A week before THE DEFENDERS I finally finished IRON FIST

Let me get straight into it. Marvel’s Iron Fist failed to deliver on every aspect of what an Iron Fist series should have been.  This was the first of Marvel’s Netflix Original series that completely missed the mark.  It came across like a poorly paced, boring, less entertaining version of CW’s ARROW.  This is on the heels of a lackluster first season of Luke Cage.  After a really strong start, Luke Cage dropped off halfway through the first season.  The second half of Luke Cage introduced an unsavory “cheese” factor into the Marvel Universe with the over the top villain.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that Erik LaRay Harvey’s performance as Diamondback was “bad.” I just don’t think it was a well crafted character.  I still cringe when I think about Diamondback yelling, “I’m Luke Cage!”  Despite its’ shortcomings, I enjoyed Luke Cage for the most part. I’m getting off on a tangent and this review isn’t about the hoodie wearing bulletproof vigilante Luke Cage.  Its meant to be about his buddy Danny Rand, AKA THE IRON FIST  

Overall, my rating for the first season of Marvel’s Iron Fist is 5 out of 10 geeky stars.  Although that seems harsh, I think 5 out of 10 is rather generous.  

It took me 3 attempts to make it through the first season of Iron Fist.  For each attempt I could only handle about 4 episodes before tapping out.  Similar to Luke Cage, the strongest Iron Fist episodes were the first 3-4 of the season followed by a steep decline after episode 4.  At 13 episodes, one could argue that Iron Fist’s first season was just too long and would have been better presented in 8-10 episodes.

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

It took 13 episodes to establish that Danny Rand was riddled with guilt and anger over the death of his parents which was clouding his mind and blocking his CHI making the power of the Iron Fist inaccessible.  Even after some form of resolution, we still aren’t sure how Danny channels the power of the Iron Fist because it only seemed accessible during high emotional moments.  Despite plot holes and weak storytelling the biggest disappointment of this season is Finn Jones as Danny Rand.  Jones’ performance left Danny Rand as an annoying unlikable character that was completely unconvincing as a trained warrior monk from K’un Lun, let alone the Iron Fist.  He was so bad that I wouldn’t be surprised if Danny’s struggles to access the Iron Fist for most of the season were strategic storytelling devices established to avoid exposing Jones’ severely limited martial arts experience.

Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing

In the interest of balance, Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing was a true delight.  Jessica’s performance as Colleen overshadowed (Finn) Danny Rand establishing her as one of the most interesting and entertaining characters from season 1.

Iron Fist faced a challenge in being the fourth Netflix series and 5 chronological season in the ever growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was nice to see Rosario Dawson reprise her role as Claire Temple.  Taking place after the events in Luke Cage, Claire is learning to defend herself at Colleen’s DoJo.  Definitely a smart decision after all the danger she keeps finding herself in.  When Claire learns that Danny Rand is sworn enemy of The Hand, which has infiltrated Rand Enterprises, it was disappointing she did not immediately place a call to Matt Murdock.  I’m sure the goal was to keep the spotlight on Danny Rand and not have him play second chair to Daredevil.  Agents of Shield has faced similar criticism when threats become too large making the viewer wonder why the Avengers weren’t called to action.  I personally think that AoS does a good job of explaining this, there is no reason for Claire to not have contacted Matt immediately.

After 13 episodes we did not learn much about Danny’s time in K’un Lun, why he was the “chosen one” and how he faced a dragon to become the Iron Fist. These are all questions I’m hoping are answered in season 2.  If only they would recast Danny Rand I’d be looking forward to another season of Iron Fist.

Despite the harsh rating, I encourage you to watch season 1 of Iron Fist.  You may find it a challenge.  If for any reason, watch Iron Fist prior to diving into Marvel’s new Netflix series, THE DEFENDERS (Season 1 drops on August 18, 2017).  I wish I were more excited for The Defenders series but after suffering through 13 episodes of Iron Fist, I’m finding it a bit of a struggle to channel that excitement.  Maybe I need to center my CHI.  Initial reviews have been extremely positive so I am hopeful that Marvel will turn things around with their 6th Netflix Original season.