The Defenders S01E08 Review: To Defend

The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 8: The Defenders

So, the Defenders finally come to a close, and I must say... it's uneven as all hell. It's nowhere as great as the best Netflix Marvel shows -- Daredevil's first season and Jessica Jones, and nowhere as the solid-if-not-novel Luke Cage. It's certainly better than the flop that was Iron Fist (and even made Danny Rand into a likable character while still keeping true to what his show established of him) so that puts it around the quality of Daredevil's second season. Uneven, has a lot of plot twists done for plot twist's sake, but there are so much great action scenes being thrown around, so much great moments and acting that you forgive the weaker parts of the show.

The actual episode mostly runs on action scenes in this final episode after a brief mission statement where Luke makes note that they will not kill unless necessary, and only bad guys at that. Matt does a mushy bit of "I'm glad I met all of you" which earns a gigantic eye-roll from Jessica... and the rest of the episode is just beat-em-up. There's honestly not much to say about it without breaking down every single fight scene, other than I find it pretty damn badass. There's just so many times you can do the whole "huge pan-around montage of all the Defenders fighting mooks", although Gao, Murakami and Elektra being thrown into the mix gives us a fair amount of sweet 'elites' for our heroes to toss around. I did find the sequence that starts without any actual background ambience and just hip hop in the background to be a bit jarring -- like, I know it's something associated with Luke Cage, but still.

The huge emotional components of the finale are the battle between Daredevil and Elektra, as Matt tries his hardest to get Elektra back into the light -- and it becomes increasingly clear that the new Elektra is revelling in being a villain. Meanwhile, on top, Colleen has to face her demons by distracting Bakuto and giving Claire time to arm the bomb, leading to a definitive and climactic battle between student and master. Misty shows up to save Colleen at one point, and gets her hand sliced off -- but Colleen beheads Bakuto, putting down the third and final member of the Five Fingers that are definitely killed. Colleen's character arc that ran across the Defenders has been a side-plot that I didn't quite realize I enjoyed very much, and she's basically taken up Stick's place as the unofficial fifth Defender, just one that fights in a different location than the other four. Now she just needs a cool codename.

Of course, during the course of the battle, during the absolutely tense elevator sequence, Danny and Luke manage to toss Murakami down the deep hole while Jessica holds up the lift with nothing but sheer strength (Bad. Ass.). We see Murakami impaled on a pile of metal, bleeding, as Madame Gao approaches and tells him that they've lost and this is the end... yet we never see Gao and Murakami actually die, and they are in a cave with the dragon bones that are apparently the source of the mysterious death-defying "substance", so it's honestly more surprising if Gao and Murakami were actually killed off. They did have to escape a building being dropped on them, but this is Marvel comics. Characters have survived more insane deaths. (Besides, Madame Gao walked off a point-blank iron fist punch after a brief moment of laying on the groud)

Daredevil, whispers to Iron Fist to "protect my city" as he stays behind to slow down Elektra, and finally embrace death together. Elektra's writing is a little too messy for my liking, with her apparently doing all this just so that she could either cheat death, or to die together with the man she loves. It's messy, but at least messy is a wod you could use to describe what Elektra's feeling at this point, and the final shot they share as they get ready for death in each other's arms is a neat conclusion to this chapter of their story. 

And while I never bought that they would kill off Daredevil, it was a pretty neat eulogy and closure to the Defenders. We see Matt, wounded, being nursed to health by some mysterious people at the end of the episode, whereas the final 15 minutes prior to it is a neat way of closing up outstanding plot points. Foggy is in severe mourning (his voice breaking as Luke asks him how he's dealing with Matt's death is amazingly acted) and not inconsiderable guilt considering he gave Matt the suit in the precinct, but he and Hogarth managed to pull some strings to make sure that all the police nonsense ends up being handwaved aside. We get Danny in a modernized version of his classic Iron Fist costume looming over New York City, embracing his new role as the replacement to Daredevil now that his fight against the Hand is done, Misty is recovering from losing an arm (no small part thanks to Danny owning the best hospital in New York), we get Luke and Jessica sharing a drink and noting that they really should take care of each other (even if Luke isn't willing to move forward considering he's still with Claire) before they end up like Matt, we get Luke and Claire settling in, we get Jessica and Malcolm finally re-opening Alias Investigations. It does get somewhat negated by the fact that Matt's actually still alive, but it does portray the gigantic loss that the Marvel universe is feeling now that Daredevil's thought to be dead. 

Speaking of dead, let's talk about Iron Fist a bit, a character who I've always felt to be problematic. It's never been actor Finn Jones's fault in my opinion, but the general writing in Iron Fist overall and the insistence on portraying Danny as naive, a bit of an asshole and consistently whining and moping. Here, Iron Fist drops off the latter two qualities after the first few episodes. He's still naive, still a bit of dumb brick despite his noble intentions, but he doesn't mope and whine as much as before, and certainly doesn't do any of that entitled bullshit. Luke got through to him after all, and while Danny is still my least favourite Defender, he's certainly been vastly improved from "character I wished never get another episode" to "least favourite Defender". Which is neat. 

It's a well-done conclusion, and while Defenders has been a very uneven ride, it's still very much entertaining and I walked out of it smiling at all the fun superheroism and snarkiness thrown around here and there. 

The Defenders S01E07 Review: Five Fingers

The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 7: Fish in the Jailhouse

So last episode set up the climax pretty neatly. Elektra killed Stick and apparently is taking over the hand by killing Alexandra, she has also kidnapped the Iron Fist and the Defenders are back on the backfoot. And as of the end of the episode, the immortal Iron Fist, in the words of Stick a couple of episodes ago, is still a "thundering dumbass", who, when shown the gigantic door that can only be opened with the Iron Fist.... proceeds to immediately fight Elektra with the Iron Fist active. And, naturally opens the door. Oh Danny, you gigantic moron. It's always fun to see someone show Danny up, though I'm slightly perplexed that Elektra was able to absolutely own Iron Fist like that. I guess mastering the fist isn't the only thing Danny didn't quite master, and his own kung fu skills are lacking? I dunno. We get to see what appears to be... well, I'm not sure what it is. Dragon bones are strewn all around the gigantic chamber at the bottom of the Midland building's hole, though, so maybe it's a portal to K'un Lun? It's exciting to see that the whole series has been building up to a final showdown in this building. 

Of course, the episode spends half of its runtime with our heroes arrested by the police. Which... which I felt took way longer than it should. I get why they did that, of course. The sense of dread as they're on a race against the clock to rescue Danny and defeat the Hand, but are powerless as the seconds tick by, are well-portrayed. But I honestly find it a little hard to believe that Luke and Jessica doesn't just tell the police that, shit, metahumans are involved, y'all, back off and let the indestructible people do the work. Especially considering that Misty Knight knows the amount of danger that the likes of Luke get up to, even if her superior (who I don't think we've ever seen before this show?) is being obstructive I felt that the NYPD's involvement wasn't necessary. It's acted well enough, but I felt like it's too obvious a momentum killer between two large action scenes. 

Of course, they decide to break out instead (miraculously no one put together that Matt Murdock is Daredevil, but I suppose when you're blind no one will consider that he's actually a chain-club-slinging ninja) but at least the transition is well done. Jessica and Luke are the easiest -- Jessica doesn't really give a shit about the police in the first place, Luke keeps telling Claire and Misty that he's going to do the right thing, even if it means withholding information from the police force who are ill-equipped to fight a ninja army, at the cost of being potentially thrown in jail again... but Matt? Foggy and Karen, the two people in his life who are adamantly against him putting on the horns are in the station itself and we get to see an unexpectedly tender moment between Matt and his two best friends, a moment that I didn't think I would see in the parts of the show leading up to the finale. Capitalizing on the various Matt/Foggy and Matt/Karen conversations we have had throughout the season, we get to see the different ways that Karen and Foggy tries to get Matt to not go all Daredevil and risk his life. Karen, being a bit newer to the whole thing (plus the unspoken implication that she's still working through some of the emotional baggage after failing to get Punisher to stand down) gives Matt what amounts to an ultimatum: don't go, or don't go. She sees being locked up as a good thing, and yes, it's short-sighted and selfish, but again, it's not like she doesn't have a point. Let the police, or failing that, the other two super-powered Defenders take the job. Matt can stay and not die.

Foggy, on the other hand, goes through a bit of a speech about how Daredevil's vigilantism is bad for Matt... but then shows Matt that he brings the Daredevil suit. He trusts Matt to make his own decisions, and he's going to help Matt either way. And while Foggy knows that he prefers Matt Murdock to just be Matt the lawyer and not Daredevil the vigilante, he also understands that being Daredevil is as much part of Matt's life as the Matt Murdock portion, and it would kill his friend if he were trapped, unable to help. Somehow still keeping his secret identity secret, the three Defenders break out of the police precinct. 

...and Jessica gives a most bored "there it is again" in response to Matt's costume.

...and Jessica steals a hobo's beer and downs it to one of the most hilarious double-take from Luke and Matt.

