Legally Super

Last night brought another funny little episode of She-Hulk. Like the premiere episode, it was written by Jessica Gao and it'll be the last one written by her until the finale on October 13. Hopefully the various writers-without-wikipedia-entries in between are better than the average new MCU or Star Wars writer. Gao, like Michael Waldron, who worked on Loki and Multiverse of Madness, had previously worked on Rick and Morty and it's starting to look like a fair assumption that Kevin Feige is a Rick and Morty fan. At least, so far, the MCU output from both writers hasn't been as jokey and insubstantial as Love and Thunder.

Gao has said in interviews that no-one working on She-Hulk has any legal writing expertise. That's really a shame. I've thoroughly enjoyed the first two episodes but they've mainly concentrated on relationships and Jen's (Tatiana Maslany) new superpowers. Last night's episode brought in Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and his argument, that he was a soldier just doing his job who fell prey to the effects of experimental drugs he took in good faith, sounds like it could be really interesting debated in a courtroom.

I'd actually never seen The Incredible Hulk (2008) so I watched it last night. And yeah, I think Blonsky has a pretty strong case. Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), a general in the US government, hired Blonsky, a specialist from the UK, to assist in the capture of a dangerous fugitive. It turns out that fugitive turns into a berserk green giant who apparently massacres American soldiers and indulges in wholesale destruction. It makes sense Blonsky was trying everything he could to take him down. This could make for a juicy courtroom drama and what a boon that an actor of Tim Roth's caliber was willing to come back to the MCU for it.

It's a shame Disney didn't hire David E. Kelley, creator of Ally McBeal, which could be seen on a TV in the bar in last night's She-Hulk.

Kelley even wrote a rejected Wonder Woman pilot so he might have even been up for She-Hulk (Considering the things Warner Brothers has greenlit in the past decade, I wouldn't hold the fact that Kelley's Wonder Woman pilot was rejected against it). But goddamn Disney's penny-pinching.

Anyway, so far She-Hulk is good as it is. I've heard a lot of people complaining that its feminism is too belligerent but I haven't seen that so much so far, aside from possibly the manplaining reference last week or the guy who referred to a "hot chick" as an "it" this week. Mostly the feminism has come in the form of character opinions, which are certainly plausible. Hopefully the show will keep up the good work.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is available on Disney+.

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