Despite A Few Charming Moments, The Defenders Season 1 Underwhelms

The Good: Good, if simplistic, plot, Good performances, Decent characters
The Bad: Very simple plot, No big performance moments, Underwhelming use of characters/lack of development, Short season
The Basics: The Defenders Season 1 brings together the four big Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes from the Netflix shows for an unimpressive team-up story that has the group saving New York City from The Hand.


There is something sad about a good idea gone unimpressive. Netflix got off to a pretty impressive start with its additions into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the series's have become formulaic and predictable. So, as the hype began for The Defenders, many fans of Marvel Comics's dark adaptations for television saw the series as a chance to redeem a slowly sinking ship. When Sigourney Weaver was announced as one of the show's principle antagonists, it instantly elevated the concept of The Defenders. As a fan, it became very easy for people like me to joyfully imagine Weaver squaring off with Krysten Ritter, Charlie Cox and Mike Colter.

Having now watched The Defenders Season 1 twice, it is tough to delude oneself into praising it on the level of many of the prior Netflix Marvel television shows. The Defenders Season 1 is not the natural successor to The Avengers and the show is crippled by being a simple problem with a simple solution, a series of underwhelming villains and a failure to utilize the established protagonists well.

Matt Murdock has given up the mantle of Daredevil and Danny Rand and Colleen Wing have spent months fruitlessly hunting members of The Hand when they are encouraged to return to New York. Jessica Jones, having generally been avoiding her life and work for months, finds herself drawn into a missing persons case when she receives a mysterious call telling her not to take the case. Luke Cage, exonerated finally from prison thanks to Foggy Nelson, returns to Harlem and discovers that neighborhood youth are being used for crime scene cleanup jobs by a mysterious group that later tends to kill them. Jones hunts down the lost architect and discovers he has a stash of C-4 shortly before Elektra arrives and the architect kills himself. Cage finds the man hiring the Harlemites and Danny Rand soon discovers how and where The Hand has regrouped in New York City.

The four heroes of New York converge separately upon the Midland Circle skyscraper - the building now built over the massive pit Daredevil and Elektra once found in Hell's Kitchen - and there they meet the executive leader of The Hand, Alexandra. Fighting their way out of Midland Circle, the quartet holes up at a Chinese restaurant where they compare notes and realize how their cases overlap. The four unite to fight The Hand, with Stick guiding them, while Matt wrestles with the return of Elektra and the conflict that ensues when it becomes clear that The Hand needs the Iron Fist to accomplish its goals in New York City.

The Defenders Season 1 is not all droll; it is a thrill to see more of Jessica Jones and some of the scenes in which secondary characters from the four previous series' interact are quite enjoyable. But at the core, The Defenders Season 1 belabors bringing the four main characters together and then struggles to keep them together in a truly interesting way. In fact, the show seems to recognize the Herculean task they have been given when Luke Cage and Danny Rand have a serious and genuine conversation. Cage comes from a very pragmatic world; Rand is shrouded in mysticism - the two are not natural friends and they are forced together in The Defenders more than organically developed into a realistic pairing.

In a similar fashion, the villains in The Defenders Season 1 fail to be of a magnitude that makes them enduring and impressive adversaries. Madame Gao returns and is as cool as ever, but she is paired with three weak-ass, generic villains and Alexandra, who seems incredibly cool initially, but then fails to dramatically "stick the landing." Alexandra is elevated above Gao right away, has a tragic weakness, but then fails to convincingly be presented as a leader who could have survived as the true leader of The Hand for decades, if not hundreds of years.

Elektra, sadly, is given the same arc in The Defenders Season 1 that she had in her season of Daredevil. The resurrected Elektra is given a lip-service arc that matches her original arc with disturbing parallels.

To better understand the eight-episode season, it helps to know who the main characters are. In the first season of The Defenders, the essential characters are:

Matt Murdock - Having given up his vigilante alter-ego of Daredevil and lost his budding relationship with Karen Page, he spends his days doing pro bono legal work and pining for his lost life. When Elektra turns up, he is torn between his past and his future and he struggles to protect those he loves from his brainwashed, murderous ex,

Jessica Jones - Wisecracking and heavy-drinking, she proves her detective skills are still not to be tangled with. She tracks down the headquarters of The Hand and gets a personal stake in resolving her case when she encounters Elektra. She becomes fully invested in Stick and Rand's story when she manages to track down documents that prove Alexandra is far older than she believed was possible,

Luke Cage - Freed from prison and eagerly reunited with Claire Temple, he is drawn into The Hand's crimes in New York by Misty Knight, who is investigating the missing Harlem youth. He is eager to avoid situations that might put him back in prison and is uncomfortable with the supernatural elements of The Hand. He wants to avoid any possible loss of innocent lives in the group's attempts to thwart The Hand,

Danny Rand - The Iron Fist, he is the person hunted by the Hand. Gao, Alexandra, Elektra and the rest of The Hand need his Iron Fist to open a door and he whines his way around delivering himself,

Alexandra - An ancient leader of The Hand, she is one of the five original founders of the organization and an old adversary of Stick. She has a love of music, is dying as a result of no longer having The Substance (a macguffin that allows the leaders of The Hand to be immortal, provided they can get more of it), and believes that the Black Sky is the means by which The Hand can survive. Like the other leaders, she wants to return to K'un-Lun,

and Elektra - Resurrected and conditioned by Alexandra to believe she is only the Black Sky, she immediately begins to feel conflicted when she encounters Matt Murdock in battle.

The disappointing aspect of The Defenders Season 1 is that the show has generally good components - three of the four main leads are wonderful (Finn Jones plays such an unlikable character that it is tough to tell if he is a horrible actor or just given a craptastic character to perform) and the addition of Sigourney Weaver is a real coup for the show - but fails to give them impressive and good moments to play. The episode directors seldom linger on facial expressions to capture the performers giving great performances . . . arguably because the moments do not exist in the show to capture. Indeed, arguably the most emotional moment of the season is a door frame being shot, with characters watching the open door.

The Defenders Season 1 ends up as a series of missed opportunities as some wonderful characters are brought together as a contrived team-up to fight an enemy that seems far less impressive the more it is fleshed out.

