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.
Season 2 is where Danny shows some emotional maturity. He recognizes that others have always defined his purpose for him, first at K’un Lun and then Matt Murdock’s dying wish to protect New York City. He has never had a chance to think for himself to find his own meaning. Davos was right in pointing that to him in the final episode. It only makes sense for Danny to go back to the beginning and figure it out for himself.
For Colleen, it was a journey to getting rid of the guilt she carried and accepting her role as a street fighter. And even if Metzner denies it in interviews, making her the Immortal Iron Fist was most definitely a strategic move to preserve the future of the show against critics.
For Danny and Colleen’s relationship, there are enough references to their quaint domesticity in the beginning to foreshadow an unhappy ending.
And no review would be complete without Daughters of the Dragon. Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, form such a relatable healthy Bechdel test-passing friendship that I was cheering for them.
The main highlight was without a doubt the excellent fight sequences. Gone are the slightly awkward hesitant fights from S1, the fights this season are sublime. Davos and Danny’s duel in K’un Lun takes the cake. It’s bloody, brutal, and beautifully shot. Here’s more on some other epic scenes and how they were shot.
Finn Jones’s fighting just keep getting better through the Marvel shows. He does better with an ensemble cast and it’s good to have him surrounded with equally interesting characters. Also, the bromance between him and Pelphry was off the charts. We need a spin-off travel show of Danny and Ward’s Adventures in Asia. It was nice to see Jessica Henwick in a co-lead position, she has a great screen presence.
In general, the writing was more mature. The way the whole Colleen and Danny relationship was handled was beautiful and realistic. The friendship between Misty and Collen seems organic and relatable. There is a lot of self-introspection between all the fighting which raises the bar for the show.
In the end, Danny is at ground zero. He has given up his identity by refusing to be the Iron Fist. He has also given up the only thing more important to him than his glowing fist – he walks away from what he finally thought was his home.
In a way, Raven Metzner does to Danny, what Taika Waititi does to Thor in Ragnarok. He strips him of his powers to allow him to discover himself. Ragnarok allowed for a reinvented Thor and brought him back stronger.
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