I liked Danny a lot more in LC2x10, and it gives me hope that Iron Fist can still work out. IF2 just has a hell of a lot of cleanup to do... it's not impossible, but Buck made the show hard to steer back on course.
In season 2 in particular they need to explain better why Danny is neutered as far as his power goes, explain why he's so flawed and then probably have a Come To Jesus moment at the end that allows him to evolve into what he actually IS in the comics.
And above everything else, they can't skimp out on the mysticism and Wu Xia. Iron Fist is a monk trained Kung Fu master with glowy fists fighting immortal fucking ninjas. It's hard to screw that up, but Buck did... hard, and now they need to crank that shit to 11 to appease the fanbase again.
I WANT them to get goofy with it, that's the whole point. Gimme a showdown in a bamboo forest or a thicket of Sakura trees, have Danny punch down a helicopter or fight a tiger. I want flashbacks of Kung Fury to come back to me in season 2, because Iron Fist really is the only Marvel show you could get that stupid and rad with if you wanted.
I seriously doubt they'll give him his powers, like magic, from the comics. He should destroy everyone, they figure that be boring. He just better not lose a fight to random mooks.
I liked Danny a lot more in LC2x10, and it gives me hope that Iron Fist can still work out. IF2 just has a hell of a lot of cleanup to do... it's not impossible, but Buck made the show hard to steer back on course.
In season 2 in particular they need to explain better why Danny is neutered as far as his power goes, explain why he's so flawed and then probably have a Come To Jesus moment at the end that allows him to evolve into what he actually IS in the comics.
And above everything else, they can't skimp out on the mysticism and Wu Xia. Iron Fist is a monk trained Kung Fu master with glowy fists fighting immortal fucking ninjas. It's hard to screw that up, but Buck did... hard, and now they need to crank that shit to 11 to appease the fanbase again.
I WANT them to get goofy with it, that's the whole point. Gimme a showdown in a bamboo forest or a thicket of Sakura trees, have Danny punch down a helicopter or fight a tiger. I want flashbacks of Kung Fury to come back to me in season 2, because Iron Fist really is the only Marvel show you could get that stupid and rad with if you wanted.
I would like there to be stronger cinematic themes to their netflix series. JJ did pretty well with the gritty noir, Luke Cage doing the new take on blackspoitation, Iron Fist could really do something with the 'classic kung-fu movie' tropes, if they leaned into it.
I think the thing with giving Danny all his powers is that the Netflix shows' budgets are probably not big enough for it. We see very little cgi in use in any of the Netflix Marvel shows, they like to really stick to practical effects. Look at any of Jessica or Luke's feats of strength, they're the cheapest ways to display super strength.
It works great for Daredevil and Punisher, it's really noticeable and off-putting with any of the others. If Danny actually had his powers it would look low-budget as fuck and we'd like to say we'd accept it, but we wouldn't. The much more attainable goal is to make the fighting a lot more entertaining and a part of the storytelling.
I'm liking an emphasis on fighting and showing glowing fists.
Going back to the first season trailer, there's barely any of that - just some very quick cuts, comparatively. It felt like a trailer for a show that had martial arts but where it wasn't the main focus - which was how it turned out, to its own detriment.
Watching the first 3 eps, and it's quite good. Not Nettlix Marvel quality, like JJ, DD or LC, but around Grimm level, maybe. Serviceable tv, with potential. The tone is far more serious, without being grim dark and everyone has raised their games so it's no longer amateur hour. The fight scenes are excellent, and the writing and performances makes it engaging. The show not only explores the Asian community in New York, specially China Town, but K'un L'un itself.
Ep 1-3 spoilers
Danny is not the CEO of Rand, that is shifted to Ward - he lives like a blue collar worker moving equipment while as a super-hero he is taking over the metaphorical mantle for DD (he isn't actually DD!), as well as having difficulty filling a niche for the Iron Fist now both K'un Lun and the Hand are gone. They've humanised him completely, making him relatable though he still kind of a generic white guy protagonist. Another difference is that he tries more peaceful methods when available, unlike Matt, like trying to stop a gang war between two rival Triad gangs with negotiation.
