If this dude says I am the immort…. Wait actually let me get back to this later. If you know me, then you know that I am an uber Marvel fan. If you don’t know me, now you know (*biggie voice*). So, I can sometimes get a bit biased when it comes to reviewing these shows (Yes I know it says friendly neighborhood movie buff up there, but read MY ABOUT PAGE before you say something). So, I am going to let ya know now that I was underwhelmed with this show. But I enjoyed it. Most of it. So (I’m saying so all the time now aren’t I?) this review is bias free. Most of it.
The Defenders is the culmination of Netflix Marvel’s version of Phase 1 in their TV Universe. Starting with Daredevil (Charlie Cox), the phase moved to Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) and Luke Cage (Mike Colter) with Daredevil season 2 in between (one batch, two batch...). Lastly, it rounded up with this…
Similar to the MCU’s Phase 1, the Defenders brought their 4 titular heroes together by a common enemy which goes by the Hand. Each of the separate show’s protagonist had varying degrees of crap happen to them by the organization’s leaders, the “5 Fingers of the Hand” (2 or 3 of which have connections to previous shows). By midseason (just a crisp 8 episodes) the Defenders are “coincidentally” brought to the same place to tell the Hand what their 5 fingers say to the face:
(sorry I had to)
Before the team fully gets together, the show is kinda slow; however, if you watched and enjoyed Jessica Jones then that’s not really a problem because Marvel and Netflix do well making set-up episodes interesting. A small aspect of this is something subtle that you may not have noticed if it wasn’t pointed out to you (Thanks Collider TV talk for pointing it out to me). The color palette of the first few episodes is basically a mood ring for each character. Every Daredevil scene is tinted in red. Jessica Jones is bathed in blues and purples. Luke Cage is bright in yellows. Danny Rand is green. Even in monotone settings, there are pops of each character’s color somewhere in the scene. As the season moves on and the team comes together, the colors begin to even out almost at the same pace that the team’s dynamic does. It’s a cool little game to try to find the colors in the scenes.
Another plus is Sigourney Weaver as the show’s main villain, Alexandra. She brings a scary type of calm to the early episodes that oozes with an “I’m a woman who is unfuckwithable”. She almost took the title of Bad Motherfucker from Madam Gao (the middle finger of the hand, yes I made that up), but by the end I really didn’t understand her ultimate motive. I didn’t get answers to questions about Alexandra that I thought could have been fleshed out more over the season. I have been a fan of Madam Gao (Wai Ching Ho) since her stints on Daredevil and that other show, and Ho continued her brilliant performance in this show on her way to becoming its best villain (followed closely by Murakami the… index finger?).
The Hand was given a surprisingly large amount of the storyline, and it gave the audience a great look into the intricacies of what has been, so far, a relatively mysterious crime syndicate. Some people may have gripes that the title characters didn't have enough to do, but it was refreshing that Defenders gave proportional significance to 3 different “super teams” instead of one. The third team that was brought together was the “civilians” from each hero’s standalone show. It was cool to see how these characters interacted with each other, especially when they were deciding what to reveal or conceal from each other when it came to their superfriend's life. Similar to Gao and Murakami, Claire (Rosario Dawson) and Misty Knight (Simone Missick) quickly became the standouts of this group while everyone falls into a comfortable niche.
Marvel’s track record of amazingly balancing a lot of characters continues in this show with 3 out of the 4 Defenders. Ritter and Colton already had a great dynamic from their time on Jessica Jones. The addition of Cox’s Daredevil built beautifully upon this. Neither of the 3 shows ever took themselves overly seriously (that’s a lot of “ly’s”), and when they get together you can see that Jones, Cage and Murdock (that’s Daredevil people ,keep up) understand how unrealistic their own powers/stories are within their realities. This makes the show and some of its farfetchedness more believable. This is even more apparent in the utter incredulousness that comes across each of their faces when that 4th guy is there.
OK I can’t avoid "he whose show must not be named" anymore. If you slogged through that dumpster fire of a series like I did and have yet to watch the Defenders, I can answer your question right now. NO! NO HE DID NOT BECOME LESS OF A WHINY ASSHOLE (sorry ma, this is gonna continue). YES! YES HE IS STILL THE MOST ANNOYING FUCKING CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRETY OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE! The second that Luke knocked
him dead in his chest, I couldn't help but take the utmost pleasure in every single jab that the show took at him. I was Marshawn Lynch through the entire series. I wanted to see him be made a fool of OVER
“You’re the dumbest Iron Fist yet” – Sowande, Ring finger of the Hand
“…this one, the immortal Iron Fist, living weapon and protector of the ancient city… is still a thundering dumbass” – Thank You Stick (A.K.A the other blind guy played by Scott Glenn)
The entire opening of episode six up through getting himself HELD UP AT KNIFE POINT EVEN THOUGH HE HAS A GLOWING HAND!!!!!! (Thank You Again Stick!!!)
Until I pleaded for someone to please KNOCK. HIM. DAFUQ. OUT (THANK YOU JESS!... Spoiler alert?).
There were times when maybe he was possibly doing something redeemable. I couldn’t stand that he was the impetus to forming the team (thanks one more time for stepping in on that one Stick). But then…. NOPE. You’re still a hot damn idiot! The fact that Marvel has always been smart enough to recognize that they need to poke fun at their mistakes allows for this fabulous dragging to occur.
Even though I couldn’t stand Danny, he completes the Defenders’ excellent transition into a family. Seriously. Luke is the frustrated father. Jess is the older sister that has to do everything (speaking of Jess, she is the absolute best thing on this show, epitomized by the subway scene. The train. Not the restaurant). Matthew (again, DAREDEVIL PEOPLE!) is the brother that people see once in a blue moon because he’s “too busy”. Danny is summed up best by Colleen Wing (Sand sister #3 on GOT/the female civilian equivalent of his annoying ass): “he’s just a kid looking for a family”. Yep, a kid. A dumb ASS KID THAT HAPPENS TO ALWAYS NEED TO BE RESCUED BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD HE KEEPS GETTING HIS GLOWING ASS HANDED TO HIM!!
Ok. I’m done. Defenders has its up and its downs. Its predictable until it isn’t. The action wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. I geeked out seeing a hallway in the trailer, but then was disappointed in how short that scene was (GO WATCH DAREDEVIL SEASON 1’s HALLWAY SCENE NOW! Its ok. I’ll wait)
Glad you’re back. During most action sequences, I kept hoping that Frank Castle (...nickel and dime) would bust in somewhere and start shooting people incredulously. I settled happily for the best action sequence being paired with the absolute best background song pick of the entire show (If you watch it and pick the wrong song, I will disown you). Every time I felt blah about the show, it balanced it out with something fairly awesome. I am going to give The Defenders (and yes I know I left out Elektra. I’ll let y’all give an opinion on her) a 65 or soft 70/100 (still taking suggestions for a system by the way).
Thanks for reading my review of Iro… The DEFENDERS!!… Defenders review. Thanks
P.S. If this review was too long for you…. Go somewhere and read a book.