Welcome to the Second Union Iron Fist watchalong event! Watch along with us for the next several weeks as we check out the next hero in making in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage). Iron Fist’s entire first season was made available for viewing on Friday, March 10 on Netflix. Every weekend (Saturday and Sunday) starting Saturday, March 25th we will post overviews and opinion of an episode of the series. WARNING: This article is full of SPOILERS!
If you haven’t already, read the previous article for “Black Tiger Steals Heart“.
The episode opens with a flashback of Davos finding Danny (Finn Jones) lying in the snow after gaining the power of the Iron Fist. This was what I’d been waiting for the whole season, to finally get a look at K’un Lun. Unfortunately, it was cut short and the scene wasn’t very lengthy. Unlike past shows like Daredevil and Luke Cage, Iron Fist still hasn’t shown our hero’s backstory, which is unfortunate and one of the main failures of this show. Luke Cage devoted practically its entire 4th episode to tell Luke Cage’s past in prison, and how he gained his abilities. On this show, the most we’ve gotten of Danny’s past is the plane scene, which has been played on repeat throughout the series. One of the major elements that have appeared in these past couple of episodes is the friendship that Danny and Davos (Sacha Dhawan) share, but it’s never really explored.
After tracking him down to Claire’s apartment, Colleen (Jessica Henwick) tries explaining to Danny that the Hand is not all bad, but he understandably doesn’t believe her. Since one of the weaker points in Daredevil‘s second season was the Hand/Elektra arc, it isn’t really clear how this works, but I think it would be an interesting story arc to explore in this show.
I would’ve liked this episode to explore more of Bakuto’s past, and that’s another issue this show suffers from. It develops Danny’s character as much as it has to, but not as much as fans want. However, the supporting characters get nil in this series. Colleen deserves so much more, and while I’ll give Claire a pass because she’s been in all the other Marvel Netflix shows, characters like Davos, Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez), Ward (Tom Pelphrey), Joy (Jessica Stroup), and Harold (David Wenham) all should have a lot more backstory. If you can’t get behind the characters and understand their motives, why have them at all?
I am, however, really impressed with the way the series has taken the action sequences. At the start of the season, the action was short and lacking any real enjoyment. After the 6th episode, the series really began to pick up on what grabs fans and holds their attention. While the action doesn’t have as much depth and emotion as the prior Marvel Netflix shows, it provides fans with enough to enjoy. People are complaining that even throughout the second half of the series, the action still sucks, but what they are taking into consideration too much is how the action isn’t as good as other shows. I was blown away by Daredevil‘s incredible action sequences before I even hit the mid-season mark. If people set their expectations too high, they can never be impressed by anything.
Yet again, the writing in this episode isn’t anything special. It has never been, and probably never will be. It gets the job done, and while it doesn’t provide insight into characters’ motivations for doing certain things, it gives just enough to make it acceptable. The story in this show also has been kind of muddled, thanks to the over-abundance of story elements, but yet again, it’s a Netflix show. You can watch it and enjoy it. I’m quite disappointed in it, but there’s nothing I can do but watch.
I do feel a sense of hope for the penultimate episode and season finale, but the show will really have to pull itself together to impress me by now. I’m going to give “Lead Horse Back To Stable” a 6/10.
