The Good
I love that we now have a superhero whose sole solution to literally every problem is just break and destroy stuff. Locked door? Punch through a wall. Running into a bunch of douchebags? Rip a car door off and smash the entire building up with it. I mean, sure, there’s the Hulk, but he’s Banner most of the time and Luke doesn’t hide behind his strength.
The characters were all interesting and complex. It was great to get more presence and backstory from Claire, who’s kind of just been an ex-machina for injured heroes up until now, and Jessica’s victim Luke’s wife. And I always like when a city feels like a character in and of itself, like Las Vegas or Springfield (when it hasn’t been done to death, like Manhattan or LA, when it’s just sort of expected).
The music was very fitting.
All the twists got out of the way early so they could focus on the story and impact of those twists.
Pop’s death was predictable but it was used well, in that it had repercussions for practically every character on every side for the rest of the season.
The whole fighting bad guys while running from the law was very Supernatural season 3 (one of the exceptions that didn’t turn to shit during the writers’ strike. Here’s looking at you, Scrubs) and it’s always interesting to see people get hit from both sides of the system. I’m sure we’ll be getting a lot of that in the next few movies now that half the Avengers are fugitives.
The Marvel universe as a whole worked to the show’s favour. The foreshadowing of the Defenders was pretty natural. Luke’s lawyer will be Murdoc and Jessica’s will probably be Nelson. But more importantly, something like the super-bullets would have felt very contrived if it wasn’t for the dozen movies slowly introducing alien technology that could be used against Luke. My first thought was the kryptonite bullet from that Fox show that had three watchable episodes a year but even the solution was harrowing and backfired, in a setup for a season 2 villain. And I loved the throwaway gags like the guy selling a bootleg copy of The Avengers Incident in the street.
Speaking of humour, every time Luke looked down forlornly at more bullet-ridden clothes was hilarious. His slide from snide comments about having to buy new shirts all the time to frustrated sigh to deadpan eyeroll just amused the hell out of me, like Marvin constantly falling for “Marvin!” in Midnight Run. And there’s the payoff of it becoming a fashion trend.
I’m going back to Hell’s Kitchen where it’s safe.
The characters were all interesting and complex. It was great to get more presence and backstory from Claire, who’s kind of just been an ex-machina for injured heroes up until now, and Jessica’s victim Luke’s wife. And I always like when a city feels like a character in and of itself, like Las Vegas or Springfield (when it hasn’t been done to death, like Manhattan or LA, when it’s just sort of expected).
The music was very fitting.
All the twists got out of the way early so they could focus on the story and impact of those twists.
Pop’s death was predictable but it was used well, in that it had repercussions for practically every character on every side for the rest of the season.
The whole fighting bad guys while running from the law was very Supernatural season 3 (one of the exceptions that didn’t turn to shit during the writers’ strike. Here’s looking at you, Scrubs) and it’s always interesting to see people get hit from both sides of the system. I’m sure we’ll be getting a lot of that in the next few movies now that half the Avengers are fugitives.
The Marvel universe as a whole worked to the show’s favour. The foreshadowing of the Defenders was pretty natural. Luke’s lawyer will be Murdoc and Jessica’s will probably be Nelson. But more importantly, something like the super-bullets would have felt very contrived if it wasn’t for the dozen movies slowly introducing alien technology that could be used against Luke. My first thought was the kryptonite bullet from that Fox show that had three watchable episodes a year but even the solution was harrowing and backfired, in a setup for a season 2 villain. And I loved the throwaway gags like the guy selling a bootleg copy of The Avengers Incident in the street.
Speaking of humour, every time Luke looked down forlornly at more bullet-ridden clothes was hilarious. His slide from snide comments about having to buy new shirts all the time to frustrated sigh to deadpan eyeroll just amused the hell out of me, like Marvin constantly falling for “Marvin!” in Midnight Run. And there’s the payoff of it becoming a fashion trend.
I’m going back to Hell’s Kitchen where it’s safe.
The Bad
Due to timing of similar franchises, some of the things fell flat. Luke’s origin story was practically identical to Deadpool’s, for example, so it was hard to take it seriously when it’s been done quasi-comedically a few months ago. Ditto with Diamondback being Luke Cage’s long-lost brother. While it actually had a point and was done much better than the nonsense that was Spectre, the parallel was a little cringey for me. And the only thing that can beat the hero is an exact replica was very tropey. Ant-Man had it between two mini-guys and while that was a fun scene, it wasn’t surprising then and it’s not now. (Ironically the Rocky 3 freeze frame ending from the exact same scene I always find amusing.) On the flip side, seeing a Fish Mooney character done infinitely better was actually a positive for me, so I’m finicky like that.
Luke’s speech in the last episode was too cheesy and on the nose, considering the whole series was showing this rather than telling, but as Claire says, he’s corny, as half of superheroes are, so if it had to be said by someone, best the main character. And at least it didn't have a Tumblr ending where the whole precinct applauded. The whole Spiderman-esque ‘you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us’ food fight with the Green Goblin thing towards the end of the series didn’t do much for me either. Why do people like that movie? Support is one thing but let’s not get over the top.
Did anyone else feel like they killed Cottonmouth and tried to top him with a less interesting villain? I didn’t hate the Diamondback arc but he seems very similar to Kingpin in his demeanour and grudge and lust for power and the fact that he’s behind bars. I guess now that it’s implied he’ll have powers next season, there’ll be more of a separation in terms of the two villains. Purple Man and Kingpin are the best villains in the entirety of the MCU so far so I was expecting someone else iconic, but while all the villains were good, they weren't spectacular, much like most of the movie villains.
Why must every good detective have Will Graham's recreation-deductive powers?
Luke’s speech in the last episode was too cheesy and on the nose, considering the whole series was showing this rather than telling, but as Claire says, he’s corny, as half of superheroes are, so if it had to be said by someone, best the main character. And at least it didn't have a Tumblr ending where the whole precinct applauded. The whole Spiderman-esque ‘you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us’ food fight with the Green Goblin thing towards the end of the series didn’t do much for me either. Why do people like that movie? Support is one thing but let’s not get over the top.
Did anyone else feel like they killed Cottonmouth and tried to top him with a less interesting villain? I didn’t hate the Diamondback arc but he seems very similar to Kingpin in his demeanour and grudge and lust for power and the fact that he’s behind bars. I guess now that it’s implied he’ll have powers next season, there’ll be more of a separation in terms of the two villains. Purple Man and Kingpin are the best villains in the entirety of the MCU so far so I was expecting someone else iconic, but while all the villains were good, they weren't spectacular, much like most of the movie villains.
Why must every good detective have Will Graham's recreation-deductive powers?
The Ugly
I can’t believe a fantasy show set in Harlem didn’t have the Globetrotters show up every time some scientific mumbo-jumbo needed explaining. Missed opportunity.
It's fun and dark and everything we've come to expect from a Netflix superhero series, which is to its strength and detriment.