Davos is a straight up villain, where he gets flashbacks to their training in K'un L'un explaining why he hates and is jealous of Danny. What's intriguing is how the writing has transformed him into this super up tight spiritual guy who is very strict so he is in peak spiritual and physical shape so he doesn't drink etc. It makes him very unique among the cast, and the contrast is commented on by who he interacts with. He's also filled with rage, to the point you don't know if he's going to flip out and kill someone similar to Penguin in Gotham. He is not someone you screw with, the actor's performance is phenomenal.
Ward is still a wreck of a human being, yet he is slowly improving and getting his act together. He tries to be nice to his employees, goes to AA meetings and is a genuine friend to Danny now. He is still self destructive and recovering from the batshit insanity from his father in season 1. It's a work in progress.
Joy is severing ties with Rand and her brother and teams up with Davos to get revenge in their unfolding scheme. However, she is more relatable and relaxed than Davos and when Danny connects with her she feel guilty about the coming storm. But not enough to stop it. So much more interesting then in season 1.
Alice Eve is Typhoid Mary, though among all the cast at this stage she's the most wasted. They're building up her killer double personality but it's not working right. She's got the weakest lines and doesn't really do much aside from being a civilian who becomes friends with Danny then acts all weird. If I didn't know who Typhoid Mary is I'd be very confused about perhaps irritated with her since she seems like a time waster which isn't going anywhere. Perhaps this changes in later episodes. I hope so.
The politics with the Triads is fascinating, showing their effects on the community, that they're not evil, how the younger ones are only doing what they can to survive and that their leaders can be reasoned with. To a point.
Forget season one and start here, it's a decent show.
I appreciate what this season is trying to do, but I couldn't even make it past like the 3rd episode. The dynamic between Danny, Ward and Joy is just extremely infuriating to me.
Season 2 spoilers
After Davos has his little meeting with Danny and demands the iron fist powers, then goes back to Joy? When she's all 'make him feel like his world is ash'. Just could not deal. Guy is entitled and whatever but he did have his parents die in front of him. He's experienced that already. It just makes me want to skip every scene that deals with that bullshit, and looking at the synopsis for the other episodes it doesn't look to be really doable.
I appreciate what this season is trying to do, but I couldn't even make it past like the 3rd episode. The dynamic between Danny, Ward and Joy is just extremely infuriating to me.
Season 2 spoilers
After Davos has his little meeting with Danny and demands the iron fist powers, then goes back to Joy? When she's all 'make him feel like his world is ash'. Just could not deal. Guy is entitled and whatever but he did have his parents die in front of him. He's experienced that already. It just makes me want to skip every scene that deals with that bullshit, and looking at the synopsis for the other episodes it doesn't look to be really doable.
Season 2
That's the thing, Joy and Davos are being selfish assholes who lack empathy and compassion for what Danny went through and who he is as a person. That's why they're the bad guys.
I understand, and it makes them very effective but in this specific case I just can't stand them. Like I said, I appreciate what they're doing but I just can't do it.
A request:
Can we tag spoilers in here with specific episodes (or "up to ep X") again? Just tagging stuff as "season 2" isn't really helping people like me who don't watch it all in one go decide whether something is clickable or not.
Thanks!
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
+5
Options
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
Whole season 2 spoils
not seen it yet, wasn't really planning on it... But I might now, because it sounds like they do exactly what I wanted and give Colleen the Iron Fist!? Holy shit!
Shit starts to get real. The Mary sub-plot kicks fully into gear, her alliance with Davos and Joy is elaborated on and finally Typhoid is let loose. Alice Eve delivers. I can see why she was so praised now, her Typhoid is fucking terrifying - it's great to see her branch out into psycho territory. She also manages to make herself a stand out in a physical confrontation with Danny.
