REVIEW -- Marvel's The Defenders (Netflix) - Season One (Episodes 1-8)

Marvel's The Defenders, or simply The Defenders, is an American web television miniseries created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez for Netflix, based on the Marvel Comics characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, who form the eponymous superhero team. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the culmination of a series of interconnected shows from Marvel and Netflix. The miniseries is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, Nine and a Half Fingers, Inc., and Goddard Textiles, with Ramirez serving as showrunner.

The limited series stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, all reprising their roles from their individual series. The miniseries also stars Eka Darville, Elden Henson, Jessica Henwick, Simone Missick, Ramón Rodríguez, Rachael Taylor, Deborah Ann Woll, Élodie Yung, Rosario Dawson, Scott Glenn, and Sigourney Weaver. Development on the miniseries began in late 2013, with Cox the first actor cast in May 2014. Petrie and Ramirez joined as showrunners in April, after serving in the same role on the second season of Daredevil, though Petrie left with the start of filming, which took place in New York City from October 2016 to March 2017.

The Defenders premiered in New York on July 31, 2017, with the full season of eight episodes released on August 18, 2017 on Netflix.

Cast:

Main

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones
Mike Colter as Luke Cage
Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist
Eka Darville as Malcolm Ducasse
Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson
Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing
Simone Missick as Misty Knight
Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto
Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker
Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
Élodie Yung as Elektra Natchios
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple
Scott Glenn as Stick
Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra

Recurring

Wai Ching Ho as Gao
J. Mallory McCree as Cole Miller
Michelle Federer as Michelle Raymond
Chloe Levine as Lexi Raymond
Babs Olusanmokun as Sowande
Ron Simons as Strieber
Yutaka Takeuchi as Murakami

Guest

Peter McRobbie as Lantom
Debbi Morgan as Delores Miller
Marko Zaror as Shaft
Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth
Rob Morgan as Turk Barrett
Amy Rutberg as Marci Stahl
Susan Varon as Josie
Alex Moggridge as John Raymond
Nichole Yannetty as Nicole

Episode Summaries: (FULL Spoilers)

No. Title  Directed by Written by Original release date

1 "The H Word" S. J. Clarkson Douglas Petrie & Marco Ramirez August 18, 2017

While hunting agents of the Hand in Cambodia, Danny Rand / Iron Fist and Colleen Wing are told that the war they are fighting is actually taking place in New York City. There, Matt Murdock has given up his life as the vigilante Daredevil and is working as a pro bono lawyer. He remains conflicted due to his feelings for Elektra Natchios, who died fighting the Hand. Luke Cage, his name cleared by Murdock's ex-partner Foggy Nelson, returns from prison to the streets of Harlem where police detective Misty Knight informs him of local kids who have been getting involved with a mysterious business and ending up dead. After learning that all her major organs are failing and she has little time to live, a woman informs her colleagues to speed up their plans, and subsequently watches with a resurrected Natchios as a large earthquake tears through New York, felt by Rand and Wing as they return, and private investigator Jessica Jones as she discovers explosives while searching for a missing husband that an anonymous caller warned her to avoid.

2 "Mean Right Hook" S. J. Clarkson Lauren Schmidt Hissrich & Marco Ramirez August 18, 2017

Jones calls the police, but Knight sees her taking some evidence as she leaves the scene. Cage follows some leads on local kids after interrogating Turk Barrett, and finds them being sent to clean up a workshop where several enemies of the Hand have been murdered. Rand and Wing are also investigating the workshop, leading to a fight between Rand and Cage which only ends when the police arrive. The mysterious woman, Alexandra, is informed that her group's plans have been halted by a mystical wall. Alexandra believes this may actually be a door, and interrogates an old enemy, Stick, for answers on this. Jones is warned off her investigation by lawyer Jeri Hogarth, who later tells Nelson to keep any fallout from Jones's actions away from their firm. Jones returns to her apartment to find the missing man, John Raymond. They are attacked by Natchios, but he kills himself first. Jones chases Natchios, but is caught and arrested by Knight. Murdock soon arrives to serve as Jones's lawyer, having made an agreement with Nelson to carry out some of his extra work.

3 "Worst Behavior" Peter Hoar Lauren Schmidt Hissrich & Douglas Petrie August 18, 2017

Months ago, the Hand acquired the ancient weapon Black Sky—the body of Natchios—and used the last of their resources to resurrect her. Under Alexandra's tutelage and regaining the ability to speak, the Black Sky was prepared to fight as a weapon against the Hand's enemies. In the present, Jones dismisses Murdock's help, but he becomes interested in her case and begins investigating it himself. Stick escapes from Alexandra and Elektra by cutting off his left hand. Cage tells his girlfriend Claire Temple about his fight with Rand, whom she knows. Temple organizes a meeting between the two, hoping they can work together to fight the Hand, but they clash over their respective backgrounds. Inspired by some of Cage's comments, Rand decides to take a different approach and uses his corporate influence to find the Hand's new front, Midland Circle. Cage visits the mother of one of the local kids the Hand had hired, while Jones investigates Raymond's job. They also learn of a connection to Midland Circle. Cage arrives there to help Rand fight the Hand, soon followed by Jones and Murdock. They are attacked by the Black Sky as Murdock recognizes Elektra, but Rand drives her off.

4 "Royal Dragon" Phil Abraham Douglas Petrie & Marco Ramirez August 18, 2017

Rand, Cage, Jones, and Murdock escape to a nearby restaurant to hide out. With everyone introduced, Rand proposes that they work as a team to defeat the Hand, but Murdock is unwilling to get involved, and Jones leaves. Stick finds the group, having already known Murdock and known of Rand. He explains that a long time ago the elders of K'un-Lun came together to study the healing powers of qi, but five among them wished to use this power to live forever and were cast out. They became the five fingers of the Hand, and include Alexandra (who has gone by many names through the centuries), Madame Gao, Sowande (who has been recruiting the Harlem kids), Murakami, and the recently deceased Bakuto. Now the Hand have defeated all that oppose them, except for Stick and the Iron Fist. Alexandra arrives and offers to spare New York if Rand leaves with her, since their plan requires the Iron Fist, but he rejects her offer. Jones realizes that the Raymond family is still in danger, and returns to help as the Black Sky attacks.

5 "Take Shelter" Uta Briesewitz Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Douglas Petrie & Marco Ramirez August 18, 2017

The Hand converges on the restaurant, and Murdock lures the Black Sky away from the fight. When he calls her Elektra, she flees, but not before preventing Murakami from killing Murdock. Cage is able to kidnap Sowande while the others escape. After Sowande warns that their loved ones will be targeted next, they convince their friends to stay with Knight at the police precinct until they are out of danger. While doing this, Wing is confronted by a resurrected Bakuto, who unsuccessfully attempts to recruit her to his cause after raising her as a member of the Hand before she met and joined with Rand. Murdock decides to take up his Daredevil identity once again, something that concerns the leaders of the Hand due to his relationship with Natchios. Murakami questions Alexandra's reliance on the Black Sky to complete their goals and notes that they can all be killed now that their resources were used on Natchios. He suggests that they devise a new plan without Alexandra. Stick decapitates Sowande when he attempts to escape capture.

