She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - Episode 5 - Review

When the fourth episode of She-Hulk left off, she had successfully stopped a demonic invasion, won her case against the exploitive magician and had a date that didn’t end so well, so things were mostly going in her direction for once. Then she was served with a lawsuit by Titania for using the name She-Hulk and while the show didn’t start up from that moment, it didn’t let things fester.

The question about, what is in a name, is honestly one of those things that most people don’t think about these days, items are named either by chance or we have used their names for so long, the origin of the name has been forgotten. Superheroes though, well we know their names from comics, but in the MCU, we have never seen anything about the names being an issue, which given the popularity of some of the characters, you know it had to have been at some point. The entire naming issue also parallels to the banking scene from Falcon and the Winter Soldier, how do superheroes struggle with regular person issues. Seeing Jen get slowly worked up over the opening few moments of the show was nice, because even though she refused the name and constantly called it out as being stupid, it was still her. If there is one thing that the story needed though, it was a real threat and while Titania can be a threat, she is in the comics, a socialite masquerading as a business woman isn’t really one and this episode didn’t do anything to change that perception.

Seeing Jameela Jamil, best known for her work on The Good Place, take on the role was inspired, she brought a certain level of snobbish to the character, but still managed to keep her seemingly harmless, which given the only time we met her previously, she was breaking down walls in the courthouse, was no easy feat. There was a lot to be said about how she played the magnanimous party when confronted by Jen at her event, even though we the audience knew she was cashing in, everything Jen had done was not in her favour. While the case did go to court, seeing Jen have to prove the ownership of the name wasn’t exactly entertaining and not because of the cringe that comes when ex’s deliver insights into you, though that didn’t help. It highlighted an issue that the show had last episode as well, a character who is doing the wrong thing and the show highlights why, but puts them in front of a judge, who clearly thinks there is merit. From a magician who is 99% fraud and a snake oil salesperson, the judge should have booted both cases out, but no we got to see them play out. The problem is that law shows, ones that focus on the law in detail, provide a connection to the events, by a defendant or plaintiff that people can relate to and here there was none of it, thanks in part to the superhero nature of things.

That also highlighted in the B story, getting Jen some proper clothes and while she has a cousin in the Hulk, who I assume at some point offered clothes beyond spandex, we got to see people attempt to locate some random clothes maker. If the person identified as Wakandan or maybe someone that worked for Tony Stark then sure, the build up would have been worth it, but a self-entitled diva who clearly things The Devil Wears Prada is a perfect movie, did not justify the outcome. While the end clip did tease the future of the show, there was no point in that, as we had already seen that characters appearance in the trailers, which begs the question why. Why was this clothes maker such an important character to get so much attention, why tease something we already know to be happening and why, oh why did they not just show the regular suit and tease the super suit.

The fifth episode of She-Hulk spent too much time on a law case that wasn’t interesting or engaging and while the unusual defence was intriguing, it was just a little too cringe. Seeing Titania be brought back into the mix, should make for interesting tv down the line, the socialite aspect of this version needs to go. The show had some steam coming out after the fourth and for some reason chose to focus on two aspects that really didn’t need all the attention they got and while entertaining, it felt more like a filler episode, rather than one of substance.

The Score

7.0

Review access provided by Disney

The Pros

+Having She-Hulk and Titania meet, properly, is setting the stage for a bigger confrontation

+Avongers merch is what everyone needs

The Cons

-The naming case was just too cringe to be entertaining…

-… as was the mysterious clothes maker story line