Joy is fleshed out a bit, as well. She's the screwed up one in her family now, as opposed to Ward in season 1. Everyone is trying to reach out to her but she just shuts down and rejects them, very self destructive. I really like her this season, she's like an evil Thea Queen. Her actress excels with this material. They do a job of making her sympathetic and it's a pity because I want her to get her life on track, but she is determined to drive herself off a cliff.
Ward is progressing, while self destructing and cementing a relationship with his former AA sponsor. It's excellent how he's getting his life together but at times his sub-plot just slows everything down, he is not as interesting as he was in season 1 since Joy stole his evil thunder. Hopefully they give him a niche suitable for the show, because while I'm a fan of the actor they could cut his sub-plot out and miss nothing.
Man the TV series really suffer from the stupids...
Rooting for Ward though, which is weird.
tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
0
Options
BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
edited September 2018
Ep 4.
Who wrote this utter shit?
Davos apparently found the three prostitutes in New York who would willingly and docilely take place in a ritual in some god-forsaken basement with literal trash-can fires, not just involving grinding the flesh of a dead person into paste as one part of tattoo ink, but then draining the blood of the a living captive for the other part. Not to mention that they're the ones drawing the tattoo! That requires some very specific training, were all three of them at the academy for this bollocks?
Just finished it (yay for having time off work). I liked it a lot more than season 1, and now that the Hand are out of the story I think the Netflix series might be able to start putting that mess behind them.
General
Walker may've been one of my favorite characters, though I keep waiting for comic book imagery that never appears - her face paint, Danny wearing the mask as part of an outfit, etc.
Finished!
They're clearly struggling to find a compelling story so now they're going with whatever pops into a writer's head and seeing what sticks, it seems!
Considering that JJ, Luke Cage and Iron Fist all really felt like they ended, if not on 'low' points, but at least in status quos that don't seem sustainable, I'm wondering if we'll get a third series of each, then they'll stop.
Loved this season, it was so much more competently put together than the first, the action was fantastic. Though I am definitely with @Javen - as much as I like the new and improved Iron Fist, it felt like the middle of a story and while that satisfies the hell out of me, that's definitely going to leave more than a few people hanging. The only downside I was experiencing with this season personally was I missed some of Dany's music from season 1.
Also, for anyone that doesn't stay for the scene after the credits, which kinda will happen to 99% of us if Netflix starts s1e1 automatically as the credits roll on s2e10, you are going to miss a definite spoiler:
Daredevil makes a reappearance, utters a few ominous lines
Thought I should mention that so fewer people miss it.
And holy shit, that ending before the credits rolled in s2e10! Sorry, but I totally geekgasmed.
Coleen with a glowing chi powered sword and Danny sporting dual chi powered hands, pistols, and ammunition?! WOW... things advanced kinda significantly with that time wipe from no powers but martial arts for Danny to Gun-Fu and Coleen using her sword in fantastic fashion, similar to Danny starting the season by blasting that armored vehicle to a stop, she probably just sliced that getaway vehicle's engine away! I was looking for a episode 11 after that ending, its how I caught the after the credits thing as I was skipping through the scenes to see it again.
They're setting up a lot of things for future seasons. It looks like they'll delve a lot more into the lore of K'un Lun and the Iron Fist in the next season. Maybe they'll introduce the other cities of heaven. Typhoid Mary has a ton of crossover potential, they could even do a spinoff with her.
And there's so much build up for Daughters of the Dragon. Also,
I'm only a couple of episodes in and, for the most part, I like it, but... (season 2, ep 1-2 spoilers)
Davos is just an unbelievable dick. And I mean that in the sense that I have a hard time believing in his character because he's such a dick.
He and Danny are supposed to have been best friends for most of their lives. I don't see how anyone could be friends with that dude.
I guess he was more personable as a kid and grew up into a fantastically self-centered bastard?