6 "Ashes, Ashes" Stephen Surjik Drew Goddard & Marco Ramirez August 18, 2017

Now realizing that the Hand wants the Iron Fist as a key to unlock something, the group decides to hide Rand away while they continue the fight. However, Rand disagrees and attacks the others. They stop him, and tie him up, with Cage and Stick watching over him while Jones and Murdock continue the investigation of Raymond. Natchios begins to regain memories of her previous life, but Alexandra insists that she is not that person anymore. Meanwhile, the other leaders of the Hand learn of Sowande's death, and continue to lose faith in Alexandra's leadership. Murdock and Jones learn that there is something beneath Midland Circle, a hole to which Murdock had come across previously when dealing with the Hand. They return to the group with plans of attacking the building, to find Stick attempting to murder Rand to keep the Hand from using him. They are interrupted by Natchios, who kills Stick and takes Rand. Alexandra gloats to the other leaders about this victory, but is murdered herself by Natchios, who claims leadership of the Hand.

7 "Fish in the Jailhouse" Félix Enríquez Alcalá Lauren Schmidt Hissrich & Marco Ramirez August 18, 2017

Jones, Murdock, and Cage wake up in the police precinct as suspects for the murders of Sowande and Stick. They tell Knight about the Hand, but try not to go into the details or let her get involved much to the chagrin of her superiors. The remaining fingers of the Hand agree to let Natchios pursue her goals, hoping that she will grant them access to the substance they need to avoid death (the last of their supply was used on Natchios). She takes Rand below the building to the mystical door that they need him to open. Jones, Murdock, and Cage escape the precinct and go to Midland Circle, where they are confronted by Gao, Bakuto, and Murakami. Wing soon arrives to help, bringing with her the explosives that Raymond had been stockpiling. The group drives the fingers of the Hand away. Knight and Temple arrive soon after, and Knight agrees to stall the police while the others get to Rand. Natchios tricks Rand into opening the door, causing a blast that knocks out power throughout the city. Rand awakens beneath the skeleton of a dragon.

8 "The Defenders" Farren Blackburn Lauren Schmidt Hissrich & Marco Ramirez August 18, 2017

Gao explains to Rand that like he gained the power of the Iron Fist from a dragon, the substance that the Hand uses for resurrection comes from the bones of dragons. The Hand begins harvesting the skeleton, and Gao notes that this will weaken the foundations of the city and cause widespread destruction. Wing and Temple place the explosives so as to destroy the building once the others escape. They are confronted by Bakuto, who cuts off Knight's arm when she arrives to help. Wing kills Bakuto, but his body sets off the timer for the explosives. Jones, Murdock, and Cage arrive in the cavern to help Rand, and they fight the members of the Hand together. When Murdock realizes that the explosives are about to go off, he gets the others to leave immediately. He remains to plead with Natchios, and the two are together as the building implodes around them, as well as Gao and Murakami. The entire situation is covered up, and Rand, Jones, and Cage look to move on with their lives, protecting the city. Murdock later wakes up with a nun at his side.

The Verdict:

The series came out on Netflix Friday morning. I watched the opening to the first episode before I went to work, then I binged the first six episodes that evening while finishing it off the final two episodes that following Saturday morning.

Even though I didn't care much for the previous two Marvel Netflix releases, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, I went into this series with an open mind since this would be the first time where all four Marvel Netflix heroes (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones) would share the same screen. These shows have been building towards this since we started with Daredevil Season One, so let's discuss this, shall we?

Casting

My feelings from the individual casting decisions from all 4 Marvel Netflix series to date (both seasons of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist) haven't changed at all going into this. I still can't stand Marvel Studios' choices for these actors/actresses portraying Iron Fist/Danny Rand, Elektra, Misty Knight, and Karen Page, but whatever.

I wasn't too crazy about Ritter previously if you remember my Jessica Jones review, but I'm completely fine with her in that role after this series. Part of that is because it seems that Krysten Ritter doesn't look like she's skin and bones anymore and actually has meat on her bones for filming this series, while at the same time her performance isn't so deadpan serious and depressing like it was in Jessica Jones. She's actually my favorite female character and female actress in this - well, behind Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple and Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing, of course. If I may be bold in saying this, but those three are the three strongest actresses in this series.

Simone Missick's Misty Knight still comes off as the token sassy black chick that ANY black female could play that's even more generic than Beyonce's Foxy Cleopatra from Austin Powers. I was half expecting her to say "Shazam!" at one point on the last two episodes... Her stupidity from the writing of this script still carries over from my gripes with her character in Luke Cage here. People keep asking me why do I hate her so much, but it comes down to her facial expressions. Missick has the worst reaction facials for everything she says and does. I know that there's that "ratchet" thing where people love that "stank eye" look stereotypical black female characters do and that's part of Misty's character if you're going by her and Luke Cage's Golden/Silver Age Marvel Comics history, but if Luke Cage (with Mike Colter's performance) can break from his ghetto stereotypes and evolve into a dignified black character, then it's not a crime for me to expect more from Misty Knight. For crying out loud, I was pissed off enough the past month when people on social media were trying to make Storm a stereotype from those ghetto X-Men memes. I swear that they are keeping Simone Missick around just because she has a huge rack. I have no shame in admitting that I do want to see how she's going to look in costume as Misty Knight down the road from the neck down though.

Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page has a minimal role in this series and thank god for that. She annoyed me enough during both seasons of Daredevil, but unfortunately, she's one of the main cast members for the upcoming Punisher series. Ugh...

Elodie Yung's Elektra Natchios is just a poor performance all around. I didn't care for her as Jinx in GI Joe: Retaliation, didn't care for her as Elektra in Daredevil Season Two, and didn't want to see her resurrected and reprise the role here. I'm with Frank Miller in terms of she doesn't fit how he creatively envisioned how his character was going to look when he created her. If you don't know, Frank Miller modeled Elektra originally after bodybuilder Lisa Lyons. In terms of playing this part, she does absolutely nothing for me in the role. She comes across as boring and bland as 90% of the DC villains for their The CW Network shows based off of their comics.

Narrative and Presentation

I'll say this now but my discussion on the plot for this is going to be a little scatter-brained as I jump around on a few points, but do try to bare with me on this.

Like I jokingly mentioned to a few friends over the weekend, this series is best described as Daredevil Season 2.5 and Iron Fist Season 1.5 as this series wraps up a lot of the nagging plot points from those two series involving the Hand organization. Luke Cage and Jessica Jones find themselves dragged into this ordeal by pure chance if we want to be perfectly honest. In Jessica Jones' case, she stumbled onto this situation while running her own investigation so her inclusion made perfect sense. Luke Cage just happened to be following one of the troubled teens from his neighborhood that were doing the clean-up work for the Hand's murders that wind up with a run in with Danny Rand. Otherwise, Luke Cage wouldn't even have stumbled into this affair if Misty Knight didn't talk him into looking into it in the first place (only for this same chick to have issues with his vigilante behavior later... ugh, this bitch...) unless Claire Temple brought him and Danny Rand/Iron Fist together via different means. That being said, the four Defenders don't officially team-up until roughly Episode 3 and the early bit of Episode 4, so everything up to that point is legwork leading up to this inevitable live-action Marvel Team-Up.

