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 “Lead Horse Back To Stable”.
Remember how I said in my last review that Iron Fist would really have to pull itself together in its final moments to impress me? Well…it kind of did. This episode was the best out of the entire season (including the finale), and I’m very glad to say that the show managed to gather its strength in “Bar the Big Boss”. This episode had a lot going on, and for some, it may have felt a bit muddled, but it worked very well for me, considering how mediocre most of the other episodes were. However, it isn’t problem-free, so let’s discuss the penultimate episode of Iron Fist.
The tense moments in this episode were spot-on. The show finally figured out how to work its pacing, and it paid off brilliantly. I was on the edge of my seat one Ward (Tom Pelphrey) came through the penthouse elevator, and even though her character isn’t interesting (at least to me), I was pretty shocked when Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez) shot Joy (Jessica Stroup) in front of Harold (David Wenham). While he was never that compelling a villain, it was nice to show that this dude means business, and he offers Danny an ultimatum: hand himself over, or see Harold get his head sliced off. I think it was really clichéd that Danny showed up right in the nick of time, but it carried the plot along fine.
The final fight between Colleen (Jessica Henwick) and Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez) was also awesome. While I was disappointed earlier in the season that her cage fight subplot went pretty much nowhere, she redeemed herself with this duel at the end of “Bar the Big Boss”. It was tense, fun to watch, and the rainy setting and bleak colors made it feel more stylized. I really liked the dialogue too, and while this is probably the last we’ll see of Davos (Sacha Dhawan), his character felt more grounded in this episode than it did in the previous two. While those also supplemented fun action sequences, it was this episode’s that were the most noteworthy and entertaining. By the way, even though Bakuto is technically dead, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hand resurrected him in the Defenders or in a possible Iron Fist Season Two.
However, the writing throughout the episode still isn’t that amazing. As I mentioned in my previous review, it gets the job done and proves enough to satisfy audiences who aren’t as familiar with the source material. It’s nothing special, but if you’re looking for filler, the Iron Fist script is a pretty good example of how to do it. Finn Jones’ performance in this episode really isn’t that great either, but it hasn’t been throughout the majority of the series. He’s your typical action hero, and while he isn’t as grounded and deep as previous Defenders are, his story arc on the show proves to be satisfying in some aspects.
The ending was a cliffhanger (as can be expected), but I didn’t really feel the weight of it all. It isn’t terrible or anything, but the other Defenders shows have proven that they can do cliffhangers much better because you care about the characters so much more. Iron Fist‘s characters (even Danny himself) aren’t fleshed out at all, and it really takes away from something that’s supposed to be much more impactful for our heroes.
So, all in all, the episode proved to be much better than the rest. While it had issues, such as (still) generic dialogue, and an underwhelming cliffhanger ending, but it was stronger than its predecessors and served as one of the better episodes the series has offered, if not the best. That really isn’t saying much, but I’m glad the show managed to get its act together before the season finale. I’m going to give “Bar the Big Boss” an 8/10.
