I may be in the minority when I say genuinely enjoyed the first season of Iron Fist. I binge-watched it over 2 nights and was a little shocked to see all the critical backlash against the show and the lead actor, Finn Jones. He may not be the greatest actor on the planet, but he was convincing in his portrayal of the wonder-eyed confusion of an orphaned boy who only expects the best from people. If you are a rich kid, raised in the seclusion of a hidden monastery, have superpowers, and are brainwashed to believe that you are ‘touched by fire’ – it’s not unlikely that you may be naively cocky. A lot of things about S1 could have been better, but it wasn’t awful.
Also, no matter what the critics were saying Iron Fist was one of the most binge-watched shows on Netflix in 2017 (as per a third party, as Netflix doesn’t disclose this data). So yay?
(Spoiler Alert: Season 2 spoilers follow. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading and check it out on Netflix. Also, have never read the comics so have no context but I hear enough of the cause of celebration for them).
Anyway, Iron Fist’s new season, in the hands of new showrunner, Raven Metzner is going to make everybody happy.
The first episode starts off after some time has passed from the events of Defenders when all our heroes came together to bring about the end of the criminal organization, the Hand.
Danny (Finn Jones) and Colleen (Jessica Henwick) have remodeled the dojo to make it their apartment finally giving Danny a place where he can belong. While all the props are there, Danny and Colleen emotionally are at different places.
Danny, having achieved the mission of the Iron Fist by bringing down the Hand, now takes on the Daredevil’s job of protecting the city. Danny spends his nights dishing out vigilante justice and wearing himself out. Colleen on the other hand has convinced herself that her life as a fighter is over, hangs up her Katana, and stops teaching. She still wants to help the community in Chinatown through under-the-radar volunteer work. Try as they might they can’t stay away from the skirmishes of the Triads in Chinatown. So much for the quiet life!
The Meachums are back. Ward (Tom Pelphry) is finally learning to live his life outside the shadow of his father and is on a very slow journey to healing. Joy (Jessica Stroup) on the other hand forms an unholy alliance with Davos to bring down Danny, coz she holds him responsible for the disaster her life had become.
Davos (Sacha Dhawan) returns as the most clearly defined villain of the story. He is in a permanent state of rage over Danny’s abandonment of K’un-Lun.
In the early episodes, Iron Fist appears to be having a bit of an identity crisis. The pacing is slow, the tone uneven and the humor misplaced. It’s as if like Danny, the show is unclear of its purpose. Only when Davos steals Danny’s power do things get interesting.The addition of Walker is brilliant to the cast. Alicia Eve does such a balanced yet creepy rendition of the manic assassin, it’s impossible to take your eyes off her. She literally owns every scene she is in and for all her cold-blooded killing, you cannot hate her.This season is all about character growth for characters except for Joy maybe who has gone bat-shit crazy in her need for vengeance.