...and later as they discuss transportation, Jessica goes 'umm' and pulls out her subway card, cutting to the three Defenders sitting in the subway.

God, these episodes really kind of emphasize that I cannot wait for season two of Jessica Jones, more than anything else. 

Oh, and much appreciated is the fact that it's not just the three Defenders themselves getting pep talks either. Colleen and Claire spent a couple of conversations in the previous episode talking about Colleen's role as, if note an outright Defender, then a very vital supporting character. This episode the roles are reversed, as Colleen notes that, shit, Claire is the foundation, the one who brought the four together. Claire also helps Misty remember Luke's extremely strong moral compass, something that showcases Misty's role as a more independent police officer who, like Luke, cares more for saving people than bookkeeping. To this end, Colleen Wing decides that unlike literally every single other supporting character trapped in the precinct, she's someone who can make a difference, stealing her sword and the several pounds of C4 that Jessica's late client, Raymond, was stockpiling in that apartment. Colleen and Claire show up in the Midland building to help up, acting as a strike team while Daredevil, Luke and Jessica do all the heavy fighting, and Misty, despite all the legal stuff, decides to trust Claire and Luke and is prepared to at least delay the other NYPD dudes. 

Meanwhile, it is a bit hard to swallow that the remainin three Fingers of the Hand would kowtow so quickly to Elektra's coup, but Bakuto has always been more oberver than active participant, Gao has always been established as a character that capitalizes on situations, and it's clear that they see Elekra not as a replacement for Alexandra, but a means to an end -- cnosidering she did what Alexandra or the other never managed to do. Captue Iron Fist. Certainly would've preferred the whole Alexandra/Elektra thing to have more buildup than what we got, but it was... perfunctory, if not satisfactory. Besides, Elektra makes her intentions clear -- she wants to never, ever return to the cold embrace of death, something that Gao and the others can certainly relate with... at least until Elektra can actually open the door. I did like how Elektra, Gao, Bakuto and Murakami moved around the room as they calmly negotiate the terms of their... 'partnership', for lack of a better term, clearly the three trying to get the drop on Elektra, but a combination of fear over Alexandra and Sowande's recent deaths and Black Sky being a pretty terrifying warrior (if we can get an explanation to why Elektra is the Black Sky and why the Black Sky is so special, the season would be amazing) means that the three Fingers are cowed. 

And, of course, the gigantic climactic battle at  the end of the episode. We have another big round of battles in the eighth, final episode, but honestly, while not bad, I didn't feel that it was as awesome as this one. Our three heroes come to charge the Midland building, but find their way blocked by three people. Not just any three, either, but Gao, Bakuto and Murakami. 

The fight between the Defenders and the Fingers of the Hand might be a little choppy at times (probably necessary to cut away from scenes of the elderly Wai Ching Ho -- or her stunt double -- clattering to the ground too brutally). The fight scene is certainly set up well, with the telekinetic Force-pushing Madame gao proving to be as badass as I hoped she'll be, Force-Pushing cars to knock around Jessica and Luke, and quite spectacularly, I did love the direction of not making this three one-on-one fights and instead have Jessica and Luke gang up on Madame Gao, while Daredevil takes on both Bakuto and Murakami, and the fight partners swapping around a cuople of times during the battle. Considering a lot of them have been built up to be badass fighters, but only Bakuto among them have arguably been effective against a Defender, it is very refreshing to see the villains kick as much ass as the good guys. It's suitably epic, and whil I wish the batte was a bit more clear at times, it's definitely ewll-done enough that by the time the Fingers decide to beat a hasty retreat with an explosion of fire, while they lost you don't really get the imperssion that they're chumps. 

Also, while perhaps unintentional, it does make Iron Fist really look bad, yeah? He is trained in kung fu in addition to having a punch that can unleash shockwaves and destroy metal, yet he gets tossed around by Elektra. Whereas Bakuto, who gave Danny the fight of his life, can be held off by Daredevil who's fighting Murakami at the same time. Elektra fighting Danny isn't as exciting as the big three-way fight, but still relatively well done. It does make Danny really look like a gigantic idiot when he starts doing the one thing everyone tells him not to do, though Danny being an idiot is already something I know. So. 

The Defenders S01E06 Review: Divided

The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 6: Ashes, Ashes

This episode is another "things happen" episode. and, boy, while I think I still like the previous episode a lot better, so many things happened in this episode, huh? Whereas the last two episodes are the big mid-movie action scene, if we're taking the entire Netflix season as an equivalent to a movie (and you should, in some ways), this would be the part of the movie that raises the stakes as we're sent rocketing towards the grand finale. We've got the tensions built up in the previous episode boil over as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen does battle against the Immortal Iron Fist (I may have enjoyed the scenes of Daredevil whupping Iron Fist's ass a lot more than I should), as Daredevil and Jessica Jones investigate what the architect was working on, as Luke, Danny and Stick have a conversation, as Alexandra tries her best to keep her house in order, and as Elektra stabs Alexandra in the gut in the finale... not because she turned good, as everyone expected, but because she wants to take over. It all sounds great on paper, and while it's certainly enjoyable, there are some pacing issues that I wished was ironed out a little before

So let's try to dissect the various events that happened in this episode, where I think that the episode peaked in its beginning and end, but didn't have a strong enough middle section to really hold it. The final, oh, ten to fifteen minutes are just an insane whirlwind, with Elektra showing up at the warehouse that Luke Cage and Stick were holding Danny Rand hostage (long story, but suffice to say that it's for Danny's own good). Stick and Luke, who are fighting over whether Stick should kill Danny right now to deny him to the Hand, are caught unawares as Elektra shows up, knocks out Luke Cage, with Iron Fist being powerless, and murders Stick, earning our first named casualty in the series. And then Elektra manages to knock out both Daredevil and Jessica when they show up. And then, after Alexandra manages to quell rebellion from the other fingers... Elektra abruptly stabs Alexandra and declares her intention to take over. It's a twist, but one that I'm not sure the show neeeds. Let's talk about the elephant in the room, then...

Becuase, as much as I didn't expect the twist, it doesn't really mean that I consider it a particularly good twist insomuch that I feel like Alexandra's story isn't fully told yet. Sure, we know a fair bit about Alexandra's motivations and goals. She's an immortal woman who's dying, and has chosen to put all her fates in the Black Sky regardless of what her compatriots think. There is some mother-daughter thing going on. But all of that ends up still feeling like we're missing a link here and there that explains Alexandra's blind devotion to the Black Sky, or why the other Fingers fear Alexandra so much to only take a stand now. It feels like we're starting to really develop Alexandra beyond a (figurative) mustache-twirling villain, and then she gets killed off very quickly. I dunno. Maybe I expected more because she's played by Sigourney Weaver, but I feel like this ends up being a slight disservice for the character, because for all the hype she has as the person that unites the Five Fingers and brought back the Black Sky and everything... she doesn't actually do anything but sit and terrify people.

In this episode alone, her conversation with Madame Gao, where Gao plays the diplomat (RE: past treachery, Gao's nonchalant, cheeky "the past is the past." is perfect) and tries to get Alexandra to see reason (and, failing that, she's going to back the winning horse) is absolutely fantastic, as is the completely calm conversation she has with Murakami, who flat-out says (in equal calmness) that he's going to murder her and take over. Yet any potential Hand Civil War gets interrupted by Elektra capturing Iron Fist... and her subsequent murder of Alexandra. Which... really, is a bit of a sore point. It's not that I hate Elektra as a character, but it's just that she's spent nearly the entirety of Defenders as a mute brainwashed zombie, who's remembering fragments of her old life... and I feel that despite her sleeping in Matt's bed and stealing a bible verse or whatever, she doesn't do enough to really justify her sudden change of heart into being a full-on villain.

That said, though, there are some quality acting from Sigourney Weaver and Wai Ching Ho, the particular being absolutely fantastic playing the kind granny next to Alexandra in her room, transitioning quickly to manipulator when she passes Bakuto and Murakami, and that gasp of shocked grief and vulnerability when Elektra decapitates Alexanddra. The bond between Gao and Alexandra has always been well-established in the show, even if Gao condones Murakami's murder attempt that also takes place, having Alexandra be so brutally murdered as opposed to being killed by 'one of their own' horrifies Gao and this wordless scene speaks a fair bit despite my general disdain with the Alexandra/Elektra stuff.  Also really liked the expressions on Gao, Bakuto and Murakami's faces when Sowande's head was sent to them, showing that they truly are mortal now.

Which, by the way, is their main goal, as exposition tells us this episode. The 'substance' used to resurrect Elektra is the same substance that the Five Fingers (also Nobu) used to return from the dead, and the resources Alexandra committed to raising Elektra, at the cost of all their mortalities, is the immortality-granting substance itself. And apparently the Iron Fist can open a gateway to... K'un Lun (wasn't it razed to the ground?) or somewhere related to K'un Lun that would give them more of the substance.

