← Head back
← Head back
Overanalyzing Anime
Blog Owner & Lead Writer
At this point, we comic book folk are no strangers to the world of crossovers. In fact, in this day in age, if you’re not crossing over, you’re doing something wrong. Whether it’s the big team crossovers like the Avengers and the Justice League, or small screen crossovers like the Arrowverse.. the comic book community – really the general public as a whole - has fallen in love with the notion of bringing heroes together from different movies or shows in order to provide an opportunity for them to intermingle with one another.
These kinds of events are often a lot of fun – such as the rumble on the tarmac in Captain America: Civil War or last year’s week-long Invasion event on the CW. Seeing different characters, with often wildly different personalities, come together to fight alongside one another – or amongst each other, which is often the case – is an awesome experience for audiences. This weekend’s release of Marvel’s The Defenders is no exception.
Now, while I’m going to discuss certain aspects of the show in relation to the episodes, I’m going to make it a point to be as general as possible and not spoil the show for anyone whose yet to see it. However, if you don’t want to know anything about the show heading in - which I completely understand - then it would be best to wait until after you watch it to read this.
Still here? Let’s get to it then.
I had high hopes in the months and weeks leading into its premiere. But, those high hopes were dashed the day of its release. See, I personally have a (bad) habit of going to IGN before watching episodes of shows such as this in order to see what number ranking each episode was given. And to my surprise, the scores weren’t all that great for this show - especially in regard to both the first and last episodes which received a 5.5 and 4.9 respectively. So, heading into it I was a bit weary that it might not be what I was expecting. I’m glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised.
The show was awesome, in my opinion. One could make the claim that it’s the fanboy in me, but that’s not even the case as I’m not particularly fond of these characters outside of the Netflix-MCU realm. While I do own every issue of Alias (Jessica Jones’s comic) I’ve never actually read a comic from any of the other characters - Daredevil, Luke Cage, or Iron Fist. So, my only real connection to these characters - apart from Miss Jones - are through their incarnations on the Netflix-MCU. That being said, I have seen every episode of each of their shows and genuinely liked them all - yes, even Iron Fist - so seeing them all teamed up was a genuinely awesome experience.
I want to start off by focusing on the opening theme song. I loved both the appropriately epic music and the surreal visuals that accompanied it. I loved how each character had their own specific color, as they did in their own shows - Red for Daredevil, Purple for Jessica Jones, Yellow for Luke Cage, and Green for Iron Fist. It served to display their individuality, while also portraying them as coming together, as their character colors and outlines overlapped numerous times during the opening montage.
Moving away from that, I genuinely enjoyed the first episode. It started the story in, what I feel was, an appropriate way. I am taking into consideration the fact that not everyone has seen all of the shows. Some may have seen Luke Cage, but avoided watching Jessica Jones; or perhaps they loved Daredevil, but chose to shy away from Iron Fist. Taking the first episode to not only show recurring watchers where their heroes were currently, but also introducing these characters to newcomers, was an excellent choice. It’s a formula that all movies/shows follow when doing team up’s such as this for the first time. During the Invasion arc in the Arrowverse, they literally did a roll call of each team. #TeamArrow, #TeamFlash, #TeamLegends.
The second episode serves to push the narrative further along as our heroes begin to interact with one another to some extent, if only briefly. It isn’t until the third episode, however, that we finally see the gang together - and boy was that a thrilling experience. Now, I’m not entirely sure what it might feel like for someone who hasn’t watched each individual show; because I imagine the payoff of seeing all of these heroes fighting alongside one another might not be as powerful had you not been invested in their individual stories. Nonetheless, as someone who has, it was definitely a moment that had me.. well, had me pretty giddy.
My excitement was only amplified by the following episode, which showed how our heroes interacted with one another when they weren’t fighting. I would have to say that, of all the episodes in the series, that episode - episode four - was definitely my favorite. I’m personally a fan of great dialogue, and seeing the ways in which different individuals behave around one another; so, watching these four very different people try to come together in order to stop a common threat was definitely worthwhile.
Now, the show was not perfect. I will admit that IGN might not have been wrong in giving the final episodes a low score - not necessarily a 4.9 - but, I can understand the low ratings to an extent. However, I still found them very entertaining. There were a few choices that seemed a bit unnecessary and tedious, but that’s just my opinion on it. I personally liked most of the villains, and the twists that were implemented definitely worked for me. Some I saw coming, others took me by surprise - in a good way.
All in all, I would say that it’s definitely worthwhile, and at only eight episodes, it’s a very quick series to binge through. I imagine even casual watchers will be able to get through it by the end of the weekend. I would say that If you’re a fan of the other four shows - or even if it’s just one or two of them - I would definitely recommend tuning in because every character has a chance to shine. Even Danny Rand - who is actually somewhat likable in this show (though not too much more than in Iron Fist.)
If I had to slap a rating on this, I’d give it an eight or a nine out of ten. However, I do want to point out that I believe my seeing all of the shows before this one definitely impacted how I felt about this show as a whole, and therefore it definitely has an affect on my rating.
If you have seen it, tell me what you thought! Did you like it, did you love it, did you think it was the worst? Let me know! And if you haven’t, then take some time this weekend and check it out!
No comments yet. Be the first!
Comments are reviewed before they appear.
