness to fight Mary ends up with him drugged, beaten half-to-death and then strung up before Davos while the power of the Iron Fist is transferred to Davos. Or, well, that's what it looks like, anyway.
Ultimately, Danny's relatively small role in this episode -- other than basically pouting, delivering exposition and getting into an action scene -- honestly allowed for far more interesting plot points to shine. Always a great choice to bring Misty and Colleen together. The episode certainly has interesting things going on, but with us nearly at the halfway point of the season and the plans of the villains seem unnecessarily complicated for what could've been done in a much simpler way, while the heroes just flounder around ineffectively. Perhaps it's just as well that Danny loses the fist, and that the series doesn't get a third season -- Danny Rand is a character that works best in small doses and action scenes, not as the headliner of his own show.
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