Thoughts on Marvel's The Defenders

It is now time to binge-watch Marvel's The Defenders!  Let's get down to it!

1. Hype?

We'll see how it goes.  At this point I'm far less excited about The Defenders than I would have been a year ago.  Since the first season of Daredevil it's been a barrage of hallway fights, dudes walking down alleyways, and boardroom confrontations.  I'm not really looking to this series for any kind of resolution because a) at this point any kind of satisfactory resolution would be impossible, and b) you know they already have more shows planned, right?  Why would they kill the golden goose?

But maybe, just maybe I'll have the chance to watch Jessica Henwick jump around in yoga pants again.  Damn, girl...

Episode 1

2. Off to a good start.

Danny and Colleen fight a mystery assailant in Cambodia.  Matt Murdock tries to put his career as Daredevil behind him.  Luke Cage gets out of prison and tries to help his community.  Jessica Jones tracks down a missing husband.  The transitions between the various characters are handled well, and this episode goes by quickly.

Sigourney Weaver really elevates this series.  She's already a far more interesting villain than her boring henchwoman, Madame Gao.  I'm only hoping the next episode has more action.

Pause for lunch!

Episode 2 

3. Stick! 

Charlie Cox/Daredevil continues to be the most interesting actor/character in the Marvel Netflix series, and Finn Jones/Iron Fist continues to be the least interesting.  This episode is good, and it was nice to see Luke Cage and Iron Fist finally face off.

And hey there's Stick talking with Alexandra.  Hopefully Scott Glenn pops up again later.

Episode 3

4. So that's what this "Black Sky" thing is.  Kind of a letdown after all that buildup in Daredevil.

The conversation between Luke Cage and Danny Rand in this episode is ridiculous.  Bringing the "Black Lives Matter" vibe into this show feels forced.  Danny and Luke would have had to interact more to have that conversation.  As it is they're in way too much of a hurry to resort to racial stereotypes.

The part of this show when Danny goes to "confront" The Hand is very silly, but it leads to a good fight scene.

5. Iron Fist?

It's been a season already.  Couldn't they have thought of some way to make the Iron Fist look cooler?  I mean it's just a glowing hand.  Not particularly threatening.  Fire?  Smoke?  I think this show probably had the budget.

Episode 4

6. Yawn.

Talky and boring.  Stick shows up in the Chinese restaurant and does a really shitty job of explaining everything, then three of the four Defenders basically take his word for it.

And why, exactly, does Jessica feel the need to crash the car through the window?

Episode 5

7. Why is it that characters in movies and TV series never think that people who've lost their memories won't recover them?  Don't they watch movies and TV series?

8. ???

So... instead of bringing Colleen to the emergency room they bring her to the... police station?

Colleen is, by the way, a really difficult character to sympathize with.  She spends a lot of time mourning the loss of her cult.  I get that she's having an identity crisis, but when ninjas are involved her "issues" just make her look like a crybaby.

This thing where the Japanese member of The Hand conducts monologues in Japanese while the others comment in English is getting really, really irritating.

9. Finally some real violence.

That beheading near the end there was not bad.  You'd think that with all the people carrying swords we would have seen a dismemberment much earlier in the series?

Pause for dinner! 

Episode 6

10. The Marvel Syndrome?

Alexandra and her inner circle are becoming increasingly generic villains.  This series would have been a lot better if they had been either genuinely threatening, sympathetic in some manner, or both.

And that twist at the end?  Weak.  However this plays out, I'm starting to feel like the writers of this show failed to understand Elektra as a character.  I'm not trying to be one of those "just like the comics" guys, but there's a point beyond which a character becomes unrecognizable as that character.  Elektra in this series is a case in point.

Episode 7

11. Double yawn.

So she's the bad guy now?  Uh... ok.  That sure came outta nowhere.

I tell ya, I'm really looking forward to the last episode.  So much talking and so little fighting.  Who are these people?  And why are they doing what they're doing?

Episode 8

12. Fight!

So much fighting.  Matt fights Elektra.  Luke and Jessica fight ninjas.  Danny fights Madame Gao.  Colleen fights that teacher guy from The Hand.  Kicking, and punching, and throwing, and slashing.  But most of the fighting is in a very dark place, and most of the fighting doesn't feel very exciting.

I'm really not buying Luke Cage's acceptance of their "plan."  Based on what we've seen so far, I'm really not buying him being cool with SO MUCH death and destruction.  For that matter, I'm not seeing Jessica buying into their plan, either.  That's vigilantism on a whole other level, and their rationale for doing what they do sounds like it might have come from the Al-Qaeda handbook.

And why in the fuck did XXXX have to sacrifice XXXXself in the end?  Why not just have Luke, Jessica, or Danny knock XXXX out?

The Final Verdict:

Pretty boring this one.  Instead of a grand finale, it feels more like a retread of things that were better in earlier series.  The characterization is a mess, and the fight scenes are only slightly better than those seen in Luke Cage and Iron Fist.  All in all better than the previous two Netflix series, but not by much.

This, and no Jessica Henwick in yoga pants.  LAME.

As for me, I think I'll wait to read the reviews before I watch any of the future Marvel Netflix shows.  The Punisher interests me, but if I hear that it's a watered down version of that character I might just give it a pass.

Other Entries on the Marvel Netflix Shows:

Thoughts on Marvel's Iron Fist
Marvel, DC, and Live-Action TV
Marvel's Jessica Jones
Thoughts on Daredevil Season 2
Thoughts on Marvel's Luke Cage

Marvel's Jessica Jones

There goes my weekend!  I spent about 11 hours last Saturday and Sunday watching Jessica Jones on my computer.  As you may know, I was a big fan of the Netflix Daredevil show, and I was hoping Jessica Jones would be just as good.

