A big theme in this episode seems to be trying to make peace through nonviolent means.  We see this with Colleen and Danny inviting Joy and Davos over for dinner so that everyone can air their grievances as well as in the end of the episode when the Tigers and the Hatchets attempt to negotiate.  But unfortunately things aren’t always so simple and neither of these attempts go as planned.

The episode opens by exploring Danny and Colleen’s opposing views on the topic after Danny comes home from a night of defending.  Colleen is worried that Danny is becoming so obsessed with keeping the city safe that he’s resorting to unsavory means.  Colleen has tried to move away from solving her problems by force so it pains her to see how Danny’s behaving.  While she does reprimand Danny for his aggressive actions she understands where he’s coming from and that he’s trying to do good.  So when Ward suggests to Danny that everyone should get together and talk things through, he agrees and arranges the dinner.

Even though it was a pretty big portion of the episode the dinner party was very well executed is probably my favorite scene in this season so far.  Each character was well written with their actions and dialogue making logical sense.  The scene started out incredibly awkward, but in a good way, with everyone pretending that they were on the best of terms.  Although Joy and Davos should have known that they would never have been able to convince Danny that they were dating.  Joy’s explanation of how they met in Paris was pretty cringe, but that’s not necessary a bad thing since that’s probably what the writers were going for.  And her passive-aggressive comments toward Colleen really amp the awkwardness up to 11.

There were also moments were you could see the friendship between Davos and Danny bubbling to the surface, especially with the meatball conversation.  This only makes it more depressing when they can’t get over their issues.  Colleen eventually forces everyone to drop all pretenses and air their grievances and bluntly tells Joy and Davos that Danny cares for them and wants to make things right.  But when she mentions that Davos believes Danny stole the title of Iron Fist, he isn’t interested in discussing the matter and walks away.

Colleen then asks Joy what her problem with Danny is since it’s been very unclear.  Joy explains that ever since Danny came back her life has fallen apart.  She’s upset that he and Ward kept their father, Harold Meechum’s, continued existence a secret.  However, in my opinion, this motivation is rather flimsy.  It seemed to come out of nowhere at the end of the last season and they still haven’t done much to flesh it out.

Joy and Davos end up leaving when Davos finds the pictures Joy hired Mary to take of Danny laying around their apartment.  It’s possible that her persona of “Walker” was hired by Joy to take the photographs.  But “Mary” isn’t all that happy about what “Walker” has been doing which is why she’s been trying to talk to Danny.  At the very end of the episode we also find out that she may be a lot more capable than you’d think when she threatens Davos.  I guess we’ll have to wait until the next episode to find out how that gets resolved.

After Joy and Davos leave the dinner, Colleen gets a call saying that Mrs. Yang wants their help while she negotiates with The Tigers.  She and Danny offer protection with Danny wearing the mask from the first episode.  Initially things seem to be going pretty well, but Danny notices some commotion outside and voices his concern.  It’s unclear if The Tigers were trying to ambush them or if a third party was taking advantage of their meeting.  But regardless, their rapid exit isn’t well received by The Tigers and Danny and Colleen do what they can to protect Mrs. Yang.  Danny’s table flip was really cool, especially the way the table bent after he punched it.  It was also nice to see that Mrs. Yang isn’t defenseless, but I definitely don’t believe that Colleen was taken out by an unnamed Triad goon.

While all this is going on, Ward continues to struggle with overcoming his issues.  The dinner party was a great way he could have done that and it seemed to be coming from a genuine urge to make things right.  But unfortunately, he just can’t seem bring himself to face his sister.  He accuses everyone in the AA meeting of working for Joy was well as the sponsor of the group who he’s also sleeping with.  It’s pretty clear that he’s actively trying to better himself and improve the relationships in his life, but has a lot of trouble bringing himself to actually do it.  Hopefully he’ll get better and actually deal with the trauma that he’s been through instead of just avoiding it.

VERDICT

4 meatballs out of 5.  

As the season’s gone on each episode has gotten better.  This one did a great job of continuing the exploration of why Davos is trying to take out Danny.  However, I’m still not buying Joy’s motivation because so far all we’ve seen is that she blames him for the recent turbulence in her life.  And while his return may be the cause of it, Danny has been nothing but nice and friendly toward her.  Even though she’s upset that he lied about her father being alive, not being able to see things from his point of view makes Joy come off as incredibly petty.  And delving into all of this during the dinner party was a great way for these character to voice their motivaions, both to each other and to the audience.

ONE-SHOTS

  • Even though seeing Danny in the mask is really cool, I do wonder about it’s practicality.  He’s been going around the city for months practically telling everyone he ran into that he’s The Immortal Iron Fist and Protector of K’un-Lun.  How much good is the mask actually doing?  This is more of a symptom of the structure of the first season and since the mask looks awesome I don’t really mind.
  • I’m a bit confused about Mr. Yang’s fate.  Was he killed by Davos and his wife is covering it up or was he just injured and Mrs. Yang isn’t revealing what really happened?  Perhaps we’re just not supposed to know yet.
  • Hopefully Ward and Danny will continue to support each other because their relationship seems to be really strong right now.
  • At first I was annoyed that the episode started off with a fight between Danny and Colleen, but I think it was actually handled really well.  She wasn’t really angry at Danny for being out all night fighting, she was more just voicing her concerns about the toll it’s taking on his well-being.  As well as suggesting that he try a different approach.