Of course, the Hand isn't the only team having problems, because the Defenders are collapsing themselves. When the Defenders realize that the Hand wants the Iron Fist, the best plan is, of course, to keep the Iron Fist as far away from the Hand as possible -- something that the hot-headed, naive Danny obviously balks at. Yes, it's so easy to dismiss Danny as being an irresponsible twat once again (and he is!) but at least this time around he genuinely has a point -- he is the most powerful member in their group offensively, he is a mighty warrior,  and he would be a great asset against the Hand. There are many ways in which, and I cannot believe I'm saying this, that I agree with Danny Rand's argument. Of course, like any pampered bully, when others refuse to play ball, Danny jumps from "guys, come on, you need me on the front lines" to "I will BEAT YOU ALL UP if you don't let me fight with you!" and, yes, it's out of his own misguided intentions that this is all part of the Hand's mind-games and shit, but come on, man.

Of course, with his own investment in Elektra, and second-guessing Stick, Daredevil isn't the most objective person around. Add Jessica (naturally) pouring kerosene into the fire by egging the conflict and pointing out that Daredevil has been keeping secrets -- not just about Elektra, but also, as we find out this episode, about the hole underneath the Midland building from the second season of Daredevil. Of course, it turns out that when Iron Fist wants to fight, he fights. And god damn the martial arts battle between Iron Fist and Daredevil is gorgeous. It might just be my favourite fight in the entire show, without hyperbole. The fight is great, and as Jessica tries to stop Daredevil from beating up Danny, Danny reflexively pushes Jessica aside... causing her to retaliate... causing Luke to try and stop Danny... causing Danny to unleash the Iron Fist to lay waste to the entire base.

The rest of the episode, sadly, is a bit clunkier. The constant scene-changing from the pairs of Luke/Danny, Matt/Jessica and the goings-on in the Hand side of things... sprinkle copious amounts of Elektra ruminating the world, and the episode has one of the more uneven pacings I've seen. It's not bad, it just feels a wee bit too choppy.

Thankfully the actosr play off each other very well. Danny and Luke's chemistry are well done even if Danny's tied up and hostile, with Danny being earnest but so socially awkward, whereas Luke just exudes this aura of confidence. I did like how Luke starts to soften once he realizes even more that Danny isn't a horrible person, he's a nice dude that says horrible things because he truly is that naive. Everyone and their mother knows a Luke/Danny team-up in the future is all but certain, and this episode certainly sells me on that. By the time the bigger conflict looms, Luke was ready to divulge personal information about his and Jessica's past relationship, even if he doesn't quite buy the whole punched-a-dragon thing. Of course, and then Stick tries to get a third option and snuff out the Iron Fist before Elektra shows up, so there's that.

Stick's pretty cool, too, having a brief moment of tenderness against Elektra before expiring, while still being an extremist for the greater good, ready to snuff Danny Rand out of existence to deny the Hand the Iron Fist, which clearly is crossing the line compared to decapitating Sowande or training child soldiers. Stick does get some neat bits of manipulation with Luke and Danny, getting the two of them to lower their guard by talking about how he was adopted from hell by the Chaste, and as he's about to kill Danny, he notes how survivors make it up as they go along and apologizes for how necessary this is. Stick's role as a mentor, and a morally-ambiguous one at that, has always made him prime candidate for being killed off in a higher-stakes season, and this certainly counts. Stick's death is going to be missed, because I for one truly enjoyed Stick's jackass one-liners.

Jessica Jones and Daredevil, clearly, win the "most fun duo" award. Jessica's one of the angrier members of the group when she realizes Matt's deception last episode (and this one, too)  but the two's chemistry is absolutely excellent, with Matt's no-nonsense attitude and Jessica's fuck-the-world attitude playing off each other pretty well. It's a pretty great moment as Jessica tries to recount the story of Matt's father in front of that little girl, showing once more that, yes, despite her brusque exterior, Jessica Jones is a hero and a loyal friend.. The two discovering the blueprints in the piano is slightly convoluted how they jump from inspiring speech to "I believe the architect hid something behind the piano", but I'll buy it, simply because Matt acting extra-blind to reach the piano is hilarious (Jessica evidently thinks so too).

Also, they just have so much great dialogue. Matt: "You sure [this is the house]?" Jessica: "99 percent. -pause- 92 percent. But that's still a lot." or this: Jessica: "My past is none of your goddamn business. And it's not actively trying to kill us." or that hilarious eyeroll Jessica has when Matt tells her it's not a tunnel, it's a hole? The two's mutual respect, and Jessica's agreement to trust each other, is definitely well done.

And then there's Elektra. She has... dreams as she sleeps in Matt's apartment, and she is this weird mix of both the Black Sky and the old Elektra, and takes in everything Alexandra says or does... and decides to just, eh, stab Alexandra and take over. She remembers everything, it seems, because he calls Matthew by name, but she's unaffected by her parents in either life, stabbing Stick and later stabbing Alexandra. I'm not really sure I buy any of this, though, because moreso than the backstory Sowande exposits before his death, Alexandra has been built up for far longer, over the course of nearly the entire episode, but was never really allowed to act on that beyond the Black Sky stuff. And while there is never a scene where Alexandra was flat-out bad, I think the show could've done a lot better. I dunno. Maybe I just wanted to see Sigourney Weaver do a lot more? I feel like she's wasted as the villain that ended up as a mere stepping stone for Elektra. I dunno. I still feel a bit ambivalent about it. 

The Defenders S01E05 Review: United

The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 5: Take Shelter

Sorry about the brief delays, but reviews of the second half of Defenders should be finished this week. But here, we start the episode off with a pretty awesome montage of the four fingers of the Hand gathering and marshalling their forces as they prepare to assault the Royal Dragon and murder the Defenders, with Madame Gao, Sowande and Murakami all converging at where Alexandra and Elektra are at, set to the orchestral music associated with Alexandra. This episode follows the streak that the previous two episodes did by having exciting things actually happen, and it's a blast to watch. There are some weaker moments which I'll cover at the end, but by and by I'm pretty satisfied with this episode. 

The action prologue might not be as smooth as the hallway battle from episode 3, thanks to some odd jerking about of the camera that cuts to one action scene to the next in abrupt ways, but it does show some pretty cool moves as Daredevil, Jessica, Luke, Iron Fist and Stick all unleash their differing fighting styles against the goons of the Hand. In this beginning battle, while every hero gets their due, special kudos go to Daredevil and Luke, both of whom face off against Elektra and Sowande respectively. Sowande's martial arts unleash enough force to knock the unbreakable man backwards, matching Luke blow for blow, showing that the leaders of the Hand aren't just pushover businessmen like Alexandra (who disappears during the battle) are. Sadly, the Sowande/Luke fight gets interrupted when Luke gets hit by a truck, and next thing we know, Luke returns having cuffed and apprehended Sowande. That felt jarring.

Murakami and Elektra act as the head-honcho ninjas, with Murakami, after the buildup he gets last epnisode as being the only other 'finger' of the Hand that isn't subservient to Alexandra, to kick all kinds of ass. But as Murakami arrives to see Daredevil (who breaks ranks to try and get Elektra to 'wake up') and Elektra not... killing each other, Elektra ends up going berserk and turning on Murakami briefly. It's a sign that Elektra's going to be trapped in some crisis of conscience thing, and that Daredevil's attempts to redeem Elektra is going to be trouble for the group -- which aren't the best parts of the episode, but are done well enough to not bother me that much.

Also, Jessica whacks Madame Gao. Of course it's her that hits an old, unassuming lady. Gao's just awesome in the prologue, yeah? Coldly shooting one of her minions in the head because they need the Iron Fist alive, and then calmly using her hand to Force Push the gigantic dumpster thing that Jessica uses to block the exit out of the Royal Dragon. Madame Gao's implied superpowers (or K'un Lun chi kung-fu) have been on the backburner in Daredevil's second season and Iron Fist, but it's nice to remind us that while the Defenders are powerful, so are the Five Fingers of the Hand.

And, yes, Five Fingers, because Bakuto, main villain in Iron Fist, presumed dead because his dead body disappears after the battle, reappears in this episode, having been revived. And Bakuto's appearance is certainly welcome. Not just because Ramon Rodriguez gives pretty stellar performance here, but because it also gives Colleen Wing something to do beyond insisting that she and Danny started the fight against the Hand while being kept in the sidelines. Also, Claire's deadpan “That dude was for sure dead last time we saw him, right? Okay, just checking.” when she sees Bakuto, and Danny's equally-deadpan nod, are also bloody hilarious.