For a better understanding of what this season comprises, please check out my reviews of the individual episodes in the season at:
"The H Word"
"Mean Right Hook"
"Worst Behavior"
"Royal Dragon"
"Take Shelter"
"Ashes, Ashes"
"Fish In The Jailhouse"
"The Defenders"

4/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for a listing of those reviews!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Blowing Up The Season Finale With "The Defenders"

The Good: Good performances
The Bad: Lousy direction, Obtrusive soundtrack, Virtually non-existent character development, Obvious plot
The Basics: The Defenders reaches its first season finale with its eponymous episode, which does pretty much everything one expects it to.


Before The Defenders began, I had a secret hope for two things that might happen within its first season. The first was that I hoped that Trish Walker would don a costume and become Hellcat to aid The Defenders in their fight, potentially setting up a Heroes For Hire Netflix series with Trish, Colleen Wing, and Misty Knight. Alas, that did not happen. I also hoped that Danny Rand's Iron Fist would die, perhaps going out in a blaze of glory that would have both justified the first season of Iron Fist and perhaps set up a second season with a different incarnation of the Iron Fist (perhaps the female version, maybe have her in the Heroes For Hire series?). My hopes on that second front were dashed in the two days before Netflix released The Defenders when Netflix and Disney announced that they had begun work on the second season of Iron Fist. Given that Finn Jones was part of that announcement, it seemed unlikely that Danny Rand would get killed off in the first season finale of The Defenders, appropriately entitled "The Defenders."

"The Defenders" concludes the events of the first season of The Defenders picking up in the very last moments of "Fish In The Jailhouse" (reviewed here!), which featured Elektra smartly sidestepping the Iron Fist and using her swords to push his fist into the mysterious door. While the three other Defenders prepared to join Danny Rand at the bottom of the Midland Circle pit, the audience saw what appeared to be the skeleton of a K'un-Lun-style dragon on the other side of the door that only the Iron Fist could open.

In the Midland Circle skyscraper, Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage debate with Colleen Wing and Claire Temple using the C-4 Wing brought to blow up the skyscraper. While Cage objects to the course of action, Jones turns the vote by observing that The Hand shows no signs of stopping and they have a willingness to kill all their friends and family. Madame Gao joins Elektra in the fossilized remains of an ancient mystical creature at the bottom of the pit. Gao encourages Elektra to remove The Substance from the fossils and get out of New York City before it collapses entirely. While the Defenders head to the now-open door to rescue Danny Rand, Wing and Temple rush to set the C-4 charges. Knight learns that the C-4 was taken and sets to creating a perimeter and trying to find a way into Midland Circle.

Cage, Jones and Daredevil arrive at the bottom of the pit to rescue Danny Rand, while Misty Knight breaks into the upper levels of Midland Circle. Knight rescues Claire Temple from a Hand ninja and stops the swordfight between Wing and Bakuto. As the three women try to hold off The Hand upstairs, The Defenders try to fight their way through the crowd of Hand ninjas to return to the surface. But Matt Murdock's attachment to Elektra may be his undoing!

"The Defenders" does a decent job of at least playing lip service to the idea that the heroes do not kill. Luke Cage refuses to go along with the "blow up the building" plan until the others commit to not allowing any innocents to die. Despite that, after they commit to that, The Defenders do not set off any sort of alarm to get out anyone like janitorial staff who might be working elsewhere in the building. But, at least on the surface, "The Defenders" provides the appearance that the protagonists care about protecting lives of those not in The Hand.

In an episode that leads to a painfully predictable climax and includes the usual overly-choreographed fight scenes and annoying shaking camera direction, the most enjoyable scene actually involves Trish Walker and Karen Page having a quiet discussion about their places in the lives of Jessica Jones and Matt Murdock. The scene features the two secondary characters sharing and withholding and Deborah Ann Woll and Rachael Taylor to play off one another in a way that is delightful to watch.

Unfortunately, that scene is one of the biggest character moments in the entire episode. The writers seem unable or unwilling to recall even the basic characterization of their protagonists. As such, when Daredevil needs a wall smashed to access the elevator down into the pit, he turns to Luke Cage. Sure, Cage has unbreakable skin, but Jones has super-strength that exceeds Cage's. One swift kick from Jones and the wall should have fallen. But, alas, the writers use the hulking Cage for the job instead of giving Jones a moment where she uses her super powers.

The Hand is troublingly represented in "The Defenders." Bakuto has been a terrible milquetoast of a villain in his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the footsoldiers for The Hand seem pathetically disposable, like Stormtroopers in the Star Wars Saga. Similarly, Murakami is a virtual non-entity, making him fairly unbelievable as being on the same level as Alexandra, Elektra and Gao. Madame Gao remains impressive, deriding Danny Rand in their big scene together. Moreover, Gao is smart enough to beat a hasty retreat at a key moment, which sets her up to be the continuing villain she has always had the potential to be (despite an unnecessarily vague final scene later).

"The Defenders" is the necessary conclusion to the rising action of The Defenders as the prior episode opened the door and made obvious the endgame; destroying the Midland Circle building. Surprisingly little else happens in "The Defenders," though there are necessary denouement scenes that set up the next season of Daredevil and give Misty Knight a chance to move in a direction her fans from the source material will love. But the climax of the big battle sequences is undermined by the same thing that ruined my hope of the Iron Fist getting killed in the episode and the only redeeming aspect of the final scenes of the series are that they do not insult the viewer's intelligence or awareness of that. Unlike something like the fifth season finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Joss Whedon's subsequent refusal to discuss over the season break how and when Sarah Michelle Gellar might return to the series, "The Defenders" goes for a big ending that seems to have the heroic sacrifice . . . but leaves the big players in play at the end of the season in an utterly disappointing way.

The result is an entirely anticlimactic season finale that does little to encourage viewers to tune in to the next Netflix Marvel series.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

For other Marvel Cinematic Universe season finales, please check out my reviews of:
"Valediction" - Agent Carter
"World's End"- Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Daredevil" - Daredevil

2.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Defenders Wait For The End As "Fish In The Jailhouse"

The Good: Performances are fine, Effects are good
The Bad: Shaky camera is annoying, Plot drags, No real character development.
The Basics: "Fish In The Jailhouse" spends most of its time setting up the season finale of The Defenders . . . without being a very satisfying episode on its own.


