Fanboys Anonymous

Season 2 of Marvel's Iron Fist has premiered on Netflix, and per usual, this post will be documenting my running commentary of thoughts as I watch every episode. Since Iron Fist was rather brutal to get through the first time, I'm not going to be binging this in one shot. Rather, I'll be spreading this out over time, and I'll be adding notes almost as a stream of consciousness while watching these episodes. When everything has concluded, I'll be wrapping everything up with a full season recap and review to see just how good or bad the overall package was and the hits and misses in a Reviewpoint podcast video.

I invite you to follow along and to leave your thoughts in the comments below just the same!






Episode 1 - "The Fury of Iron Fist"

• Why is the beginning of this reminding me of Ninja Turtles?
• At least the fighting is more interesting so far.
• Um...that's it? This intro was a bit underwhelming with it leading to nothing. Maybe I was supposed to mark out over Golden Tiger, but that reference is lost on me.
• Davos would be more threatening if he were taller. Just saying.
• Truck guy is sure to die.
• Mary's not interesting yet. I hope she gets there.
• Ward always reminds me of wax sculptures.
• Joy looks good.
• Is this the third or fourth of these shows to have a story about a turf war?
• This isn't selling me on this season.

Episode 2 - "The City's Not for Burning"

• Credit that they've been able to downplay Alice Eve's looks.
• On the contrary, they couldn't be bothered to shave Davos and Danny to make them look any bit younger at all?
• Ugh...don't tell me we're gonna get Colleen jealous of Mary AND Danny jealous of this dude working with Colleen. Unnecessary romantic tension crap to weigh this down, I'm sure. 
• They definitely have a crutch of Colleen stumbling upon a crime.
• Have to assume BB is going to die, too haha. This crew will help the heroes out and BB will bite the bullet (pun intended) in the process.
• I really, really wish they'd do more to make these shows feel like they actually fit in the MCU continuity. It makes me so disappointed.
• Sucks to be Yang.
• Well, it's 6:50am right now and I'm not loving this. Time for a break. No idea, for sure, when I'll pick this back up, as I'm not supremely motivated to keep watching, but I'm sure I'll finish it.

Episode 3 - "This Deadly Secret"

• Glad they're going with Danny wanting to replace K'un-Lun with New York on behalf of the deceased Matt Murdock. Logical.
• LOL Ward with the middle fingers.
• Dinner's never just dinner. Sometimes, it's brinner. Right, Turk?
• Who's Walker? Some kind of Texas ranger...
• Oh come the fuck on. Mary can't just disappear like that. Stop doing that, movies and TV shows. It's completely unrealistic.
• That pasta "trick" is b.s. but I'd be up for some grilled meatballs right now.
• Good job, Colleen. Fuck all this politeness.
• Abrupt ending.

Episode 4 - "Target: Iron Fist"

• Misty's always a welcome addition.
• Why doesn't anybody ever mention the Sokovia Accords?
• Ward is my favorite character of the bunch.

Episode 5 - "Heart of the Dragon"

• Davos would be such a more efficient Iron Fist.
• Mom's a bitch.
• So this is why Bethany is here in the story other than to just give Ward something/someone to do.
• Ward definitely has become my favorite character of the bunch, although I have to give credit for how much better Colleen is than she was for a good chunk of last season.

Episode 6 - "The Dragon Dies at Dawn"

• C'mon Joy. Stop being a bitch.
• So where's Albert been?
• You know, Mary doesn't strike me as Typhoid Mary.
• Davos is at least cleaning up the streets, however wrong vigilantism like this is.

Episode 7 - "Morning of the Mindstorm"

• So melodramatic.
• Enough of this sponsor shit. I agree, Ward.
• OMG this episode is just so over the top with the melodrama.
• Can we skip past this training stuff? I kind of don't care, and my kind of, I mean totally.

Episode 8 - "Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance"

• Ah, Albert mention.
• Sokovia getting a mention is practically the best we can hope for when it comes to continuity.
• Oh fuck you. You don't need to break up because you're training. So dumb.
• Mid-episode, I'm falling asleep.
• Sucks to be Ryhno.
• Can we be done with this training prep stuff yet?
• We didn't need the injury if we were going to ignore it right after and make it an emotional journey instead. It should've just been an emotional thing, then.
• Ugh. Don't do this whole Colleen is Iron Fist thing. I don't want some third season about her dealing with the power and then Danny getting it back. That's so cliche and unnecessary, like when Smallville would do stories of Lana/Lois being powered while Clark was human. Goddamn it.

