I wrote about what I thought about Marvel's The Defenders in a review about a year ago and it pains me to see that these Netflix Marvel Cinematic Universe-centric shows are still treading the same waters and repeating the same mistakes that plagued that crossover/team-up series.
I keep getting asked by friends, peers, and acquaintances about what do I think of the shows that followed The Defenders - Jessica Jones Season Two, The Punisher Season One, Luke Cage Season Two, and more recently Iron Fist Season Two. I felt like that it wasn't worth my time and effort to discuss those shows individually because I keep getting the sense of deja vu watching each of these shows. It's nowhere as bad as the CW's writing and handling of their DC Comics-based properties at times, but goddammit the writing here frustrates me to no end on how a lot of these shows are handled.
*** MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD ***
Don't read ahead unless you have seen every
Marvel Netflix series up to this point following The Defenders - The Punisher (Season 1), Jessica Jones (Season 2), Luke Cage (Season 2), and Iron Fist (Season 2)
The Good
Colleen Wing and the potential of a Daughters of the Dragon spin-off
The tail end of Iron Fist Season 2 finally got things right as Colleen Wing was gifted with the power of the Iron Fist as it was revealed during the finale that she was "destined" for this power all along and not Danny Rand - who somehow manifested a new variation of the power after having it stolen away from Davos/Steel Serpent. Critics and fans alike (me included) have agreed unanimously that Colleen Wing/Jessica Henwick was the best thing to come out of everything else that was awful in Iron Fist Season 1 and I'm glad that the writers of this show had the sense to make her the focus and key titular player here instead of Danny Rand. I can't speak for anyone else but when I think of Iron Fist, I think of this being like one of those old school "kung-fu" TV dramas like from days of old or something along the lines of the wandering samurai who slays evil when they encounter it, thanks to their own code of bushido (something that Colleen Wing herself has mentioned on multiple occasions in both seasons that she has studied and practiced in her life).The best moments of Iron Fist Season 2 were the "buddy cop" moments between Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. The MCU has something special here and I really hope that they don't squander this opportunity. Remember it was Colleen Wing who pulled Misty Knight out of the gutter when her life was spiraling out of control in Luke Cage Season 2 following her recovery. Colleen was there for Misty as a friend when she needed it to find and renew her resolve to badassery and Misty returns the favor here in Iron Fist Season 2. To say that I'm still not too crazy about Simone Missick's casting as Misty Knight, I can't deny that her and Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing have chemistry in every scene that they share together to make this partnership and friendship work on multiple levels. Hell, I dare say it clicks more than Danny Rand and Luke Cage's "friendship".
Screw a Heroes for Hire spin-off, let's just get a Daughters of the Dragon spin-off green-lit and going.
Impressive fight choreography in Iron Fist Season 2 and The Punisher Season 1
Great performances from returning cast members
Jessica Jones in Jessica Jones Season 2
Out of the three Defenders left in the wake of Daredevil's sacrifice at the end of that series last year, Jessica still comes across as my personal favorite. She knows she's a flawed person, but still strives to do the right thing. She's not "addicted" to her powers (Iron Fist/Danny Rand) nor does she try to present herself as to being something bigger than she is (Luke Cage).
Krysten Ritter continues to impress in this role and still has that extra "weight" on her that looks healthy on the character (I mentioned this briefly in my write-up for The Defenders) instead of how scrawny she looked in the first season. Allegedly, Jessica Jones Season 2 was filmed almost immediately following The Defenders, so that's why she looks the same here as she did in that series.
Kilgrave in Jessica Jones Season 2
You have to sit through the bulk of Season 2, but Kilgrave returns in the tail end of Jessica Jones Season 2 after Jessica finds herself forced to kill an adversary who was mere seconds away from ending her life. She instantly regrets the decision, seeing it as her own devolution into becoming "the monster" that her mother has become, thanks to the same experiment that she underwent to obtain her powers. Kilgrave appears to her as a hallucination, much like The Joker did to Batman during the events of Batman: Arkham Knight, despite being already dead. Kilgrave exists as the dark side of her psyche, taunting and reminding her that she's destined to be just like him.
How can you hate Kilgrave when he reminds us of how much he enjoyed Trish's "I Want Your Cray-Cray" music video?
From as much as I felt that she wasn't a strong enough villain to fill in the void left after Cottonmouth's demise in Luke Cage Season 1 as the head of his criminal empire (no pun intended...) in Harlem, I thought she came into her own as a villain here in Season 2. Her stand out moments were her "hoodrich" moments where she seems to instantly drop her PR face and show her true colors; oftentimes belittling and berating those around her, especially Misty Knight and her underlings.
