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

[weaselett.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think there's a huge amount of people who like Danny versus the others.

Defenders was a bit weird, it was half like they couldn't quite settle on how to bring them together, so went heavy with the hand and danny....and dropped the character focus that they've had in the single outings. (Sadly, the beginning seemed promising with the inclusion of the secondary characters, but then they just got lost...and they completely failed on Karen's character...and flattened Foggy a bit, ditto Trish)

I think because they all have different show runners, an different feels, the person who got defenders struggled to bring them together well enough - and failed to see that everyone wanted more Jessica & Matt interactions (we got lots of Luke and Danny instead, because they have the comic book connection sooooo that's what we're meant to want)

The timelines for the shows have always been a bit like that :/ - like we can only get one marvel netflix show a year, more or less....though at least 2018 isn't actually too far off now. (They haven't started filming daredevil s3 yet, or just have...I think that's meant to be 2019?)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think there's a huge amount of people who like Danny versus the others.

It didn't help that Iron Fist was so badly received beforehand, which definitely influenced how people were to react to his appearance here. I was willing to at least see if he was tolerable with the rest of the group, but I just don't really like him as a character or as part of anything. Just give me more Colleen Wing and less of him please. Or just replace him with Colleen, that would be even better.

I think because they all have different show runners, an different feels, the person who got defenders struggled to bring them together well enough

This was evident a lot with the editing, especially the music choices during certain scenes. It was fine in the first episode, since it focused on them individually, but once getting together it was kind of a mess. Like rap music would randomly play when Luke appeared during a fight? Why? It would make sense in his own show, but not here. The finale was the worst offender for that, since it had dramatic music during the massive fight and then out of nowhere rap music would play and it was like....? It made no sense even in the context of the scene.

I know that it's a hard task to combine all these shows and these characters together, all who have their own established flow and whatnot, in such a limited amount of time, but instead of allowing it to develop its own identity and flow and giving us these character moments it just kind of felt rushed and disjointed with no sense of direction. It focused too much on things that didn't really matter and not enough focus on things that the audience wanted more of. So, yeah. It definitely could've been way better than how the final product was executed.

They haven't started filming daredevil s3 yet, or just have...I think that's meant to be 2019?

I read that there will be new seasons for Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Luke Cage in 2018. So, there's that. But you're right, the timelines are weird and don't really match up, it adds more confusion when there's so much time in between seasons.