I hate to say this, but with the more Marvel Netflix shows that come out, it seems like their narratives suffer more and more as these storylines try to intersect. On top of that, it seems like Marvel hasn't learned from their previous mistakes either. For example, the same issue of repeating the obvious to the audience when we just literally saw the same thing as the characters did less than five minutes ago is done again here which was an nagging issue with Iron Fist. The most noteworthy offender is the scene where they captured one of Alexandra's allies and interrogate him only for Colleen Wing to ask what did he say when she was CLEARLY there in that same scene with everyone else. Iron Fist was criticized for this same method of storytelling and it's jarring to see that technique recycled here.

While we're on the subject of Iron Fist, let's talk about how much of a total bore that Danny Rand continues to be in this series. It was bad enough in his own series and amplified even more here. He's more of a spoiled and sheltered rich kid, than "white privilege" as Luke Cage put it. That similarity was a bit too extreme for my taste as they were digging too hard to make a black vs. white argument here when Danny's best friend, Davos, was a man of color. It just seemed like they were quick to throw the race card in the conversation since Luke Cage was the token black superhero in this series. Once again, that just came off in really bad taste for me. Back on Danny though... everyone else in this story in terms of the four Defenders have a somewhat plausible reason for getting involved with the Hand situation. Luke's noble as fuck and just genuinely wants to help people, not just in Harlem, but all over. Jessica is doing her detective thing as part of her Alias Investigations work and stumbled onto something totally over her head. Matt Murdock/Daredevil is trying to distance himself in the wake of the events at the end of Daredevil Season 2, but find himself pulled back in with the Hand threatening his love ones again. Danny Rand is just there because he's pissed off his imaginary homeland is gone with the inhabitants left for dead. Oddly enough, that's something that's never really explained unless I missed it.

So yeah, Danny is wondering around trying to get revenge on the Hand when they have been in New York all along. Mind you, that's something that was clearly pointed out in his own series. The best thing that came from Iron Fist in this series was his fight against the other Defenders towards the end since he couldn't keep his mentally unstable ass under control and lashed out against his friends. I took great pleasure seeing everyone beat some sense into this kid. It seemed to work too as it mellowed his character out by the series end. Sadly, it doesn't stop him from being a tool for the Hand, or rather Elektra, to open that cavern underneath Midlands Circle.

By the way... are we supposed to assume now that Fin Fang Foom and his brother dragons exists in the MCU now after seeing the bones of that dragon underneath New York City?

Charlie Cox's Daredevil and and Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones have crazy good chemistry in this and almost every scene that they are in together is a joy as a result. I thought it would have been Mike Colter's Luke Cage that would have had a much more interesting bond to explore here with Jones, given their comic book history and hook-up in her own TV series, but it's Jones and Daredevil that have hit it off as unlikely friends. I'm anxious to see how they are going to flip the script and establish Iron Fist and Luke Cage as best friends like their comic book counterparts when their initial relationship was defined by a black vs. white argument. That's going to be a tough pill to swallow if mend fences to try to make someone your best friend after pulling out the race card. At least we have that possible future between Cage and Jones after that look he had about getting "coffee" sometime... I dunno how they are going to move Claire out of the picture in that dynamic, but if we're going by the comics continuity, that's who Jessica Jones ends up with and has a kid with.

Jessica Jones Season One ranks as my second favorite Marvel Netflix show to date, but goddamn there were points where I hated her character in that show. Here, they fixed all of that. She's better here at pointing out the stupidity in this narrative (and the bad dialogue across the board at times...) and overall this fucked up situation that the Defenders find themselves in this series. Whereas that was Claire's job to point out the stupidity in the narrative in Iron Fist, Jessica Jones takes that role front row and center here. She wasn't much use in the many fights that they found themselves in ("Am I the ONLY one who doesn't know karate around here?") but manages to bring the humor to a lot of the scenes she's a part of.

I know it seems like I give Luke Cage a lot of shit, especially in relation to his Netflix series of the same name, but I thought Cage did fine here. Like I mentioned before, he genuinely wants to help people - all of them, not just those in Harlem, and sticks around to deal with the Hand as a result. My only issue with him, or rather with the Hand, is that to say that they have so many connections, I'm surprised that they didn't have any of those special bullets designed to piece his skin or any special counter-measures to his power set. I mean really, Alexandra knew who all of them were outside of the identity of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen/Daredevil - at least enough to target their loved ones, but didn't have enough foresight to look into possible weaknesses or they thought their immortal mumbo-jumbo Hand magic (no pun intended there, seriously...) was enough? They should have looked into getting whatever that poison was that Stick used on Cage before he was killed by Elektra.

People keep wondering why the Avengers don't get involved in the Marvel Netflix stories and poor planning by the Hand makes them come off as pathetic as those goons in Batman '66 with the "Thug 1", "Thug 2", etc. on their shirts. Tony Stark/Ironman probably felt that tremor in New York and turned over in his bed, going, "Wake me up when it's important..." Villains of that caliber aren't even worth the Avengers' time. Hell, they are barely worth the Defenders' time to be quite honest.

With or without Elektra being involved, I firmly believe that Matt Murdock would have answered the call to save New York against the Hand or whatever threat that Alexandra brought forth. After the earthquake, the viewers clearly saw that he couldn't stand still while innocent lives were being threatened. Putting everything on the line merely for Elektra just seemed like a horndog cop out to me. In terms of writing, it's up there as bad as Spider-Man 2's metaphor that Peter Parker lost his powers mainly because he wanted to get laid from Mary Jane. They didn't need Elektra's involvement to define Murdock/Dardevil or give him a reason to be a martyr. No, he would have done that anyway for the sake of his city. Look at how much he's given up and endured already. How much physical abuse that his body was taking in Daredevil Season One was proof enough of that. As much as I didn't care for Elektra's actress nor her as a character in this continuity, I will admit that there were some clever narrative points to having her involvement cause a bit of tension in this team coming together, along with dealing with the fallout of her demise from Daredevil Season Two, despite how rushed all of that was.

As much as I enjoyed Sigourney Weaver in the role of the villainous Alexandra that was the impromptu head of the Hand, I felt that her talents were wasted here to an extent. She was teased and hyped up in the trailers for this series as the final boss of sorts when it came to the Hand, especially during the Defenders' first confrontation that led to them all partnering up. To see her get killed off with no thought was a major disappointment, especially when Luke Cage did this with Cottonmouth to make Black Mariah the main villain for the final act of the first season and we saw the same thing with Bakuto in Iron Fist (whose resurrection here served absolutely NO purpose outside of chopping off Misty's arm) in favor for the Meachum family dilemma to reach it's climax. Once again, I wonder if the writers even watch the other Marvel Netflix shows leading up to this point when the writing mirrors the same tropes and swerves.

