Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik
Starring: Finn Jones, Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey
Released: 03/17/2017
This is another episode where Coleen Wing steals the show.
Four episodes in and it feels like Iron Fist is going to remain in a limbo of mediocrity forever. It’s like Green Hornet the show, as the supporting cast is actually more badass then the titular character. This all stems from the fact that Finn Jones is, surprise surprise, still miscast and still cannot carry the show by himself. There are little glimmers of hope peeking through the darkness here, but they’re very faint. When the show starts moving somewhere, it somehow somehow decides against the direction.
Iron Fist always was and always will be a B player in Marvel universe, and that is tragically evident here as the show runners really don’t know what to do with him. They are borrowing from other shows and comics’ mythology to pad their own, which really adds to an inherent question for this show. Why was it made? Why is it thirteen episodes long? I understand they wanted to bring all of the defenders together, but they could have made a 6 episode Iron Fist series, and it would have moved at a much faster pace.
There is one cool sequence here with Iron Fist fighting, but even that scene is replicated from an earlier Netflix show, which was done with lot more grace and style.
The other fight sequence in the episode features Coleen Wing, and it’s choreographed much better. This poses another question: What happened? Coleen continues to be the most relatable character here, and honestly, I would rather watch a show about her running a dojo than Danny Rand trying to get his company back.
At least Joy Meachum is coming into her own, as she is finally acting like a human being.
Overall this show continues to be a giant misstep for Netflix, which had a chance to make a really interesting mystical character and connect it to a larger universe. Instead, they grounded this character more than Luke Cage.
Again this is a show that really cannot be recommended for anyone other than the people that want to have a complete story of each one of these characters. I have mentioned this before, that all of the other shows than Netflix put out had their own problems with pacing somewhat, but they were at least interesting. Iron Fist just seems rushed and without purpose.