Bakuto and Colleen get some scenes in this episode as Bakuto confronts her ex-student and ex-lover, and the episode focuses quite a bit on Colleen Wing, and, indeed, the entire supporting cast of the four Defenders' individual series. Colleen gets a relatively large amount of screentime in this episode, interacting not only with Bakuto, who tries to shake her entire worldview -- and as someone who has spent her entire life believing that the Hand (or, well, Bakuto's faction of the Hand) is the one true way to live, and she has had her entire life ripped away from her. Colleen has since latched on completely to being Danny's sidekick in their tag team to fight the Hand, but Bakuto's return shakes all of that. Colleen is clearly not taking any more of Bakuto's shit and goes sword-first against her former master, but both actors portray their roles amazingly well, with Bakuto's confidence of someone who has his hooks in Colleen's psyche and Colleen's determination is tinged with confusion and doubt. The encounter sadly ends with the rather comical 'turn away for one second, and he's gone!' bit, but Colleen's gut-stab takes her out of the fight.

Less elegant, mind you, is the earlier speech where Colleen rants to Danny that she doesn't like Danny allying with the Defenders since it's "their" fight, even though Colleen is the one who suggested Danny find allies in the first place. That bit didn't feel like it needed to happen.

Her honest speech to Claire, asking if she's just useless and pointless, is also amazingly acted by both actors, with Claire assuring Colleen that she is "the foundation" of the Defenders. Which seems rather strange, considering that if there is anyone who could be called the foundation of the team it'd be Claire herself, who's the only common friend between all four Defenders, but perhaps the term could be applied in a more general sense to every single supporting character that, well, quite literally supports the Defenders mentally and emotionally. Foggy and Karen. Trish and Malcolm. Misty and Claire. Colleen. These people, while the obvious weakness of the Defenders (the Hand goes after two of these characters in this episode), is also their strength. Someone like Jessica or Luke doesn't really buy into the whole eternal ninja clan full of resurrected overlords, but they do know that they need to keep their loved ones safe, and that's enough for them. And this is where the supporting characters come in, as we spend time with them and remind both our heroes and us, the audience, just who our characters are fighting for. 

And none feel this weight more than Matt's supporting cast. They decide to gather their loved ones at the precinct under the watchful eye of an increasingly exasperated Misty Knight (fill her up on the Hand already, Luke!) but whereas Colleen's interactions with Bakuto and later Claire get more spotlight, and Trish later ends up being the crux to a Jessica/Daredevil/Murkami fight, Matt's conversation with Foggy and Karen are so much more well done. It's so easy to generalize Foggy and especially Karen as selfish, stop-superheroing characters, but at the same time, is it really that hard to blame them to want to keep their friend Matt from, well, dying in the gutter fighting something he's over his head about? Yet the same fate that befell Elektra (and other characters who died in the other heroes' respective journeys) is exactly why Matt -- nay, Daredevil -- is fighting so hard. He wants to prevent the same thing from happening to Foggy and Karen and his newfound friends, as well as to redeem Elektra herself. Karen's resigned sigh as she realizes that, yeah, she just have to trust Matt is well-done. And I also did like the members of the different supporting cast having their own scenes and lives. Trish isn't just lounging randomly when Jessica finds her, she's trying to get to the bottom of why the earthquake was covered up in her radio show by her superiors. Foggy and Karen share a reunion. Claire and Colleen have a conversation about Colleen's self-esteem, and Misty introduces herself to Colleen, recognizing that her sword skills probably means that she can (and probably will) need to help defend the precinct if shit goes down.

And, yes, Jessica's fight against Murakami when she tries to get Trish to safety is amazingly done, showing how skilled these Five Fingers are. Jessica is undoubtedly stronger, but Murakami's agility and ability to parry strikes means that despite her strength, Jessica can't damage Murakami if her punches can't land. This leads to the dramatic entry as Daredevil, finally in his full costume again, shows up and lobs his throwing sticks at Murakami. The three-way battle between the in-costume Daredevil (who finally got over the struggling-between-two-lives thing now that the threat is real), Jessica Jones and Murakami is amazingly done, and a neat showcase of their powers as Daredevil and Murakami engaged in a series of awesome martial arts exchange, before Jessica gets a shot to let loose with a gigantic metahuman punch that sends Murakami flying. 

And, of course, since Jessica Jones is the most amazing snarker in the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe... her (apparently ad-libbed by both actors) nonplussed "nice ears." at Daredevil's costume, and Daredevil's irritated and pouty "they're horns." is absolutely perfect.

Of course, all the character interactions are pretty great, and we get Sowande giving this long, impressive backstory about how he once caused a gigantic temple of the Chaste to be basically broken by siege tactics, causing them to kill each other as they give Sowande up to his own people to end the siege. Matt's return to the full Daredevil costume, a decision that was honestly well-paced over five episodes despite its slow burn, starts with him kicking ass with Jessica, and later using his brand-new chain-stick things to choke Sowande from halfway across the room, earning another gem: Danny goes "THAT'S SO COOL!" excitedly like a little kid (I agree with Danny), and Luke tries to play it cool and goes "eeeh it's kinda cool."

Of course, Sowande gets into Matt's head, knowing all about Elektra and the Black Sky, causing Matt to lose his temper and almost kill Sowande. ("Unfortunately", in Stick's words) Again, always refreshing to see storylines where it's not afraid to be dark, but still have the heroes not kill unless absolutely necessary. The revelation about Matt and Stick knowing about Elektra's identity all along causes a pretty big blow-up as Jessica, Luke and Danny kind of demands why Matt is hiding this from them, and what else are they hiding, but they aren't at blows with each other (yet). It's a trick that's as old as superhero team-up comics in general, but one that was done.... well, reasonably well if not particularly super-exciting. While the Defenders are squabbling, Sowande attempts to escape and capture the Iron Fist, and Stick just slices off Sowande's head. "Cut off one finger, the hand can still move" indeed, but Stick just doesn't give a shit. It's a bit of an abrupt end, but the moment of doubt on the other three Defenders as they realize that Stick isn't quite a wise mentor like Obi-Wan Kenobi sinks in. Killing Sowande isn't the worst thing Stick could do, of course, and while extreme isn't unjustified, but it's a pretty neat shocking twist

Less done well, perhaps, are the Five Fingers of the Hand themselves. They lick their wounds a lot in this episode -- four of the five didn't manage to get any of the Defenders at the beginning of the episode. Bakuto fails to turn Colleen against the Defenders, Sowande gets murdered and Murakami gets his ass beaten by Jessica and Daredevil. We get the handwave that despite them being shown as being on a civil war during Iron Fist, apparently Bakuto and Gao just brush off their older conflict as "well, we're still technically allies with each other." I wish we spent more time on Bakuto and Gao's conflict, but then that would eat up even more time. I certainly didn't expect Bakuto, Gao and Murakami to turn against Alexandra, but honestly that's a very, very well-done scene.

See, we're still not super-clear just what makes Elektra so special, what makes the 'Black Sky' so special that Alexandra apparently uses all their resources to bring her to life. Murakami has already been opposed to Alexandra's methods and treats this as a partnership instead of serving under her, Bakuto didn't even join up until this episode and has a history of fighting against other Hand leaders, and Gao, while subservient, also shows up later to remind Alexandra that her putting all her eggs in one basket with nothing to show for it is.... well, one of the five dead. The death of a fellow immortal shakes the three of them to the core, and none of the three have enough faith to follow Alexandra blindly, certainly not when she seems to be failing so much. I just wish we get to learn more about Alexandra's motivations and her faith in the Black Sky beyond, well, general mommy issues. And that's where I think the writing behind Alexandra feels lacking, as it doesn't quite get any better for the rest of the series. Sigourney Weaver is a fantastic actress, but I honestly feel that her role as Alexandra, while amazingly portrayed... doesn't quite carry a full story. 

And Black Sky/Elektra herself is a bit weird, too. She's clearly confused and trying to find out why she instinctively protected Daredevil from being killed, and she just tries to find out where she came from, finally ending in Matt's old apartment. It's... it's okay, I guess, but I just kind of don't find a lot of the Elektra stuff super-interesting. It's not the fault of the actress or the writers, who did their best to pace a resurrected character coming to terms with conflicting memories and all that jazz, it's perhaps just that this particular subplot feels rather detached and doesn't quite have the necessary buildup that I, as the audience, end up asking the same questions that Madame Gao and the others are asking: why bring Elektra back at all?

Still, a pretty solid episode regardless of the long-term missteps. The plot is heading headlong to a big clash between the Defenders, who drew first blood, against the Hand, and it's pretty exciting.

As a little parting note, can I just say how utterly awesome Stick is with one liners this episode? From his reaction to Sowande's near-death choking and Danny asking if he's dead: "Eh, unfortunately, no." Or his comeback to Sowande's "I was wondering when I would see you again.", which is him going "Me too. -waves hand in front of eyes- Huh. Guess that won't be today." Or his response to Sowande's long scary speech about how he mind-gamed an entire castle to give up: "If I kneel before you right now, shithead, will you shut up?"

