The Defenders Season 1

I'm a little bit disappointed with myself. I used to be so filled with hope and excitement that a season like this would really get me going. Unfortunately, in the environment we live in where we are oversaturated with content in an ever expanding world, not only created by Marvel but superhero films and shows in general, I can't really as excited about the ultimate team up of the good Marvel TV shows like I know I should be. This has been the culminations of 4 seasons of television that I watched meticulously and really enjoyed... and 4 episodes of Iron Fist that I force fed myself until I ultimately got bored.

The Defenders is a show on Netflix that gathers the characters from the shows: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist all together and brings them in a team up that felt more like a long movie event than it did a season of television. This is obviously the culmination of events that have happened in all five seasons (two seasons of Daredevil) in one final show down between the ragtag vigilantes of New York and the mysterious organization called The Hand.

One thing I do need to make mention of which I just realized and am actually really impressed by is the fact that this team up occurred a little over two years since the first aired episode of Daredevil, the show that started it all. In a world where we give DC shit for trying to crank out a Justice League so quickly after their first film Man of Steel (which oddly enough is the same amount of time between Iron Man and The Avengers but oh well), Marvel cranked out 4 good to pretty great seasons of television with only one lousy one (again, I haven't watched all of Iron Fist so I can't say it was totally terrible... but I've heard its pretty bad).

The Defenders consists of Daredevil (played by Charlie Cox) the defense lawyer from Hells Kitchen who after a freak accident lost his sight but gains super senses. Since the last season of Daredevil, Matt Murdoch has decided to put away his mask and retire the Devil of Hells Kitchen. I'll talk about Matt in depth in a little bit because while this show is called The Defenders, it really should have been called Daredevil Season 3: Daredevil and his Superfriends.

Jessica Jones (played by Krysten Ritter) returns as the alcoholic super strength powered private investigator. This miniseries really made me remember how much I really liked the first season of Jessica Jones as there are a couple of callbacks to the show and if I have the time, I would like to go back and watch that season. I feel like that would be a fun time. It was good to catch up with a character I hadn't seen in two years and she brought a lot to the team including a lot of humor surprisingly.

Jessica in this series is probably the most hesitant to join a group of vigilantes. She doesn't think of herself as a hero and the only reason she is brought into the conflict is due to a case she's investigating. She's a badass and she adds a lot to the team. While her and Luke Cage's abilities are very similar and they have somewhat similar rough and tumble backgrounds and personalities, she brings enough different to the table that I really enjoyed her again.

Then there's Luke Cage.

For not really liking Luke Cage in Jessica Jones, I have since really started to like this character. I can't help but feel he took a little bit of a backseat in this miniseries as him and Jessica had their seasons focus on something totally different than the Hand whereas that was the main focus of Iron Fist and the second season of Daredevil. But this miniseries is a testament to just how good of a character Luke Cage is. All he wants to do is go out and help people the best way he knows how, to be a bulletproof symbol of black power in Harlem. He gets roped in due to a very small story that you will probably forget happened by the end of it. And this bums me out a little bit because when the story was centered on Luke Cage in his standalone series, I really enjoyed that character development. I guess he's a character who has probably the simplest arch, but I would have liked to see more with him and Claire (played by Rosario Dawson) because while I wasn't a fan of their relationship near the end of Luke Cage, I actually found myself enjoying it by the end.

While I don't think I had the same inkling to watch Luke Cage as I did with Jessica Jones, that is probably mainly due to the fact that I watched it very recently. He's still a solid character.

And then... we have Iron Fist... Where do I start?

No. I did not finish Iron Fist. I'm a bit disappointed with myself because I said I was going to grin and bear it and just knock it out. But man... it's 13 episodes and the first four are SOOO BORING! Like it wasn't even fun live tweeting it because all it was was shit talking Finn Jones and even in this show, that gets old after a while... It's a lot of fun at times but it gets old too.

Here's the good news. He is inserted into the story a lot better in this show. More good news is that they actually make a point to shit on Iron Fist a lot in this show. You know how all Marvel movies have at least one episode where the heroes turn on one another and end up fighting each other for kind of stupid reasons only to get back on the same side not long after? Yeah that scene was just everyone beating the shit out of Dany Rand, it was very satisfying.

One last bit of good news, you don't really need to watch Iron Fist to enjoy The Defenders. I'm sure it helps but if you watch the previously before the season starts and listen carefully, you won't be incredibly lost.

You also won't be incredibly lost because of the bad news.... Finn Jones is still not a very good Iron Fist.

I do think they use his character well in this show but he is still that child in a mans body and he's just annoyingly optimistic and just keeps on mentioning that he is "The Immortal Iron Fist".

I can't say I've ever really found ninja movies or Eastern cinema that intriguing so when he's talking about his chi and kung fu, I want to be interested because I want to experience something new, but I honestly think it has to do with the fact that the Iron Fist is a white dude talking about something that doesn't feel very genuine. It's not offensive or anything but especially with the fact that he is a child in a mans body, it's just more annoying.

I do like Colleen Wing (played by Jessica Henwick) and I almost want them to just make her the Iron Fist because that would be soooooo much more entertaining.