In this case, Alexandra is replaced with the lackluster "final boss" in Elektra, who came across as a lovesick puppy and spoiled brat than any real threat as a major supervillain. I was left feeling that a lot of the Elektra resurrection stuff could have been saved for Daredevil Season 3 like I said in that review since of rushing that plot after devoting so much of that season's content to The Punisher beforehand. Elektra doesn't have any real plans of her own outside of fulfilling Alexandra's goal for immortality (which kinda didn't make much sense to say she was dying but was already alive for so long previously up to this point...)

In terms of presentation, I did enjoy the use of color as explained here for symbolism, but there's a few things that still annoy me that carried over from Luke Cage. Maybe it's because I'm black and this irks me that the Marvel Netflix shows are going out of their way to point out that Luke Cage is the token black superhero here. The background music changes to hip hop/rap beat once Luke Cage enters the scene for the first few episodes and follows troubled black youths in a lot of stereotypical black situations that we are used to seeing on television. It gave off the impression to me that the writers here wanted Luke Cage to wear a flashing neon sign that read "BLACK SUPERHERO HERE" for the first few episodes. Fortunately, that trend stopped roughly after Episode 3.

In terms of the use of color though, they went down to that dull and depressing grey/black/blue blend by the finale. That really hurt the visuals in the last episode as you could barely make out most of the action in that cavern the Defenders were fighting the Hand in. That didn't do the already bland climax of their final battle any favors at all visually.

Speaking of the "climax" to this story at the end of Episode 8, let's talk about that a bit... Daredevil sacrifices himself to "save" Elektra in an act as a martyr while the rest of the Defenders escape before the Midlands Circle building blows up. Daredevil left Danny Rand with the words "protect my city" before making his noble sacrifice. This was all well and good - at least until they showed that Matt Murdock was still alive in the care of a woman named "Maggie".

Sidebar Note: For those who don't know, Maggie Murdock is Matt Murdock's mother. If this doesn't clue most hardcore Daredevil fans in enough, I'll clue everyone else in that this means that Marvel Netflix is planning an adaptation of the "Born Again" storyline from the Daredevil comics for Daredevil Season Three. I think we'll get that sometime after Jessica Jones Season Two and The Punisher Season One.

I was fine with Matt's noble sacrifice, but that was cheapened the moment that there wasn't any proper funeral to mourn their fallen comrade or to say goodbye to their dearly departed friend. Foggy and Karen grieved a little, but it wasn't like there was any weight to it. Foggy was visually hurting more than Karen - at least to me anyway, but there really wasn't any real weight to Daredevil's death. Hell, they didn't even bother to bury Stick either... Iron Fist was really moved by Daredevil's selfless sacrifice for the greater good and it looks like he's inspired to be another one of New York's native heroes in this corner of the MCU. Jessica Jones is back drinking away her sorrows after losing who she found to be a kindred spirit (she wouldn't be caught dead admitting it though) and friend in Daredevil/Matt Murdock, but Luke Cage reminds her that she'll always have a friend in him. I hope that means more cameos/guest starring roles for them in each other's shows for their second seasons. From that look on Luke's face for the possibility of hooking back up with Jessica, I'm sure he's down for more than just some "coffee".

Thank you, Brian Michael Bendis! 

Besides, we HAVE to get a moment like this into the MCU in the near-future after Luke and Jessica become parents.

I guess I can't complain too much about the death not having any weight to it when comic books as a whole rarely keep characters dead in the first damn place. On top of that, we knew a Daredevil Season Three was coming BEFORE this show even premiered, along with the fact that it would pretty stupid if Gao and Elektra were dead when that so-called "substance" that the Hand's top leaders use to revive and extend their life spans were down there in that cave and they didn't use it.

Action

The Defenders wrecking these guys in a narrow corridor because we can't have Daredevil in a Netflix show without
a hallway fight scene... Not that I'm complaining about it. 

I knew this was coming given the fact that Luke Cage and Jessica Jones weren't known for the "great" fight choreography in those two series and the lackluster effort made in the action for Iron Fist previously, but The Defenders uses a lot of quick cuts and editing to justify the usage of stunt doubles. I didn't see why did Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter needed stunt doubles when their characters were merely tossing guys around like ragdolls when they weren't effortlessly punching people across the room. I shook my head at the hallway scene in this series where you could see Jessica Jones' stunt double clear as day in the foreground of that sequence. I was like c'mon man...

At least they are using this as an excuse to give Finn Jones a stunt double when he clearly can barely make these fight scenes look as good as they are expected for the character that he is portraying. Daredevil's fight choreography hasn't skipped a beat since his own series, but it's easy to lose focus of everything that is going on when all four titular heroes are in the same action sequence. The action scenes here shine better when each of the Defenders are splintered off into one-on-one affairs.

Closing Thoughts

Outside of Colleen Wing and Claire Temple, the bulk of the sidekick and support characters from all four shows spent the majority of this series just standing around in the holding room at the police station, serving primarily as moral support for the four titular heroes. Some of them deserved much more screen time than others for sure and this just came across as lazy writing. That really sums up the bulk of this show to be quite honest - lots of lazy writing. I really want to like this, but the more I sit back and think about this plot for this miniseries, I can't help and point out how it could have been so much better and executed better. It just seems like that Marvel Netflix wants to slack off on their writing to the lackluster efforts seen for DC's television shows on The CW, when dedicated fans know that these characters are capable of and deserve so much better care and attention in these live-action adaptations. Don't get me wrong, there's quite a few moments in this that I actually really enjoyed, but others made me feel like I was rewatching the trainwreck that was Iron Fist and the latter half of Daredevil Season Two again.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

I'm with Jessica. This isn't much of a team until the last episode until they were forced to play the part due
to the extremes of this situation.

If you have seen all of the Marvel Netflix shows up to this point (to be honest, you really just need to see both seasons of Daredevil and Iron Fist really as the events from Luke Cage and Jessica Jones don't carry any weight here), you should go ahead and check this out. It's not going to set the Marvel Netflix universe on fire like Marvel's Avengers did back in 2012, but it was an experiment worth seeing through to its end. I hold my stance to my earlier comment in this review, citing that this is literally Daredevil Season 2.5 and Iron Fist Season 1.5, as this series acts as a sidebar adventure to wrap up the loose ends from those two series, namely the lackluster subplot involving the criminal organization known as The Hand. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage just happened to be dragged along for the ride, but they are welcome inclusions to this story. This definitely ain't no Avengers, but I think the Defenders will find their niche by the time Season Two rolls around. Let's hope by that time, the writers and producers will have learned from their mistakes before they go about this for the second go round.

For those wondering my rankings of the Marvel Netflix shows after The Defenders, I'll update it now from best to worst:

Daredevil Season One, Jessica Jones Season One, Daredevil Season Two, The Defenders Season One, Luke Cage Season One, and Iron Fist Season One.

Daredevil S2 only outweighs Defenders because of the Punisher content; otherwise, I feel they are roughly the same in terms of quality, Luke Cage and Iron Fist rank roughly the same for me in terms of multiple various factors that had negatives outweighing the positives. 

