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

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

A big point of Luke and Jessica's storylines I've felt are that they're not here for the glory or the big fights that involve aliens and demigods. But there's been a much more relatable tone to their storylines and characters.

Exactly. Their stories and problems are more grounded in realism, what they're personally dealing with in those self-contained stories is something that everyone can understand because they're so relatable. I felt like they should have done a different storyline to bring these characters together instead of one that was based with mysticism, because it clashes with Jessica and Luke's stories. It's such a weird transition to go from their shows, to this, and then back to their own shows where none of this will probably have any affect on them, aside from what happened with Matt in the finale.

(And I totally agree with you, Jessica was the best part of the whole thing, amplified by the fact that we've waited so damn long for S2 of her show so that her presence was a welcomed one. I missed her face, I missed Trish's face, and I want JJ S2 right now, dammit!)

I just felt like they didn't know much how to handle the secondary characters as well so...let's just lock them in a room for their 'protection'.

It was just so poorly done. The reason why people wanted these characters to be in the same room together was to actually have them interact with each other. Not just be in a room and only a couple of them having some conversation. It defeats the purpose of getting these secondary characters together like that, you know? It's not just with the main leads, but the other characters as well. Especially Claire who is the key interconnecting link between all the shows. You'd think that they would've at least taken advantage of that. But nope.

I feel like Danny's character just brings Colleen down. Or the writing brings her down because she's reduced to this "nagging girlfriend" and I am so not here for that.

I didn't watch Iron Fist, and never will, but I heard enough about it to know how horrible it was, and it's disappointing that Colleen not only was reduced as a love interest but also that her story is being overshadowed by Danny as well. She deserves so much better than what the writing has done to her, because she has so much to offer and so much potential. Just replace Danny with Colleen as the fourth Defender since she quite frankly has earned it. Her story is far more compelling and interesting anyway.

Some of the fights were good and really shined with Daredevil. I didn't feel very many STAKES in it and I could not care less about The Hand.

Same. The Hand in particular was built on being this very scary and powerful Big Bad but the end result just didn't seem that way at all? It could have been better executed, but I mostly felt like for all that build up it was totally wasted in the end and there wasn't much of a personal stake for our heroes to deal with. Then again, I never cared about The Hand stuff so perhaps it's just my indifference towards them.

Luke making fun of Danny was great IMO. But it still didn't deliver what I had been really hoping for.

I did enjoy everyone kind of mocking Danny, especially Luke calling him out for his privilege, which was a great moment. But overall, everything with Danny just felt so out of place. Perhaps that was the intentional "purpose" of standing out among the rest of them like a fish out of water, but he was just so annoyingly naive that it was painful to get through his scenes especially with everyone else. Luke, Jessica and Matt have this natural organic chemistry with each other that just clicked immediately, but with Danny it felt so forced. Again, the writing trying to make him endearing with being clueless but in reality was just really dumb. Especially once he started spewing his stuff about "I am the immortal Iron Fist!" and "I punched a dragon!" over and over like it meant something.

So yeah, The Defenders had potential but it just wasn't executed well. It doesn't help that the main focus was Danny Rand and The Hand, two things I don't give any shits for.