He was supposed to be the second best warrior in K'un-Lun. How did his master not not beat all of that out of him? Or is being incapable of empathy what they train you to do there?
PSN,Steam,Live | CptHamiltonian
0
Options
BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
Full season:
That was undoubtedly the worst Marvel Netflix series I've watched. The script and plotting were beyond awful, a lot of the jokes made it feel like the writers really did not want to be writing for this show and viewed it as childish and embarrassing (which, if that is your opinion on a Marvel show, you are the last person who should be writing for it), but at least the fighting was a significant improvement over season one, and most of the actors and actresses did a stellar job with what they were given.
To just quickly go over the Crane Sisters, the original scene was made worse by having them be actual characters later in the show. I think the line "I told you it was a bad idea" when the job description is "bleed someone and use their blood for a tattoo" may be one of the most amazing understatements I'll ever hear in the superhero genre, which is saying something. Having them also be (kung fu-using) tattoo artists, i.e. having a source of income that means you don't have to do dodgy voodoo rituals in abandoned warehouses, really rang alarm bells on just how dumb the show would get.
There were clearly meant to be arcs about how each character came to know themselves. Danny gets the same treatment as Luke Cage s2 i.e. having a superpower makes you a violent evil person, and only realises that's the arc the writers have given him once the power is gone. Colleen has to learn to trust herself after the Hand and eventually becomes a DotD, which I would be pretty hyped about if not for how little enjoyment I got from this season. Ward attempts to heal and instead discovers that he must be a piece of shit to everyone that isn't Danny (what a truly inspiring arc after s1...). And of course, Joy decides she really wants to join the Dark Side of the Force; it was a weak stinger for s1, but failed miserably this season, and I really don't think Jessica Stroup was up to it, which frankly I can't even really blame her for (she was very believable when remorseful and conflicted, far less so when going over the wake of Harold's effects and her decisions to become a scheming pile of shit who also somehow wants a clean break). In fact the only person I see being dumb enough to buy into her "I'll bring him down but in my own evil way" shtick was Davos himself, which is fortunate, because that "I've finally acknowledge your draconian methods work" act was not working for anyone. Mary Walker of course has to know herself in the literal sense ("I think there's a third alter" ranks up there with the bad idea for worst writing of the season), and although I think Alice Eve or the director decided to give the alter egos such polar opposites as to make acting them quite obvious for viewers, I would've preferred something a little more subtle, but that's personal preference rather than a criticism; I quite liked most of her scenes. Davos, of course, being the villain, is the one person incapable of recognising himself, which in a critical theory sense might be a successful execution, but really felt like a damp squib. In fact in general, most of these ideas were interesting, and the executions were simply beyond awful. I don't even think if they'd been given 3 more episodes to work with they could've improved things, it probably would've just made things worse.
In most of the Marvel Netflix series, there has been a fairly consistent problem that when main characters decide not to do the obvious thing, i.e. go to the cops/hospital/take things carefully/call for help, the writers about 50% of the time can't really find a reason that makes sense if this were the real world (which is important when you're doing a live action, semi-realised Marvel show!). A lot of the time the reason characters give is tied directly to the growth/discovery arc the writers want them to take, and as such often doesn't make sense because of it. In this season, that percentage rose to nearly every single decision (I'll let you know when someone says "I don't know who I am" in real life). The writers are actively including, "we know this idea is stupid and we need the secondary character in the conversation to highlight that, but we still need the primary character to make the stupid decision." I would rather have characters make some considered sensible decisions and fail, or make emotional spur-of-the-moment decisions and fail, than spend time showing themselves actively considering and acting on a stupid decision in the face of contrary and reasonable advice.
Talking of which, can we just take a moment to appreciate the episode spent highlighting "you need to think and choose, not just react" before immediately having both characters then put into a situation where they immediately and impulsively react to what is happening? What even the fuck?
