Welcome to the Legion!

Credit: Netflix

 

Last time we were left to deal with an obnoxious cliff hanger when Danny was pushed off a building window by Ward Meachum. Because this is a superhero-based TV show, Danny survives the fall and is brought back inside the building to meet the strangely alive, former co-founder of Rand Enterprises,  Harold Meachum. This is where we get more of an explanation behind why Harold is still alive.

Harold was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer. He tried everything, but nothing was going to stop it from progressing. Due to his love(?) for his family but, more importantly, his family, Harold sought out The Hand and they helped him. However, there are quite a few conditions he had to make in exchange for his life. He can never leave his apartment and he must help out The Hand whenever they demand it of him. Danny naively accepts this story, especially upon hearing that The Hand has snaked its way into Rand Enterprises. When Harold hears that Danny is the sworn enemy to The Hand, he hastily demands that Ward drop all legal things against Danny and restore him as the heir to Rand Enterprises.

Ward is then made to lead Danny out of the building. Although it could have been perceived as a jealous act, Ward actually attempts to warn Danny not to trust Harold. Harold only cares about himself. Good to know.

Credit: Netflix

The Meachum siblings hastily throw together a press conference to introduce Danny Rand back to the corporate world. Although Danny manages to maintain his composure throughout the brief conference, watching the whole thing happen made me overwhelmed due to the lack of preparation for those darn reporters. It looks like, based off of the press conference, that everything is patched up between the Meachum siblings and Danny, but we all know that ain’t going to be easy.

Bless, Danny, but he made his first business faux when he sits in on his first shareholders’ business meeting and learns that the pharmaceutical portion of his company sells life-saving drugs for profit, rather than selling them at cost to whoever needs them. We all know this is the worst kept secret in our American medical system. I could serenade you all day with tales concerning generic drugs and non-generic or even seduce you with how exclusively expensive birth control was before ACA, but I won’t get into that. Let’s just say, this company behavior did not surprise me. But it sure surprised Danny.

He puts his foot down, of course, and pisses off the Board and Ward. Ward makes Joy become Danny’s babysitter of sorts, telling her to find ways to distract him so he doesn’t screw things up. This leads to them going on a bonding walk where Danny regails her with tales of how he was trained by monks. This bonding time eventually leads us to our first decent fight from Danny. It only took four episodes, but we got it!

Credit: Netflix

While in Joy’s apartment, she answers the door and gets kidnapped by Triad gangsters. In a relatively decent hallway fight sequence, Danny fights off hatchet-wielding gangsters and saves Joy. Danny stashes Joy at Colleen’s dojo before hunting down where these Triad gangsters came from. He learns from the leader that Joy’s attempted kidnapping was a result of the Triads losing out on the pier property that Joy acquired in the last episode. Danny freaks them out by asking why The Hand would want it.

Meanwhile, The Hand aka Madame Gao is super pleased that they now have the Pier and reward Harold with a chance to see his daughter. However, upon seeing her icing her eye, he asks another favor from The Hand. The Hand accompanies him to the restaurant that the Triad gangsters own and allow him to kill the man who harmed his daughter. We all knew this before he offed someone, but Harold is not a good guy. He’s ruthless and definitely favors Joy over Ward.

The episode ends with Danny receiving a mysterious package with a message inside from the Triad. They offer him an answer to his question regarding The Hand, which reveals a dragon. That same dragon design is then revealed to be the tattoo on Danny’s chest. Dare we say that the writers gave us another cliff hanger? Can I kill them now?

All in all, this episode was a lot better than previous episodes. Although I hold the opinion that a show shouldn’t take four episodes in to hook a viewer, I’ll be more lenient on Iron Fist because I knew ahead of time that it would be a harder show to sell to the typical Marvel audience. This was a sentiment I shared regarding Doctor Strange as well.

Credit: Netflix

RANDOM MUSINGS

  • As much as I would have loved to discuss Colleen Wing in this episode, the writers did not have all that much for her to do. There was a conflict regarding her concerns about violating Bushido, but that went away when she was thrown into an unrealistic cage fight scene. Hopefully they do more with her in the next episode.
  • Hogarth always has the bestest of one liners.
  • David Wenham’s Harold Meachum oozes sleaze and it entices me to keep watching. Damn him.
  • Ward’s comment regarding liberals made me roll my eyes. So, we’re going to be one of THOSE corporate douchebags, huh? Huh, Ward?
  • This cliff hanger bs that the writers keep pulling is making me cranky. This isn’t a fanfiction chapter, guys. Work with me here…

 

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Sarah Musnicky

Sarah is a freelance writer and self-described workaholic. She loves fantasy and sci fi and will admit having dual loyalties between Star Trek and Star Wars as well as Marvel and DC. When she's not being socially awkward, she is in a corner obsessing over dragons, cute things, and a need to master all languages on the planet. She would like to be a professional blanket burrito when she reaches the peak of maturation.