The Defenders S01E04 Review: Best Conversation Ever

The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 4: Royal Dragon

In contrast to the first two episodes of the season, "Royal Dragon", the fourth episode of Marvel's the Defenders, involves all of our main characters -- the titular Defenders and Stick -- sitting in a restaurant and talking. Sure, Jessica says "fuck you" and buggers off for like the second half of the episode, but that's all they do. Yet it's so much more interesting and engaging than the weird book-keeping and errating jumping around we had in the first two episodes. From the moment that the episode begins with a shot of the titular Royal Dragon, a Chinese restaurant that the Defenders quickly hide in after escaping from Midland, and the clever visual hint that the Royal Dragon's neon signs has only the four primary colours associated with our four heroes in the opening credits (Matt's red, Jessica's dark blue, Luke's gold and Danny's green), it's the place where our heroes end up getting finally properly acquainted, trying to struggle to comprehend all the crazy shit going on with each other. Oh, and comprehend each other. This is the kind of a slow episode that really deserves to be made, one that truly explores characters and shows interactions that are interesting. 

Also, the episode makes Danny Rand finally likable, something that 13 episodes in his home show never managed to do. I can't help but think that the writers tried to redeem Danny in both the audience's eyes after the blowback on Iron Fist (nice to know I'm not the only one that doesn't like that show), which is definitely nice. And it doesn't feel like a complete retool of the character either, which would be inelegant. Danny is just this over-excited puppy with his extremely naive views on superheroism, which isn't hard considering his manchild mentality and his 'I am the destined hero, so we MUST fight them!' gung-ho attitude. We have had Danny be admonished twice in this season, first by Colleen and then by Luke, and seeing him here relatively excited to potentially have allies against the Hand, while still being enough of a prideful (but ultimately noble) tit to talk back to anything he desn't agree with, makes him work a lot better. There are also hilarious moments of him being accidentally insensitive, like earning the Royal Dragon's staff's cooperation through what initially seems to just him talking in Mandarin, but apparently he basically all but bought the restaurant with his boy billionaire money, and his proud "hey, guys, I did a thing!" excited little-brother smile is fun. More of fun, noble-idiot Danny and less moping, entitled-shit Dany, please. 

The four principal members of the Defenders have a common enemy, but they are all four well-defined characters who have gone through some serious shit in their respective shows. And unlike the Avengers, there was no Initiative. No SHIELD and Nick Fury that acted as the big good organization to tie them together, and in any case, with the Avengers half the team were actually working for SHIELD by the time the movie began. Sure, the Defenders all have a common friend in Claire Temple, and they all live in New York, but that's about it. They are a bunch of people who just don't trust other people easily, and even the characters who know each other before all this mess -- Luke and Jessica -- aren't super keen on working with the others. And that's not to mention all the hot emotions running right now. Matt's frustration and anger at seeing Elektra alive but not exactly herself, Jessica's streak of bad luck, Luke working out frustrations over Cole's death and... Danny's actually pretty chill in this episode and that sort of makes sense. 

Add all the hard-to-swallow stuff like the existence of the ninja clan called the Hand, the Immortal Iron Fist, dragon-punching and all that, and the Defenders just find each other's story hard to swallow, even if they do calm down a little after Danny orders five of every single item on the Royal Dragon's menu. Stick also shows up around the halfway mark to deliver some much-needed exposition and to call out Matt and Danny out -- the former being uncooperative, and the latter for being, in Stick's own words, "the immortal Iron Fist is still a dundering dumbass." becuase him calling Colleen basically tipped off their location to the Hand. But before that... story time! Luke's chill and cooperative despite his suspension of disbelief, but Stick's attempt to get Jessica Jones to SIDDOWN ends up with Jessica going "fuck you" and leaving, easily a highlight of the episode.

The conversations are well done, blending characters reacting to things the audience already knows like the general disbelief about Iron Fist's claim that he punched a dragon -- Luke has the perfect eyeball-rolling scene. Luke and Danny actually have some really great chemistry that builds up from their previous meetings in the second and third episodes, and I wouldn't mind seeing them team up as a duo show, which is apparently something that happens multiple times in the comics. Matt is, rather surprisingly for me, the most uncooperative of the bunch. Whereas Jessica is irritated and sticks around long enough to listen to the information she wants to know, Luke is chill and Danny is excited, Matt continues to want nothing to do with the group, something that makes a lot of sense considering how he doesn't even actually want to become Daredevil again until circumstances forced him to. Jessica's dry insistence that he return her scarf is hilarious, and Danny's constant "whooaaa how did you do that" look any time Matt comments on things with his super senses are hilarious.

Matt gets super-irate when Stick shows up, being a gigantic douchebag towards Stick and insisting that whatever Stick does isn't going to end well for anyone else -- he may be fighting the Hand, but that doesn't mean that he's working for everyone's best interests. At the moment, though, Stick is being cooperative, and despite his missing hand (there are some times where the stump prosthetic looks fake, though) Stick is in a talkative mood and catches both the heroes and the audience up on the state of things. The Chaste is formed in accordance to K'un Lun's orders -- not that it matters because it appears that both K'un Lun and the Chaste are basically wiped out, and confirms that the dead bodies that Danny, Colleen and Luke stumbles upon in episode two are what's left of the Chaste. We also get the revelation that the Hand is controlled by the Five Fingers, five heretics from K'un Lun that were exiled, but are also immortal thanks to obtaining certain... mystical things in K'un Lun.

These five fingers are the big players of the game, as we learn the identities of the five fingers. Alexandra and Madame Gao, obviously, and I did find Danny and Matt's confusion that the other knew Madame Gao to be more hilarious than I shold. "White Hat", or Sowande, the black dude that Luke has been following and we saw working with Alexandra last episode, is another, and Bakuto, the main villain of Iron Fist, is confirmed to be another (presumed dead, but maybe not) finger. The final member is a character we meet in this episode through Alexandra scenes, a Japanese man named Murakami, and is confirmed to be Nobu's leader. There is the weird oddity that apparently despite the bickering between Gao and Nobu, and Gao and Bakuto, the Hand's actually multiple organizations embroiled in constant alliances and rivalries... but it sort of kind of makes sense, allowing some tie-in to the sometimes inconsistent motivations that Madame Gao seems to have -- the Hand factions we see in the three different seasons they showed up in aren't necessarily the same faction. Their motivations being immortality might not be super original, but it's believable enough.

And through this all, the five main players in the room (four after Jessica leaves) exchange some great lines of dialogue. Without going too in-depth about it, it's just generally well done, with everyone's point of view being well-defined, and the moments when Luke and Matt decide to finally let go of their reluctance to team up with Stick and Danny is definitely well done. All of them are heroes, as much as they don't want to admit it, and despite Luke's reservation about this "magic" and Matt's hatred of Stick, they still know that people are going to get hurt and they can't have that. Matt also gets some of his alternate goals made known when he talks one-on-one with Stick about Elektra, and expresses some hope that, shit, Elektra might recognize him. Stick, heartless blind bastard that he is, is basically telling Matt not to be blinded by his emotions. 

Jessica, meanwhile, takes some time to finally say "fuck you" to everything, but curiousity gets the better of her, and she finds out that, yeah, the handwritings found in the records she photographed all match each other, leading credence to Stick's talk about immmortals. When she returns to investigate Michelle Raymond's house, she finds a thug watching the family, and while protecting them Jessica confirms the existence of the Hand. She shows up finally at the end of the episode, using a car to break through the walls and smack Elektra down, giving us a pretty badass dynamic entry and a cliffhanger for next episode as it promises another Defenders-vs-Elektra fight.

Alexandra gets some scenes to break up the restaurant stuff in this one, and it's pretty neat. There's the scene where she shows up to talk to Murakami, who speaks entirely in Japanese, before showing up in the restaurant, sitting on a chair, while everyone is distracted. While we do kind of know some bits about her -- she's an immortal who, for some reason, is dying, and is accelerating things faster than the other Five Fingers are comfortable with -- she's still mysterious enough. She asks Danny to come quietly, otherwise everyone else dies. Threatening their personal lives, as well as the fact that she's basically indirectly caused the death of Luke's buddy Cole, means that there's not really going to be peace. She then unleashes Elektra upon them, and while I highly doubt that four-on-one she's going to pose a threat to Iron Fist and Luke Cage, Jessica smacks Elektra with a car instead. Doubt she's down for the count, though.  

Definitely a win in my book. Perhaps a bit slower, but the right kind of slow that allows us to explore characters and character intereactions, instead of the weird meandering tone we had in the first two episodes. More please!

The Defenders S01E03 Review: YEAAAAAAAAAAAH

The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 3: Worst Behaviour

Okay, that's pretty fucking awesome. I've been pretty vocal in my relative distaste of the absurdly slow-as-snail pacing of the first two episodes of Defenders, but this one definitely helps to restore my confidence in the show. It's not just the big bad finale hallway battle at the end either when all the four Defenders stand together and fight against a crapton of Hand enemies (also Elektra), though that certainly helped immensely. It's the entire episode in general.

All four members of the Defenders feel like they end up working individually (or together, in Matt and Jessica's case) to arrive at the Midland building, the same building that became the setting of parts of Daredevil's second season, is owned by Alexandra, and apparently to become part of its board of directors you need to be a tonfa-wielding ninja. Add some surprisingly hilarious and compelling dialogue in this episode (Jessica Jones is my spirit superhero and still wins the best lines award) and you just have a recipe for an episode that's firing on all engines.