Joy's arc was like a teenager got ahold of the Count of Monte Cristo and gave it a workover for darker and edgier. Revenge, dig two holes, etc., fine. The best emotional scene in the entire season (and one that I again thinks suggests Jessica Stroup was also not sold on Dark Side Joy because she clearly was very much up to this scene) was when Ward is explaining his attempts to come to Joy after the beatings and you see her momentarily start to realise the scale of what was happening with her father and that maybe she didn't understand the other side of the story. "But you didn't," is the start of a series of really bad lines along with, "intentions don't matter," (I really thought we might see that one explicitly come back to haunt her after her hurting Danny enables Davos' rampage) that just don't really fit the character. Once you hit that realisation, you can certainly still do "the pain is too fresh to see you" but she actively still tries to hurt Danny and Ward, and her going after Davos personally just felt so slimy. Even one-eye McHenchman spots it straight away, and Davos, who has a conversation shortly after taking the Iron Fist about how he sees Joy, is blind to it.
Ward's arc was generally quite a sad one. They really wanted him finally being able to say his problems to the NA group to be some sort of achievement, but honestly it felt like they just want the character to be a punching bag for the writers' shit. His few scenes with Danny, who actually understood the shit Harold put him through, were showing his good side, and then in every other scene they just have him be strictly an arsehole. So having him be an additional voice in the "don't take Danny to the hospital scene because it would be bad PR for Rand Corp [not appearing in this series]" really beggared belief. The one person he genuinely cared about, and he couldn't even consider doing something obvious (and slimy and in-character) like paying off the hospital and staff to keep Rand somewhere personal and private? It's sad, because Ward has a lot of potential for growth, redemption and rehabilitation, but the series really just wants him to get kicked in the balls repeatedly.
I don't think there's much to say about Colleen, Danny and Davos. Not switching villains halfway through the series would've been fine if Davos had been in some way interesting. But he doesn't really have any struggle or anything really. Compare him to the Kingpin's arc in DD1, where Fisk faces trials and tribulations. Davos achieves his goal early, then gets the fist and murders the Triads (without taking a single injury, so at no point do we, for example, see him mirroring the growth of the superheroes and questioning himself), then obviously starts down the predictable slippery slope of draconian punishment. I was hoping they might have him start to see the consequences of his actions, or understand what a hero has to be, even if he wouldn't accept it; it's still a predictable plot, but at least it has a little depth to it. Maybe even do something with how he views Danny as a brother, but even that was little more than a few throwaway lines. The timeskip is just there to give him some mooks and make Eyepatch a true believer (just... what) to draw the final confrontation out a bit. Danny's leg breaking turned into little more than a training montage and the set-up for the aforementioned fantastic "think and choose," and a handwave for Misty finally being able to get the NYPD to do something about the gang war.
I would've been hyped for what we're shown for next season (slash Defenders?) if this show had even begun to approach its plots and characters with a semblance of sense. As it stands, I guess the only thing I've learnt is that it isn't just Scott Buck who can ruin Iron Fist; others are perfectly capable of that feat too.
...and of course, as always, Kill Hitler.
0
Options
amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
I just don't get the hate for Iron Fist on Netflix.
Like, he's got the maturity of a 13 year old and a super fist. He fights bad guys.
The ending was great.
I dug it, although honestly they could have done it in eight episodes. I found myself skipping through dialogue on a few just to speed things up.
are YOU on the beer list?
0
Options
joshgotroDeviled EggThe Land of REAL CHILIRegistered Userregular
It's okay to want entertainment to be well written.
Posts
In season 2 in particular they need to explain better why Danny is neutered as far as his power goes, explain why he's so flawed and then probably have a Come To Jesus moment at the end that allows him to evolve into what he actually IS in the comics.
And above everything else, they can't skimp out on the mysticism and Wu Xia. Iron Fist is a monk trained Kung Fu master with glowy fists fighting immortal fucking ninjas. It's hard to screw that up, but Buck did... hard, and now they need to crank that shit to 11 to appease the fanbase again.