One of the issues Netflix had when it began The Defenders after the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming (reviewed here!) was that the villain in The Defenders had to be big-enough to justify the team-up, but not so big that The Defenders would have to turn to other heroes working in their neighborhood for help (namely Spider-Man and, potentially, Iron Man if Peter Parker felt the team needed back-up). Fundamentally, The Defenders had an advantage on the character front for avoiding introducing characters from the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe - Jessica Jones is antisocial, Matt Murdock is obsessed with keeping his secret identity secret and Luke Cage does not have access. Only Danny Rand has a realistic connection to Tony Stark as a fellow billionaire industrialist. Fortunately for The Defenders as the show nears its peak in "Fish In The Jailhouse," there is a time crunch that prevents The Hand's villainy from being noticed by heroes external to The Defenders and Danny Rand has been captured by The Hand.

"Fish In The Jailhouse" picks up after the climactic events of "Ashes, Ashes" (reviewed here!) and it is impossible to discuss without some references to how the prior episode ended. After all, despite stealing a big reversal from Luke Cage, "Ashes, Ashes" climaxed well with Danny Rand being captured by Elektra and Elektra taking command of The Hand by killing Alexandra. Now under Elektra's direction, the surviving members of The Hand are set on using the Iron Fist to unlock the door beneath the Midland Circle building.

Flashing back to Stick and Elektra meeting after Elektra failed to seduce Matt Murdock to come over to The Chaste, Stick derides Elektra for having an emotional weakness for Matt Murdock. In the present, the police arrive to find Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage unconscious and Stick dead on the floor nearby. Jones awakens in Misty Knight's interrogation room and Murdock is reunited with Nelson in police custody. While Claire Temple waits for Luke Cage to regain consciousness, Colleen Wing worries about the abducted Danny Rand. Back at Midland Circle, Elektra deals with the three surviving leaders of The Hand where she exerts her control over them by menacing them over their lack of The Substance (which allows them to be immortal).

While the sidekicks try to reason with the heroes and Murdock tries to get everyone out of police custody, Elektra moves Danny Rand to the pit below Midland Circle. Foggy Nelson brings Murdock his Daredevil outfit and offers him a choice, while Jessica Jones comes to the conclusion that the architect was right to want to blow up the Midland Circle skyscraper. In the pit, Elektra tries to convince Rand to use the Iron Fist to open the door, while The Defenders and Wing break out of the police station with the architect's C-4. At Midland Circle, The Hand keeps the Defenders busy while Rand and Elektra fight near the doorway far below.

"Fish In The Jailhouse" is very much a transition episode of The Defenders. The entire episode is spent getting the heroes out of police custody and to Midland Circle, while The Hand moves to the subterranean location needed to utilize the Iron Fist. The episode is a lot of waiting for something to happen and it is unfortunate that much of the actual action hinges on the Iron Fist, the weakest member of The Defenders. Finn Jones is entirely overshadowed by Elodie Yung in the scenes they share.

Elodie Yung is wonderful in "Fish In The Jailhouse" as Elektra as she transitions from confused and emotional to stone cold-killer. Now that Elektra is the Big Bad of the first season of The Defenders, Yung is put in an unenviable position of rising to the occasion the way other "reversal villains" have had to before while still being distinctive. Had Netflix's Marvel television shows not done the same thing with changing up villains before with the second season of Daredevil (The Blacksmith), Luke Cage (Diamondback after Cottonmouth) and Iron Fist (Harold Meachum stepping up after Bakuto was out of the picture), Elektra murdering Alexandra might have been truly audacious. Elektra entered the second season of Daredevil as a tormented hero before becoming antagonist and dying in a redemptive arc. Now that she has crossed over entirely to the Dark Side, the inherent weakness of the character is that she has been there before and came back, so her arc seems pretty obvious. Yung, however, does not allow even a hint of that to come out in her performance in "Fish In The Jailhouse." After the teaser, Yung is cold and dangerous as Elektra.

"Fish In The Jailhouse" reveals the lack of creativity for continuity in the writers of The Defenders. Faced with having to get off the streets, Jessica Jones does not even pitch flying ahead (or jumping super far as she has admitted to being able to do) to Midland Circle. Under such a circumstance, Daredevil could have rushed along the rooftops and Luke Cage could have taken to the street - the a.p.b. on the trio had the police looking for three people. Similarly, as the big battle breaks out in Midland Circle, Jessica Jones's strength is underplayed; the trio needs to go down; why Jones does not simple break through a wall or through the floor to a sublevel rather than fight The Hand makes little sense.

Madame Gao and Jessica Jones are the ones to watch in "Fish In The Jailhouse." Gao is essentially a Dark Side Yoda in "Fish In The Jailhouse" and Jones is given the best lines of the episode. Otherwise, the episode is an obvious bridge episode that sets up the season finale and does not actually progress the characters in The Defenders . . . and only minimally advances the plot from where the prior episode ended.

For other Marvel Cinematic Universe penultimate episodes, please check out my reviews of:
"Bar The Big Boss" - Iron Fist
"A Little Song And Dance" - Agent Carter
"Ragtag"- Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

4/10

For other Marvel Cinematic Universe reviews, please visit my Marvel Cinematic Universe Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Ashes, Ashes" Slowly Moves To Two Big Marvel Cinematic Universe Deaths!

The Good: Stick is proven to be the smartest character of the franchise, Good acting, Lines from Jessica Jones
The Bad: Dull, meandering, plot, Some serious technical and character issues
The Basics: The Defenders take time to regroup in "Ashes, Ashes" while The Hand does the same thing.


As The Defenders nears its climax, it is interesting to see what directions it chooses to go. Unfortunately, because the Marvel Cinematic Universe is so vast, it is tough for even the Netflix components of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to retain some sense of originality. "Ashes, Ashes," for example, opts to go exactly where Luke Cage went a year prior in its handling of the (apparent) primary villain of the series and that is incredibly disappointing for fans - especially given how The Defenders had a limited amount of time and space to develop new adversaries. "Ashes, Ashes" uses Sigourney Weaver's Alexandra to reveal to viewers just how The Hand has operated for centuries and it manages to elevate Elektra to a level of villainy that justifies the fear Stick had in the Black Sky.

"Take Shelter" (reviewed here!) led directly into "Ashes, Ashes." As a result, the heroes of The Defenders are holed up at the outset together, The Hand is experiencing serious fractures and the sidekicks from the prior Marvel Cinematic Universe endeavors are all sequestered together at Misty Knight's precinct for their safety.

