Feather Fist

I finished watching the second and final season of Iron Fist on Monday. On the whole, I found it to be a substantial improvement on the first season, though there were a couple episodes, particularly episode 7, that were so dumb I almost stopped watching. However, I thought episode 8, written by Melissa Glenn, was brilliant, so I kept going. The final two episodes (the season had only ten) were . . . well, fascinating. Partially in a "train wreck" way.

Whatever else one might say about Iron Fist, whether it was the writing or the cheap ass production values, I think it was clear the main problem was that the main character, Danny Rand, was simply miscast. Finn Jones was never meant to be the Immortal Iron Fist. People were upset about the cultural appropriation angle inherited from the comic but I think if it'd been Jason Statham, some real hardcore action guy, it would've worked. The problem is that Finn Jones comes off as such a wimp.

Meanwhile, everyone loved his sidekick. Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing was amazing. She was charismatic, had good reflexes for the action scenes, and you could believe, unlike with Jones, she had fury she sometimes had to struggle to control. So I, like a lot of people, talked about how great it would be if Colleen became the main character.

And then, in the last couple episodes of season two, they actually did it.

After the villain, Davos (Sacha Dhawan), stole the Iron Fist power from Danny Rand earlier in the season, Rand decides it should be Colleen who takes the power back from him.

Yes, it's what I wanted. Yes, if I were running the show, I'd probably do the same thing. But the actual result, watching the actual episodes where this unholy ceremony takes place . . . it was just such a pathetic spectacle. Finn Jones does seem like a wimp, and that was the problem. But it's kind of awkward watching a wimp lose everything. The part that really got me is when he and Colleen break up after she got the power and he was left without it. Maybe this isn't what the writers meant, maybe they tried everything they could to prevent it from looking like this, but I doubt there's anyone who watched that scene of her walking away from him and didn't think, "Oh, of course. He's not man enough for her anymore."

It's not just that scene. There was buildup. In the middle of the season, Davos broke Danny's leg. He gets expensive treatment but instead of doing physical therapy he asks Colleen to train him. To train him. The first season had clearly established him as the better fighter. Now, her beating him up is supposed to somehow fix his broken leg. On top of that, she says for the training to work, they need emotional distance and she forces him to call her "sensei" (and, by the way, if you know anything about Japanese culture, you know if someone demands to be called sensei, it means they're no true sensei). So the breakup comes after wimpy little Finn Jones has been beat up, emotionally rejected and, in superhero terms, fundamentally emasculated. Oof. I didn't like him, but wow. I wouldn't have wished this on my worst enemy.

The saddest part may be the final scene where we see Rand has somehow gotten himself a new Iron Firs power that enables him to supercharge pistols. The scene was clearly there just to convince Finn Jones there was some potential future for his character while everyone actually involved was gearing up for Colleen Wing's Fist the series. Man, oh, man, that was awkward. But I'm glad I saw it because now a lot of the decisions made for MCU movies and shows since then make a lot more sense.

Iron Fist is available on Disney+.

X Sonnet #1736

For noisy phones, the boys were pizza parts.
Assemble down, above the core and sing.
You'll burn to floss and giant candy hearts.
But only then you'll know from Crosby, Bing.
But where's the sandwich sense in mouldy ham?
We haven't swords to cut the pickle deep.
Her lovely leg was just a mighty gam.
A super flower's worth the golden keep.
We know the duck for how he walks and quacks.
The metal sphere with guns is not a moon.
But suns reply with red and blistered backs.
And yet we stumble up another dune.
With empty air, the jumping people fell.
Expressive stacks of folk create a bell.