I WANT them to get goofy with it, that's the whole point. Gimme a showdown in a bamboo forest or a thicket of Sakura trees, have Danny punch down a helicopter or fight a tiger. I want flashbacks of Kung Fury to come back to me in season 2, because Iron Fist really is the only Marvel show you could get that stupid and rad with if you wanted.
I would like there to be stronger cinematic themes to their netflix series. JJ did pretty well with the gritty noir, Luke Cage doing the new take on blackspoitation, Iron Fist could really do something with the 'classic kung-fu movie' tropes, if they leaned into it.
It’s all I wanted.
Why are the eyes so tiny?
It works great for Daredevil and Punisher, it's really noticeable and off-putting with any of the others. If Danny actually had his powers it would look low-budget as fuck and we'd like to say we'd accept it, but we wouldn't. The much more attainable goal is to make the fighting a lot more entertaining and a part of the storytelling.
Going back to the first season trailer, there's barely any of that - just some very quick cuts, comparatively. It felt like a trailer for a show that had martial arts but where it wasn't the main focus - which was how it turned out, to its own detriment.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
But Finn Jones looks phenomenally better in that clip.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
Ep 1-3 spoilers
Davos is a straight up villain, where he gets flashbacks to their training in K'un L'un explaining why he hates and is jealous of Danny. What's intriguing is how the writing has transformed him into this super up tight spiritual guy who is very strict so he is in peak spiritual and physical shape so he doesn't drink etc. It makes him very unique among the cast, and the contrast is commented on by who he interacts with. He's also filled with rage, to the point you don't know if he's going to flip out and kill someone similar to Penguin in Gotham. He is not someone you screw with, the actor's performance is phenomenal.
Ward is still a wreck of a human being, yet he is slowly improving and getting his act together. He tries to be nice to his employees, goes to AA meetings and is a genuine friend to Danny now. He is still self destructive and recovering from the batshit insanity from his father in season 1. It's a work in progress.
Joy is severing ties with Rand and her brother and teams up with Davos to get revenge in their unfolding scheme. However, she is more relatable and relaxed than Davos and when Danny connects with her she feel guilty about the coming storm. But not enough to stop it. So much more interesting then in season 1.
Alice Eve is Typhoid Mary, though among all the cast at this stage she's the most wasted. They're building up her killer double personality but it's not working right. She's got the weakest lines and doesn't really do much aside from being a civilian who becomes friends with Danny then acts all weird. If I didn't know who Typhoid Mary is I'd be very confused about perhaps irritated with her since she seems like a time waster which isn't going anywhere. Perhaps this changes in later episodes. I hope so.
The politics with the Triads is fascinating, showing their effects on the community, that they're not evil, how the younger ones are only doing what they can to survive and that their leaders can be reasoned with. To a point.
Forget season one and start here, it's a decent show.
*cough cough* oh I'm sick, I'm so sick, it's time to go home.... *cough cough*
Season 2 spoilers
Season 2
Can we tag spoilers in here with specific episodes (or "up to ep X") again? Just tagging stuff as "season 2" isn't really helping people like me who don't watch it all in one go decide whether something is clickable or not.
Thanks!
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
Joy is fleshed out a bit, as well. She's the screwed up one in her family now, as opposed to Ward in season 1. Everyone is trying to reach out to her but she just shuts down and rejects them, very self destructive. I really like her this season, she's like an evil Thea Queen. Her actress excels with this material. They do a job of making her sympathetic and it's a pity because I want her to get her life on track, but she is determined to drive herself off a cliff.
Ward is progressing, while self destructing and cementing a relationship with his former AA sponsor. It's excellent how he's getting his life together but at times his sub-plot just slows everything down, he is not as interesting as he was in season 1 since Joy stole his evil thunder. Hopefully they give him a niche suitable for the show, because while I'm a fan of the actor they could cut his sub-plot out and miss nothing.