Standout performances from newcomers
Alisa Jones (Campbell)
The reveal that Alisa was the mother of Jessica Jones was one of the better elements of Jessica Jones Season 2, highlighted by the fact that actress Miriam Shor portrayed her with a lot of chemistry with Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones to believe that she was her mother in all of their scenes that they shared together.
You could feel the tension in all of the scenes when she lost her grip on her sanity and her raging emotions until she gave into the monster that the experiments done to her made Jessica's mother into.
Such a shame that we won't get to see her return in Season Three, but at least there's a possibility in flashbacks as all of the questions concerning the origins of Jessica's powers after being experimented on by IGH
Only downside is that she's a piss poor "final boss" of sorts for Jessica at the end of Season 2. Then the narrative allows Trish to kill her instead of Jessica to just throw a wrench into everything up to that point
Effin' Bushmaster. A character who I honestly wrote off as being a cannon fodder when I read the casting news for this season, but I was glad to be wrong. That dude could have be nice to see in a Black Panther sequel TBH. Mustafa Shakir already got the accent and fighting style (Capoeira) down.
The guy doesn't just beat Luke Cage once, he defeats Luke Cage or manages to hold his own against the super-powered hero multiple times over the course of Luke Cage Season 2.
The guy doesn't just beat Luke Cage once, he defeats Luke Cage or manages to hold his own against the super-powered hero multiple times over the course of Luke Cage Season 2.
My only issue with Bushmaster was that after all of that hype and time spent on this guy the entire season, we don't even get the satisfaction of seeing him get a definitive end of his journey this season.
One of the minor characters just calmly state that he went back to Jamaica off-screen. I wouldn't be surprised that he died from that concoction of potions and voodoo nonsense that he was hyping himself up on finally did him in. If it doesn't happen in the next season of Luke Cage, then I wouldn't be surprised that it happens in the rumored second season of The Defenders with a spin on Marvel Comics' Dark Avengers with a sort of Dark Defenders to stand against the heroes.
One of the minor characters just calmly state that he went back to Jamaica off-screen. I wouldn't be surprised that he died from that concoction of potions and voodoo nonsense that he was hyping himself up on finally did him in. If it doesn't happen in the next season of Luke Cage, then I wouldn't be surprised that it happens in the rumored second season of The Defenders with a spin on Marvel Comics' Dark Avengers with a sort of Dark Defenders to stand against the heroes.
I can promise you that after most people are done watching Iron Fist Season 2, the only thing people will be talking about is this character instead of Davos or the Meachum Family in terms of "antagonists" for that season.
It was excellent on how Alive Eve was able to juggle both roles flawlessly. The shy and timid Mary while Walker was calm and collected, yet prone to violence. I'm very anxious to see what the writers have in store for this characters' future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Just about all of the newcomers and reprising cast members in The Punisher
I've never been a fan of The Punisher character in comics, but everyone from Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as David Lieberman / Micro, Ben Barnes as Billy Russo, Amber Rose Revah as Dinah Madani, Daniel Webber as Lewis Wilson, and even to Jason R. Moore as Curtis Hoyle contributed to making the initial season of The Punisher worth a watch, even though I felt like the series dragged on excessively at points. Pacing hasn't a strong suit for any of these post-Defenders Marvel Netflix shows. I can't stand Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page since the first season of Daredevil and I continue to feel like she's a waste of space in this series - along within Daredevil to boot; so for those wondering, she's the lone exception to my statement here.
Then when you see articles like this floating around online, it doesn't give any high hopes that she's coming back to the MCU in any capacity.
The Bad
The Lack of Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson)
I don't know if they could afford to keep Rosario Dawson on payroll after these shows got into full swing, but the lack of her as the glue that kept all of the Defenders working like a well-oiled machine is painfully glaring at this point. At the same time, I wonder if her disappearance is on purpose to symbolize that the Defenders came together when she was present in all of their shows while they fall apart when she walks out of their lives. If that's the case, then that's some genius-level foreshadowing and symbolism.Then when you see articles like this floating around online, it doesn't give any high hopes that she's coming back to the MCU in any capacity.
The Meachum Family drama was just awful
It was bad in Iron Fist Season 1 and I don't understand why they continued it in Season 2 with Joy's motivations making little to no sense at all for first plotting with Davos against Danny then siding against Davos to foil his plans.We don't see enough of Ward's "addiction" to care so his whole therapy arc kind of fell flat right off the bat. Adding a pregnancy towards the end of the season didn't do it any justice either. Seriously though, what was up with the writers trying to tease that him and Misty Knight could have a thing though? I'm STILL trying to wrap my head around that one...
