She-Hulk: Attorney at Law trailer

Argyle King

Legend
I enjoyed the show up until episode 9.

I can appreciate breaking the 4th wall. I enjoyed the Deadpool movies, I love Mel Brooks, and I can laugh at Monty Python -but I'm not sure that I understand the intent here.

It's a bit odd to spend an entire season building plot and story arcs just to handwave, end the season, and seemingly just use Jen's show as a stepping stone to telling Hulk's next story.

I dunno... just weird to me that so much effort would be put into establishing how/why she's her own character with her own story, just to circle back on that and erase that effort. In a way, it felt like they did the work of almost empowering a strong female lead just to say, "eh, nevermind."

The end result was to make me feel as though I shouldn't have spent time investing in the story.

If the intent was comedy, it fell flat for me. If the intent was to "subvert expectations" (as is often said,) it instead came across as openly admitting to not knowing how to wrap up the season.

Yeah, I know that stuff like this happens in the comics. I don't particularly like it there either.
 

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Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow
I meant that Jen spent most of the season resisting doing the whole "Hulk smash" thing because she didn't want to be She Hulk. Now that she's finally accepted that part of her and is prepared to be an actual super-hero, I expect we'll see her doing more smashing in the future.
I dunno... just weird to me that so much effort would be put into establishing how/why she's her own character with her own story, just to circle back on that and erase that effort. In a way, it felt like they did the work of almost empowering a strong female lead just to say, "eh, nevermind."
If the intent was comedy, it fell flat for me. If the intent was to "subvert expectations" (as is often said,) it instead came across as openly admitting to not knowing how to wrap up the season.

yeah I think the show had lots of potential to subvert the MCU tropes and tell a fun story that was genre savvy and both told an interesting story about the modern career woman and gave some laughs, but while the cast was good, and some of the ideas were fun, in the end the writers werent skilled enough to achieve that outcome so what was served up was mediocre and at times just stupid.
they need a team that both loves MCU tropes and can write a good legal comedy— and a budget that allows them to actually have She-Hulk do some real fight choreography and smashing, hopefully season 2…
 

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️
I think its more low budget and bad writing - the whole thing with Jen dismissive of an end brawl may be a push against genre but its also dismissive of the fanbase who want those action scenes. I want another season with the same cast but a new writing team and really hope her Avengers appearances are played a bit more “straight” superhero rather than self referential comedy
Or, you know, it's embracing the fan base that does like the Sensational She-Hulk's alternative takes on things like breaking the fourth wall with viewers and directly interacting with the writers to change the story. Sensational She-Hulk in the early 1990s established her as a character who is not just a "straight" superhero.
If the alternative is and end brawl to cap off the season, give me more of the self-referential comedy. The MCU can sustain the difference in perspective - I'd argue it even needs it to remain fresh.
 

Umbran

Mod Squad
Staff member
Supporter
...the whole thing with Jen dismissive of an end brawl may be a push against genre but its also dismissive of the fanbase who want those action scenes.

There is no one, "the fanbase".

I want another season with the same cast but a new writing team and really hope her Avengers appearances are played a bit more “straight” superhero rather than self referential comedy

So, give a message about how the rest of things have gotten formulaic, but... then go follow the formula?

This is a comic book show, and She-Hulk does, or at least she did, smash stuff in the comics on occasion.

I think the patriarchal aspects of culture and fandom are a more interesting target than the usual supervillain faces for smashing.
 

Mallus

Legend
I have to admit I laughed out loud when we apparently got dropped back into the Disney+ menu 2/3 of the way through the episode. That was more meta than I was expecting. Even considering the episode started with an intro in the style of the Bixby/Ferrigno Hulk series.

It was all very clever. So clever I can't really tell which bits worked and which didn't, outside of Matt Murdock's sweet, barefoot, still-costumed walk-of-shame. I guess this was their design? The finale recontextualized most of the problems I had with the season, but it still meant the prior episodes littered with sour notes at odds with the general tone.

Solid B for effort. Tatiana Maslany (and the rest of the cast) were delightful.
 

...in the end the writers weren't skilled enough to achieve that outcome so what was served up was mediocre and at times just stupid.
That is the gist of what is being said by half a dozen or so reviewers I have been following online.
It would be sad if that is the reality of the show, cause I love the actress and I like the concept of She-Hulk even though I'm not familiar with the comic. I'm aware of the 4th-wall breaking which can be great if it is done well. I just haven't gotten round to watching the show yet.
 

Ryujin

Legend
That is the gist of what is being said by half a dozen or so reviewers I have been following online.
It would be sad if that is the reality of the show, cause I love the actress and I like the concept of She-Hulk even though I'm not familiar with the comic. I'm aware of the 4th-wall breaking which can be great if it is done well. I just haven't gotten round to watching the show yet.
Try to go into it without the preconceptions that reviewers may have had you form. See if you can just enjoy it for what it is.
 

I have to admit I laughed out loud when we apparently got dropped back into the Disney+ menu 2/3 of the way through the episode. That was more meta than I was expecting. Even considering the episode started with an intro in the style of the Bixby/Ferrigno Hulk series.
I was like "wait..what" it honestly took me a couple of seconds to realize what was going on.
 

FitzTheRuke

Legend
It was a mess. Some jokes really hit for me (like Daredevil's walk of shame) and some really fell flat. I enjoyed the commentary on the patriarchy, but I felt the show undermined a lot of it by making Jen so insecure as to cause a lot of her own problems.

I dunno... it was fine, I guess? I think my biggest problem with it is that it was very close to being good. It had everything it needed, but it didn't quite make it for me.
 

Argyle King

Legend
There is no one, "the fanbase".



So, give a message about how the rest of things have gotten formulaic, but... then go follow the formula?


At this point, "subverting expectations" has almost become a cliche over the past few years.

A lot of aspects of the final episode are things I would like if done in a better way. I think, in trying to be overly clever, something was lost in the execution of the idea.

Old-school Hulk into -awesome
Talking to the audience -cool
...even the ending was kinda cool
But the middle meat of the episode wasn't cooked right for me.
 

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