Alexandra is listening to a record when she notices, to her dismay, that it is warped. The Defenders are reeling from Stick having just killed Sowande in front of them. With Stick having realized that Rand is the key to something The Hand wants to unlock, Danny Rand freaks out. After the rest of the team incapacitates Danny Rand, Stick reveals to the team that Matt might know where the door The Hand wants to unlock is; in the hole beneath the skyscraper that is now Midland Circle. While Jones and Murdock head for the architect's house to get the plans, Stick and Cage dispose of Sowande's body . . . by Stick shipping his head to The Hand!

While Murdock and Jones visit Raymond's brownstone for information on Midland Circle, Madame Gao tries to work with and warn Alexandra of her place in The Hand's leadership. While Stick meditates, Cage and Rand actually begin to bond. Alexandra visits Elektra at Elektra's grave and works to bring her back to her cause as the Black Sky. After Jones and Murdock get the plans to Midland Circle and the hole beneath it, Stick makes a move on the Iron Fist, which leaves the team vulnerable to Elektra.

The Defenders seems incredibly derivative in "Ashes, Ashes" and not just from other Marvel Cinematic Universe works. Danny Rand is straight out of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer playbook when he whines at the outset of the episode that he is not a key. Sadly, Finn Jones is not a better actor than Michelle Trachtenberg. Furthermore, "Ashes, Ashes" reduces The Chaste to an analogy to Whedon's Knights Of Byzantium as Stick has the most pragmatic approach to Danny Rand. In fact, it is somewhat shocking that it takes Stick so long to make an attempt on Rand's life to try to save New York.

"Ashes, Ashes" is weird in that it gets a number of key character details wrong for the protagonists. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have their first genuine opportunity to converse since Cage abruptly ditched Jones near the climax of the first season of Jessica Jones. Cage abandoned her because she was tied to his wife's death; since then, he has learned that Reva was simply using him and was a part of the organization that violently gave him his unbreakable skin and exceptional strength. Cage, who is usually a good, stand-up guy, has the chance to end much of Jones's inner turmoil, but the dialogue is a bland brushing off of how their relationship ended and why.

The Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has smartly and slowly developed The Hand as an adversary. While the ninjas of The Hand have been disposable and easily-defeated, Madame Gao has represented a powerhouse of villainy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gao shows deference to Alexandra and that instantly elevated Alexandra the moment she appeared on screen. Bokuto was a half-rate villain in Iron Fist, Sowande was barely in The Defenders before he was killed. In "Ashes, Ashes," Murakami is a non-entity, which helps to undermine the menace of The Hand. Gao and Alexandra seem the most competent members of The Hand leadership and it is shocking how milquetoast the other three leaders are/were.

The tragedy of "Ashes, Ashes" - outside Danny Rand being a whiny little toad who is completely upstaged by Luke Cage's biceps (it is impossible to deny in this episode that Mike Colter is not only an amazing looking guy, but he's got charisma coming out his ears - or more accurately, eyes, smile, and voice) - is that the climax finds Elektra revealing her true level of power . . . at the expense of one of the worthwhile characters from The Defenders.

Elodie Yung is good as Elektra and director Stephen Surjik captured her confused expressions as Alexandra indoctrinates the Black Sky quite well. Scott Glenn continues to portray the blind master Stick with a realism that is incredible.

"Ashes, Ashes" plods along with the characters regrouping - Murdock and Jones figure out just where they need to go to stop The Hand over the course of the hour while Stick resolves to prevent the Iron Fist from falling into The Hand's possession and Alexandra similarly getting Elektra back to her cause - before yet another significant battle and a "big twist" moment that is anything but big. The result is a bridge episode that feels like a bridge episode and fairly average television.

For other works with Sigourney Weaver, please check out my reviews of:
The Cabin In The Woods
Red Lights
Paul
Cedar Rapids
Avatar
WALL-E
Baby Mama
Galaxy Quest
The Alien Quadrilogy
Annie Hall

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Defenders "Take Shelter" Together And Fight To Defy The Formula

The Good: Good character moments, Decent performances
The Bad: Meandering, slow, plot, Missed opportunities with the secondary characters
The Basics: "Take Shelter" continues to develop The Defenders in a quieter direction as the supporting characters are united, much like the heroes were in the prior episode.


One of the weaknesses of the superhero genre, even for the Netflix television shows, is that there is a sense of formula to much of the work. There are very few superhero works that manage to effectively defy their formula and still maintain the audience. Those hoping that the Marvel Cinematic Universe might be fundamentally alerted by The Defenders were left a bit disappointed by the show utilizing the formula, rather than defying it. The reinforcement of the typical superhero formula comes in "Take Shelter."

"Take Shelter" opens immediately after the comparatively serene episode "Royal Dragon" (reviewed here!), which found characters on all sides talking more than fighting and that was a somewhat refreshing change of pace. "Royal Dragon" climaxed with The Defenders actually coming together as a fighting force in advance of a battle within the Chinese restaurant, the Royal Dragon. "Take Shelter" finds that fight breaking out in the most predictable and obvious way a super-hero show could execute such a fight. The formula is then defied and the sense of calm returns for another character-building episode of The Defenders and "Take Shelter" works on that front.

Three other leaders of The Hand converge upon the Royal Dragon, intent on capturing Danny Rand. Amidst the fighting, Matt Murdock attempts to reason with Elektra, but he fails to reach her for more than a brief moment. Luke Cage is captured by Sowande's forces. The remaining Defenders retreat to Colleen Wing's dojo . . . where Cage arrives with a captured Sowande. Under interrogation, Sowande reveals that the Hand is only after the Iron Fist and he threatens the loved ones of the Defenders. The heroes scramble to get their loved ones to safety. While Claire Temple, Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Malcolm and Trish Walker are brought to Misty Knight's precinct for protection, Colleen Wing is reunited with Bakuto, her old sensei and one of the leaders of The Hand.

Their loved ones safe, Stick interrogates Sowande and he is joined by Murdock and the others. The Hand convenes and is divided over a course of action as the resurgence of Daredevil leaves them fractured. When Sowande resists answering Murdock's questions, he is forced to come clean about Elektra. When he does, his anger leaves his new teammates vulnerable to Sowande.