REVIEW -- Marvel's Iron Fist (Netflix) - Season One

Marvel's Iron Fist, or simply Iron Fist, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Scott Buck, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the fourth in a series of shows that will lead up to The Defenders crossover miniseries. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios and Devilina Productions, with Buck serving as showrunner.

Finn Jones stars as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, a martial arts expert with the ability to call upon the power of the Iron Fist. Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, Ramón Rodríguez, Sacha Dhawan, Rosario Dawson and David Wenham also star. After a film based on the character spent over a decade in development at Marvel Studios, development for the series began in late 2013 at Marvel Television, with Buck hired as the series showrunner in December 2015 and Jones cast as Rand in February 2016. Filming began in New York City in April 2016 and concluded in October 2016.

Iron Fist had its premiere on March 15, 2017, in New York City, with the full season of 13 episodes releasing on Netflix on March 17, 2017.

Cast: 

Main

Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist
Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing
Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum
Jessica Stroup as Joy Meachum
Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto
Sacha Dhawan as Davos
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple
David Wenham as Harold Meachum

Recurring

David Furr as Wendell Rand
Barrett Doss as Megan
Alex Wyse as Kyle
Marquis Rodriguez as Darryl
Wai Ching Ho as Gao
Ramon Fernandez as Kevin Singleton
Clifton Davis as Lawrence Wilkins
John Sanders as Donald Hooper
Elise Santora as Maria Rodriguez

Guest

Victoria Haynes as Heather Rand
Murray Bartlett as Paul Edmonds
Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth
Craig Geraghty as the ringmaster of an underground fight club.
Henry Yuk as Hai-Qing Yang
Samantha Herrera as Becca
Olek Krupa as Radovan Bernivig
Shirine Babb as Sandi Ann
Jeanna de Waal as Sophia
Tijuana Ricks as Thembi Wallace
Hoon Lee as Lei Kung
Nikita Bogolyubov and Stan Demidoff as Andrei and Grigori Veznikov
Jane Kim as the Bride of Nine Spiders
David Sakurai as Scythe
Suzanne H. Smart as Shirley Benson
Jon Kit Lee as a blind beggar who provides Wing with information on Gao in China.
Lewis Tan as Zhou Cheng

Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Snow Gives Way"	John Dahl	Scott Buck	March 17, 2017
Danny Rand enters Rand Enterprises, asking to meet Harold Meachum, but is ignored due to his appearance. He fights his way through security and reaches Harold's children Ward and Joy, who state that Harold has been dead for years, not believing him to be Rand. He starts spending his nights in a park, befriending a beggar calling himself Big Al. He also meets Colleen Wing, whom he asks for a training job in her newly opened dojo; but she ignores him too. Rand makes another attempt to convince Joy, and later Ward. The siblings believe that the rivals of Rand Enterprise are planning to show a leadership struggle within the company now that they are going to announce their expansion in China. Rand is attacked by Ward's mercenaries. Wing attempts to save Rand, but witnesses him overpowering them. Harold is revealed to be alive and in hiding, being in contact with Ward. The former considers the possibility that Rand is alive and orders Ward to leave the situation to him. Rand faces Joy and tells her about Ward's actions. However, she poisons Rand, who is taken to a hospital. Flashbacks show Rand as a child when his family plane crashes in the Himalayas.
2	"Shadow Hawk Takes Flight"	John Dahl	Scott Buck	March 17, 2017
Rand is revealed to be at a psychiatric hospital, assigned to Dr. Paul Edmonds. Rand continues insisting on his true identity. Harold is revealed to be surveilling the hospital. He has Ward talk to Wing. Ward offers her money in exchange for her confirmation of Rand's alleged condition. Harold secretly visits Rand, who reveals that he is the current Iron Fist, the sworn enemy of the Hand. Wing visits Rand, who reveals his true identity and why Ward is afraid of him. She refuses Ward's offer. Joy deduces that Rand is right and tells Ward, who refuses to free him. Edmonds also learns the truth and asks Rand about after the crash. The latter states that he was transferred by two monks to K'un-Lun, another dimension that becomes connected to the Earth every fifteen years. Edmonds does not believe it and diagnoses him with an anxiety disorder caused by trauma. Harold decides to move Rand to a safe place since he can be useful. Instead, Ward orders his men posed as patients to kill Rand, who overpowers them by summoning the Iron Fist, which he uses to break out of the hospital.
3	"Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch"	Tom Shankland	Quinton Peeples	March 17, 2017
Harold is revealed to be under the control of an unknown woman who punishes him for temporarily leaving the penthouse. Wing is attacked by Ward's mercenaries, whom she overpowers before being confronted by Rand, whom she allows to stay at the dojo. Rand visits Joy, who offers him 100 million dollars if he changes his identity and leaves the Meachums. He refuses and later meets Jeri Hogarth, an old friend of the family. She promises to reclaim his identity in exchange for a permanent contract between her firm and Rand Enterprise. Rand attacks an impolite student of Wing's, provoking her to expel the former, who goes to an apartment owned by Hogarth. In a meeting, Hogarth and Rand show Ward and Joy a handmade ceramic bowl of the latter's containing a younger Rand's fingerprint, thus proving his claim, promising to present it in the upcoming court. Deducing that Harold is alive, Rand follows Ward to the penthouse, where he climbs to the window, which he opens before being pushed down by an unknown person. Meanwhile, Harold forces Ward to buy a specific pier, which is secured by Joy's intellect. Flashbacks show Rand being beaten by the monks.
4	"Eight Diagram Dragon Palm"	Miguel Sapochnik	Scott Reynolds	March 17, 2017
Rand wakes up in the penthouse, where Harold reveals that his cancer was secretly cured by the Hand, which demanded his loyalty in return and allowed him to reveal the truth only to Ward. Harold asks Rand to destroy the Hand in order to free the former, which he accepts. In exchange, Harold orders Ward to accept Rand's return to the company, where his return is announced in a press conference. In a board meeting, Rand uses his position as the majority shareholder to enforce his decision to sell a newly developed leishmaniasis drug at cost in order to save more lives. At his apartment, Joy is attacked by Triad operatives, whom Rand overpowers. He takes her to the dojo before confronting the Triad leader, who reveals that they hold a grudge against Joy for robbing the pier. However, he completely surrenders to Rand's position after the latter reveals that the Hand was behind it. As a reward for securing the pier, the Hand allows Harold to observe Joy from distance. He notices she has been wounded and asks to be allowed to kill the Triad member responsible, which is accepted. Rand receives a message from Yang Hai-Qing.
5	"Under Leaf Pluck Lotus"	Uta Briesewitz	Cristine Chambers	March 17, 2017
A new synthetic heroin appears in New York City. Rand connects it to the Hand; but Ward dismisses it. After a chemical factory owned by the Rand Enterprises on Staten Island produces carcinogenic waste chemicals, Rand personally apologizes to a complaining citizen, with the conversation being recorded by a lawyer and later disclosed to the media. In a board meeting, where Rand is absent, Ward convinces the shareholders to stand against the accusations instead of accepting responsibility. However, the anxiety of being always watched by Harold causes Ward to have a drug overdose. Rand meets Claire Temple, who trains at the dojo. He convinces Wing to help him infiltrate the pier in order to prove his theory. At the pier, they find the containers apparently loaded with normal supplies. Rand enters one of the containers, where he finds a hidden room housing Radovan, the chemist who created the formula since the Hand has his daughter hostage. Rand engages and overpowers a bodyguard after the latter critically stabs Radovan, whom Rand takes to the dojo, where Temple stabilizes him. Wing vows to help Rand defeat the Hand, which is revealed to be run by Wilson Fisk's old ally Madame Gao.
6	"Immortal Emerges from Cave"	RZA	Dwain Worrell	March 17, 2017
In order to satisfy Joy, Ward throws all of his drugs away. He and Rand start searching the warehouses of Rand Enterprises in order to find clues. They find a message left by the Hand challenging Rand to a combat. Rand tells Ward to proceed to the crisis management meeting about the video alone. Rand enters the building, demanding the Hand to free Sabina, Radovan's daughter, and leave his company if he wins, which Gao accepts in exchange for Rand to leave the Hand alone if he loses, which he accepts in return. Rand wins all three rounds by the help of his mentor from K'un-Lun; but Gao threatens to kill Sabina if Rand kills the last opponent. Rand spares him, against his mentor's orders. Gao frees Sabina, revealing that she has been in K'un-Lun before, and also knowing Rand's father. She easily overpowers Rand and allows the duo to leave. Meanwhile, Radovan's condition becomes critical, forcing Temple and Wing to take him to a hospital, where the Hand abducts him. Ward shows withdrawal symptoms in the meeting, forcing him to leave in order to search for drugs. Joy stops him from causing trouble at an infirmary.
7	"Felling Tree with Roots"	Farren Blackburn	Ian Stokes	March 17, 2017
Two Hand operatives arrive at the penthouse to interrogate Harold. Rand arrives and engages them with Harold, who kills both. Harold has Ward dump the bodies in a river. Rand develops romance with Wing. He starts investigating his father's past. Gao arrives at Rand Enterprises, advising Rand to stay out of the Hand's way. She leaves, with him tailing her to an office, where she discusses business with an employee loyal to her. After Gao leaves, Rand confronts the employee and convinces her to leave the city and give him her password. Rand and Wing persuade Yang to help them fight the Hand. Joy convinces Ward to go to a vacation. In a board meeting, Rand announces his decision to close the Staten Island plant while keeping the workers on payroll. Rand, Wing and Yang's operatives attack a Hand facility, where a dying Radovan reveals that Gao has departed for Anzhou, where Rand's family was headed fifteen years ago. The board ousts Rand, Ward and Joy. Ward learns that his personal account has been depleted. He confronts Harold, who humiliates him. Ward stabs Harold several times to his death. He dumps the body in the river.
8	"The Blessing of Many Fractures"	Kevin Tancharoen	Tamara Becher-Wilkinson	March 17, 2017
Rand deduces that his father was going to Anzhou to shut down Gao's operatios, but were targeted by her on the plane. The former, Wing and Temple head to Anzhou, where they acquire information from a nearby beggar. They infiltrate the facility just as Gao arrives. Rand engages Zhou, who has high martial skills despite being a drunkard. The former overpowers the latter and continues beating him until Temple and Wing arrive and stop him. Gao arrives and her men engage the trio, who overpower them. Rand deduces that Gao poisoned the pilots. He spares her life and apprehends her. Meanwhile, the board offers each Ward and Joy 100 million dollars as severance. He attempts to accept it; but she refuses, later showing him photos of the board members that can be used to blackmail them. Ward decides to tell her the truth about Harold and takes her to the penthouse; but hallucinations of blood change his mind.
9	"The Mistress of All Agonies"	Jet Wilkinson	Pat Charles	March 17, 2017
Rand takes Gao to the dojo, where Temple offers using truth serum to force her to talk. Rand steals the serum from Rand Enterprises. Temple injects it, with Gao stating some stories about Rand's parents before they turn out to be lies and Gao being resistant to torture. Wing is revealed to have been poisoned in Anzhou. She contacts her mentor Bakuto. Gao's military operatives attack the dojo, but are defeated. Bakuto arrives and instructs Rand to use the Iron Fist to heal Wing. Rand's energy is depleted and he falls unconscious. Bakuto, Wing and his men take Rand and Gao, leaving Temple at the dojo. An unknown assassin arrives at the dojo. Meanwhile, Harold recovers from his wounds and gains relatively normal mental function after hours, returning to the penthouse, where he confronts Ward and feigns absolution. Ward learns from Yang that those revived by the Hand become more psychopathic after each revival, and attack those closest to them first. Harold kills his assistant Kyle and places heroin in Ward's car, leading to his arrest and transfer to the psychiatric hospital, where he is assigned to Edmonds. Joy arrives at the penthouse and reunites with Harold.
10	"Black Tiger Steals Heart"	Peter Hoar	Quinton Peeples	March 17, 2017
Rand wakes up in a martial academy run by Bakuto, who teaches him how to recharge his "chi". The former becomes suspicious and infiltrates a restricted area, where he learns from an imprisoned Gao that Bakuto is a Hand leader. Rand confronts Wing, who states that Gao is the leader of an evil faction of the Hand. Bakuto offers Harold partnership; but the latter later determines to kill him. Rand learns that the Hand is conducting mass surveillance. He is confronted by Bakuto, whom he overpowers and attempts to escape before being surrounded by Hand operatives. The assassin, revealed to be Davos, comes to his aid. Bakuto stabs Rand by an unknown object. The duo fights its way to the gate, which needs to be destroyed by the Iron Fist, which Rand is unable to summon. The duo continues fighting the Hand until Wing opens the gate, allowing the duo to escape while she escapes in her own direction. Davos tells Rand that they need to return to K'un-Lun. Meanwhile, Harold kills board member Wilkins, staging it as suicide. Joy manages to convince the board to reinstate the Meachums and Rand. Harold denies his involvement in Wilkins' death to her.
11	"Lead Horse Back to Stable"	Deborah Chow	Ian Stokes	March 17, 2017
Rand tells Davos that they will not return to K'un-Lun until the Hand is destroyed. They go to Temple's, where she extracts the fragment of Bakuto's weapon from Rand's wound, stopping the bleeding, but failing to control the infection due to lack of antibiotics. Wing arrives and tries to reason with Rand. She goes to a hospital, where she asks an extern, also a Hand member, for antibiotics. Rand goes to the penthouse, where Joy has discovered that Bakuto has been transferring the Rand Enterprises money to his own accounts. Harold formulates a plan to flush out Bakuto and his operatives from the compound by having Joy freeze the accounts. The former and Rand agree to kill Bakuto, opposed by Joy. The Hand captures Wing and take her to the compound, where Bakuto decides to use her for revival. Outside the compound, Rand and Davos wait for Bakuto. Davos continues questioning Rand's motive for staying in New York. Joy freezes the accounts. Wing frees herself and escapes, spotted by Rand, who rushes inside and calms her. Davos learns about the romance.
12	"Bar the Big Boss"	Andy Goddard	Scott Reynolds	March 17, 2017
Ward escapes the hospital and goes to the penthouse, holding a gun and demanding Harold to let him take Joy. Bakuto and his operatives arrive, with the former calling Rand, shooting Joy and giving him half an hour to arrive at the penthouse in order to save the trio. Against Davos's objections, Rand decides to go, arriving just before Bakuto can decapitate Harold, the only way to kill him for good. The Hand locks Rand and takes him to the lobby, where Rand uses the Fist to free himself just as Davos and Wing attack the Hand, with Rand overpowering Bakuto, who escapes outside before he is cornered by the trio. Wing engages and overpowers him, refusing to kill him, which Davos does after Rand's refusal. The latter engages Davos and overpowers him, stating that he wishes to be both Rand and the Iron Fist. Davos departs and the pair finds Bakuto's body gone. Harold and Ward take Joy to a hospital. Rand and Wing return to the dojo. The next day, Ward texts Rand, alerting him that Harold has framed them of bearing drugs. The dojo is attacked by DEA agents, whom the pair defeats and escapes.
13	"Dragon Plays with Fire"	Stephen Surjik	Scott Buck & Tamara Becher-Wilkinson & Pat Charles	March 17, 2017
Harold enters Rand Enterprises and takes control of it. Rand and Wing go to Bakuto's facility, which is abandoned by the Hand. However, they find Gao, who reveals that Harold was the mastermind of the plane crash fifteen years prior. Ward tells Joy about Harold's actions. She confronts the latter, who denies framing Rand. She leaves for an unknown destination. Ward allies with Rand's team to defeat Harold. The former enters Rand Enterprises, but is spotted by Harold, who wounds him. Temple creates a distraction for Rand and Wing to infiltrate the building. Harold instructs his men to shoot Rand, since the Iron Fist is not bulletproof after all. Rand and Wing manage to overpower Harold's operatives. While Ward acquires evidence of Rand's innocence, the latter follows Harold to the rooftop, where they fight until Ward arrives and shoots Harold, who falls to his death. Ward has the body cremated. Rand convinces Wing to accompany him to K'un-Lun. In a meeting with Joy, Davos tells her that Rand must be killed, overheard by Gao. Rand and Wing arrive at the gate, but find it destroyed with bodies of Hand members.