Let's leave the big action sequence for the end of the review, and talk about other things that make this episode still awesome. There's nowhere go but up after the previous clumsy episodes, of course, but this time around, all the main Defenders find their way to Midland security in believable ways. Matt and Jessica encounter each other as lawyer and client, and while Matt tails Jessica, we get an awesome back-and-forth as Jessica doubles back to follow Matt, who proceeds to shake her off by ninja-jumping up buildings. And then when the two of them meet again, Jessica tries to get Matt to get off her case by threatening to expose the photos she took (Matt just smashes her camera, which is hilarious) and their argument is cut short when Matt hears gunshots, and their argument ends up being moot as both heroes run up the building to reach the top and join the fight.

Oh, and their conversation is peppered with hilarious dialogue, of course. Jessica goes "I'll punch you so hard, you'll see" towards the blind Matt is just the brand of assholish humour that makes me like Jessica Jones so much, but Matt stealing Jessica's scarf for a makeshift (stupid-looking) mask and runs off with Jessica going "you look like an asshole!" and Matt's "it's your scarf!" quip is just so perfectly done. As is the montage of Matt just charging up the stairs of like an entire skyscraper, reaching the top floor like a ninja ready to battle... and Jessica just nonchalantly steps out of the elevator. It's gorgeously scripted comedy.

Also well-done comedy is the short bit of investigation as Jessica smoothly steps into the role of an annoying millennial-hipster "ohmygaaawhdddd" in trying to hire a building and investigate her own way from 'dead architect' to 'something-something-Midland'. God, seeing the normally pissed-off-at-the-world Jessica Jones switch gears into one of her vapid cover personalities never ceases to amaze. Easily one of the highlights of the episode, if the Jessica/Matt stuff didn't made me laugh so hard.

Meanwhile, whereas Jessica and Matt, arguably the two most mature members of our cast, are trying to one-up each other in investigation, Luke and Danny are having a... sausage-comparison-fest, to name the least. After the previous episode's explosive fight between the Iron Fist and the unbreakable man, Luke's off-handed mention about a skinny white kid with a glowing fist that can hurt him causes Claire "I'm in every series, y'all" Temple to basically just set up a meeting between Luke and Danny, so they can sort their problems out because they're fighting against the same guys.

And, oh god, what an amazing, amazing conversation between the two. One of my biggest complaints about Iron Fist is that even though Danny makes some utterly batshit stupid choices, he's never called out on those, and his stubborn brattiness ends up being justified because the show bends over backwards so that the Iron Fist's unlikable snobbishness ends up being the right thing to do, and both Claire and Colleen tend to be portrayed as being way too trusting of Danny to really actually challenge him beyond general "get off your ass and stop moping" sentiments. Here, Colleen and Claire walk out of the room they leave Iron Fist and Luke Cage in, so they can sort things out. After a hilarious pissy exchange "You punched me!" "He punched first!" I do like how Luke and Danny end up bonding together for a bit, acknowledging each other's skill as a warrior and each other as heroes before the differences in their methods split them apart. Oh, and Luke not buying a shit of Danny's claim to have punched the heart of a dragon is a hilarious continuation of a running joke from Iron Fist's own series. Whatever my problem with Danny Rand is, Finn Jones's portrayal is best when he's playing bubbly optimistic happy hippie Danny, and that bit is very enjoyable. Danny and Luke play off each other well, and giving Danny some good lines makes him ten times more likable than he has ever been throughout 13+ episodes in his home show.


But then, Luke starts calling things out on Danny's methods, and Danny himself actually makes some good points. Yes, Danny Rand is making some good points. Whatever sob story Cole may have had behind him, he did work with the Hand, and Danny can't afford to hold back his punches oin every single enemy just because they might be working to feed their family. But on the other hand... he was about to punch Cole in the head and we do know how insanely powerful Danny's punches are. That particular argument is going to be hard to really take a side on, because both Luke and Danny have a point. Danny can't be expected to stop every single thug working for the Hand and ask "hey, are you forced to do this because you don't have a family, and you have no other way to feed your mother other than this shitty job?" just as Luke shouldn't ignore the forest for the trees, ignoring the fact that Cole is working for a terrorist organization just because he's doing mere gruntwork.

Of course, as with everything that comes out of Danny Rand's mouth, whatever well intentions Danny has gets kind of screwed over by his douchebaggy, single-minded entitled bullshit, and Luke's line, "you may think you earned your strength, but you had power the day you were born before the dragons, before the chi". Is it unfair for Luke to pull the race card? Perhaps, but on the other hand, throughout his own show Danny has done his fair share of bullying his way to get what he wants, either waving around his 'I have 51% of the shares of my company!' or the 'I am the immortal Iron Fist!' flags to justify whatever he felt doing, while moping and feeling sorry for himself to look like a sad puppy. That is an absolutely succinct explanation of Danny Rand's character flaws, and god, the look on Danny's face as he starts to realize that, yes, there are other ways than just beating up low-level operatives is amazingly done. Danny obviously doesn't back down, but the fact that he's prepared to actually take Luke up on his advice and actually use the boy-billionaire Danny Rand persona to tackle the Hand at the top is well done.

Of course, this is Danny Rand, so his attempts to use diplomacy has the subtlety of a glowing fist, where he walks up to Midland's CEO building and just rants about how they are all members of the Hand... and Alexandra just walks in, nonplussed at Danny's silly man-child speech. I do enjoy Danny making a fool out of himself by his misguided, noble but ultimately childish endeavours. Funny Danny is the best Danny. Of course, Alexandra just casually sics an army on him.

Luke, after the conversation with Danny, goes on his own 'little people' crusade, and while it's not as obvious as Luke's damning speech about Danny's character flaws, does end up having to kind of think about how futile his attempts at going about it the supportive-public-figure way is. Cole refuses to tell Luke anything because "they're watching", and sends Luke off to buy lotto tickets for his mother... and as Luke and Cole's mothers are talking (and Luke finds the clues that point to Midland) we get the heartbreaking scene as Cole is shanked to death off-screen, causing Luke Cage to realize that, shit, he should've taken his own advice and taken the fight to the people on the top.

Which leads to the amazing team-up. Danny Rand gets dogpiled by the CEO ninjas, and then hip-hop music plays and Luke Cage just waltzes into the office, non-plussed, and starts throwing around fools. The weird hip-hop aura that accompanies Luke Cage wherever he goes is a bit weird and hilariously corny, but at the same time... the team-up between Iron Fist and Luke Cage is amazing to behold. Both characters get their individual moments to shine, with Luke throwing people so hard they make the walls crack, to Luke covering Danny from a swarm of bullets, to Danny kung-fu fighting people and plucking darts out of the wall to tranquilize the Hand agents... Danny's own personal one-against-two-dozen kung fu scene before Luke Cage shows up is also pretty fluid and amazing to watch, something that I didn't quite feel back when watching Iron Fist where a lot of the fight scenes felt awkwardly done.

And then as Luke and Danny literally burst through a wall to meet Jessica and Matt (who's just raising his fists up unsure if Luke and Danny are enemies), with Luke and Jessica just so casually greeting each other... and then Alexandra sics Zombie Elektra and the second wave on them, and an awesome hallway fight ensues. Matt quickly realizes that 'something' is coming, not identifying Elektra as Elektra until well into their pretty impressive one-on-one melee. The hallway scene before Elektra reaches the Defenders were a highlight, too, allowing Matt and Danny to jump and bounce off walls and dropkick fools, while Jessica and Luke use their immense strength to just toss people around like ragdolls. And meanwhile through body-slamming Hand goons to the walls, Jessica Jones has the time to irritably press the lift button to make sure the door stays open. God, Jessica's the best, isn't she.

The battle between Elektra and Daredevil is also amazingly done, I just really wished Matt wasn't wearing that stupid-ass scarf over his face. Elektra has Daredevil beat, but Iron Fist shows up to protect Matt, using his fully-charged Iron Fist to literally punch Elektra's sword into a million pieces, and then punching her through a wall. Considering how relatively little we actually see the titular Iron Fist in action in his own show, seeing Danny flare the fist up and use it to its maximum potential at least once per episode is a delight.

Of course, the episode isn't all well-done, because the first... oh, 10 to 15 minutes of the episode is just weird exposition that would probably have worked better as part of the second episode or something to break it up. It's just a flashback to when Alexandra and 'White Hat' retrieves Elektra's body from the grave and puts her in the resurrection chamber, basically an extended version of the Daredevil season two ending stinger... and then proceeds to basically show Alexandra rehabilitating Elektra as a soulless "Black Sky", who doesn't have a single memory of her past life. Which isn't something I'm particularly fond of (because we're still kind of unclear what Black Sky is supposed to do other than be part of a mysterious Hand prophecy) but I guess it comes with the territory?