Like Daredevil, the first season of Jessica Jones is 13 episodes long, and each episode takes up 50 minutes.  As is to be expected, I remember the episodes near the beginning and end much better than the ones near the middle, and certain things that I liked or didn't like about those middle episodes may have escaped my memory.  I was up until midnight last night watching the show, and parts of it are indeed a blur.

Given the length of a TV season, I also find it hard to discuss Jessica Jones on its own merits.  Instead, I find it easier to compare it to Daredevil, which is/was most people's introduction to Jessica Jones anyway.

The Hero/Heroine

I think Matt Murdock was a far more interesting protagonist than Jessica Jones.  His character was more clearly drawn, and the moral ambiguities inherent in his character were more compelling.  The lawyer/vigilante aspects of Daredevil were one of the strengths of the show, while Jessica's self-esteem issues and post-traumatic stress disorder sometimes make for a convoluted mess.  I think the damage the Purple Man inflicted on her could have either been explained better, or was overemphasized.  At times it seemed like her psychological damage would have had a paralyzing effect on her, rather than the opposite.

One of the problems with Jessica Jones is also the use of her powers.  In the context of the show, Jessica rarely needs to use her powers, and the moments in which she does are often jarring, and brought me out of the moment.  Contrast this with Daredevil, in which his powers are really part of the character, and essential to the situations in which he finds himself.  When all is said and done, Jessica Jones didn't need superpowers, and giving them to her seemed like an unnecessary distraction.

I will say that Jessica's relationship with Luke Cage was one of the strengths of her show.  I think if they had just put more of this into the series it would have been much better.

The Bad Guy

I loved Vincent D'Onofrio's portrayal of Kingpin, but David Tennant is so much better as Killgrave.  Yes, his character seems a bit inconsistent by the last few episodes, but this is nothing compared to the stuttering indecision that the Kingpin experiences toward the end of Daredevil's first season.  In Killgrave we have a deeply threatening villain with serious mental and emotional problems.  In the Kingpin we have a threat that doesn't quite pan out.

Watching Jessica Jones, I often found myself wondering what an interaction between Tennant's Purple Man and D'Onofrio's Kingpin might look like.  It would have been great to see them in a scene together.

Supporting Cast

Both Luke Cage and Carrie-Anne Moss's character Hogarth are more interesting than any of the supporting characters in Daredevil.  Luke Cage is an enthralling addition to the Marvel Cinematic/TV Universe, and I'm looking forward to his show next year.  Hogarth might have been my favorite thing about Jessica Jones, and when she disappears for a few episodes toward the end of the season I found myself wondering where she went, and what she was doing.  I really hope she shows up again in Luke Cage's show.

The guy who plays Foggy Nelson (can't remember his name) on Daredevil is great, but his character is a bit slow on the uptake.  Probably the best of Daredevil's supporting characters is the Kingpin's girlfriend Vanessa, but she was underused in that show.  The Russian gangsters were also excellent.

Plot

This is the part of Jessica Jones that truly outshines Daredevil.  Daredevil was fu*&ing AMAZING for the first few episodes, but seemed to peter out near the end.  His costume was a disappointment, and the whole battle between him and the Kingpin seemed both forced and rushed.  A lot of the drama surrounding Matt's true identity dragged on, as did Matt's Catholic hand-wringing and discussion of "what the right thing to do" might be.

Jessica Jones ties together much better, even if the character's actions don't always make the most sense.  I think the episode where she goes to live with Killgrave was a misstep, but after this detour the series finds a firmer footing.  Like Daredevil, the climax of the show isn't quite as BIG as you hope it will be, but it's still a more definite conclusion than what they did in Daredevil.

Annoying Characters

In Daredevil it was the Kingpin's accountant, and by the end of that series it was Deborah Ann Woll's character.  In Jessica Jones it was her neighbor the fraternal twin and Simpson, the cop.  Neither the accountant nor Deborah Ann Woll's character were even half as annoying as the twin and the cop, so there's a point for Daredevil.

Fight!

One of the highlights of Daredevil is the fight scenes.  This is in keeping with the character.  Jessica Jones isn't really a fight-related character, so it's not fair to compare the two shows from an action perspective.  Whereas Daredevil is all about kicking ass and setting a tone, Jessica Jones is about setting a tone... and occasionally kicking ass.

Even so, there's a good fight scene between Jessica and Luke Cage near the end of the series.  It's done well, but it's nothing like that part in Daredevil where he rescues the child from the Russian gangsters.  Now THAT fight was epic!

Overall

I think that taken as a series, Jessica Jones is the obvious winner.  This might not be fair to Daredevil, since that show was first and thus offered a template for Jessica Jones to build upon.  Just the same, Jessica Jones has a better bad guy, a better plot, and a better supporting cast.  It's definitely not as re-watchable as Daredevil, which is more of a straight crime/action drama, but it is far more memorable.  I'm hoping that elements of Jessica Jones show up again in Luke Cage - a proposition that seems likely.

As for Daredevil, season two is also on the way next year.  It will be interesting to see what that show makes of The Punisher, and also how the Kingpin continues to cause trouble after his incarceration at the end of season one.

A Trivia Question

What celebrated 80s sex symbol makes several appearances in Jessica Jones?  Clue: "Joel, every now and then say 'What the fuck.'  If you can't say it, you can't do it!"