Rooting for Ward though, which is weird.
Davos apparently found the three prostitutes in New York who would willingly and docilely take place in a ritual in some god-forsaken basement with literal trash-can fires, not just involving grinding the flesh of a dead person into paste as one part of tattoo ink, but then draining the blood of the a living captive for the other part. Not to mention that they're the ones drawing the tattoo! That requires some very specific training, were all three of them at the academy for this bollocks?
Why, Ward was imho the highlight of season one.
General
They're clearly struggling to find a compelling story so now they're going with whatever pops into a writer's head and seeing what sticks, it seems!
WTB more daredevil and punisher!
Also, for anyone that doesn't stay for the scene after the credits, which kinda will happen to 99% of us if Netflix starts s1e1 automatically as the credits roll on s2e10, you are going to miss a definite spoiler:
And holy shit, that ending before the credits rolled in s2e10! Sorry, but I totally geekgasmed.
So, when do we get season 3?
And there's so much build up for Daughters of the Dragon. Also,
He and Danny are supposed to have been best friends for most of their lives. I don't see how anyone could be friends with that dude.
I guess he was more personable as a kid and grew up into a fantastically self-centered bastard?
He was supposed to be the second best warrior in K'un-Lun. How did his master not not beat all of that out of him? Or is being incapable of empathy what they train you to do there?
To just quickly go over the Crane Sisters, the original scene was made worse by having them be actual characters later in the show. I think the line "I told you it was a bad idea" when the job description is "bleed someone and use their blood for a tattoo" may be one of the most amazing understatements I'll ever hear in the superhero genre, which is saying something. Having them also be (kung fu-using) tattoo artists, i.e. having a source of income that means you don't have to do dodgy voodoo rituals in abandoned warehouses, really rang alarm bells on just how dumb the show would get.
There were clearly meant to be arcs about how each character came to know themselves. Danny gets the same treatment as Luke Cage s2 i.e. having a superpower makes you a violent evil person, and only realises that's the arc the writers have given him once the power is gone. Colleen has to learn to trust herself after the Hand and eventually becomes a DotD, which I would be pretty hyped about if not for how little enjoyment I got from this season. Ward attempts to heal and instead discovers that he must be a piece of shit to everyone that isn't Danny (what a truly inspiring arc after s1...). And of course, Joy decides she really wants to join the Dark Side of the Force; it was a weak stinger for s1, but failed miserably this season, and I really don't think Jessica Stroup was up to it, which frankly I can't even really blame her for (she was very believable when remorseful and conflicted, far less so when going over the wake of Harold's effects and her decisions to become a scheming pile of shit who also somehow wants a clean break). In fact the only person I see being dumb enough to buy into her "I'll bring him down but in my own evil way" shtick was Davos himself, which is fortunate, because that "I've finally acknowledge your draconian methods work" act was not working for anyone. Mary Walker of course has to know herself in the literal sense ("I think there's a third alter" ranks up there with the bad idea for worst writing of the season), and although I think Alice Eve or the director decided to give the alter egos such polar opposites as to make acting them quite obvious for viewers, I would've preferred something a little more subtle, but that's personal preference rather than a criticism; I quite liked most of her scenes. Davos, of course, being the villain, is the one person incapable of recognising himself, which in a critical theory sense might be a successful execution, but really felt like a damp squib. In fact in general, most of these ideas were interesting, and the executions were simply beyond awful. I don't even think if they'd been given 3 more episodes to work with they could've improved things, it probably would've just made things worse.