Thankfully, Stick and his dry wit comes to brighten things up, as in the present day Stick reveals some things about Alexandra we don't know yet. They have a long history, Stick and the Chaste (who gets wiped out -- the bodies last episode were whatever was left of the Chaste) and Stick loses his right hand, cutting it off to catch Elektra and Alexandra off-guard and escape, and meet with Colleen Wing and presumably will be directed towards the Defenders before the next episode. We don't learn much about Alexandra necessarily other than confirmation that, shit, she's super-duper-old and likely immortal before her sickness, but she puts a lot of stock in the Black Sky, and is able to single-handedly stop a rabid Elektra despite her age.

Another moment that perhaps didn't work as well is Danny's conversation with the Rand Industries secretary. While I do appreciate giving Danny some breadcrumbs to follow so he can get to Midland independently like Jessica and Luke, the secretary going to being scared shitless of the Hand to "okay let me exposit about every single holdings they have" within two sentences is absolutely clunky and that scene would've worked far better if the secretary wasn't aware and Danny just told her to find company dealings that went through the countries he knows the Hand is operating out of.

Overall, though, those are relatively small complaints for a very stand-out episode of the Defenders that shines not just in action scenes, but in the smaller conversations and character moments, in snarky dialogue and brief emotional scenes, and succeeds in redeeming Danny Rand somewhat in my eyes. We'll see if Defenders can keep up this streak, yeah?

(As always, check out my reviews of the entire Netflix Marvel saga here.)

The Defenders S01E02 Review: When The Fist Meets the Indestructible Skin

The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 2: Mean Right Hook

Episode two of the Defenders is a bit better. It's still a bad standalone episode, arguably, but as part of a whole, as part of an eight-hour-movie, it's a decent enough watch. The fact that the episode still tries its best to give each character equal amounts of screentime in each episode is a bit to its detriment, though, because some characters -- particularly Daredevil in this episode -- don't actually get to do much. In a standard 13-episode Netflix season, it wouldn't matter that much that we're still taking things easy in the second hour, but Defenders only has eight episodes to tell its story, and that means we're already one-fourth through the series, and the titular Defenders have already just began meeting each other at the end of this one. Now I'm all for meetings that make sense, that is paced well and not rushed, but this felt a bit... oddly-paced. I'll refrain from criticizing this pacing too much until I have finished the entire season (oh, Netflix and its bizarre binge-watching seasons) but it does seem abysmally slow, even disregrading the format that "episode 2" and "episode 1" are meant to be merely an opening act and not proper whole episodes in their own right.

And this episode is... more of the same. Our characters finally start to move around the board, but the only ones that seem to really do anything related to the plot are Jessica Jones and Iron Fist, who are investigating the various strange phenomenons in the city. Luke Cage gets dragged into Iron Fist's side of the story when tracking the mysterious 'White Hat' lands him smack dab in some Hand stuff, but for the most part Matt is so removed from everything going on... and honestly, even though things actually happen and there are action scenes in this episode, the mystery is frustratingly oblique and only the relatively strong performances from the actors really keeps me invested. 

So, to recap what's going on -- the kids of Harlem, including Cole, who Luke has taken a shine to finding out the mysterious shady stuff he's up to, is apparently part of the Hand's cleanup crew, which is why Luke follows Cole straight into a massacre site where Cole is immediately interrogated by Iron Fist, who is investigating said site. And, honestly, you can't really blame Iron Fist for antagonizing Cole -- he is affiliated with the Hand as far as Danny is concerned, sad backstory or not. It does put Iron Fist and Luke Cage in a fight, and, hoo boy, what an amazing fight scene that was. Iron Fist apparently took actual kung fu lessons because his martial arts skills looks so much more fluid than the lackluster ones we had in his original show, and it is equally hilarious to see all of Iron Fist's kung fu moves fall short at even budging the mighty, indestructible Luke Cage. Luke just tosses Iron Fist around, whose punches barely even rattle the giant, until he goes full Iron Fist, charges up his chi, and whacks Luke Cage in the jaw and sends him flying across the room. It's glorious, and right there I've got my money's worth for the price of admission, bad pacing or not. It's a bit shallow, perhaps, for me to just brush of a good chunk of the series' problems becuase "shit, awesome action scene!" but seeing Power Man and Iron Fist fight each other is what I watch this series for. I just wish there were more of this and less floundering around. 

Luke and Danny's storylines are... watchable, but none that are too interesting. Luke taking interest in the well-being of Harlem youths are neat, but it's nothing we haven't seen the character do in his home series. Likewise, Iron Fist and Colleen Wing hunting the Hand members are also kind of neat, and at least they're moving the plot forwards, but do we really need scenes of Danny laying on his back listening to his iPod feeling sorry for himself and having to be jolted awake to the idea that, huh, there might be other people fighting the Hand?

Jessica, meanwhile, is still going on a one-woman warpath as she tries her devil-may-care, call-everyone-dipshit rampage throughout New York City as she reports in the huge pile of explosives to the NYPD. This brings her into the orbit of Misty Knight and the glorious return of Jeri Hogarth, who all tell her to stay away from the mess. Her sister-BFF Trish Walker also gets shut down in her radio show when she discusses too much about the earthquake, and added to everyhting that the other Defenders are investigating, it definitely implies something far bigger... and still very oblique. Jessica's storyline provides the other big climax of the episode that plays alongside Iron Fist and Luke Cage's brawl, which is her finding that the enigmatic John Raymond, the man with explosives wanted for terrorism, is in her office with a gun to Malcolm's head pleading innocence... and then promptly gets killed by Zombie Elektra. Zombie Elektra and Jessica Jones fight for a bit -- not quite as long as I really wanted the fight to be -- but Elektra makes her escape while Misty Knight ends up apprehending Jessica. Poor Jessica, she can't catch a break, can she?

It's neat, I guess, because Jessica has no idea who Elektra or Misty Knight are, and both Misty and Jessica acted relativvely reasonably considering their situation, just like Luke and Danny were. And I also loved that side-characters like Hogarth, Foggy, Misty and Trish are given relatively more screentime as opposed to the previous episode, where it's just a wild jump from one side-character to the next with only Claire and Misty really getting adequate screentime. 

Meanwhile, this also puts Jessica Jones in Matt Murdock's orbit, as he shows up to represent Jessica Jones as her attorney, which is a cool moment at the end of the episode. Presumably, this is thanks to Foggy's personal story throughout the episode, where Hogarth tasks him with keeping an eye on Jessica Jones but keeping it divorced from the company, Foggy also giving Matt a crapton of cases to keep him distracted from being Daredevil again, and Matt showing up as an independent lawyer to bail out Jessica.

Matt's storyline is perhaps one of the more frustrating of the four, with the simple caveat that he is trying to deny his Daredevil alter-ego, something that, while making perfect sense considering what the character has been through, is also not ideal in a show whose big point is to have the characters team up as superheroes. The presentation that Matt sees himself as not just hanging on the cowl and horns to please Foggy and Karen, but actually thinking of himself as an addict, is actually relatively well-done for the limited screentime that we get. Matt does help beat up a bunch of people in the episode's cold open during the chaos incited by the earthquake, and I did love how Foggy, despite playing the relatively unlikable role of being the one that keeps telling Matt not to be a hero, also acknowledges that it's very likely that Matt 'relapses' anyway, but at least they tried their best. 

Oh, and we also get the absolutely hilarious return of the long-suffering butt monkey, Turk Barrett, who finds himself interrogated by Luke. Turk direccts Luke Cage after "White Hat", who we see scant little off because of all the, y'know, Luke-Cage-vs-Iron-Fist stuff.

But, as I say, the Hand's big plan in all this remain frustratingly vague -- too vague, perhaps. Alexandra does hint at some form of immortality when she talks about the insights she has on Brahms and Mozart's feelings while composing music, and we get some discussion between Alexandra and Gao about a 'wall' with K'un Lun markings (is it the location that Danny and Luke fought in?) which Alexandra insists is a door instead... and while all this is cool and good, it's still slow buildup and I'm still puzzled how the bombs, the earthquake, Zombie Elektra, shell companies, the Harlem youth and cryptic K'un Lun wall-doors all play together. She does have Stick held hostage and is apparently winning the Chaste/Hand war, though, so there's that. 

Overall, though, it's a solid, if flawed, episode, and I enjoyed watching it at least. Hopefully the next episode proves my relative pessimism wrong and the rest of the season will be super-duper amazing. Hopefully. 

The Defenders S01E01 Review: Unwilling Heroes

Marvel's The Defenders, Season 1, Episode 1: The H-Word

Oh shit, the Defenders is out! For those of you who are blissfully unaware of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's hyper-ambitious multi-part Netflix show series, the Defenders does to the street-level heroes of Marvel Comics what Avengers did to Marvel comics' big A-lister heroes. Bringing together Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist together in a climactic battle against the Hand. I've been following the Netflix series since its inception with the first season of Daredevil, and all five Netflix seasons prior to this are chronicled here. Of course, my opinion about the various Netflix series isn't equal. I've gone on record on saying I absolutely loathed Iron Fist, the latest installment of the Netflix series, and both Luke Cage and the second season of Daredevil, while going relatively strong for a majority of its run, ended in a relatively underwhelming way.

