Welcome back to the MCU Exchange episode-by-episode review of The Defenders. We’ll be bringing you one episode every day, giving you time to slowly watch and not be spoiled. However, this review contains full spoilers for episode two, “Mean Right Hook.” If you haven’t watched this far, it won’t take you long to catch up, so you should go do that, first!

This episode started bringing some of the story-lines together, in the aftermath of the earthquake-that-might-not-have-been-truly-an-earthquake. As viewers, we finally see where some of the story pieces are coming together, and (despite my fears that this would be held off way too long) some of the characters start coming together, as well.

Whatever is happening in New York City, the origins are very old. Alexandra is old enough to be hanging around when Bach was composing material. The corporation behind Midland Circle dates back to the early 1800s. Whatever our Defenders are dealing with, here, it’s been around longer than Netflix. However, Alexandra develops a little more when she and Gao interact. While Alexandra seemed to be directing Gao’s actions in the first episode, the mystical Chinese villain that we know and love is giving the advice when she meets Alexandra, this time around.

Meanwhile, Danny and Colleen try to figure out who else might know something about The Hand. It seems that in their world wide adventures, they forgot all about Claire Temple, who, through the whole ordeal in Iron Fist season one, kept mentioning that she had a friend who had fought The Hand before. But looking for a sword maker with a room full of dead bodies has more dramatic effect than going straight to Claire. This also gives us the first of two big Defender introductions: Luke and Danny.

The fight between Luke and Danny was fantastic, if incredibly one-sided. However, Danny’s tenacity in going after Luke, over and over, finally made me think “This is a kid that managed to take on a dragon, and win.” Even though it was obvious that he wasn’t going to make an impact without lighting up his fist, he kept trying. He looked well trained and scrappy.

Of course, in Hell’s Kitchen, Foggy’s plan for keeping Matthew out of the horns is going well, as he pushes two more of our Defenders together. Matt Murdock the attorney walking in on Misty Knight’s interrogation of Jessica Jones not only called back to a classic comic moment, but was also a fabulous way to bring characters from three different stand-alone shows together.

One-Shots:

  • Matt Murdock jumping between rooftops.
  • Josie’s! Matt and Foggy meeting for a beer at Josie’s bar warms my heart.
  • Matt Murdock’s first aid kit looked well-stocked before he flung it across the room. At least he’s taking his aggression out on less-expensive objects, these days.
  • Turk effing Barrett. When Rob Morgan shows up on my screen, I get excited. “Man, do I look like the PTA?” Turk always has the best lines.
  • I’m a Hamilton dork, so when the scene with Luke and Danny meeting had “Who are you?” with the response “Who are you?” I shouted at the television “Who is this kid? What’s he gonna do?!”
  • Did you see the glimpse of Foggy with Marci before Hogarth assigned him to Jessica Jones? I’m sad that we didn’t get more Marci, but I’m glad to know that those two are together, for now.

Overall rating: 3.5 Dead Men Covered in Acid out of 5

There were some little details that bothered me in this episode, keeping me from fully enjoying things. Most of them had to do with inconsistencies regarding The Hand, such as Danny’s wound from the first episode not being poisoned (both Daredevil and Iron Fist established that The Hand poison their weapons), neither of them remembering Claire had a friend who fought The Hand, and why in the world it would be easier to spray acid on bodies than taking them out and then disinfecting the crime scene? But those details were quickly forgotten when I saw Danny and Luke come together, and when Matthew became Jessica’s attorney.

Come back tomorrow, when I’ll continue our reviews with “Worst Behavior.”

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