I applaud She- Hulk for trying to do something different with the Marvel formula. Unfortunately now that the season is done… it just didn’t work for me. And writing wise? I don’t think it was executed as well as it could have been.
Jeez I have the same problem (mostly) with She- Hulk as the Rings of Power- the writing!
SPOILERS!!!!
Lots of SPOILERS!!!
Tatiana Maslany remained the best part of this show and the one thing that kept me coming back. As humor is subjective it’s going to hit different for everyone and most of it just didn’t work for me.
For example my favorite episode was the Madisynn/Wong episode which I know other people despised. So leaving aside the humor I was willing to give this until the finale and well… that was one interesting finale.
Like I could see what they were going for with the massive fourth wall break that had She- Hulk, annoyed by the messy ending (me to babe) breaking literally through the Disney+ app and go looking to talk to Kevin. Who well they subverted our expectations by Kevin being an AI. And like it was a good idea and probably in line with some of her comics but too me it was completely too much for the rest of the show.
And also mostly not funny.
Like if the rest of the show had been wilder that would have been one thing. But they could never quite find the ton. I mean we are dealing with on-line trolls, death threats, rampant misogny, and Jenn’s privacy and person have been so violated that her blood was stolen and a “lover” released a sex tape at a conference where she was receiving a reward. To me those are some very serious things.
So she gets Kevin to erase the big battle in progress and that’s fine you don’t need a big high stakes battle. But I would argue it was high stakes without being world ending and when she goes back… it’s just over. The bad guy is already in handcuffs and she’s like I’lll see you in court…
And oh man. Court.
I loved the idea of the legal system in a Marvel world but the one time law student in me couldn’t take a lawyer seriously who didn’t do any sort of basic discovery before going into court. She seemed pretty proud of herself as a lawyer and for most of the show I couldn’t understand why.
The thing is there’s an interesting character in Jennifer Walters/She Hulk. But it’s like the writers couldn’t see any of her flaws or didn’t see them as flaws and weren’t willing (or didn’t have the time) to go deeper. I don’t know. There was something here but it was a mess.
Most of the supporting cast was good. Props to Ginger Gonzaga as Nikki- Jenn’s bestie who deserved more story. Tim Roth and Benedict Wong are always great. Unfortunately I didn’t like the actor playing Pug and Jameela Jamil is utterly wasted as Titania.
I will say though it was great to see Charlie Cox back as Matthew Murdock/Daredevil and I thought they did a much better job integrating him into the MCU here than they did for Kingpin. Which is weird because you could argue Hawkeye is relatively closer in style (I know still miles away) to Daredevil. But Cox is just so charming and likable and he and Maslany had absolutely killer chemistry.
Also in a show where the CGI was dodgy but I got used to it- the CGI on Bruce’s son Skaar is the stuff of nightmares.
Recommend: 50/50
I mean overall it’s going lower in my list of the Marvel shows. It didn’t work for me but Maslany is a power house with some great guest stars and I think it could actually be a better binge watch than week to week.
If there is a season 2 I do hope they switch the writers.
I agree for the most part. That finale was keeping in line with She-Hulk in the comics, but it did feel like the writers were covering up their own bad writing.
Oh I agree about the comics but to that extreme didn’t really match the rest of the show. It was different though!
There is hope yet, it seems. Some show’s have been known to improve quite a bit with the second season. 🤞🤞
I am – I think – the only person I know who truly loved She-Hulk. But that’s, as you say above, part of what’s fascinating about art. We all react in our own way. I have a half started piece about my thoughts on the show (which will probably end up similar to my piece on WW84 where everyone who read it was like, “You make a great argument buuuuuuut I don’t see it” XD) that’s been percolating.
While I loved the show, I agree with many of your points here, too. As you said, it’s particularly problematic to make the Incel culture the villain and spotlight that so well…only to jump over the ending and the consequences. In so doing, the commentary they were laying throughout the show took a backseat to the Fourth Wall break.