And this very first episode of the long-anticipated Defenders series... doesn't actually instill me with a ton of confidence. It's a bit of a necessity, because both Luke Cage and Iron Fist ended with cliffhangers, Daredevil's second season had a huge sequel hook, and nearly all four ended with their heroes in positions where they're not necessarily ready to be superheroes (the titular H-word). And the result is something that really means that if you aren't up to date with the story of these four characters, you might as well as give up and look up a summary of the five seasons that preceeded the Defenders, since you won't understand a goddamn thing that happens here.

The first scene doesn't instill me with confidence, either, a messy fight scene that's erratic and jarring as it shakes around in a darkened sewer, with the only recognizable feature being Danny Rand's glowing Iron Fist. Which is a cheap way to keep the identity of the mysterious woman he's fighting a secret, when any geek worth their salt knows it's Elektra.

Although, holy hell, that's an amazing opening that cuts back and forth between the primary colours of the four Defenders (Matt's red, Jessica's blue, Luke's gold and Danny's green) and their silhouettes against New York City.

Netflix shows are meant to be a binge-watching experience, and writing this and damning the episode for being a shitty pilot isn't exactly fair. It's more like the first ten minutes of a movie, really, like that sequence in Avengers where you get to meet all the characters for the first time if you missed their individual movies. Except here, there's a crapton of continuity nods  -- a double-edged sword that, as someone who's been following the Netflix shows from its inception, I appreciate... but they did probably go slightly overboard -- and it ends up being kind of like a dry recap of where we last leave off the characters.

The big unifying theme between our four heroes are that they're still unwilling to embrace their true selves, their destiny, if you will, as heroes. And with the relative dearth of material they're given with, the main actors get to perform remarkably well, with Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones and her constant assholism (her deadpan "holy shit." at finding bombs, her drinking whiskey in a Starbucks coffee, her conversations with Trish and Malcolm) is a hilarious standout, but the other three men that make up the Defenders end up feeling rather m'eh, with the simple problem that the first episode falls back to repetitiveness. On one hand, there's the sense that we're just having our main four characters jump from one supporting character to the next that will leave newcomers scratching their heads and going "who's that Foggy Nelson guy supposed to be, he never shows up later on?" whereas a good chunk of the screentime devoted to the main four kind of lapses into ham-fisted reminder of who these characters are, and sometimes -- like the constant, constant emphasis on Jessica Jones's alcoholism, Matt's constant angsting about his now civilian life, or the aura of RnB that only plays in Luke Cage scenes end up feeling more than a bit clunky. But the show has earned its hooks within my attention by the simple promise of, yes, it's a bit rough right now, but we're going to get this team-up underway at one point, and we do kind of have to re-introduce these characters.

Add that to the rather messy juggling of plot points because some of these shows ended in cliffhangers, and you get the big cliffhanger of Luke Cage's first season having him being stuck in prison to be resolved in the span of a single conversation, or the even bigger cliffhanger of Iron Fist finding that K'un Lun has been razed by the Hand when he's being an irresponsible asshat (sorry-not-sorry, I still abhor Iron Fist's self-centered motivations) likewise be resolved with a single messy fight sending him going from Asia back to New York. And apparently Daredevil and Jessica Jones have just... stagnated while all this happened. It's a bit jarring, to be honest, but I'd rather have Luke Cage be broken out of prison in episode one rather than spend, like, half of the season with one of the main four characters stuck in prison.

So let's analyze the four heroes individually, and what they're doing, because this episode feels more like an anthology story... of which it works reasonably well, I guess. All four heroes are completely divorced from each other at this point, located in different places of New York City and, in Iron Fist's case, only arriving in New York at the end of the episode. All four main Defenders get equal screentime, though we also do spend some screentime with the main villain, the nameless woman played by Sigourney Weaver who is the indisputable boss of Madame Gao, the thing that the Netflix-verse has closest to a unifying big bad.

Last we left off Daredevil, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen has hung up his costume, traumatized by Elektra's death, and revealed his secret identity to his love interest Karen Page. The show ends up giving us a classic, if boring, Matt Murdock lawyer scene as he defends a cliched profits-vs-safety case, and gives the crippled young boy some tough-love speech about living with a disability. We get him talking with Karen a little about life in general, about how some people feel that the city would probably be safer with Daredevil back on the streets, but Matt puts on a happy face in front of Karen... and then proceeds to go into a confession booth with Father Lantom, confessing that, yes, he does miss life as Daredevil (we see a scene of him struggling to restrain himself to trust the police to deal with people fighting), and Father Lantom tells him to move on. Matt's story is the most static and probably least interesting of the four at this point, though Charlie Cox does deliver a heartfelt speech in that confession booth.

Jessica Jones, last we left her on her show, is arguably the one that had most things going on for her. Sure, she's slightly traumatized over the whole experience, but Killgrave's dead, most of her friends survived the ordeal... and, like Matt, she ends up closing it down. Where Matt tries to struggle with only living one side of his dual life, Jessica is so much still Jessica Jones. She's drunk, she's a gigantic glorious asshole, she's still loyal to her friends... and she mostly doesn't give a shit about the world, as evidenced by the damages in her office in the battle against Simpson still being around (which is a little attention to detail I absolutely loved). She doesn't give a shit about her new life of fame, and wishes it would all go away, and acts like a gigantic douchebag to a pair of wife-and-daughter who asks her to help find their missing husband. Which, of course, ends up being the plot hook that drags Jessica into the big plot by way of a mysterious phone call telling her not to do so. Jessica ends up being the only hero out of the four to marginally be involved with the Big Threat (tm) when her investigation yields a bunch of explosives in an empty apartment. 

Luke Cage, meanwhile, is out of jail, because of the efforts of  a friendly neighbourhood lawyer. Not Matt as everyone thought it would be, though, but Foggy! That's the biggest twist the show has so far. Luke gets out on basically good behaviour (the display with the handcuffs is a great, subtle nod to that) and gets applauded by the entire prison as he gets set free. He returns to Harlem, has some table sex... sorry, I mean, "coffee", with Claire, and while the Luke/Claire scenes felt a bit clunky, we do learn that Harlem's changed slightly in Luke's absence. Misty Knight gives Luke a quick recap, and basically Mariah and Shades are still in power, but tells Luke to help out a troubled young man, the brother of Candace, the prostitute killed during the events of Luke's series. (I remembered she existed, but I genuinely forgot she was killed) Luke gets to see some mysterious things, like Misty's anecdote of car bombs with dead youths inside, or whatever mysterious things that Candace's brother is keeping from him, but despite his insistence that he's not a hero, Luke embraces his role as Hero of Harlem far more readily than Jessica or Daredevil. I did really like the neat ways that the show does of showing Luke's local-hero status, from rough punks immediately cooperating when Luke takes off his hoodie, to cuts of people whispering about Luke as he passses down the streets, to the rather on-the-nose display of criminals clapping as Luke is set free. I absolutely loved the "moving forward" like from Luke, by the way, a neat call-back to his old mentor's catchphrase.

And... Iron Fist. Yeah. While nowhere as bad as he was in his own series (probably because there's only one-fifth as much Danny Rand in this episode as your average episode of Iron Fist) Danny's still basically going through the same old routine. He gets shafted back from Cambodia back to New York, traumatized (rightfully so!) by the ghosts of the people killed in K'un Lun while Danny was dicking around in New York. I probably am meant to be sympathetic to Danny's tortured guilt, but I honestly feel like the personal hell is something that he deserves. The story of Danny trying to atone for his sins instead of the gigantic mess he had in his own series is potentially a lot more engaging, though, so for now I'll not talk trash that much about Danny. 

The final piece of the puzzle here is Sigourney Weaver, who plays Alexandra. We know not that much about who she is, but Weaver's performance is pretty amazing. We first see her at a moment of vulnerability as doctors tell her that, despite her resources, she's dying in months, maybe weeks... and the very next scene we see her feeding birds in a park, talking to another old woman, Madame Gao, who, despite some odd inconsistencies in her motivations and allegiances, is still a pretty great villain through and through... and Gao's respect and fear of Alexandra quickly shows that, yes, Alexandra is the top dog in this story. 

And Alexandra's impending death causes her to accelerate her plans, much to Madame Gao's visible unease (though she doesn't dare question Alexandra's orders), and at the end of the episode we see the city get torn apart by an earthquake, which cuts from each hero's perspective, while Alexandra talks to a hooded figure -- the resurrected Elektra. And considering how I've always thought that the Black Sky subplot in Daredevil's second season is actually the weakest subplot, I'm actually not super looking forward to Elektra's return as a zombie. 

Overall, it's definitely rocky. It's still enjoyable, more or less, but I can't lie, I am slightly worried considering how Defenders only has eight episodes of runtime, and this feels like a bit of a clunky start to the gigantic thing that all the Netflix shows have been building up to.