*******MINOR SPOILER BEHIND**********
My final gripe with the show is the fact that Danny Rand is a damned idiot. I mean, he’s so stupid it pisses you off. This is a guy trained to fight ninjas, but is always getting knocked out or put down from behind because he didn’t hear his foe coming. He might be dumber than Joey Tribbiani, but without the comic relief. I’m not sure how an idiot that can’t even
Now that I’ve discussed some of the negative, I want to get to what I did like about the show. First off, they did a fantastic job, maybe the best of any Netflix show to date, of including easter eggs for fans to find. Between the Kirby monsters to the drunk P.I. that took crucial photos of Rand employees, this show was littered with goodies. In fact, most easter egg articles you read don’t even cover them all. I would say there are about 30+ solid eggs hidden in the show.
I also think that some of the criticism about pacing is unfair given the fact that the show was developing out many different characters at once. The titular character, Colleen Wing, Madame Gao, the Hand, and the Meachum family all had to be fleshed out in Iron Fist and that’s going to slow the action down a bit. I didn’t actually mind the pacing because I found the extra information to be enlightening. I also thought Carrie-Anne Moss crushed it as Jeri Hogarth once again.
Colleen Wing, played by actress jessica Henwick, is a wonderful addition to the show. Aside from the glow on her face every time she sees Danny, the early scenes with her taking part in Ringmaster’s MMA bouts were great television, and it’s always nice to see a strong female lead. Henwick held her own in this show and Netflix would be smart to pair her with Simone Missick, who destroyed her performance as Misty Knight in Luke Cage. In fact, the name Colleen gives to the Ringmaster, Daughter[s] of the Dragon, is the name of the detective agency started by Wing and Knight.
Getting down to the brass tacks, this wasn’t Marvel’s best offering. I still that honor goes to Jessica Jones with Luke Cage not far behind. Daredevil season two was amazing… Then the Punisher left and the show went back to being dumb because nobody on earth cares about Elektra. Even Elektra fans don’t want to see her anymore, according to my scientific poll of asking myself.
I still think this show has more to offer than people want or care to give it credit for at the end of the day. I’ve always told people that they have to find the characters that jibe with them. Which titles you read and which movies you like is a reflection of your inner self. My roommate loves the Hulk, which I imagine is because he won’t even yell at a dog. The Hulk is everything he isn’t and that’s why it appeals to him. I am a Frank Castle kind of guy, which says all kinds of things about me. I know Rob is a Spider-Man guy; it’s always different for everyone. That’s what makes comics great.
This just might be one character that doesn’t resonate with America. That’s fine. Iron Fist has always struggled to keep his own series and Brubaker’s definitive run only lasted 27 issues, so we aren’t talking about a character here that has as much of a body of work as some of his counterparts in The Defenders. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things the show couldn’t have done to improve its likeability, but I suspect this was just one of those characters Marvel used that didn’t grab at people the way other characters did.
Not many people can relate to being raised by immortal monks in a hidden city in China only to come to run a billion dollar company in the middle of Manhattan. Luke Cage struck a chord with people, Jessica Jones struck a chord with people, Daredevil is just a classic, and Iron Fist has always been a weird sidekick more than a starring role. Whatever the reason, this show is one that I could see getting only one season. I’m not predicting that, but not many of Marvel’s products felt the way this one did.
As I stated, I liked the show. I think Wai Ching Ho is brilliant as Madame Gao and I loved the evolution of her character. I think at this point most die-hard Marvel fans know who Madame Gao will likely end up being, but we could end up being surprised. I also thought Davos, played by Sacha Dhawan, had a point with his criticism of Danny and his abandonment of his post. I mean, if you’re supposed to be guarding the gates to the K’un-Lun, you can’t really be traipsing around New York playing detective.
Lastly, I think the show did a decent job bouncing back and forth between storylines. You got a little bit of everything, which is why some felt it was disjointed and poorly written. If you’re one of those people, that’s totally fine. The point of reviews like these is to share what I liked about the show/film. I think sometimes reviewers forget that. I’m not going to say the show is another home run for Netflix, it’s probably more like a groundrule double. I think it has potential and I would love to see a second season with Davos as the…. Nevermind.
Final Score: 78/100 — You are welcome to challenge the assertion.