Finn Jones turned me off so much after Season 1 that I came into this second season looking for any and every reason to dislike Danny Rand. In the span of 5 minutes, I already was waving my hands, rolling my eyes, and yelling at the screen saying “why the hell would you wait till after they died to show up?!”. Well, at least his first fight scene was an improvement over everything he punched last season
Iron Fist Season 2 follows the event of The Defenders, with Danny Rand (Jones) looking to carry Matt Murdoch’s mantle as protector of New York City. He and Colleen (Jessica Henwick) are trying to live as normal a life as possible when Danny’s “brother” Davos (Sasha Dhawan) returns from Kun-Lun looking to take back what he thinks Danny stole from him. The Immortal Iron...
Everything that is wrong with this series comes from Finn Jones’ miscasting. Whether or not he is a bad actor is up for interpretation, but he is not good for this role. So much so that his bad acting seeps out and affects everyone else on the screen, making them seem immature and uninteresting. This is why I was pleasantly surprised that Netflix and Marvel decided to increase the focus for Season 2 on formerly ancillary characters. Everyone stepped up their game this season, and their character development made Jones’ very minimal improvement glaring. Dhawan plays Davos convincingly in his consistent and unwavering piousness (unlike Danny’s naive righteousness). Joy and Ward Meachem (Jessica Stroup and Tom Pelphrey) were uninspired and monotone in Season 1, and now bring a lot of this season’s emotional core. Colleen is everything that Marvel was hoping Danny would be: a reluctant hero that audiences would root for as she is torn between two lives. One in which she formidably kicks a lot of ass. By far this season’s best decision was to preview what will hopefully be the retitled Season 3 (well... now it will just be Season 1): The Daughter of Dragons vs. Typhoid Mary.
The incredible dynamic between Colleen and Misty Knight (Simone Missick) is palpable, as their opposing styles (Colleen’s powerful collectiveness vs. Misty’s controlled impulsiveness) complement each other. But the season stealer was Alice Eve as Typhoid Mary/Mary Walker. At first she seemed to be another overly exaggerated naïve character. But once they introduce the full depth of Mary Walker, you realize how well Eve had been playing the role all along. The strengths of the story and these three future leads 'performances made for a much more interesting and investing Season 2. Combine that with this season being 10 episodes long (they listened to us y’all!), and Iron Fist Season 2 is now one of the more suspenseful and appealing Marvel/Netflix TV series from beginning to end.
Season 2 is an upgrade over the first in every single way. A more compelling story. More developed characters. Better performances. More intense action. A satisfying ending that leaves you intrigued on what’s to come (for The Daughters, sorry Danny). It leaves you with a much better taste in your mouth than the end of season 1, episode 13 or Defenders season 1, episode 8. Iron Fist Season 2 receives 8/10 of Danny Rand’s inexplicable need to state who he is and what he does to anyone in the vicinity.