Defenders: "The H Word" / "Mean Right Hook"

This photo clearly taken sometime after Episode 2.

If you liked Daredeevil, liked Jessica Jones, and liked Luke Cage, you'll probably like The Defenders, or at least the first two episodes. It doesn't matter if you liked Iron Fist, because nobody liked Iron Fist.

Anyway, Episode 1 is basically Where Are They Now, and episode 2 is They Start Getting Together. It's a bit odd that we're 25% of the way through an eight episode show and we still haven't gotten to the part where they meet up in a Chinese restaurant and Stick tells them what's going on, but this is Netflix Marvel, the land of deliberate pacing.


So, where are they now? Daredevil's trying to stop being Daredevil and just be a lawyer, with moderate success. This includes overtures of a reconciliation with Karen Page.

Luke Cage is out of prison and helping troubled teens in Harlem who, of course, play a tangential role in the Grand Scheme.

Jessica Jones is, well, Jessica Jones. Drinking. Not working. Seemingly unchanged by the events of her series except for being slightly more or differently fucked up.

Iron Fist and Colleen Wing are tracking down The Hand. Iron Fist is guilt-ridden and dum as a fucking post, but he's behaving somewhat appropriately towards Colleen - more of a Hiding HIs Feelings Sorta Boyfriend than a complete toolbag, so improvement?

Claire Temple is banging Luke and trying to convince him to build a complete life in Harlem instead of just putting his hood up and down and throwing things at walls. The first is going better than the second.

Misty Knight got a promotion that'll let her be involved in a city-wide threat, and ends up interacting with both Luke and Jessica as a result.

Elektra is alive and killing people but not really talking much, and working for The Hand.

We're introduced to our Big Bad, Sigourney Weaver's Alexandra. We learn over the first two episodes that she's hundreds of years old, has weeks or months left to live, and can order Madame Gao around, leading to an acceleration of The Hand's plans from Dardevel S1, S2, and to a lesser extent, Iron Fist.

By the end of Episode 2, various events have brought Matt Murdock and Jessica Jones together, and Luke Cage and Iron Fist together, though in both cases, it's less of a partnership and more of an introduction / fight.

Anyway, at this rate, it'll be two more episodes before we get to the actual plot, and then the second half of the series can resolve it, hopefully. It's all solidly done, of course, and fairly compelling when Finn Jones isn't talking or showing me his weird nipples, but it doesn't quite have the oomph of Daredevil or the style of Luke Cage yet.