Iron Fist is the fourth and final show in the lead-up to Marvel's Defenders show on Netflix. The individual shows up to this point have been fairly competently put together; the characters have always been fairly well-developed, and each show has managed to create a distinct style. They've also woven themselves together in some very interesting ways, and Danny Rand is the final piece of that puzzle before we get the actual Defenders show later this year. Iron Fist has always been a bit of a strange character; I don't have much familiarity with him, and the comics I've read involving him have been bizarre, to say the least. Still, his story has a lot of potential for a TV series, especially in the style that Netflix has created. Action, drama, and an entertaining story; it's all been done before, and surely Marvel would be able to do it again.
Well, I guess Marvel had to screw up sometime.
I'm very surprised, given how much worked about the previous Marvel shows, that there's just nothing compelling about Iron Fist. There's a lot of potential, but it feels inauthentic. When the show rises above mediocrity, it can be moderately entertaining for small, almost imperceptible blips. Aside from that, it's very difficult to engage with the show because it feels like a fan production more than anything. There's just something off about how the show is put together, like this is the first time the creative team tried to make a TV show. The writing, the acting, the editing, everything manages to not work in such a specifically incompetent way. It's almost impressive to watch; how can a show be such a failure? Even the cultural appropriation angle can't really be tackled, because this show makes so little of an impact that it doesn't even have the courtesy to be offensive.
In Iron Fist, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) returns to New York City fifteen years after a plane crash that claimed his parents' lives, and seemingly his as well. He arrives to find his father's company - Rand Enterprises - being run by Ward (Tom Pelphrey) and Joy Meachum (Jessica Stroup). As Danny tries to prove his identity and regain control of his family's company, he discovers that the ancient order of The Hand is operating within Rand Enterprises. In the time he spent away from home, Danny was trained in the hidden monastery of K'un-Lun, where he became the human weapon known as the Iron Fist. As the Iron Fist, Danny is tasked with destroying The Hand, and with the help of Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), he embarks on a quest to fulfil his destiny.
The biggest obstacle to the show's success is the protagonist; Danny Rand isn't a very interesting character. Jones gives a fairly bland performance, and the character is even more so. The show tries very hard to push Danny as a "hero", but it's the stereotypical juxtaposition that most children's films would avoid. Businessmen want to do business, but Danny wants them to be honest and protect the people. An important aspect of Danny is his social awkwardness - given that he spent fifteen years out of society - and a few of the jokes work, but he's not a fun character. As an actor, Jones is devoid of charisma, and it's frustrating to watch him sleepwalk through this season. Danny seems like an immature, brainwashed, stubborn idiot more than anything else. It doesn't help that Colleen Wing - who often tags along with Danny on his vigilante outings - is a much more charismatic, entertaining, and seemingly competent character. I wish that she had been the Iron Fist instead of Danny.
Character development is not something that this show knows how to do. This can especially be seen with the Meachum siblings. These characters, who have up to 50% of the screen-time this season, are terribly constructed. Every time it cuts to them, the show loses all momentum, and the performances seem almost uninterested. Pelphrey is especially weak, and the best way to describe his acting is that he looks confused about every emotion he portrays. Joy is a businesswoman who makes business decisions, but she feels bad about it after, so she's a good person. This is the level of writing we're dealing with. David Wenham - as Harold Meachum - is moderately entertaining, but his character is such a weak - and obvious - antagonist that he might as well be twirling a moustache. He also suffers the classic Marvel villain weakness of going insane because the story needs him to be a villain. Colleen Wing is the only character who has any interesting aspect to her, and I stand by the fact that she should have been the protagonist. Her story is certainly much more interesting than Danny's. The only character who has a real presence is Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho), who steals the show every time she's on-screen. Everyone else just kind of shows up, and makes no significant impression as actors or characters.
I can appreciate a good slow burn, but Iron Fist takes forever to get going. The entire first episode revolved around the Meachum siblings calling security on Danny and kicking him out of the Rand Enterprises building. That pacing is present throughout the whole season, and almost every scene plays out quietly and slowly, without any style or flair. I feel like every scene ended with a long, lingering shot that should have been cut. Nothing about the show has any real spark. The writing is just awful, and the show doesn't lean into the mysticism enough to create a distinct atmosphere. The dialogue is horrid, with almost every conversation revolving around characters repeating events that happened or throwing out tired clichés. Hey writers, characters looking out a window and giving an extended monologue about an event in their past doesn't equal character development. Rosario Dawson appears as Claire Temple - who's been in every one of the Netflix shows up to this point - and as fantastic of an actor as she is, even she seems to know that this material doesn't work.
