Viewer Log: Iron Fist ep 2

So, when we last left Danny, he was strapped into a hospital bed in a mental institution. Not a super great place to be. He’s greeted by an obviously sinister looking man in a lab coat. Things start out normally enough, until the supposed Doctor tells Danny that they only thing to do is commit suicide. He pulls a knife on Danny, but is stopped by a group of orderlies. They pull the supposed doctor, who’s actually a patient, off Danny, and force a few pills down his throat to keep him compliant.

Danny is not happy.

With the Meachums, Joy seems to still have doubts about putting Danny in the hospital, but Ward insists that it was the right thing. He uses the “if he is insane then he’ll get help, and if he is our friend he’ll still get the help he needs,” argument. Joy, who is surprisingly easy to manipulate, agrees. For now.

In the hospital, Danny has a few disjointed flashbacks, before fully awakening and meeting his real doctor. Said doctor, Paul Adams, does seem to genuinely want to help Danny. He even unstraps Danny as a sign of good faith. Danny then tells the Cliffs Notes version of his background, about crash landing in the Himalayas and being saved by a group of monks. Not going to lie, I can kind of see why someone might think Danny’s crazy after hearing that story. He humors Danny, a bit, but then brings up John Anderson. He points out that that is the name on Danny’s passport, claiming that this, logically is who he ‘really’ is.

A short time later, Danny is allowed out of bed and shown around the hospital, by the crazy guy that tried to kill him no less. He explains that the whole “mandatory 72 hours” observation doesn’t really work as the docs claim. He points out four or five other patients that were only supposed to be observed for three days, but all have been detained for several years. Not good. Another patient tries to attack Danny, he defends himself, but is also grabbed by orderlies and drugged up again. Shortly after, Crazy dude agrees to help Danny make a call. He gets in contact with Colleen and asks for her help. She kind of blows him off.

Ward visits his Dad. Harold had taken the liberty to wire Danny’s room and most of the mental hospital. He’s watching the footage, and curious about the monastery and the “Order of the Crane Mother.” Two things that his assistant says don’t exist. The plan is to watch and wait, and to hedge their bets, sends Ward to buy Colleen’s testimony.

Nothing sinister about this...

In the hospital, Danny tries to meditate. Unfortunately, the combination of drugs and his own turbulent emotions are keeping him from focusing his chi. When Dr. Adams returns, Danny does admit about lying with the passport. He bought a fake passport to get back into the states, so the obviously fake name of John Anderson is not him. He’s given another dose of drugs.

 At Colleen’s Dojo, Ward offers her a very attractive offer. He wants her to simply sign a document saying that she felt threatened by Danny when he approached her. And for that, he’ll donate a hefty sum to her dojo. She’s hesitant, so he gives her a few days to think it over.

Dr. Adams tries a different tactic with convincing Danny he’s crazy. He shows Danny an old Rand Enterprises commercial where the Rands and the Meachums appeared. He claims that Danny is simply latching onto a kid with a perfect life, to escape the problems of his own. Danny refuses to play along. He gives a story about how, after the commercial, they went to the circus. It was the ‘bribe’ his parents gave him to be in the commercial. When the doc tries to disagree, Danny flips out and trashes his office. Danny is once again taken away and given more drugs. He’s probably getting pretty tired with this shtick. Harold, who’d been watching, decides to go out. He tells his assistant to prep the car.

Adams decides to check Danny’s story, via Joy. He calls Ms. Meachum, and asks if she remembered the day of the commercial. She confirms the circus story, which shocks the Doc. In Danny’s room, Harold arrives. While Danny is high out of his mind, he asks about Danny’s time in the mountains. He also sings Danny Boy, to annoy Danny? I guess… Danny tells him about the monastery, K’un-Lun, and that he is the Iron Fist. And that he’s sworn enemy of the Hand. Harold leaves, and tells his assistant to look up Iron Fist. Upon returning to his apartment, he finds a message scrawled on one of his windows, “Where did you go?” with a hand symbol.

Joy, possibly motivated by Adams call, has her assistant messanger a bag of M&M’s to Danny. Not sure why. Ward goes again to Colleen, and offers her 50,000 for her testimony. Danny get’s the bag of M&M’s, opens it, and starts sorting through them for some reason. Colleen visits him, learn that he’s claiming to be Danny Rand, and agrees to give a message to Joy.

At Joy’s office, Colleen drops off Danny’s package with Joy. She pours out the bag on her desk and makes a shocking discovery, that Danny returned all but the brown M&M’s. She’s now convinced that Danny is who he says he is, because when they were kids that was the one kind of M&M’s they didn’t eat.

How Danny got his grove back.

Adams does another follow up with Danny. He’s rather shocked to see that Danny has gotten all right answers again, and wants to hear Danny’s explanation about where he’s been again. That’s when things veer into crazy again. Danny explains that he was at the K’un-Lun monastery, which exists in another dimension, but crosses over into their dimension every 15 years. On the one hand, I can see why this story might seem crazy. On the other, YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE HULK EXISTS! Keep an open mind. To be fair, Adams does give Danny the benefit of the doubt and asks him to show that he has superpowers. Unfortunately, Danny is the first Marvel character that actually has to focus to use his powers. The drugs he’s on is keeping him from focusing his chi, so no Iron Fist punch from Danny.

Harold is growing more frustrated about not getting any information about Danny’s monastery or the Iron Fist. He calls Ward, his name on Ward’s phone is the incredibly on the nose pseudonym Frank N. Stein, and tells him to move Danny ASAP. Ward complies… sort of. He has Danny moved, into a padded cell with payed thugs waiting. The mental patients lay the smack down on Danny, but I guess the fight allows Danny to find his center and beat them back. After that, he’s able to focus his chi enough for an Iron Fist punch and finally escape.

Okay, so this episode is not super great. There are a lot of rather… questionable choices in this one. On the one hand, a superhero spending time in a mental hospital is kind of interesting. Particularly one like Danny, who does need to focus to use his powers. With the combination of drug induced delirium, and being unable to use his powers, would make even someone like Danny believe that he might not have superpowers. This is really the only character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where the premise works, and they really don’t do anything with it. He’s just in the hospital for a bit, and then escapes. I will say, that I did like Dr. Adams, he’s the classic guy doing the wrong things for the right reasons situation. While you’re mad at him for not believing in Danny, you do get a sense that he’s actually concerned for Danny and is trying to help him. Also, how Joy “finds out” that Danny is who he is, is rather idiotic. If you’re going to do the ‘thing that only we do’ thing, at least pick a candy that it makes sense to sort one out. Brown M&M’s are still M&M’s, they taste the same, so it’s wasting candy to not eat them. At least make it skittles or something. The Iron Fist effect looks pretty cool though, so there’s that. So an insteresing concept, but not the best episode. It’s a shame, really.