First let's talk about the second season of the now cancelled "Iron Fist", while this was more like it (ie, more martial arts less corporate bullsh*t) the same problems with the first season are still present in this season and that is Danny Rand himself. Danny has no clue what to do as a character. The main issue with "Iron Fist: is that Danny has nothing to do, no drive and therefore no aim as a character. Daredevil wants to clean up the streets of Hell's Kitchen, as a lawyer he's tired of seeing people escape the law and decided to take the law into his own hands, Luke Cage is trying to clean up Harlem anyway he can, Jessica Jones...well...Jessica Jones just wants to give up on life but Danny has no clue what he's doing and because of that I found myself rooting more of Davos than anyone else.
Here's the thing, Davos obtained the Iron Fist and did more with it than Danny did in 2 and half seasons. Davos tapped into the youth and trained them, disciplined them and taught them (an albeit warped form of) self-respect. The problem is Danny sees the iron fist as an end unto itself, and getting the iron fist means nothing if the character has no clue what to do with it. Danny has tons of money and resources and Colleen instructs B.B. to go to some kinda shelter? Instead Davos trains them and has them apologize to people they've wronged. I'm sorry but Davos wins in this realm. The season started off with a decent enough angle, Danny trying to prevent a gang war to make Daredevil's "dying" wish come true (Protect his city). However when Joy (who I'll get into later) and Davos arrived, the season's story derailed as Davos basically ended the gang war single handedly (literally).
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| He stole the fist and got sh*t done. |
Likewise, Danny & Davos are supposed to be the best martial arts in the world, yet Davos seems to be the only one capable of literally walking through a bunch of well-trained assassins and hit-men with no effort while Danny seems to struggle. Sorry but if Netflix wanted "Iron Fist" to be as big a hit as "Daredevil", they have to understand that the core concept behind "Iron Fist" is MARTIAL ARTS. "Iron Fist" should be like one of those old school Shaw Brothers films, it should be "Kill Bill" for the small screen, but instead it's a disjointed mess that can't figure out what to do or what drives it's central character. Until Danny has a reason to be the "Iron Fist" and something to do with the eponymous fist the show wouldn't have been anyway good, anyway.
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| This was just awkward. |
However, Netflix might go the route of The Hulk and have Iron Fist's story woven through the narratives of the other Netflix shows...or...god forbid we do get a "Daughters Of The Dragon" Colleen and Misty spin-off...ugh. The thing is of all the Netflix shows, "Iron Fist" was the most rushed in terms of production and probably the hardest to manage. By that I mean you already have martial arts covered in "Daredevil", Luke Cage is a minority...so...and Jessica Jones is a woman, so adding another martial arts white guy is kinda like calling cheese queso...it's the same thing in another language, you feel me? That and the producers didn't play up Iron Fist's mystical slant. We never saw K'un L'un we never saw Shou Lao, we only heard stories and we didn't get enough martial arts to really make the show worthwhile.
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| They got the budget to afford this mofo, you mean to tell me we couldn't have gotten a silhouette of a dragon? |
Joy this season...*sigh* I don't care or understand. Her motives didn't even make sense and having her become the "villain" if you can call her that this season was stupid and annoying. Joy didn't even bother to hear Ward's side of the story and I don't think she even understood the gravity of what Harold being in league with The Hand actually meant...or even what The Hand meant...despite having hung out with Davos (for what I imagine to have been about a year?). All of this means that Joy's entire motive for stealing the Iron Fist from Danny is based on a complete and utter misunderstanding and lack of information...which I absolutely despise, I'd prefer my villains to have clear cut motivations, make them and their goals easier to understand. Joy had no goals and her entire confusing conversation with Ward (during Wards amazing "You don't know what I protected you from!" Speech, easily his best moment) I was rooting for Ward because clearly Joy didn't understand what Harold had become once The Hand got hold of him. Her whole story arch was just lame.
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| What lies inside this box is a better plot. |
While we're on the topic of Netflix's Marvel shows (random comment) why is it that we see Jessica Jones on the toilet? I don't understand why we have scenes of Jessica Jones going to the bathroom? Are they trying to defeminize her by making her as unattractive as possible? As if her drinking and personality didn't already put people off, we have to see her peeing. It's not like we see Matt Murdock take a leak or Luke Cage dropping a deuce so why is Jessica the only Marvel Character we see going to the bathroom. Furthermore, what the hell was up with the 2nd Season of "Jessica Jones" ? I know I already discussed this but geez you wanna talk about a depressing series, hell she makes The Punisher seem optimistic. My biggest grip with Jessica is that she doesn't want to move on and her issues causes her to push everyone away and not in a Push Everyone Away Because I'm Scared kinda of way but a Push Everyone Away Because They're Stupid (but they're actually not) kinda way. For example; Malcolm does quite a bit for Jessica this season goes out of his way to help her and even fix her apartment. He stays loyal to her right until Jessica pushes him away for a trivial reason and Malcolm betrays her.
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| Which proves to be the better option as he looks better and makes a crap ton more money. |
Sire, Jessica ends up with homeboy in the end but I doubt we'll be seeing him at all next season given Jessica's track record. I'm not saying Jessica needs to smile or be optimistic, what I am saying is that she needs to change as a character. Thus far nothing that's happened to her has been her fault despite her MANY flaws: she's a MASSIVE alcoholic but yet that doesn't hinder anything she does, it never comes back to bite her and it doesn't hinder her abilities, it's almost as if it doesn't matter. If it doesn't matter why have it be apart of her character that she drinks? She drinks because she has PTSD, okay that's fine but now can we please see the flaws in medicating stress with alcohol? No? Okay. It's not like Kilgrave got away from her because she was intoxicated, it's not she neglected to rescue someone because she was too drunk to do something about it. No, the season just carried on with "The Jessica Is Right, Everyone else is stupid" mantra.
