Written by: Kevin Berge
It turns out, when you miscast your lead character, your best answer is to just admit to it and call him out for being terrible. (Image Courtesy of: screenrant.com)
Quick Take: Iron Fist Season 2 is a marked on season 1, taking a pretty clear left turn in its presentation of the main characters especially Danny Rand. However, it is still fairly dreary with weak writing and led by an uncharismatic lead, luckily buoyed by strong central plotting and more effective threats.
Marvel-Netflix Seasons: Daredevil S1 | Jessica Jones S1 | Luke Cage S1| Iron Fist S1 | The Defenders S1 | The Punisher S1 | Jessica Jones S2 | Luke Cage S2
***This review is written with the expectation that the reader has seen both seasons of Iron Fist as well as the majority of the Marvel-Netflix series especially The Defenders and Luke Cage Season 2. If you do not want to be spoiled on any of these shows, do not read ahead until you have seen them.***
Marvel has created such a juggernaut that sometimes it feels impossible to avoid anything in the universe. Iron Fist's first season is the worst thing to come out of the universe outside of the absolute flop that was Inhumans. Perhaps because everything else has been so strong though, Danny Rand got a second shot.
In this second season, the first thing this series does is apologize for its lead character. Maybe it's because Finn Jones can't pull off a different take on the character or the writers don't trust themselves to change the show naturally. Either way, the series hates its own lead.
Most everyone in this series points out Danny's faults. Sure, Colleen Wing loves him, but she also hates his recklessness, arrogance, and stupidity. Ward and Joy Meachum repeatedly find their childhood friend detestable even if they still care for him as they would a brother.
Everyone else here is doing great work, and the storytelling is so much stronger. The main villain this season is Davos (Sacha Dhawan), a childhood friend of Danny who has turned his back on his friend because he let K'un-Lun fall by leaving the gate unprotected.
Sacha Dhawan (After Earth) has a fairly understated performance in this season, and it largely works. He makes Davos just credible enough as a threat for it to be believable that others would follow him but just damaged and crazy enough that most would fear him.
The other "villain" of the season is more complicated but also less interesting. Alice Eve (Before We Go) plays Walker/Mary, a character with two distinct personalities. The concept is solid, but she often shoehorned into the run time. Eve is much better as the earnest Mary than the stoic Walker despite Walker being far more integral to the story.
However, the real character that shines through here is Colleen with Jessica Henwick once again stealing the show. She and Simone Missick as Misty Knight work so well together that it always feels a shame that they are not the only central characters in the show.
Misty went through a significant amount of trauma following losing her arm in The Defenders, which made her emotional arc powerful in Luke Cage season 2. She comes in to help Colleen through her own traumas here with the two dealing with their problems and becoming true superheroes in their own right.
***This review is written with the expectation that the reader has seen both seasons of Iron Fist as well as the majority of the Marvel-Netflix series especially The Defenders and Luke Cage Season 2. If you do not want to be spoiled on any of these shows, do not read ahead until you have seen them.***
Marvel has created such a juggernaut that sometimes it feels impossible to avoid anything in the universe. Iron Fist's first season is the worst thing to come out of the universe outside of the absolute flop that was Inhumans. Perhaps because everything else has been so strong though, Danny Rand got a second shot.
In this second season, the first thing this series does is apologize for its lead character. Maybe it's because Finn Jones can't pull off a different take on the character or the writers don't trust themselves to change the show naturally. Either way, the series hates its own lead.
Most everyone in this series points out Danny's faults. Sure, Colleen Wing loves him, but she also hates his recklessness, arrogance, and stupidity. Ward and Joy Meachum repeatedly find their childhood friend detestable even if they still care for him as they would a brother.
Everyone else here is doing great work, and the storytelling is so much stronger. The main villain this season is Davos (Sacha Dhawan), a childhood friend of Danny who has turned his back on his friend because he let K'un-Lun fall by leaving the gate unprotected.