The Verdict: 

Those descriptions are SCARY accurate...

When I wrote my review on Luke Cage a few months ago, I ranked the Marvel Netflix shows from best to worst. Here, I'm going to start this review off by doing the same to set the tone for this review.

Daredevil (Season 1), Jessica Jones (Season 1), Daredevil (Season 2), Luke Cage (Season 1), Iron Fist (Season 1) 

Yeah, somehow Marvel managed to screw this one up worse than Luke Cage in my eyes...

People still ask me what was my issue with Luke Cage and allow me to clear that up first.

A few of you who know me personally who read this blog know that I'm black, but my issue with that show is that while it stems from trying to showcase and highlight black culture (namely the Harlem community that it takes place in), it still encourages the negative black stereotypes that I don't really much care for how Hollywood consistently enforces in television and film. Bravo to that show for it's stellar multi-cultural cast, but that show, much like Iron Fist, is riddled with tons of narrative flaws from top to bottom.

Casting

How most people felt about Finn Jones being cast as Danny Rand instead of an Asian-American actor...

Unlike most people, I didn't have an issue with Marvel's casting a white/Caucasian actor to play Danny Rand, as if I'm perfectly honest the casting wouldn't have made the depiction of this character here any better from the lackluster writing that we will be discussing shortly. Finn Jones starts off strong but transforms into a whiny, mentally-unstable teenager by the end of the series. Maybe the writing is more to blame as the actor can't make chicken salad out of shit, but still. I wasn't too crazy about his performance here. The breakout star of this series is Colleen Wing, played by Jessica Henswick. She made the most out of what she was given here, especially when the narrative was really bare bones and inconsistent on what they wanted to do with her character, but she made the most if it. As a result, she is a joy to watch in every scene that she's in. Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple is easy on the eyes as well as a delight to see bring her sass and charm here like she has throughout the other Marvel Netflix shows, so don't expect anything different from her here outside of her actually helping a bit in the action in this series. I was cool with Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto and Sacha Dhawan as Davos, but those guys screamed villain from the second they showed up on the scene. Much like Henswick, they made due with the shit they were given in this show's script. I swear though, everyone from K'un-Lun came off like a bunch of whiny bitches instead of great warriors...

Narrative

Claire Temple is the shining grace in terms of dialogue in this series bar none. She voices EXACTLY
what the audience is thinking watching this show.

One thing that I notice a lot of reviews were citing when I read them prior to watching this was that they were saying that original Iron Fist comics were full of racist stereotypes (something the live-action adaptation of The Spirit had to work around when Frank Miller took up that task) and they didn't have much to go off of. That's a weak excuse when Luke Cage managed to work with what they were given - at least for the most part anyway, when that character has a FAR less impressive rogues gallery to work with... It just shows me that the minds behind this lack creativity and were stuck in that last second rush to get in every major and minor tie-in to set up The Defenders around the corner. As a result, this series ends up being the Iron Man 2 to the Avengers for the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning that the show suffers from an identity crisis when there's so much bridging to be done to set up the next "big thing".

I'm hearing this while watching Iron Fist...

...While thinking back at THIS from Daredevil Season 2. Yeah, you're not the ONLY one, bro.
Once again, I'm left wondering if the various minds behind each of the Marvel Netflix shows watch
each others' shows at all??

The first few episodes did exactly what I feared going into this - the show has too much of an Arrow vibe from the CW. For what was promised to be an action-heavy narrative, Iron Fist ends up allowing the action take a backseat to enforce the "rich kid returns home after being lost/thought to be dead and acquiring special training" tired, yet true trope from Batman, (Green) Arrow, Ironman, and so on.
Danny's special training and zen-like control of his chi and mantra seems to go out of the window completely as there's far too many instances where he has no idea what he is doing. Perfect example? Why is a guy with the education background as far as grade school (no higher than elementary school if he was gone since he was roughly 10 years old) given a board meeting seat of a billion dollar conglomerate? Sure, he inherited 51% of the shares of the company but should have there been something in place that had senior members override him given his lack of experience and education? They could have just had it where the Meachums accepted him back in the family with open arms, gave him access back to his inheritance money that's been building up interest over the past 15 years and move on. We could have done this whole family double cross thing as a subplot for the following season where they reveal that Harold was still alive. Revealing that now seemed to jump the gun too soon (much like how Daredevil Season 2 blew their load on the Hand and killing off Elektra all in one season) and somehow managed to create a lamer first season villain than Diamondback in the last half of Luke Cage when it was clear Black Mariah or Cottonmouth should have been the major antagonist for the first season.

This show had so many in-between the line references and jokes at blue balls that I'm sure people are going to be making
memes from this for months to come.