Luke Cage is just so damn corny
This article right here put this much better than I could have in any shape or form.
In terms of character evolution/development following The Defenders' events, a lot of these heroes have taken steps backwards. I can't include The Punisher in that conversation as his series was off in it's own little world, separate from went on during The Defenders since he wasn't in that series at all, despite playing a part in foiling The Hand's plans at the end of Daredevil Season Two.
Jessica Jones falls back to her anti-social tendencies after learning to open up and function as a part of the team during The Defenders, thanks to her time bonding with Matt Murdock/Daredevil. She comes around by the end of Season 2 by bonding with Arocho's family, but she's still disconnected (more than she ever was) to her "sister" Trish Walker and "business partner" Malcolm Ducasse, despite their "help" over the course of the season on her case(s).
Luke Cage ends up becoming what he was fighting against all of this time for two seasons - the head of the criminal empire, claiming that it's the only way to maintain "order" in Harlem.
Danny Rand loses the Iron Fist to Davos, mostly thanks to his own self-doubts and imbalance with the power that led to him becoming "addicted" to the thrill that using it provides under the excuse that he was fighting for justice. He hasn't learned anything from Matt Murdock's sacrifice in The Defenders and continues to attempting to walk the path others have carved out for him instead of making his own. What's really frustrating is that when we see Danny in Luke Cage Season 2, he seems like he's mellowed out and actually enjoying life while at the same time finding the balance to master his powers. When we return to following his adventures in his own show, it's like all of that was thrown out of the window to revert back into the adopted boy yearning to be accepted by his K'un L'un family by following their teachings without question.
Without even seeing Daredevil Season 3, we can deduce from the teaser trailer that Matt Murdock is spiraling further down the rabbit hole as he wants to abandon his responsibilities as Murdock altogether and solely be Daredevil. To be fair, Murdock has been dealing with the struggle to juggle both parts of his life to tragic results since Daredevil Season 2, so I wasn't expecting a fix for that issue when he basically put the costume back on devoted to be martyr to save both the city and Elektra from The Hand.
The heroes are only as "smart" as the narrative deems "appropriate" or necessary for the plot to move forward
A lot of this is across the broad for majority of the Marvel Netflix shows, but Misty Knight is the biggest culprit to this crime. In professional wrestling, fans have come to call this "stupid babyface syndrome" in that medium's narratives. Misty Knight comes off extremely stupid at times (she's three for three if you add up all of her fuck-ups between both Luke Cage seasons and The Defenders), even after that same stupidity got her arm chopped off - hence repeating the ever present issue plaguing these narratives that the heroes are only as "smart" as the narrative deems "appropriate" or necessary for the plot to move forward the narrative.The a lot of these subplots for minor characters either not making sense or falling flat completely.
Tilda Johnson's introduction and character path/journey over the course of Luke Cage Season 2 was just all over the place.
She had plenty of chances to walk away from the world that the Dillards/Stokes drew her into but didn't. She has herself to blame more than anything else. Anyone with a fully functioning brain could tell that Mariah was using the "relationship" with her daughter as bold PR move.
I'm sure that the revelation of how she came into this world was the thing that threw her over the edge, but after that outburst of how Mariah didn't want her, why was she surprised that her mother would leave her anything in her will? You're trying to tell me that her own pettiness for her mother that she didn't really want nothing to do with at that point anyway is the reason she wants to become a super villain out of spite to Dillard leaving Harlem's Paradise to her? That's as lame of a motivation as Lex Luthor's hair falling out from that lab accident with Superman on Superfriends...
I'm sure that the revelation of how she came into this world was the thing that threw her over the edge, but after that outburst of how Mariah didn't want her, why was she surprised that her mother would leave her anything in her will? You're trying to tell me that her own pettiness for her mother that she didn't really want nothing to do with at that point anyway is the reason she wants to become a super villain out of spite to Dillard leaving Harlem's Paradise to her? That's as lame of a motivation as Lex Luthor's hair falling out from that lab accident with Superman on Superfriends...
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| While Shades and Mariah Dillard's "romance" will more likely be the talk out of most things that happened in Luke Cage Season 2, no one would have guessed that his noteworthy role in this season would be a gay subplot. |
Poor Shades ends up being the victim of horrible lazy writing in Luke Cage Season 2.
