She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - Episode 8 - Review

With how the last few episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law played out, the penultimate episode could easily have gone one of two ways, the first is that it keeps on delivering very little info and ends with a plot twist, or it takes a hard turn and fills it with so much, that it feels packed and then takes a twist at the end. The show opted for the later and it largely succeeded with providing a very entertaining episode.

Showing off a new hero in this late stage was a bold choice, Leapfrog was a stupid as you could get though, both as a character and a hero, but it help set the stage for the conflict between Jen in court against Matt Murdock. It is funny that a show that is all about the law, keeps finding the flimsiest excuses for Jen to go against it, just sign a waiver and she can represent anyone she likes, or is forced to at least. It made sense the first time around, but it didn’t really work here, not because of the conflict of interest but because two episodes ago she was all about not caring about her clothes, in either form and now she cares to much. There wasn’t a real sense of progression for that to happen, but with her connection to comfy clothes now ended, finding herself drinking at a bar was a predictable next step, Matt showing up was not. The dynamic between the two of them was great, it offered up a chance for Jen to be Jen, i.e. to embrace that nerdy part of herself, so having their moment ruined by Matt needing to leave and Jen having to go as well, was just upsetting.

The reason that Jen had to leave, that is perhaps the worst thing the series has going for it, Todd and yes, I get his is much more than we have seen but showing one character for 3-5 minutes every 3 episodes, doesn’t bode well for character growth. We have seen him be creepy in a bar, creepy in the office and then creepy via text, so discovering him being even creepier isn’t growth, its just stupid. There was clearly more at play with the character, but we got no evidence of that, all the show cares about is making him seem as creepy as possible and while it worked in the rapid dating montage, it doesn’t work anywhere else. Seeing that he was responsible or at least involved with the ending moments is also something that didn’t work, mostly because they painted everything by numbers, it is kind of bad. In the space of a few moments, She-Hulk ripping up the screen and her chasing Todd down, the Department of Damage Control is already on scene, it couldn’t have been any more predictable and it just shows as lazy writing.

Leaving that alone for a moment, we finally got to see some action in the Hulk show, something we really hadn’t seen much of, over the past few episodes and this wasn’t a brief flipping of someone, or a one punch tko. Having She-Hulk take on Daredevil was great, if only because it let us see both of them doing their thing, or at least Daredevil doing his thing and She-Hulk just recklessly destroying peoples property, without a care in the world. The fight should have gone on a little longer, it was good, but I just felt that there was something missing from it and while the fight in the Lilypad was different, it wasn’t a suitable compromise. I did appreciate the show building up to a hallway fight with Daredevil, something that became a bit of a signature thing from the Netflix series, only to have She-Hulk interrupt, I guessed that is what was going to happen, but it was still nice to see them messing with the expectations.

Finally seeing Jen don her She-Hulk outfit was also nice, if only because it gave some vibes of old school comics and didn’t look too much like something that was made in Wakanda. The new look Daredevil suit though, that I really didn’t like so much, the look was fine, it was the colours that were weird and while yes, making fun of a blind guys outfit isn’t cool, he didn’t make it, so its not a free pass. The final scenes between the two heroes was great, not because they hooked up, but more that we got to see Jen struggle with his outfit, something we have never seen happen, outside of Iron Man.

The fact that we got to see some real chemistry between Jen and Matt was also great, letting both actors lose to create some fun. Tatiana Maslany has been doing wonderful as Jen, showing her nerdy side when needed, embracing the professional at times and letting her inner child loose when appropriate. Watching her play off Charlie Cox was also a treat, not because of the fourth wall break explaining things, those are always fun, but rather Cox was able to bounce back and you could see them having fun. Jon Bass is doing interesting things as Todd, he pulls of the creepy so well.. its creepy, but there is more in some of his facial expressions and it helps build up the layers to the character, its just a shame the show refused to actually reach that point a few episodes ago.

She-Hulk’s penultimate episode has done some good things, it finally moved the main story line along, something that was long overdue and it did introduce Daredevil, which Disney/Marvel have been teasing for a while now. The problem is that the episode was so packed, it even had issues keeping the focus on somethings and while bringing back Todd makes sense, the lack of build up to why the character could be a threat, hurts it. There is always the chance that they will do a swap in the next episode, letting someone else play the leader of the bad guys, but that might be a bit much. With only one episode to go, there is a lot still in play for She-Hulk to balance and while it is fun to see new characters, hopefully the final can keep things focused and deliver one epic She-Hulk Smash of an ending.

The Score

8.5

The Pros

+Finally seeing She-Hulk in a pretty comic accurate outfit was great, though seeing it in a fully lit room would have been nice as well

+Having She-Hulk tumble with Daredevil, before teaming up to take down the real bad guy, was fun

The Cons

-Todd has been to inconsistent a character, for his inclusion here to mean much to some viewers

-The final moments were so fast, with things happening too fast, it just comes across as lazy writing