"Take Shelter" is instantly notable for having Madame Gao in her most active role yet. Gao has been a villain in both Daredevil and Iron Fist and in the first season of Iron First, she was seen killing one person. Beyond that, Gao has been mysterious and more of a puppet master than an active participant in various villains' enterprises. In "Take Shelter," Gao shows off some Jedi moves and is fully revealed to be much more than the old lady she appears to be (though she still has not transformed into a full-on dragon).

Sigourney Weaver is finally given a great chance to perform as Alexandra in "Take Shelter." Alexandra's backstory is fleshed out when she explains some of her past to the Black Sky and she makes a comparison between her long-dead daughter and Elektra. Weaver transforms a simple exposition scene into a deeper character moment using the power of her performance. Weaver's emotional deliveries makes Alexandra empathetic and intriguing, more than a vessel to deliver backstory.

"Take Shelter" is a quieter episode of The Defenders and the real joy within the episode is seeing the secondary characters of the four Netflix Marvel shows interact. The episode does not end up being a sidekick's version of "Royal Dragon," though, as it remains focused still on the primary protagonists and the meeting of the antagonists. That said, fans of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Comics are likely to geek out completely over the first meeting and conversation between Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. Those who love Heroes For Hire will see that meeting as a key step in seeing that team realized in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On the character front, Elektra's sense of conflict over not truly remembering her life before and her new programming to be the Black Sky makes her more compelling than the average villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her inner turmoil is well-executed in "Take Shelter" and actress Elodie Yung shines in delivering Elektra's more subtle moments in the episode. Hell, anyone who can make the act of laying down in a bed gripping television has something going for her! And Yung does exactly that.

The direction in "Take Shelter" is good and Uta Briesewitz quickly gets away from the fight sequences to focus on the rising character tensions between both the group of heroes and the group of villains. The result is a largely satisfying episode of The Defenders that continues to reveal and deepen the characters involved.

For other works with Finn Jones, please visit my reviews of:
Game Of Thrones - Season 1
Game Of Thrones - Season 2
Game Of Thrones - Season 3
Game Of Thrones - Season 4
Game Of Thrones - Season 5
Game Of Thrones - Season 6
Iron Fist - Season 1

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

7.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Quiet Conversation And Exposition Dominate "Royal Dragon"

The Good: Moments of character, Good performances
The Bad: Light on plot, A lot of the dialogue is simple exposition.
The Basics: The Defenders finally unite for a conversation in "Royal Dragon" and the result fits the characters well and provides for a basis for the show to actually go forward as a team effort.


The moment a super-hero team is conceived and announced, one of the critical issues in making a story (and project) work is finding a balance for the characters and making a story that justifies the team-up. Making sure that none of the characters are overshadowed and that the story warrants the protagonists uniting for a common cause is critical to the story working. The Defenders, predictably, begins with the four main characters all at separate places, working on completely different cases before their missions become clearly overlapped. It takes until the fourth episode of The Defenders, "Royal Dragon," before the protagonists meet properly and have a genuine conversation about what is going on in New York City.

"Royal Dragon" is not the first time the protagonists all meet; that happened in the prior episode, "Worst Behavior" (reviewed here!). Given that "Royal Dragon" opens moments after the climax of "Worst Behavior," it is impossible to discuss the new episode without some references to the episode that preceded it. The title of "Royal Dragon" refers to the fallback position of the Defenders, a Chinese restaurant where the heroes run to in order to survive their disastrous encounter with Alexandra, Elektra, and The Hand.

Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand retreat to a Chinese restaurant, the Royal Dragon, following the attack they each walked into independently at Midland Circle. Jessica Jones and Cage catch up briefly, recognizing that they arrived at Midland Circle working different cases. Danny Rand tries to explain the Iron Fist to his new companions and Jones reveals to Murdock that she has figured out he is Daredevil and she tries to get the information she needs on her case to get out of further issues involving The Hand. Back at Midland Circle, Alexandra and Elektra discuss the nature of the Black Sky. Elektra seems confused by the hints of her former life eking into her memory, though she commits to being the Black Sky and serving The Hand.

At the Royal Dragon, the heroes debate how they might defeat The Hand using legal methods. Rand denies that it is possible to stop Alexandra legally and Stick, less his right hand, arrives to try to help the quartet. When Stick tells them about The Chaste and that New York City is at risk, Jones bolts. While Stick tells the others about The Hand and the ancient war, Jones researches the companies that evolved into Midland Circle. Discovering the handwriting of the executive of various ancient companies matches, Jones concludes that Alexandra truly is ancient. Jones discovers that The Hand has a presence watching John Raymond's widow's house and she stops the surveillance. When Alexandra arrives at the Royal Dragon, all of the protagonists must choose to adopt Stick's plan or surrender to Alexandra.

"Royal Dragon" is the first direct time The Defenders must confront directly the disparity between the two types of Marvel heroes who make up the new group. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are two street-level operatives who have been altered by scientific corporations to have abilities and they exist in, largely, a very real world. They are pragmatic super heroes with no real experience with the supernatural. Iron Fist is all-supernatural for his powers and Matt Murdock's transformation into Daredevil was slow and practical, but in its second season, the supernatural elements surrounding The Hand were introduced overtly into his world (Madame Gao was revealed in the first season as being very ancient and quite possibly not at all human, but not to Murdock) with Nobu's resurrection and his use of blood magic to empower an ancient device related to the Black Sky. Reconciling the two fundamentally opposite viewpoints on the world is a real tasked, mostly glossed over by Luke Cage and Danny Rand in "Worst Behavior." "Royal Dragon" forces the issue through having the protagonists converse about it.

The instant reaction of Matt Murdock is to protect his secret identity and, completely in character, Jones wants to split. "Royal Dragon" affords Cage and Jones a chance to learn about The Hand. Rand and Murdock provide a lot of exposition about The Hand and while it could be tedious, the reactions of Jones and Cage keep the scene surprisingly grounded. That, in combination with Jones figuring out very quickly who Murdock is in relation to Daredevil enhances the sense of character in what could be a very plot-centered scene.

