Charlie Cox is the star of this episode. He's really bringing his A game and selling the conflict and struggle vigilantism withdrawals very well. Gotta say, I do miss Foggy's shaggy hair. It seems the comic relief part of his personality went away with it. He's all grown up and serious now. But on the real though, Elektra is starting to scare me. I'm EXCITED.
[7.6/10] I know we’re only two episodes in, but I’m really digging the pacing of this season so far. Episode one is reestablishing all of the heroes separately, and episode two continues each on their own individual mission but nicely sets up way for their missions to intersect.
For the Heroes for Hire (Iron Fist and Luke Cage, for the uninitiated) that means Danny is tracking a unique sword his deceased would-be ally used, and Luke is finding out what side gig the youth of Harlem are being roped into, and it leads them to the same place -- presumably, Stick’s hideout
It works nicely for a few reasons. For one, finding the maker/user of unique swords feels true to Iron Fist and Colleen’s M.O., and Luke trying to protect his neighborhood’s young people being used as “cleaners” for The Hand’s dirty work provides natural reasons for each to do what they do but intersect. At the same time, I like the hints that we’re getting of a bigger, interconnected world, where Stick knows about K’un-Lun and despite his guilt, Danny is starting to realize (with Colleen’s help) that there are allies out there, naturally setting up the team up.).
Last but not least, it’s leads to a very well done fight between Luke and Danny. Superhero battles are a cliché, but the episode gives a good reason for it -- Luke trying to protect the kid he knows, and Danny trying to get info out of him. The actual choreography and structure of the fight is superb. Danny using his all his usual martial arts moves and being totally ineffective, while Luke uses more brute force and wins creates a distinctive style for each of them that tells the story of them feeling one another out. And Danny turning the tables with his titular “mean right hook” is a great moment, with the Matrix homage adding a nice touch and giving Luke reason to be intrigued at the guy capable of knocking him down.
The other half of the episode provides good reason for Jessica Jones and Daredevil to unite. For one thing, I like the fact that Jessica is actually getting to use her detective skills here. Much of her part of the episode involves Jessica doing some real investigating and starting to find how deep the conspiracy goes. Whether it’s Trish being told from above to stop talking about the earthquake of Hogarth warning Jessica to back off, there’s a sense that there’s something bigger at play and trying to wave J-Jo off just leads to her kicking more hornets nests.
The standoff between her and Raymond (who holds Malcolm hostage) is appropriately tense, and Raymond’s fear does a nice job of selling The Hand as a bigger threat than the generic ninjas we’ve seen thus far. The hints that Alexandra (who has a name now!) lived long enough to know Brahms personally matches her up nicely with Gao in the sense that there are larger things happening from experienced people who know more than our heroes.
Of course, it ends with a fight with Elektra, a run-in with Misty (who makes a surprisingly good foil for Jessica), and good ol’ J-Jo stuck at the police station where the episode ends with Matt Murdock declaring he’s her lawyer.
But it’s not as cheesy as it sounds! The episode does a nice job with Daredevil here. When the earthquake strikes, he can’t help himself. He can’t let the innocent suffer when the police aren’t willing or able to do their jobs. His fight with the robbers/shotgun wielding is clerks is short but sweet, and evinces the sense that this is an addiction he wants to kick but can’t.
That’s where Foggy comes in, knowing that the chaos of the earthquake will attract his old friend, and trying to give him pro bono cases to keep him otherwise occupied so he’s not tempted. Filtering things from Hogarth down to Foggy and then to Matt makes for a nice organic connection between him and Jessica, which earns that big moment at the end.
We’ve got our four defenders in pairs of two now. It’s a nice way to have the team slowly coalesce. Let’s see where they go from here.
Misty is useless, now is in Jessica's way like she was Luke's in their show. Positives is better writing for Danny and a cool fight with Luke. I like that Danny isn't telling every single person he meets "I am the Iron Fist!"
The iron fist sections of this show are painful. Never subjected myself to his solo show and glad my instincts were right. Dude cannot act for toffee.
I've so so missed Jessica Jones on my screen. Glad to see her scathing personality still reigns <3
Sigourney Weaver is such a welcome addition to TV. Her character is flawless and intriguing. Getting the impression she's been around for a while...
Alright, who else replayed Danny iron fisting Luke?? Wait, that didn't sound quite right...
After the mandatory introduction, it's starting.
It's interesting that each character's part is done in the original style of their show. Visually, and thematically.
They get back into action a little fast. Daredevil beating up a store owner while protecting the robbers. Luke attacking directly, not even seeing that his protégé was cleaning corpses.
And a fun Cage/Iron Fist fight. With the expected result. Though how does Luke gets a hold of Danny in the first place ? His fighting style is not exactly subtle, I would have expected Danny to totally dance around him.
Sigourney Weaver will obviously be the big villain. A little sad when plot is given away by solely by the identity of the actor. At least they do not try to hide it by making her directly order Gao. Do I see some signs that she is much much older than she looks, and than Gao that is supposedly several hundred years old ?
My best two super hero just met, Jessica and Daredevil <3
What do you mean you don't sharpen these unless you're going to use them. How does that make sense to anyone besides people who collect swords maybe. Boring lines from iron fist team yet again.
They start to find, at the moment well
Quite boring, nothing interesting happening except for the last few minutes.
The characters from all 4 TV shows are starting to intertwine and interact quite nicely, but I'm afraid I'm still gonna need more! Good episode, though. :)
I watched the first seasons of Jessica Jones (my favorite so far, and I don't have as many problems with it as many others do) and Daredevil. Lost interest a few episodes into Luke Cage and Daredevil Season 2. Never bother with Iron Fist. I read a quick, very brief recap of all the seasons on Buzzfeed before watching this. Two episodes in and generally enjoying it so far; the first is a good drop-in into the four characters, maybe even more enjoyable for me because after skipping a few seasons, I don't find their many tangents to feel redundant. But the second episode kinda feels that way though, and is too long a set-up, even if it ends very well. Ritter is as great a presence as ever, so is Weaver in her still not significant screentime.
Review by Aniela KrajewskaVIP 8BlockedParentSpoilers2017-08-18T12:16:34Z
Our heroes paths are finally starting to cross. Luke and Danny's run-in in the alley was hilarious, with Danny's fancy moves not affecting Luke at all until he summoned the Iron Fist and fucking DECKED him right in the face. I laughed. Can't wait for Luke to tell Claire about it. "Yeah, I ran into this weird dude tonight. He had a glowing fist and almost knocked my teeth out." "Oh yeah, that's Danny. We went to China together and fought some crazy ninja assassins. He's kind of a mess."
Jessica can pretend to not give a shit all she wants, but she's not fooling anyone. At the end of the day, she cares so much and gets herself in trouble trying to help people. I screamed when Matt showed up at the precinct. And at least they took time to ensure that it doesn't look like the most convenient coincidence ever - we know that Foggy probably gave the case to Matt to keep it as far away from his firm as possible, just like Hogarth wanted.
Again, the way they use color is ingenious. Each Defender's surroundings continue to be in their signature color, with Danny's blueish green featured more prominently here. I absolutely love it.