In most of the Marvel Netflix series, there has been a fairly consistent problem that when main characters decide not to do the obvious thing, i.e. go to the cops/hospital/take things carefully/call for help, the writers about 50% of the time can't really find a reason that makes sense if this were the real world (which is important when you're doing a live action, semi-realised Marvel show!). A lot of the time the reason characters give is tied directly to the growth/discovery arc the writers want them to take, and as such often doesn't make sense because of it. In this season, that percentage rose to nearly every single decision (I'll let you know when someone says "I don't know who I am" in real life). The writers are actively including, "we know this idea is stupid and we need the secondary character in the conversation to highlight that, but we still need the primary character to make the stupid decision." I would rather have characters make some considered sensible decisions and fail, or make emotional spur-of-the-moment decisions and fail, than spend time showing themselves actively considering and acting on a stupid decision in the face of contrary and reasonable advice.
Talking of which, can we just take a moment to appreciate the episode spent highlighting "you need to think and choose, not just react" before immediately having both characters then put into a situation where they immediately and impulsively react to what is happening? What even the fuck?
Joy's arc was like a teenager got ahold of the Count of Monte Cristo and gave it a workover for darker and edgier. Revenge, dig two holes, etc., fine. The best emotional scene in the entire season (and one that I again thinks suggests Jessica Stroup was also not sold on Dark Side Joy because she clearly was very much up to this scene) was when Ward is explaining his attempts to come to Joy after the beatings and you see her momentarily start to realise the scale of what was happening with her father and that maybe she didn't understand the other side of the story. "But you didn't," is the start of a series of really bad lines along with, "intentions don't matter," (I really thought we might see that one explicitly come back to haunt her after her hurting Danny enables Davos' rampage) that just don't really fit the character. Once you hit that realisation, you can certainly still do "the pain is too fresh to see you" but she actively still tries to hurt Danny and Ward, and her going after Davos personally just felt so slimy. Even one-eye McHenchman spots it straight away, and Davos, who has a conversation shortly after taking the Iron Fist about how he sees Joy, is blind to it.
Ward's arc was generally quite a sad one. They really wanted him finally being able to say his problems to the NA group to be some sort of achievement, but honestly it felt like they just want the character to be a punching bag for the writers' shit. His few scenes with Danny, who actually understood the shit Harold put him through, were showing his good side, and then in every other scene they just have him be strictly an arsehole. So having him be an additional voice in the "don't take Danny to the hospital scene because it would be bad PR for Rand Corp [not appearing in this series]" really beggared belief. The one person he genuinely cared about, and he couldn't even consider doing something obvious (and slimy and in-character) like paying off the hospital and staff to keep Rand somewhere personal and private? It's sad, because Ward has a lot of potential for growth, redemption and rehabilitation, but the series really just wants him to get kicked in the balls repeatedly.
I don't think there's much to say about Colleen, Danny and Davos. Not switching villains halfway through the series would've been fine if Davos had been in some way interesting. But he doesn't really have any struggle or anything really. Compare him to the Kingpin's arc in DD1, where Fisk faces trials and tribulations. Davos achieves his goal early, then gets the fist and murders the Triads (without taking a single injury, so at no point do we, for example, see him mirroring the growth of the superheroes and questioning himself), then obviously starts down the predictable slippery slope of draconian punishment. I was hoping they might have him start to see the consequences of his actions, or understand what a hero has to be, even if he wouldn't accept it; it's still a predictable plot, but at least it has a little depth to it. Maybe even do something with how he views Danny as a brother, but even that was little more than a few throwaway lines. The timeskip is just there to give him some mooks and make Eyepatch a true believer (just... what) to draw the final confrontation out a bit. Danny's leg breaking turned into little more than a training montage and the set-up for the aforementioned fantastic "think and choose," and a handwave for Misty finally being able to get the NYPD to do something about the gang war.
I would've been hyped for what we're shown for next season (slash Defenders?) if this show had even begun to approach its plots and characters with a semblance of sense. As it stands, I guess the only thing I've learnt is that it isn't just Scott Buck who can ruin Iron Fist; others are perfectly capable of that feat too.
Like, he's got the maturity of a 13 year old and a super fist. He fights bad guys.
The ending was great.
I dug it, although honestly they could have done it in eight episodes. I found myself skipping through dialogue on a few just to speed things up.