Marvel's Iron Fist - Episodes 5-13 Review
So I just finished Marvel's Iron Fist, and unlike most of the reviews I'd read previously I can now judge this 13-part series as a whole. I will try and make a proper, full-length spoiler-free review at some point, but for now I will be talking spoilers - so if you don't want the show spoiled for you, either read my earlier reviews or just give the series a watch yourself. I'm not convinced there'll be a second season, so there's plenty of time.
Iron Fist did seem to be going quite well until about Episode 9. While the pacing has definitely been a bit difficult to get through, we did get a big fight club episode with Danny fighting his way through three opponents to rescue...some person's daughter from Madame Gao. That daughter sub-plot got dropped pretty quickly, but the episode was more focused on showing Danny facing literal demons, manifested in some rather flat villains - although the writer clearly put effort into giving them characters. Madame Gao is fantastic though, and I was really excited to see more of her. She gets plenty of screen-time, but sadly the series seems to be saving her - possibly for The Defenders this August, but once she finally took center-staged she was moved off by Bakuto, a character who basically came out of nowhere to drag down Episode 10 until 12.
Making Bakuto out as a protagonist was a little odd at first. The character seems so suspicious and menacing I was wondering why he was supposedly good. Even in the trailer the guy came across as quite villainous, so when the show tries to do a big twist and make him a big villain...well, it comes across as rather underwhelming. The alternate fraction of The Hand was a bit of misstep in the series, creating a definite sense of confusion until all was explained and...they were just casually dealt with. Once Bakuto was taken care of, that was it for The Hand - rather underwhelming after they tried to pull such a big twist.
But with Bakuto killed in Episode 12, the show needed yet another villain to take over for the finale, and who better than Harold Meachum? The character had been getting a little tiring, and after an unexpected death mid-way through, I assumed we were in for a Luke Cage-style twist with Ward taking over as the big bad, but then Harold came back, weirder than ever and the show reworked itself to make him out as the big bad. He was clearly evil from the start, but the show almost bends over backwards to make him the main antagonist. While his dynamic with Ward was excellent, Harold didn't work quite as well as he should have, and this is perhaps because he didn't feel quite threatening enough. Maybe because Gao is sitting there, drinking tea in the finale - and still being pretty damn menacing.
The introduction of Davos was awkwardly handled into the show, and regrettably the show can't pull him off as well as it wants. He's a rather one-note character, and a teased alliance with Gao shows that yes, he is going to be a future antagonist. Quite what Joy has to do with his plans, we have yet to see, but for now...well, its a shame to waste so talented an actor as Sacha Dhawan in a rather flat role.
The romance between Danny and Colleen was...not quite as bad as I thought it would be. I had worried the show would try and force a love triangle with them and Joy, but that thankfully didn't come to pass. Colleen seems to be many peoples' favourite character, and while I can understand why, she didn't manage to stick out much - maybe because at least with Danny he's still very childish and rash, while Colleen is much more cool and collected. Having Claire in the mix was an excellent decision though, managing to ground the show much better than having so much of it set in the dojo or...China, apparently.
Overall, Marvel's Iron Fist would be a fairly strong, if rather forgettable show if it wasn't so goddamn long! Thirteen episodes were really pushing it for Iron Fist's length - the series only needed eight at maximum. However, had the series had a bigger budget and explored more of the strange and mystical aspects of its premise - like, say, fighting the giant friggin' dragon they keep going on about (and is the show's logo) - I think they would have had more material to work with for thirteen hours. As it stands though, Iron Fist is fine. It goes to some good places, it goes to some bad, but it is an okay show. Nothing special here, but could be worthwhile in the long run.
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