The Defenders

[rogueslayer452]

(♡ ♡ ♡)

Having watched the entirety of The Defenders, I hadn't really talked that much about it since, well, there wasn't much to say about it honestly. It didn't necessarily blow me away, and it didn't really add much to anything that interested me aside from getting these characters together. Plus it focused too much on Danny Rand, who I don't really like or care for and found myself fast-forwarding through his scenes, same with most of the scenes with The Hand.

In truth, watching this made me yearn for more Jessica Jones. Just everything involving Jessica in The Defenders was so great and amazing, from her meeting and interacting with other characters, getting invested even when she tried to stay out of being a hero, her level of dry sarcasm and snark and her reactions to everything that was happening around her was much needed, and I didn't realize how much I missed until her very first scene. This was what I was looking forward to the most with The Defenders and it definitely didn't disappoint. I particularly really enjoyed the interaction she had with Matt, because I knew just based off of the trailer and promotional stuff that would be gold. Her mocking his Daredevil suit, being overall snarky towards him, and yet kind of developing a fondness at the same time, it was nicely done. I also really loved seeing Jessica and Luke reconnecting again as well, since the last time they were together things were a bit tense considering what they were going through, and them briefly reconciling and moving forward here makes me want more of them together in the future because I have missed them so much. These three in particular meeting and joining forces together, even if reluctantly at first, was what I was honestly loving and living for. They all have such amazing chemistry with each other, but I honestly wanted more of it. There just wasn't enough of them having bonding time, which given the time frame and everything that was going on is understandable, but to be honest I wanted there to be more moments with them kind of getting to know each other.

Because that's what I care about the most, the character moments. I didn't care about The Hand stuff. The characters, their personal and quiet moments and the connections they have with those in their lives and with each other, those are the things that I am drawn to the most. Those are the things that come first, the plot is secondary to me. So that's why I felt a bit disconnected with the first season because it spent so much time building up everything with The Hand only for it to not really matter in the end. It felt super rushed and things were wasted, like a lot was happening but in the end nothing really came from it. I don't know, I just personally found the season disjointed.

So, overall I would say that The Defenders was merely alright. It could have been better executed, perhaps a bit longer (ten episodes instead of eight), spent less time with The Hand and more time with our main characters and their bonding with each other and the supporting characters associated with them. I did appreciate the moments that we got though, I just wish there was more. Basically, I was only interested in watching this because it got some of these characters together, from the main to supporting, and that was it really. All I got after watching this was wanting for more Jessica Jones. And for Colleen Wing to replace Danny Rand as the fourth Defender, because her story is much more interesting and she fits right in. Also for Elektra to get her own series because she deserves better, dammit.


As a sidenote, it appears that Jessica Jones is the most popular among Netflix's Marvel lineup, which I am pleased with. But it baffles me that we're waiting so long until the next season. The series premiered in 2015, and we have to wait until 2018 before we even get a second season.

Comments

[mfirefly10.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on The Defenders. I was in it for the character interactions rather than the paper-thin plot and because of that, it was a bit of a let-down for me. Since there were only 8 episodes, there were so many character interactions we never even got to touch upon, particularly among the supporting characters. But I mean...Claire was the bridge character between all 4 shows and we don't get a single scene to tell/remind viewers of her connections to Matt and Jessica? Who thought that was a good idea? I expected so much more character interaction in this that I wound up being disappointed by it.


The wait for JJ season 2 is kind of ridiculous. I remember they originally claimed they only wanted to put out 2 seasons a year, but now we're supposedly getting The Punisher this year so it's like...so much for that rule. I guess they decided to do 3 a year instead, which is good news, but they should've chosen to release season 2 of JJ before season 1 of The Punisher.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

But I mean...Claire was the bridge character between all 4 shows and we don't get a single scene to tell/remind viewers of her connections to Matt and Jessica? Who thought that was a good idea?

Seriously, this bugged me a lot. Claire is the connecting factor of all these shows, she has interacted with all these characters and yet she barely had any scenes with most of them? Also, the fact that we did have a lot of these characters from these shows in the same room and yet there was nearly zero interaction with them? Like, when you have that opportunity, especially when the characters they're connected to are kind of running around as an unofficial team dealing with dangerous shenanigans together, you'd think there would at least be some communication and conversation. So yeah, it was disappointing.

I guess they decided to do 3 a year instead, which is good news, but they should've chosen to release season 2 of JJ before season 1 of The Punisher.

Yeah, it's a very weird setup they decided to have. I know that they just decided to start filming the second season, something I'm still rather confused by. I know there is a ~system of how they want to space out each series, but it seems rather ridiculous that they have Jessica Jones so separated from S1 to when S2 will be premiering. It's why seeing her in The Defenders was so amazing, because I've missed her so much.

It's like, it's already a strange feeling whenever a Netflix series premieres since we binge-watch them all at once so it feels longer to wait for the next season, but then here we have to wait even longer before JJ returns and that is just such nonsense, imho.