She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - Episode 2 - Review

When the first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law ended, part of me was surprised that Jen’s secret was out, mostly because of how much of a stink she made about not doing anything to draw attention to her new situation. Now that it is out, the fallout for it is here, but how does a woman who likes to be in control, handle a situation that is as far from controllable?

Picking up after the events of the previous episode, seeing Jen struggle to accept the praise for her heroics, it was not something that she was clearly comfortable doing, but a quick pep talk from her BFF and she was in. It was interesting to see that the fallout for her saving the lives of the people in the courtroom, was that she was getting fired, as its about the first time we have seen real-life consequences appear in the MCU. With no job and not being able to step outside, for fear of being hounded, Jen basically becomes a hermit, until her father reminds her of the dinner that she is meant to go to. The scene with the family was interesting, purely because it didn’t serve any larger purpose, that happened once Jen and daddy Walters went to the garage for a brief chat, though the line ‘This isn’t even our first Hulk in the family’ was nice.

There really wasn’t any sense of time between Jen getting fired and then getting hired, which is weird as the speed of the episode as a whole, feels way to fast. For context, in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker had to deal with his identity problem for a lot longer, but here its over so quickly, it feels more like a blink and you’ll miss it moment. The same can be said for Jen taking on the case of Emil Blonksy, a man she said she couldn’t represent because of his attempted murder of her cousin, but she accepts because of a line from the murder. The show wants people to connect with Blonksy, to believe that he is only in prison because he followed orders, except anyone who has actually watched or remembered 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, will know that it is not true at all. The initial orders were minimal, but Blonksy kept pushing himself forward, even choosing to under go experimentation, outside of the militaries control, in order to become stronger, this turning into the Abomination.

What was interesting was seeing this new and slightly off version of Emil Blonksy, because the last time we saw him, he was getting knocked out by his own fist in a cage match in Shang-Chi. Going from that fight to someone who is all very zen and model prisoner, it’s a hard jump to make, don’t get me wrong, Tim Roth does a fantastic job of portraying the man more than the monster, but it is still weird. Another weird fact is the phone call to Bruce, not the call – that is fine, but the basic throw away line of ‘oh yeah, someone needs my help I will gone for a bit, bye’, ok that is not an exact quote, but you get the idea. Finding a reason for the Hulk not to be in a show that focuses on another character, could have been handled far more gracefully than that and it just seems like it was a last-minute addition to the story.

There was not as much action in this episode, CGI was, compared the first, but what we got was decent enough. Now I know many people have issues with the look of She-Hulk, but I really don’t get the complaints, the character looks fine and the transitions between the two forms are smooth and never pull you away. I will say for people that are complaining about the fact the CGI doesn’t look right, that this is a digital comic book character, if you can find a 6-foot-tall green woman in the real world to compare it took, then go right ahead. As I said last week, we have had a decade and change of digital Hulk, so we have adapted, but this is all new, so just give it time.

The second episode of She-Hulk is good, but its pacing is way to out of sync to the story that its trying to tell. Marvel shows on Disney+ generally have the reverse issue, they have stories that move to slow, but this just went the opposite direction entirely. There is nothing wrong with moving story ahead, but it feels like she goes from being fired to hired overnight and that just seems weird. The case of parole for Blonksy is interesting and the connection to Shang-Chi does help sort out some timeline aspects of the MCU. The show is still finding its footing, but it is enjoyable and remains a welcome change from the rest of the content Marvel is making.

The Score

8.0

Review access provided by Disney

The Pros

+The scene between Jen and her father is nice and provides more support for her

+The blending back and forth between the two forms of Jen is done very well

The Cons

-Pacing wise, the show feels rushed at times, which is very different from everything else Marvel do

-Trying to make it out that Emil is a good guy, just following orders is a hard sell and not one to buy into