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| Cause she's just the best at everything... |
And don't get me wrong, I seriously want to like Jessica but her smug attitude is off putting and the fact that she doesn't want to move past her trauma (and the writers don't even seem interested in allowing her to advance) I'll probably sit the 3rd Season out. Then again, I might miss another glorious toilet shot or another bathroom bang session...
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| Such a low point... |
Thus far the only good Netflix shows are "The Punisher", "Daredevil" & "Luke Cage" (and I got huge problems with the way that ended). Here's to hoping the man in red can get us back on track. Moving right along, let's talk about the upcoming "Joker" movie starring Joaquin Phoenix as the eponymous Joker. This time instead of being a chemically doused Irish mobster named Jack Napier, this Joker is a failed stand up comedian named Arthur Fleck (Afleck) who decides to turn to crime. Here's what I am NOT saying; I am NOT saying the movie will suck, I am NOT saying Joaquin Phoenix will do a bad job (if you saw "The Master" you'd be INSANE to think Joaquin would suck as The Joker). What I am saying or rather asking is WHY does this movie exist? Here's the thing, The Joker does not need an origin story, logically he can't have one and furthermore The Joker can't exist without Batman. I say that because The Joker and Batman are a pair and watching The Joker take down a bunch of cops is lame. So my question is will Batman be in this movie? Doubtful. And this raises some questions since this won't tie into "Suicide Squad" what are we supposed to make of that? Is DC abandoning the concept of a shared universe? Because if so that means they'll have 5 interconnected movies and then flush the concept down the toilet (whilst maintaining the same actors, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller). So this "Joker" comes out of left field and as good as this movie maybe, its kinda left on it's own. Maybe that's a good thing since The DCEU is in shambles. But I digress.
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| Nice outfit though, not gonna lie. |
Next on the docket is Jordan Peele's "Twilight Zone". Yes CBS is remaking "The Twilight Zone" this time with Jordan Peele at the helm. Jordan Peele gained some notoriety after 2017's "Get Out". Apparently, Jordan is a huge fan of horror and is working on another "social" horror film entitled "Us" coming out next year. Anyway, my problem with Jordan Peele helming "The Twilight Zone" is my concern that it'll be "woke". If you're unfamiliar with that term it's basically the current climate of where things are these days: White people = Evil/ Colored People = Good (spoilers for "Get Out"). But seriously though, "The Twilight Zone" is a concept that changes with each generation in terms of getting people to think differently or look at an issue another way, but I fear with Jordan Peele at the helm (and given the breadth of his current work, "Lovecraft Country" taking place during The Jim Crow Era) and his production company producing Spike Lee's "The Blackkklansman" and given the current social and political climate we find ourselves in I'm imagining (and I hope I'm wrong) that a good chunk of the episodes will be about immigration, racism, xenophobia, homophobia and the like. I'm hoping I'm wrong but we'll see. The Forrest Whitaker revival had some gems in it but I'm doubtful this one will, again I hope I'm wrong.
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| My face if it's bad. |
So word around the rumor mill is that Netflix is currently producing a sequel to last years live action American "Death Note"...ummm da faq?! Let's ignore the fact that nearly no one liked this movie (I have yet to find a good review of it) the real question is JUST WHAT IN THE HELL IS LEFT?! There is no story left to be told. The whole mystery's been blown wide open, L knows Light is Kira, his dad knows, Mia is dead and L has control of The Death Note. Unless the story is an entirely new story I don't see how this can continue. Who knows, maybe they've decided to go an anthology route and have short stories based around the Death Note that'd actually be worth watching as opposed to a continuation on Light Turner's story.
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| Again, only good scene. |
As far as movies I'm looking forward to, obviously M. Night's 3rd film in The "Unbreakable" Trilogy "Glass" coming out next year and of course the 4th Avengers movie...but guys to be honest, not exactly blown away by the trailer for "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" & "Venom", "The New Mutants" seem interesting (and besides, you got Anya Taylor-Joy in that movie lookin' like a snack), the less said about the upcoming Dc movies the better...although I've said a lot. I don't know gang, movies just aren't looking too appealing, nothing is jumping out at me and saying "WATCH ME!!" and that's a shame too, but that's how it's been on the TV front as well. I'm having less time to watch TV and therefore less shows to watch. Anyway, the new crop of shows coming up have canceled written all over them and if by some miracle they squeak by it'll be simply be their core demographic and nothing else (The CW is good at that). Not since "The Following", "Hannibal" and CW's "Cult" have I been excited about a new TV show. Guess I'll have to wait until something grabs me.
And since we're on the topic of TV shows, let's talk about NBC's "Manifest". I watched the pilot episode and I have to say, I'm not blown away. Here's the thing and primarily the reason I'm discussing it here and not in an article in and of itself is that the show is largely derivative of other shows. The initial premise of a bunch of people presumed dead but somehow skipping ahead in time is an interesting concept to say the least but once we move pass that we're left with a show that deals with characters hearing voices that lead them towards solving problems they otherwise wouldn't have known about, precognition and we've seen shows like this. Truth be told I don't see "Manifest" living passed this 1st season and again this show isn't bad, it's fine but that's the problem it's just fine and without a clear and solid hook (a villain who has the same abilities, a person who's aware of what's happening, a larger mythology) it'll just be fine.
Anyways, that'll do it for me. I'll catch you guys later. Here's a GIF of my potential reaction to the DC Network's "Titans" show, why? Because pancakes!
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