"Royal Dragon" is a comparatively serene episode, with the protagonists working to understand one another and come together while The Hand hierarchy comes together. Instead of having the heroes run around and fight for the majority of the episode, "Royal Dragon" allows the potential allies to talk and their adversaries come to them. The refreshing aspect of the set up to "Royal Dragon" is that there are no "guns blazing" moments for the three-quarters of the episode. The protagonists converse, the antagonists converse, Stick walks quietly into the restaurant; even White Hat (Sowande) meets with Elektra in a surprisingly low-key way. Stick takes time to detail the three new-to-the-audience members of The Hand and the conversation manages to keep the episode more about the characters and ideas than big action sequences. Ultimately, Alexandra's appearance is not foreshadowed by violence and the tone of "Royal Dragon" is actually calm and rational for the bulk of the episode.

The key moments of "Royal Dragon" - outside Jessica Jones actually investigating once again - come with Matt Murdock and Stick relating to one another. Murdock does not tell his new allies about Elektra and the ensuing private conversation between Matt and Stick is remarkably familial. The relationship between Stick and Murdock has been complicated and now, in the face of the war being truly revealed to Murdock, the conversation is engaging.

"Royal Dragon" manages to do justice to what has come before and foreshadow what comes next. The Defenders Season 1 sets Alexandra up to want the Iron Fist as a tool for her own purpose. "Royal Dragon" does not make that purpose clear (viewers know it is to open the door that The Hand found in the pit below Midland Circle, that that is not made explicit in this episode), but the goal of The Hand in this season is now for the group to take control of the Iron Fist.

Those who come to the Marvel Cinematic Universe solely for action and adventure will find "Royal Dragon" tedious and boring. But for those who want something more, "Royal Dragon" rocks. The episode allows all of the characters to get caught up with what viewers might have only vaguely pieced together and it starts the team dynamic without denying the characters their individual characterizations. That makes for something pleasantly different for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it allows viewers to re-invest in each character and believe that there is merit and realism in the otherwise contrived team-up.

For other works with Mike Colter, please check out my reviews of:
Luke Cage - Season 1
Jessica Jones - Season 1
Men In Black 3
Salt
Brooklyn Lobster
Million Dollar Baby

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

8/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Come Separately, Leave Together: The Defenders Are On Their "Worst Behavior"

The Good: Good performances, Plot finally moves forward
The Bad: Light on character
The Basics: The Defenders converge upon Midland Circle for their first (inadvertent) fight together in "Worst Behavior."


The Defenders came in with an instant narrative issue; bringing together the "street level heroes" of Netflix's Marvel Television Universe works had to occur with an organic quality and that was very much "easier said than done." Leading up to the third episode, "Worst Behavior," the four protagonists of The Defenders have slowly begun to come together, as three of the four have been investigating small pieces of a much larger case.

"Mean Right Hook" (reviewed here!) leads directly into "Worst Behavior" as Luke Cage and Danny Rand ended the prior episode by running into one another and Jessica Jones was rescued from Misty Knight's interrogation by Matt Murdock. "Worst Behavior" is very much dependent upon the prior episode as the heroes, the imprisoned Stick and Alexandra were all in play - as was the new villain White Hat.

Opening months in the past (during the last few scenes of the Daredevil season finale "A Cold Day In Hell's Kitchen," reviewed here!), Alexandra is informed that the Black Sky has been recovered. Alexandra and White Hat preside over the resurrection of Elektra, but she is devoid of her past identity - she is only the Black Sky now. Alexandra interrogates Stick about the location of Danny Rand and Stick vows to die rather than let the Iron Fist fall into Alexandra's hand. Stick cuts off his own hand in order to escape Alexandra and Elektra. Matt Murdock helps spring Jessica Jones, though his attempt to reach out to her about the Raymond case is rebuffed.

Luke Cage returns to Claire's where his guilt leads him to confess to Claire that he was hurt. Claire puts together that Cage fought the Iron Fist and Claire puts the two in a room together where they begin a conversation. Cage is bothered by Rand's sense of privilege and is overcome with disbelief over Rand's supernatural abilities. Elsewhere, Jessica Jones and Matt Murdock tail one another before Jones learns that John Raymond was an architect working on the building at Midland Circle. Jones uses her investigative abilities to track down Raymond's work and that leads her and the others to converge upon Midland Circle, where they find themselves in a very direct conflict with Alexandra and The Hand.

"Worst Behavior" illustrates the process of resurrecting Elektra in a way that satisfactorily explains why she has no popped back up into the Marvel Cinematic Universe until now. During the events of Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Elektra was being reprogrammed and trained by Alexandra . . . which also explains how and why Alexandra was absent from the little war between The Hand leaders that preoccupied Iron Fist.

Elodie Yung is given the chance to shine in "Worst Behavior" as Elektra transitions from feral to the ninja warrior she previously was. The delightful aspect of Yung's performance in "Worst Behavior" is that she begins the episode performing with virtually no language and not being relegated to simple fight scenes before she is put in the familiar, choreographed, dance-like fight sequences viewers expect of her. Yung nails the confusion and untamed aggression of the Black Sky in her early scenes in the episode and they work quite well to show the difference between the refined (if brutal) Elektra and the Black Sky.

"Worst Behavior" allows Luke Cage to get caught up on The Hand, K'un-Lun and the power of the Iron Fist. Cage is introduced fairly directly into the supernatural aspects of The Hand, while Jessica Jones continues to explore the pragmatic, detective, approach as she meets with John Raymond's widow and daughter. Jones is an excellent character to find out the truth about the ultimate issue that is preoccupying The Hand - in the first episode of The Defenders, Madame Gao mentions that they have encountered a door and the natural question viewers might have is "what door, where?" Jones witnesses Matt Murdock moving in an exceptional way and investigates the architecture angle that leads to Midland Circle.

Finn Jones continues to play Danny Rand as both inexperienced and somewhat dim (or, at the very least, uncreative) in "Worst Behavior." Rand has to be prompted by Luke Cage to use his corporate connections to track down how Rand Enterprises might be connected to The Hand. It is only through Cage's idea and Colleen Wing's pressing that Danny Rand manages to find Midland Circle.

Krysten Ritter dominates "Worst Behavior" on the acting front, though it is largely a function of Ritter being given the episode's best lines. Ritter has a wonderful sense of comic timing and in "Worst Behavior," she is allowed to illustrate that while still portraying Jessica Jones.