All season he had his actions and motivations downplayed as merely the actions of a lovesick puppy trying to impress his lady (Mariah Dillard/Stokes) with a homosexual relationship with his former prison mate, Comanche, hinted at between the lines of a homosexual relationship between the two. I know I'm not the only one who caught that throughout the course of the season as it's pointed out in one conversation between Comanche and Shades that they were "lovers" in prison, but Shades merely brushes it off as comforts of the circumstance. Between juggling his extreme loyalty to Mariah and his "friendship" to Comanche, Shades' insecurities led him to kill his own best friend and frame the murder on one of Misty Knight's fellow officers who also died at the scene of the crime. It didn't take much for Misty Knight to get a confession out of him in order to save his own skin when Mariah Dillard was getting locked away. To say that guy spent all of this time embedded into Mariah's servitude as part of her "empire" of sorts, it didn't take much to make him sing like a bird to save his own skin once shit hit the fan. To be fair, this was one of the better "sexual identity/discovery" subplots on one of these superhero TV dramas, but ultimately ends in the same Hollywood cliches with the homosexual partner ending up dead and nothing really resolved on that front, leaving audiences wondering "what if?" after it's all said and done.
How the mighty have fallen... Shades was one of the best written characters in Season 1 and they just fucked him all to hell here. By this point, I felt that Shades should have had some higher goals for himself instead of being content on being a lackey.
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| Trish's journey in Season 2 to get superpowers seemed more like after-school special "Don't Do Drugs" PSA than anything positive. It just painted the picture that she was always jealous that Jessica had powers and never really wanted them, but she did out of envy. |
Jessica Jones Season 2 content involving Trish Walker that led to her getting superpowers that were "teased" at the end of that season was a little in bad taste I felt.
I understand that Trish did it to help protect Jessica Jones at first. Later on, it turns into an addiction that turns into an obsession to have what Jessica has. I thought they already did the redemption story on the consequences of drug abuse with Malcolm in the last season while Trish gets caught up doing the exact opposite here. If they are going to make Trish a heroine off the result of her drug addiction then that's going to rub a lot of people the wrong way in my honest opinion.
The filler/unnecessary baggage that each of these shows (except for Iron Fist Season 2, which only spanned 10 episodes) to stretch out to justify that episode order of 13 episodes.
This unnecessary baggage hurts both seasons of Luke Cage more than it hurts the other two series as let's be honest, there's not that much compelling storytelling nor action on his end of the spectrum on this side of the MCU. How many times can we just watch him stand still and shrug off bullets and just throw guys to the ground like they were nothing? Or the off chance of him getting drugged and getting his ass kicked? At least Bushmaster spiced things up a few times in Season 2, but the bulk of the action in Luke Cage is poor.The Ugly
Narrative across the board is still muddled. No cohesive thread/bond like found in the feature films. Each show is written as if there's no regard nor recognition that the same outcomes and themes are recycled in show to show.
At this stage, there's NO excuse for this, especially when all of this stuff is supposed to be "connected" in a sense. The more people say that the more it's lost in translation when it comes to these Marvel Netflix properties.
Every single one of these shows have fallen into the same pattern and it's infuriating that the writers and more people in general haven't picked up on this.
- The obligatory sex scene in the first six episodes to justify the R-rating on Netflix
- Everything in the first half serves as either filler or fluff to build up to a catch-22 twist at the halfway point of the season where everything and anything hits the fan to set the stage for the last act
- Season Finale serves as climax against the season's "final boss" of sorts while providing an epilogue to explain and elaborate on everything that either didn't make sense, wrap up loose ends, and/or tease the next season on what's to come. i.e. Pretty much dumbs down last episode of the season as "let's just try to wrap everything up SAW style with details you might have missed to make us look smart" but not really because it's lazy writing
- Insert random super-powered obstacle or villain that we're going to drag out motivations that has family ties/prior relationship to main cast
- BS filler until roughly Episodes 6-9
- Oh and cameo from other Netflix hero/minor-cast member (optional)
I KNOW I can't be the only one who has picked up onto this pattern... It drives me nuts to no end in terms of frustration to see that EVERY SINGLE ONE of these Marvel Netflix shows follow the same patterns and tropes, honestly to the same effect. It paints the picture to me from series to series and season to season that the writers aren't watching each others' shows and a lot of this is recycling and rehashing the same territory. Y'know how people complain about how many times Spider-Man/Batman movies and cartoons have been rebooted and/or remade over the years? That's how it feels here. It's like almost no one looks at what came before and just throwing shit against the wall to see what works.
Closing Thoughts
We still have Daredevil Season Three to hold out for in terms of hope that the Marvel Netflix end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe spectrum could turn things around. There's times where I'm watching these shows and wondering if they should even continue them in this state if they are going to continue rehashing the same material over and over with different players (namely a new villain of the month). That series drops within the span of the next couple of days, so we'll see whether or not that my opinions will change on this matter after the devils of Daredevil Season 3.
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