DAREDEVIL, JESSICA JONES, LUKE CAGE, and IRON FIST! When our forces combine we are THE HEROES FOR HIRE-- no, wait... THE DEFENDERS! Marvel's street level heroes (minus Spider-Man) come together to save New York City from a threat that the Avengers don't even know exists! Netflix has fully delivered on its promise and now we can binge all of the shows again, see the overall narrative come together, and come to a spectacular conclusion!
Wow, it's finally here. It's just incredible to think about. I can't recall the exact date when Marvel and Netflix revealed their ultimate goal, that of releasing four shows about four different heroes that would eventually collide in a show called THE DEFENDERS, somewhere around 2014. Now three years later we've finally seen all the shows come together and what can be with television and a super hero tv show universe. Now that we've seen The Defenders can we really go back to the solo shows? Or will the same pitfalls that plagued Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe plague Netflix?
We're getting way ahead of ourselves (I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone about Defenders yet, in case that wasn't apparent)! Let's just revel in the fact that...
The Defenders are here!
THE PLOT
K'un Lun has disappeared. Elektra's body has been stolen. Luke Cage is in jail. And Jessica Jones is a jerk. The Hand's sinister plans are reaching their culmination and New York City is gravely imperiled. The only possible opposition to their machinations are four disillusioned heroes who don't work well with others. Can these men and women set aside their pride and differences to save the greatest city in the world? Or will they fall just as the Hand has planned?
WHAT I LIKED
Let's just freakout about the fact that we actually even have this show at all!
A Well Woven Web. The first few episodes weave all four television shows together into one cohesive narrative. They act as a continuation of each show and continue the plotlines where they had left off. That's a lot of legwork to get squared away and on top of that they continue the styles of each show, the look and feel and rhythm. It's not just smushing them all together. It's a merging and blending of styles and esthetics. And in my opinion the filmmakers did a really good job of honoring the previous shows, doing those plotlines and characters justice, and moving the story forward.
Raising the Stakes. This show is the equivalent of a comic book event and as such the level of story is elevated beyond the individual comics. Of the five seasons building up to the Defenders, three of them dealt with the threat of the Hand. Things got pretty dire in Daredevil Season 2 (the high point of these shows in my opinion) and those events spin directly into the Defenders. The fight scenes are bigger here. The threat to New York City and the characters is far more grave (there's even a death or two of some major character or two).
The Macro View. One of the greatest feats of these shows and the Defenders in particular is they've worked within the overall framework of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers and Earth's other heroes are completely oblivious to the threat of the Hand. It's not a plothole where you wonder, "Well where the heck are the Avengers?" It's a carefully crafted story to where the Avengers wouldn't be aware of this threat. That's kind of how things work in the comic books too. Iron Man has no idea what Ghost Rider is dealing with most of the time and Captain America has no idea what the Silver Surfer is dealing with. These five shows do a good job of playing within the "Street Level" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And finally I feel Iron Fist came away from this show a better character than when he went in. I feel of all the characters he showed the most character growth and boasted the best fight scenes as well. The big fight scene where the Defenders come together for the first time was great, Iron Fist standing out the most. And every time Danny fires off a shot of a full powered Iron Fist it's incredible. There's a reason they started Danny Rand at this particular point. If he was fully centered and ready for the real world he'd easily clean-up this whole mess by himself. Interpret this how you will being that I am a huge Iron Fist fan and I understood what they were trying to do with the Iron Fist show. Iron Fist had to be approached very carefully in the context of these shows because otherwise he'd be the most powerful character of them all.
One last thing: The Balancing Act. Big ensemble pieces like Avengers, Justice League, and so forth are tough to get the balance between all the characters just right. A big kudos to Netflix for striking an incredibly well balanced show. No one character soaks up the spotlight nor does anyone get left behind. The balance between all the characters is satisfying and everyone gets treated very well. I don't know why I saved this for last because this is a huge factor for a show like this.
NITPICKS
Over too quickly. That's the problem with binging, right? It's over all too soon. The first five seasons of these shows consisted of thirteen episodes each, varying from 40 to 60 minutes per episode. If you work hard you can bang it out in a day but usually it takes a little longer than that, say two days to a week or more. The Defenders consists of eight episodes varying from 45 to 60 minutes each. That's five episodes short of what we're used to for these shows making it four to five hours shorter. That's a lot of time chopped off of this show. I could understand a shorter season if the production budget per episode was bigger but I didn't notice much of a boost in production value save for maybe the set used for the last episode. If anything it kinda felt like Netflix spent less on this show than either Daredevil seasons, Jessica Jones, or Luke Cage.
I know they're doing three shows this year as opposed to their usual two (Punisher is coming later this year). Maybe they were forced to make all three shows this year with the same budget it had cost them for two shows in previous years? That's the only thing that makes sense at this point. Even still, The Defenders was pretty awesome and we are so lucky to have a show like this that we can binge over and over again.
THE VERDICT
The Defenders boasts an Avengers-esque culmination of all of Netflix's Marvel properties. Iron Fist, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones come together to take down the Hand and save all of New York City. The fight scenes are better. Each character's specific storylines are continued and done justice to. And each show's specific style is represented. No one character hogs the camera and each of them is given equal and wonderful representation. Bravo, Netflix! You did good and fulfilled a three year long promise. It's just a little short is all. I cannot wait for the next individual seasons of all four heroes, Punisher, and most especially Defenders Season Two!
Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10
For more of the Marvel Netflix series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe check out these posts below!
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