"Worst Behavior" finally shows a concrete direction for The Defenders; Alexandra is after the Iron Fist and all of the disparate cases converge on her and The Hand. The joy of "Worst Behavior" is that The Defenders starts to illustrate that it can actually accomplish something wonderful and complicated - that the pieces in play might be used well. It is the first episode of the season that shows that potential and the first one truly worth watching.

For other works with Krysten Ritter, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Jessica Jones - Season 1
Veronica Mars
Listen Up Philip
She’s Out Of My League
Confessions Of A Shopaholic
27 Dresses
Gilmore Girls - Season 7
Veronica Mars - Season 2
Someone Like You

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

7/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Defenders Begin To Assemble Over "Mean Right Hook"

The Good: Decent performances, Hints of character
The Bad: Meandering plot
The Basics: "Mean Right Hook" begins to bring The Defenders together, albeit slowly, as various cases the heroes are investigating begin to overlap.


Perhaps one of the most troubling aspects of The Defenders at the outset of the series is the fact that of the main cast, only Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have even met before, despite operating in a fairly narrow corner of New York City and the common character in the four protagonist's stories has been Claire Temple (the nurse, not only at night!). In fact, the only thing more problematic about the concept of The Defenders at outset is that now that the characters are all in the same time and place, how is it that Spider-Man is not a part of their burgeoning team?! Did the teenager just not notice the earthquake that rumbled through his city? Fortunately for the fairly compacted season of The Defenders, the characters are not kept artificially apart for too terribly long. In fact, by the second episode - "Mean Right Hook" - various heroes are beginning to meet.

"Mean Right Hook" picks up right after "The H Word" (reviewed here!) and it is impossible to discuss the second episode without some references as to where the first ended. After all, while Jessica Jones has been hunting an architect who has gone missing and has a ton of C-4, Luke Cage, Matt Murdock and Danny Rand have been on more nebulous missions. "The H Word" climaxed with an earthquake in New York City and it is the first overt act of destruction carried out by Alexandra. Alexandra has Elektra by her side and when the earthquake hits, Alexandra is clear with Elektra that Alexandra is the cause of the quake and there is more damage to follow.

In the wake of the earthquake, Matt Murdock (uncostumed) takes to the roof to assess the damage and he goes streetside to stop looters. The next morning, Trish Talk goes on with Trish Walker trying to restore calm in New York City. When she has a caller claiming that the earthquake was uncharacteristically shallow, Trish is taken off the air temporarily. Misty Knight arrives at John Raymond's hideout, where she catches Jessica Jones lifting one of her files. A Colleen Wing's dojo, Danny Rand and Wing regroup and begin a search in New York for those who might have been hurt by The Hand. While Luke Cage cleans up damage in Harlem and Claire Temple assists people wounded in the earthquake, Alexandra visits the Lincoln Center for the performing arts and gets a private concert by a quartet she has funded.

When Jessica Jones discovers that the company Raymond built a building for appears to be ancient and Hogarth tells her to drop the investigation, leading Jones to pursue her investigation knowing that all sorts of federal law enforcement officers are on the case. Luke Cage interrogates Turk and learns that the person recruiting young people for late night work that results in them getting killed is White Hat. Cage finds White Hat, which puts him in the same time and place as Danny Rand, who stumbled onto a crime scene that The Hand needs cleaned up.

As one might expect - given that he has had the most airtime in the Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe - the first couple episodes of The Defenders have given Matt Murdock a lot to do. While Jessica Jones and Danny Rand are basically trudging through doing what they were doing when last viewers saw them and Luke Cage is reclaiming his life post-prison, Matt Murdock is in a very different place. In "Mean Right Hook," there is no Daredevil; there is only Matt Murdock. While it was heavily insinuated in the confessional scene in the first episode, Murdock is conflicted about giving up his vigilante alter ego. From the very beginning of "Mean Right Hook," Murdock is having trouble keeping himself in check from rushing back to the costume and the vigilante lifestyle. Director S.J. Clarkson and the episode's writers manage to make Murdock's journey feel appropriately tortured and conflicted. Scenes like Murdock simply unlocking his footlocker with his costume in it characterize well the internal struggle Murdock is going through. The friendship between Murdock and Nelson is reinforced in an intriguing way when Nelson brings Murdocks folders worth of work to try to keep him busy fighting the good fight. That friendship leads Nelson to use Murdock to keep Jones out of trouble for the firm in the second of two heroes meeting, resulting in one of the best episode endings for the series.

Luke Cage's return to Harlem is met with an interesting level of realism. Temple, who remained local while Cage was in prison, is more "in the know" about current events in the community. As such, Cage relies upon her in "Mean Right Hook" to know where to go to hunt criminals.

Alexandra's characterization continues to gain depth as the primary villain of The Defenders is fleshed out with an intimate knowledge of classical music works and their creators. Just as Gao has been insinuated to be exceptionally old, Alexandra is clearly ancient - a fact reinforced by Jessica Jones's investigation into a company started in the early 1800s that Hogarth waves her off of.

Poor Jessica Jones's door! That door cannot catch a break, as witnessed by Elektra cutting through the lock in the episode's climax.

"Mean Right Hook" would be a complete loss for The Defenders if it weren't for the character elements peppered through the episode. The plot meanders and when Danny Rand finally encounters Luke Cage, it is hard not to continue to think that the young billionaire is just a dick. That - and the fact that Iron Fist's titular right hook were shown in the preview trailer - rob the episode of a lot of joy that should have come from two of The Defenders meeting for the first time.

Ultimately, "Mean Right Hook" does what it needs to - albeit slowly - in moving protagonists together and elevating the antagonists, but not in any extraordinary way.

For other works with Charlie Cox, please check out my reviews of:
Daredevil - Season 2
Daredevil - Season 1
The Theory Of Everything

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

4.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Defenders Opens From The Disadvanageous Place In "The H Word"

The Good: Good performances, Good introduction for Sigourney Weaver's Alexandra.
The Bad: Annoying direction (seriously, are there no working light bulbs in New York City?!), Unsatisfying/problematic character gaps, Very slow plot
The Basics: The Defenders puts all its main pieces on the board in "The H Word," which is a "necessary evil" start to the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe work.