The action - which is what the Iron Fist character is primarily designed around - is also incredibly weak. It's all flatly choreographed, filmed, and executed. Not a single blow looks or feels like it actually connects, so fight scenes just looks like people pushing their opponents around. There were maybe three times in the entire season that I would even call notable. Every scene also has the same internal struggle: Danny doesn't know if he can summon the Iron Fist or if he's strong enough, and then he finds enough strength to finish the fight. It sometimes feels like action scenes are just being thrown in for the sake of having an action scene t that moment. Everything else is so boring, might as well try to create some excitement. It doesn't work. The scenes just come and go. The bland sound design and staging prevent any creative or memorable sequences from being formed. Iron Fist couldn't even get the traditional Netflix hallway fight right. For all of Danny's talk about being a "living weapon", he sure does get his ass kicked a lot. It should come as no surprise that I had multiple verbal reactions of disappointment and anger to this show.
I think that the lack of investment is rooted in the fact that so much of the show revolves around characters and locations that we never really see. We're told a lot about K'un-Lun, but we never see it or have any flashbacks that would indicate it needing to be protected from anything. One glimpse we do get at it shows Danny being beaten as a child, which doesn't build up too much sympathy towards the monks. The Hand, who take on a more specifically antagonistic role in this series, also suffer. Because the show adds new layers to how they operate, I'm now not even sure what their role is, or whether I should consider them to be the villains, The board of Rand Enterprises is presented as the more important threat. The show needed to streamline all of these elements, because the show feels bloated and empty at the same time. So much happens, but nothing is developed. If the show had simply focused more on Danny, shown him being trained, and his journey towards becoming the Iron Fist, it would have greatly helped flesh out his character. As it stands, the Iron Fist doesn't feel like something Danny has earned, and it should.
Iron Fist lacks focus. I don't think that every episode needed to focus on a singular plot, but it jumps around so sporadically between the different characters and stories that it's hard to find a solid through-line that ties it all together. But who we're supposed to be rooting for and why shifts so many times that it's unclear who the protagonists are even supposed to be. At the cost of actually developing Danny as a vigilante, most of the show is devoted to boardroom jargon and business dealings. It's also trying to be a capitalist critique of sorts, with Danny overruling corporate profit for social issues, characters who are rich and powerful being destroyed by their own wealth, and a character actually saying "The world isn't run by governments, but by corporations" (that's the level of subtlety we're dealing with). Iron Fist even makes the larger Defenders universe more muddled, by taking away the mysticism and threat of The Hand. At long last, this ancient order of ninjas has emerged to...sell heroin. I don't even know if the villains of the show are villains, and that's a problem. Not because of moral ambiguity, but because the show is trying so hard to hit you with a "twist" about The Hand that it forgets to actually plant the seeds to make it satisfying.
What this show needed was a tighter, stronger vision. We're dealing with so much magic and mysticism in premise alone, but the show never delves into it. The show needed to decide if it's about Danny being the Iron Fist or working in Rand Enterprises. How naive is Danny? How was he trained? If Danny is a "living weapon," why is he always getting beaten? Are the business-people to be sympathised with, or are they all heartless monsters? Are The Hand villains? What is their real purpose? Were we supposed to think that Harold was actually dead? Are all of the villains immortal? Why is a superhero killing someone treated like such a big deal? Why can't any of the actors act? Why can't the writers write? You could honestly watch the first episode and the last of the season, and miss nothing. Do that. Save your time. This show isn't worth it. I feel guilty for spending 13 hours of my life watching this garbage. This is what happens when you have the showrunner of later seasons of Dexter run your show.
Iron Fist is without a doubt the worst show that Marvel has ever produced, and possibly the worst superhero show out there. It's just 13 hours of nothing. It's like Arrow season 1, but without any lightness or forward motion in the plot or characters (or, seemingly, the budget). The dramatic aspects of the show, especially the moments that try to really hammer a scene home, fall flat. The music - which is very inconsistently utilised - tries to add a somewhat retro atmosphere, but the song choices feel stilted and, at times, awkward. Nothing about this show works, and it's a slog from beginning to end. There is an interesting story to tell somewhere in here, and there are times when the show almost puts the right pieces into play, but it always drops the ball. I hope that Danny Rand is utilised better in The Defenders, because he's just the largest part of an inherently flawed and broken puzzle. I guess every winning streak has to end.
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