Episode 9 - "War Without End"

• I repeat. Don't give Colleen the power. I'm not interested in that story and it doesn't make her a stronger character. She's stronger for NOT taking it and for supporting Danny through other means.
• Well Joy isn't dead.
• Do not care about this mom plot.
• Still waiting on Typhoid Mary looking like Typhoid.
• Turk!!! Yaaaay!
• Well I was wrong that Albert would die, and BB. And that there would be a love triangle. So far, at least.
• Shifu is not an intimidating sounding name.
• Homeboy Liu is so doomed. At least he's a boss fight.
• Okay so maybe I was wrong about BB not dying.
• So if you want me to think they're doomed, break the bowl. But to cure that, make it so Danny has it in him even without the ritual and that he heals his leg, and Davos keeps his power, too, and that way, next season, we have options.
• Uugggghhhh fuck you. I don't want Iron Fist Colleen and utterly pointless Danny for half of next season. The story just becomes Danny feeling inadequate and Colleen getting power hungry and the two going back to status quo after wasting lots of time.

Episode 10 - "A Duel of Iron"

• So dumb. Mary wasn't her character and meant pretty much nothing in the grand scheme.
• Let's just do a season of Daredevil where Foggy puts on the suit, or another Luke Cage where Claire is bulletproof instead. Colleen isn't the main character here. Not interested in this next season outside of Ward and Joy.
• It's a shame. I liked this season more than the last, but it didn't amount to much. Thank God it was only 10 episodes, as I still think they had some filler they could have cut to make this maybe 8 episodes. Some scenes were a bit repetitive and kept saying the same thing. The leg injury wasn't necessary. I guess I just can't expect much out of Marvel TV, even though the movies are great.

FULL SEASON REVIEW:

I normally do a Reviewpoint podcast for these, but I've taken so many days to get through this, that I know it won't get any hits on YouTube and I honestly would rather just type out my thoughts.

So...what are my thoughts, now that I've had some time to digest the season?

To be honest, it was better than I thought it would be. The first season was worse, for sure, and one of the major positives with this season was that it was three episodes shorter. That was a GREAT help in cutting down on the extraneous b.s. that we didn't need, but it still had some filler. I think if this were 8 episodes, it would have been super tight and we wouldn't have missed out on anything, and I would have liked it more.

There were a few things that were repeated and could have been cut. I don't think we needed Danny getting injured and being trained by Colleen, as that wasn't much of a factor. I don't think we needed that many conversations between Davos and Joy that basically had the same "watch yourself" motif. So on and so forth.

Mary Walker was a dud. She didn't feel like Typhoid Mary at all, and I know that this was a setup, but that doesn't mean I have to like the prequel origins that don't dive into the origins type of thing.

Ward was the best character, for sure. Dug him the entire way through. Joy, I liked quite a bit, too. She was a bitch, but she was supposed to be.

I liked Colleen a loooooooooooooooooooooooooot more this time around than before. Admittedly, I was annoyed at the idea of giving her the power at the end, and I didn't want to see the next season revolve around Danny feeling inadequate and her getting power-hungry, but the last shot of Danny having the two fists makes up for it, because it seems like it's just a matter of "Colleen also has powers, and Danny has even more than before" which is good.

I liked Mrs. Yang. Wasn't a fan of BB and the kids. The dude from Bayard was kind of just there. Shame Albert didn't have more to do or come back at all. That was weird.

I feel like this was a bit hollow, to be honest, and maybe could have been a really good 6 episode story that could have just been entirely something like 1) Davos and Joy are back and we catch up with the characters while Danny is fighting the rival gangs. 2) The gang turf war gets worse while Davos and company set up more of their plans. 3) Davos steals the power. 4) Danny tries to get up the courage to fight Davos and everyone is arguing and whatnot, big fallout while Davos takes out the gangs. 5) Heroes start figuring out plans of how to save the day while Davos is having lots of in-fighting with Joy, who may be changing her mind. 6) Colleen gets the Iron Fist, Danny leaves with Ward, Joy is now in charge of Rand maybe, Davos is in prison. No need for Mary at all.

Anyway...some ups, some downs. I think I might have enjoyed it more than sitting through all of Luke Cage season 2 with the 13 episodes. Please, please stick to 10 going forward. I'll watch another season of Iron Fist, but I'm looking forward to Daredevil and Punisher more.