Sacha Dhawan (After Earth) has a fairly understated performance in this season, and it largely works. He makes Davos just credible enough as a threat for it to be believable that others would follow him but just damaged and crazy enough that most would fear him.
The other "villain" of the season is more complicated but also less interesting. Alice Eve (Before We Go) plays Walker/Mary, a character with two distinct personalities. The concept is solid, but she often shoehorned into the run time. Eve is much better as the earnest Mary than the stoic Walker despite Walker being far more integral to the story.
However, the real character that shines through here is Colleen with Jessica Henwick once again stealing the show. She and Simone Missick as Misty Knight work so well together that it always feels a shame that they are not the only central characters in the show.
Misty went through a significant amount of trauma following losing her arm in The Defenders, which made her emotional arc powerful in Luke Cage season 2. She comes in to help Colleen through her own traumas here with the two dealing with their problems and becoming true superheroes in their own right.
The Defenders season 2 should just be Colleen Wing, Misty Knight, Jessica Jones, and Claire Temple. Why not? (Image Courtesy of: denofgeek.com)
Speaking of Colleen's transformation, I started out hoping that this show would move to focusing on her alone, but I never expected it could truly happen. I certainly never expected she could become the Iron Fist. It was the best option possible, setting up the right character in the lead while forcing Danny to earn back his power.
Thanks to a shortened run time of 10 episodes, this series really flies by with its penultimate episode largely serving as the story climax. The final episode has a lot more fallout and set-up than would be expected of any show, but it works because Iron Fist needed these resets.
Everyone is set on a path to be a more interesting character. Danny goes east with Ward to learn and to grow while finding some special weapons to help him. Colleen has taken up the mantle of protecting New York that Matt Murdock passed to Danny after The Defenders.
While this series still struggled often with its writing, mainly coming off as entertainment writers struggling with the deeper emotions and concepts the show tries to develop, it still stands up better because it feels more honest. These are far better realized people now not generic heroes and villains.
To the whole franchises' credit, each second season of the Marvel-Netflix shows has done a great job establishing a completely unique dynamic to the start of each series, creating so many fascinating possibilities. I honestly think Iron Fist in its third season finally has the potential to be on the level of its peers.
Still, it is hard to justify anyone beyond hardcore fans sit down to watch this messy second act. It is a long game set up with solid pieces of storytelling. Davos has an engaging but underwritten story that makes him one of the most complex Marvel villains without being as engaging as he should be.
With Danny at the center, this is a dark and brooding second season that should have had more life behind it. It felt like Daredevil-lite rather than its own unique brand, but, to its credit, it is a solid enough holdover for those waiting on the third season of Daredevil while finally setting up the series to work on its own.
Thanks to a shortened run time of 10 episodes, this series really flies by with its penultimate episode largely serving as the story climax. The final episode has a lot more fallout and set-up than would be expected of any show, but it works because Iron Fist needed these resets.
Everyone is set on a path to be a more interesting character. Danny goes east with Ward to learn and to grow while finding some special weapons to help him. Colleen has taken up the mantle of protecting New York that Matt Murdock passed to Danny after The Defenders.
While this series still struggled often with its writing, mainly coming off as entertainment writers struggling with the deeper emotions and concepts the show tries to develop, it still stands up better because it feels more honest. These are far better realized people now not generic heroes and villains.
To the whole franchises' credit, each second season of the Marvel-Netflix shows has done a great job establishing a completely unique dynamic to the start of each series, creating so many fascinating possibilities. I honestly think Iron Fist in its third season finally has the potential to be on the level of its peers.
Still, it is hard to justify anyone beyond hardcore fans sit down to watch this messy second act. It is a long game set up with solid pieces of storytelling. Davos has an engaging but underwritten story that makes him one of the most complex Marvel villains without being as engaging as he should be.
With Danny at the center, this is a dark and brooding second season that should have had more life behind it. It felt like Daredevil-lite rather than its own unique brand, but, to its credit, it is a solid enough holdover for those waiting on the third season of Daredevil while finally setting up the series to work on its own.