This show could have been called "Keepin' Up with the Meachums" or "Harold Knows Best" instead of Iron Fist since there's a bigger focus on the Meachum family drama than on Danny Rand and his burden of responsibility as the Iron Fist. That subplot really bogs this show down with completely unnecessary weight to the point where I was beginning to wonder if the Meachums would end up getting their own spin-off from their unnecessary drama.

It seemed that Marvel didn't learn anything here after their mistakes and criticisms following Luke Cage and Daredevil Season 2 as Iron Fist recycling the same ideas and tropes from previous Netflix series.  For example, you have the potential best friend turned enemy (Diamondback in Luke Cage, Davos here, who will become the Steel Serpent later) and the mentally disturbed son pushed over the edge by oppressive father (Wilson Fisk kills his father in Daredevil Season 1, Ward kills Harold here, but Harold comes back to life later only to be killed off by Ward again in the finale).

Claire Temple used as the bridge to tie all of the Defenders together up to this point. Much like with Luke Cage, Claire grounds Danny here but Colleen Wing deserves more credit for that until her "betrayal" at the halfway point of the series. Claire seems more like the voice of the audience here than a bridge/tie to the other Marvel Netflix shows.

Speaking of other ties to the Marvel Netflix shows, Daredevil's Karen Page mentioned briefly during Danny taking a stand against his board members, but she is never shown on-screen. I'm guessing they didn't want to pay her for a 5 second cameo. Another minor tie-in was that Jessica Jones was indirectly mentioned as the private investigator who got the dirt on the Rand Senior Executives for Joy Meachum to blackmail them to get her and Ward's positions of power back within the company. There's a lot more easter eggs and tie-ins to the other Marvel Netflix shows and references, but you can check out that full list here.

Harold Meachum being the mastermind/culprit behind the Rand family demise/plane crash was so obvious that even Ray Charles could have seen that twist coming. I had so many questions on how come no one never exposed him living in that building all of that time over the past 15+ years to the point where the show got to the halfway point, I just said fuck it because it was so damn ridiculous. Better yet... it was just so fucking stupid - even more so on how naive and trusting Danny was of Harold. I love how Danny's zen-like mantras and mental conditioning and training went completely out of the window after Colleen Wing and Harold's deceptions. So much for all of those years of training to make his mind AND his body the ultimate living weapon when he loses his shit at the first sign of things not going his way.

This guy should've been around for more than one episode. I could say the same for ALL of the assassins/fighters thrown against Danny in this to be honest...

Why would Madame Gao want to kill Danny when it's painfully obvious that she's got just as much power to rival his own - along with the experience to boot - and her influence within Rand's corporation was so deeply rooted that Danny's 51% of control didn't mean jack shit. All of this corporate bullshit only bogged this show down even more with unnecessary bullshit when it should have been merely a show focusing on Danny's return to civilized society outside of K'un-Lun and learning the mastery of his powers as they focused merely on the Hand organization as a whole. Why is it that the Hand have been the "major" antagonists in roughly 2-3 of these Marvel Netflix shows but viewers barely know anything about them since this end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been introduced? Back when I was watching both seasons of Daredevil, the excuse I kept telling myself is that "OK they can't go too far into the Hand until Iron Fist comes out where they'll spend the entire season establishing who and what they are..." Iron Fist came out and goddammit I was horribly wrong when I said that as the show did little to explain the Hand. Sure, they revealed that the Hand has a power struggle going on within rival splinter factions within their own organization, but they did nothing to establish what necessarily makes the Hand the bad guys or why they are understood as evil.

My reaction to every time Danny says that he's the Iron Fist or when someone back in Daredevil mentioned
Black Sky. 

Let's not to mention that both seasons of Daredevil failed to explain exactly what the Black Sky was (along with why were the Hand so obsessed with it) nor what or why were the Hand digging a hole underneath Hell's Kitchen. That has to be literally the biggest plot hole in the Marvel Netflix universe to date...

Action

This is exactly what I thought of when I was watching most of the fight sequences in this series. To be fair though,
most modern seasons of Power Rangers/Super Sentai have better fight choreography than this show and that's just damn
sad.

To say that this show was promised to be martial arts-inspired and action-heavy show, there wasn't much action here at all, especially during the first 6-7 episodes. Keep in mind that Danny Rand technically doesn't defeat any of the major villains in this season himself at all. Colleen Wing defeats Bakuto and Davos lands the finishing blow that "kills" him while Ward killed Harold himself when Danny refused to do it. I will admit that Colleen Wing's fights (ALL of them...) were the standout to the entire series, especially in the first few episodes when she was those street fights (that was pretty much Fight Club) for money. Then the whole sequence where Danny and Davos break out of Bakuto's sanctuary was pretty awesome too. I really didn't care for how the "final boss" sequence where Danny faced off against Harold during the season finale was pretty much a rehash of the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man film where the bad guy gets impaled on something to meet his end before Ward ends up finishing the guy himself.

When asked a general question about how he (Finn Jones) prepared for the exciting martial arts scenes, his reply is halfway between an excuse and an apology. 

“Well, here’s the situation,” he begins, explaining that he only had three weeks to train before filming. “Unfortunately, with the filming schedule, I wasn’t given as much time as I would have liked to continue the training.” Shooting for 12 or 14 hours a day took its toll. “I was learning those fight scenes just 15 minutes before we shot them, because that was the schedule... It would be 2am, 3am, I’d just done a long day of work, and usually the stunt department would come up and say ‘Hey, right, we’ve got this huge 30 person fight and you’ve got to learn it right now.’ So I was learning it on the spot, within 15-20 minutes, and then shooting it. That was the reality for six months.”

I'm not cutting Finn Jones any slack here. He knew what show he was getting cast for and he could have taken some martial arts classes for this to look better in some sequences, but the blame goes on the fight choreographer as well for not consulting whoever does the fights for Daredevil and Agents of SHIELD for the last two seasons. Hell, what's that guy who did the choreography for Captain America: The Winter Soldier doing now? If he's not working on Avengers: Infinity War, then whoever that guy (or gal) is needs a full-time job doing fight choreography for these films and TV shows for the MCU.

To be fair though, Danny's fight against this drunken master (and the whole gauntlet against the Hand's "best" - VERY loose term here - fighters) was actually very well done, but I was expecting more of that as the series went on but ultimately seemed like we got less action as the show dragged on

In my honest opinion, I would have forgiven the lackluster writing here (somewhat...) if the fight scenes made up for it. Instead, the fight sequences (majority of them anyway...) end up being this series' biggest shortcoming and disappointment.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

Why does the Iron Fist have to look like he's just holding a light bulb/flashlight in his hand?

As the last stop on the way towards The Defenders later this year, Iron Fist is an utter disappointment. There's some things to like here, such as the cameos by Jeri Hogarth and Claire Temple along with Jessica Wenwick's stand-out performance as Colleen Wing, but lackluster narrative and a sluggish pace that somehow manages to drag along slower than last year's Luke Cage weighs this series down with so much unnecessary baggage (if setting the stage for The Defenders wasn't bad enough...) that made watching this show much more of a chore than it need to be. It's not a complete trainwreck, but I highly recommend not going out of your way to watch it in one sitting.