However, due to the villains of this show which I will talk about next, there are a couple of characters that I think were in the Iron Fist series that I did like in this miniseries and I'm thinking about trying one more time and blasting through Iron Fist as quickly as I can. We will see.

All together, they make a team that in all reality probably shouldn't work out as well as it did. Even Dany Rand plays really well with the other three and they pull him up because while he's still not that great of an actor, everyone else shines in their role and they elevate the whole cast.

Other members of the cast are a bunch of characters that you met in past seasons of each character. Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Hanson return as Karen Page and Foggy Nelson. Scott Glenn returns as Daredevils former mentor Stick. Rachael Taylor returns as Jessica Jones's friend Trish Walker. Of course Claire Temple who has been the glue of the TV universe returns. Her role is more diminished than I expected and I think she's more in the show because they needed to glue her in somewhere, but it's Rosario Dawson so she brings it and we're good.

The villains were actually really well done in this show. Sigourney Weaver plays the main villain Alexandra and while even by the end of it you really don't know that much about her, I still thoroughly enjoyed her as the villain of the show. Weaver still shows us that she can act her heart out and she was incredibly entertaining.

The other members of the Hand are in this show and while I'm not sure how many of them showed up from other shows, I thought The Hand was a very interesting organization in the movie. For the first time I really enjoyed Madam Gao (played by Wai Ching Ho) who had always had a presence in the past but I never really knew what her deal was. You learn more about her and her position in The Hand. Like I said, it was done better than I originally expected and I almost began to empathize with them and you know that the villains are always better when they think they're doing the right thing.

The one thing I thought was an interesting choice and maybe not the one I would have made was to make The Hand the main bad guy in this first outing. While they have been essential to the stories of Iron Fist and Daredevil, it was a little bit odd seeing Jessica Jones and Luke Cage fight ninjas.

I think the main reason this miniseries worked was because it knew what the audience enjoyed about the past 5 seasons of television they've provided and they capitalized on that. That's why I have been calling this miniseries Daredevil Season 3: Daredevil and his Superfriends because that's really what this is instead of a Defenders series.

There are other story lines that come in play here and very few of them are bad. Surprisingly the only subplot that I didn't feel was conducive to the series was the bit with Colleen Wing. Eventually she just became a little bit of an annoying character. I feel like I might have some more empathy if I go back and watch the rest of Iron Fist, but as it stood now, I just got annoyed of her. Every other story line was concise and served a purpose to the larger story and the larger story, though pretty connected to Iron Fist, is more about Daredevil and his struggle with whether or not he should put on the mask again and continue his fight as a vigilant. I thought they did this really well and because Daredevil is the best character and had the best season(s) of television out of anybody on the team, it makes sense that he would take center stage.

However, if this is going to be a Defenders Season instead of a Daredevil Season 3, I would prefer to have a little bit more focus put on the other characters who I have said kind of take a backseat to the adventure that is happening with mainly Daredevil but a little bit with Iron Fist too.

Despite some flaws that in all reality are pretty small, The Defenders was a lot of fun in my mind. It continued to be filmed very well, the fighting was fun and intense, and I think despite some imbalance in story emphasis, I think these three work and blend together really well.

I think they all bring something different to the table and when they're all fighting side by side, it does bring you back to that first time that you saw all the Avengers fighting in New York in the first film back in 2012.

Obviously it's not going to be as grandiose as The Avengers because of the budget Netflix has, but in reality that was never The Defenders style to begin with.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, it just takes a little bit for me to really get as excited about Superhero films and TV shows than 5 years ago when I was so excited for every little superhero property ever to exist. The Defenders do bring something different and I hope that the second miniseries of this takes them into a little bit more of a personal and gritty story than this one.

Fighting the Hand is such a huge and world ending task. I would love to see these guys fighting street level gangsters and Kingpin-like villains and get a little bit more into the intrigue and gritty underworld that we saw in seasons like Daredevil season one or Jessica Jones.

I highly doubt that is the direction they're going to take the show because while it is a little more street level, they still need these team up events to have high stakes.

The Defenders is not a perfect series. There are a lot of smaller things that I can complain about and in reality, the story as a whole is good, but not ground breaking. I think they do a really good job at pulling these guys together as a team and utilizing their different skills to their benefits.

The villains are good. Not as good as Kingpin, Kilgrave, or Cottonmouth, but they are still fun. Sigourney Weaver and the other bad guys commit and if they're having fun, I sure as hell am.

In comparison with the other series that have come out, I would probably put The Defenders above Iron Fist for sure and maybe the second season of Daredevil but its still in the mid to lower range of ranking compared to the other seasons.

What does this mean for the future? I don't know. I think I want more, especially if it means a second season of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. But overall, I think The Defenders was a good culmination of 5 seasons and I'm interested to see the direction they go in the future with these characters.

But those are my thoughts on The Defenders. What did you think? You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. One thing I really did like at the very end was the trailer for The Punisher Season 1 coming soon (I think in 2018). If they needed to switch Dany Rand out with somebody, The Punisher would be a great choice. Enjoy!