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 opinions of an episode of the series. WARNING: This article is full of SPOILERS!

If you haven’t already, read the previous article for “The Blessing of Many Fractures”.

“The Mistress of All Agonies” begins with the sudden emergence of Harold Meachum (David Wenham) from the place in which his son, Ward (Tom Pelphrey), abandoned his body after the fatal stabbing of the previous episode. In an act of apparent unawareness, Meachum reaches to the area he was stabbed and removes the knife left from the aforementioned incident.

Once the opening credits have rolled we find ourselves within Colleen’s dojo in New York. Danny, Claire (Rosario Dawson) and Colleen (Jessica Henwick) have taken Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho) hostage and begin to press her for information regarding the assumed connection she shares between herself and Danny’s deceased mother and father. Danny (Finn Jones) suggests a more unconventional approach, however, through Claire and Colleen’s disapproval, a conclusion is reached regarding the use of truth serum (Sodium Pentathol) available at Rand Enterprises.

Back to Meachum, who at this point has begun to assemble minor remnants of his old memories, while simultaneously acting strangely in the presence of a group of unsuspecting children playing in the street. Additionally, after trying to remove hot dogs from a vendor, he begins vomits what appears to be the mud from the bog his body had arisen from recently.

As Danny is on his way to collect the serum, he catches Joy as she is confronting Ward regarding the ownership of the building their father was residing within during his most recent incarnation. She explains how she and Ward were fired from Rand Enterprises thanks to Danny’s sudden presence in the company. She continues to describe the events of the last episode and her feelings towards Ward’s evident mental shift.

While Claire and Colleen wait for Danny’s return, they each confront Gao about her motivations towards Danny. Instead of helping, Gao threatens to harm Claire’s mother and comments on Colleen’s grandfather’s methods of upbringing, stating that they should “get out now”.

Before finally returning to his penthouse, Harold visits the former offices of Joy and Ward at Rand. He explains to Kyle (Alex Wyse) of his situation and asks what he would do in his circumstance. Eventually Ward arrives to discover his father alive and well, seeking only his forgiveness and affection. After Ward asks why he is doing this, Harold says he wants Joy to be a part of his life, not Ward, regardless of what the Hand have stipulated.

Danny returns to the dojo with the serum, however after initial trepidation, Gao is given the truth serum. She reveals how it was in fact Danny’s mother who she knew, and that continually fruitless attempts to recruit his father and her to the Hand, it was in fact Harold that accepted the offer.

It quickly becomes apparent that Colleen’s illness is much more than the simple flu, and that the poison seen in China is slowly coursing its way through her body. She begs Rand to contact her Sensei, Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez), the only person capable of resolving this issue.

Before Joy is coerced in to being reintroduced to her father, Harold brutally kills his assistant Kyle after offering him an excess of ice cream as reward for his loyal service. This malicious act comes as Ward discovers that each resurrection results in a more dangerous version of the man Harold used to be.

In his final acts of the episode, Ward is committed to the same psychiatric ward as Danny was in the 2nd episode of the series after drugs were found on his car seat by police officers passing by.

Finally, when Sensei Bakuto arrives to the dojo, he informs Danny of the power he possesses to heal Colleen by merely opening his “Iron Fist” and burn the poison from her body. Gao immediately remonstrates against this, showing apparent distress at Bakuto’s sudden appearance. The episode concludes with Danny healing Colleen but suffering ill-effects of the action. He is taken by the Sensei along with the now healed Colleen, stating that Claire must remain where she is.

Observations

• Features first appearance of Davos (Sacha Dhawan).
• In the background during the scene where Joy meets Danny, you can hear some yell “I’m walking here” in a nice reference to the film “Midnight Cowboy”.
• Claire says “Sweet Christmas” again, as well as mentions that the man sending her letters is currently “unavailable”. hese are nice nods to the continued Netflix Marvel Universe.
• Joy tells Ward she hired a private investigator to spy on members of the board who was “worth every penny when sober”. This is a reference to Jessica Jones, another member of Netflix’s Defenders Team.