Netflix has been building to The Defenders much the way the theatrical portion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe seeded movies in a common world before uniting heroes and adversaries from the disparate films in The Avengers (reviewed here!). Today is the day that The Defenders finally hit Netflix and the saga begins with "The H Word." "The H Word" is the culmination of the second season of Daredevil (reviewed here!) and the lone seasons of Jessica Jones (reviewed here!), Luke Cage (reviewed here!), and Iron Fist (reviewed here!). Perhaps because of my antipathy toward Iron Fist, when I sat down to "The H Word," I was nowhere near as excited about The Defenders as I was after the end of Luke Cage. Despite that, I sat down to "The H Word" eager to see how the four protagonists would come together and exactly what kind of adversary and situation the show would present for them to combat.

"The H Word" is burdened with re-introducing all of the main characters from the Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the new villain . . . and making it appear as if The Defenders is not going to be a contrived super-hero team up show. Given that, so far, only Claire Temple has appeared in all of the Netflix Marvel television shows and Madame Gao has been the main crossover villain in only two of the four series', The Defenders had quite a task in this regard in "The H Word." "The H Word" avoids the "crossover feeling" by keeping the characters - primary and secondary - from the prior shows completely segregated from one another. At best, Luke Cage obliquely references Claire Temple avoiding talking about something that happened when she wrote him in prison, which is as close as the episode comes to referencing her participation in the first season of Iron Fist.

Opening in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Elektra Natchios is going in for the kill when the man she is attacking is rescued by Danny Rand. When the man is stabbed, Colleen Wing arrives for back-up, but in chasing Elektra, Rand loses her. Before the man dies, he tells Rand and Wing that New York City is where the real fight with the Hand is. In New York City, Jessica Jones wakes up in a bar and meets Trish. Foggy Nelson springs Luke Cage from Seagate Prison and Matt Murdock manages to get an eleven million dollar verdict for a client disabled by an experimental drug. On the way back to New York, Rand and Wing try to figure out what is going on with The Hand.

In New York City, Alexandra meets with a doctor and after a series of tests is convinced that she is dying . . . at a much more accelerated rate than previously believed. When Jessica Jones returns to her office, she is met by a woman and her daughter who are looking for John Raymond (her husband, the daughter's father), a by-the-book architect who rather abruptly went missing a week ago. Jones is not about to take the case, but she immediately receives a phone call on her answering machine telling her not to look for John. Malcolm quickly figures out that the architect might be an amateur, while Misty Knight tells Luke Cage about a series of dead young men in Harlem who all appear to have come into money while working nights for no clear or obvious employer. Cage pays a visit to Candice's brother, the last child in that family, who appears to have come into money, much like his now-dead brother. Jones's search for John Raymond lead her to Raymond's massive cache of C-4.

"The H Word" begins at a weird place. For a New York City-based group of heroes, starting in Cambodia with (arguably) the least-popular member of the team is a weird starting point. Moreover, keeping Elektra hidden in the dark during the fight is a fairly forced conceit. Having a significant gap of time between the end of Jessica Jones and the last season of Daredevil means that the characters have a big gap of time to account for (Luke Cage gets a pass because the protagonist was in prison at the end of the finale and has been referenced as being incarcerated there in Iron Fist). The explanation of what Jessica Jones has been up to is fairly unsatisfying; Trish mentions more people want to do stories on Jones and her thwarting of Kilgrave . . . and she is referenced as not working. The thing is, the finale of Jessica Jones had Malcolm manning the phones and the assumption was that Alias Investigations was back in business. So, how Jones has kept her head above water for years without working and without repairing her office seems forced.

At the other end of the spectrum is Matt Murdock. "The H Word" does a decent job of illustrating - long before it is made explicit - that Murdock has hung up the mantle of Daredevil and he and Karen did not resume the romantic relationship that was percolating before Elektra showed up (and subsequently died). "The H Word" handles that transition surprisingly gracefully. In the books, Matt Murdock is able to do pro-bono law work pretty much only when Murdock and Nelson are working together (Nelson coming from a wealthy family); how Murdock is getting by financially while doing pro-bono work is not clear. Similarly, Danny Rand suffering nightmares about K'un-Lun disappearing and the monks there being slaughtered makes for a decent transition from where Iron Fist ended.

And, while Luke Cage's entrance into The Defenders makes perfect sense, Misty Knight appearing - fully restored and promoted at the police department - makes less sense. Knight was disillusioned and driven out of her detective work in Harlem at the climax of Luke Cage, so how she went from working freelance against Mariah and Shades to back on the force (albeit in a different division) is clumsily thrust upon the viewer.

The big introduction in "The H Word" is Sigourney Weaver's Alexandra. Alexandra is presented as dying and she calmly notes that all of her organs are failing. Alexandra is hinted at being exceptionally old in her first scene with Madame Gao. The magic of Alexandra's characterization comes in her interactions with Gao. Gao has been presented in the prior works as mysterious and bearing a strange amount of power. In "The H Word," Gao is deferential and she takes directions from Alexandra, which instantly elevates Alexandra.

"The H Word" meanders into its plot. Danny Rand and Colleen Wing are the most focused on where The Defenders is primed to go as they have been hunting The Hand for months. Rand explicitly asks the question that will preoccupy The Defenders: What does The Hand want with New York City? By the end of "The H Word" all viewers have is the idea that The Hand might be out for destruction or chaos without a clear vision.

On the acting front, "The H Word" is dominated by Krysten Ritter and Wai Ching Ho. Ritter may not give the most amazing performance of her career in the first episode of The Defenders, but she slips effortlessly back into the role of Jessica Jones and seeing new material with the character is a real delight - especially the way Ritter plays her. Wai Ching Ho manages to transition Madame Gao from recognizable, mysterious evil force to subordinate in a single scene without presenting even a hint that she is betraying her character. Wai Ching Ho does that through her body language and softer use of her voice in her line deliveries than in her prior appearances and that has the desired effect.

"The H Word" has a problematic task and it barely manages to accomplish that task - which is to re-introduce the main characters of the Netflix Marvel Comics shows and put them all back in New York City. The cases that Jessica Jones and Misty Knight (and then, by association, Luke Cage) are investigating have no apparent relation in "The H Word" and Matt Murdock appears out of the game, while Danny Rand is off with Wing investigating something else entirely. In other words, in "The H Word" there are no Defenders and the characters who are supposed to come together feel very far apart in this episode.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

For other Marvel Cinematic Universe pilot episodes, please check out my reviews of:
"Now Is Not The End" - Agent Carter
"Pilot"- Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Into The Ring" - Daredevil

4/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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