Before we get started to today, I
have one question. Do you like Sci fi? If you read my stuff, that’s probably a
very strong possibility. If so, and you like listening to stuff, I suggest
checking out Redshift. Redshift is an internet podcast version of the old
school radio dramas. They just had their third season finale, and said story,
Once a Greech by Evelyn E. Smith, (http://www.fancypantsgangsters.com/shows/season-3-episode-6-once-a-greech-by-evelyn-e-smith/)
features me! That’s right, I’m a voice actor. Well, semi-amateur voice actor.
Kind of like how I’m a semi-amateur blogger. Give it a look, I know you’ll
enjoy it. Enough promoting my hobby, on to… well, my other hobby.
Okay, so when we last Danny and co
he had found out that the villainous Madam Gao was on her way to a Rand owned
facility in China. Said facility, in Anzhou, was where Danny and his family had
been heading when their plane went down. And, in a fit of intense rage, Ward
repeatedly stabbed his father in the stomach, killing Harold. Not a great day
for everyone involved, not going to lie.
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| The makeup on this guys is really good. At least, God I hope it's make up. |
We open to Claire reading a letter,
presumably from Luke Cage. I mean, I can’t remember if she was in contact with
anyone else that is currently incarcerated. As she starts going about her
evening routine, we see a sinister shadow moving around the room. Ominous.
Danny, meanwhile tries to warn Claire about what might be coming for her as he
heads up to Harold’s penthouse. Once inside, he finds Harold missing, and a
rather sizable puddle of blood. He attacks a guy sneaking up behind him, only
to discover his would be attacker was none other than Ward. Ward, who’d come to
clean up the mess, feints ignorance as to his father’s whereabouts. Danny walks
off, Ward shouts insults at him about how this is all his fault, and then gets
to work cleaning up the mess.
With Claire and Colleen, Danny
starts formulating a plan. Hm… that’s not quite right. Danny is going to China,
and he’s going to figure out the details on the long plane ride over. That is a
terrible thing to do, Danny, you’re no Tony Stark. Danny wants to go alone, but
Claire and Colleen refuse to be left behind. Danny protests, but then relents.
Meanwhile, Joy and Ward meet with
Lawrence Wilkins, the new head of Rand. He is offering them a very generous
severance package, a hundred million dollars. Ward wants to take it, but Joy
does not. They have a bit of an argument over what action to take. The deal
only goes through if they both sign, you see. As the negotiation goes on, Ward
starts hallucinating seeing blood. The nonexistent stains on his shirt keep him
from hearing all of the details. Ward, after snapping out of his funk, goes to
Wilkins a short time later and tries to barter a separate deal for himself, but
Joy had already rejected the original deal, so he has nothing to negotiate
with.
Danny and co, after surviving a bit
of rough turbulence, land in China and start staking out the factory in
question. They wait around for several hours, until Colleen gets the idea to
pay a homeless guy for information. Don’t know what’s more unlikely, that the
Japanese American woman also speaks Mandarin Chinese, or that the Chinese
homeless man speaks fluid English. Nuts. They learn that the workers at the
facility are slaves, being forced to make the Hand’s Iron Serpent, as it’s
called, Heroin. Danny decides that they’re going to burn the facility to the
ground, once the slaves are taken away for their evening meal. Why the slaves
are allowed to leave for that, I’ll never know.
Back in the states, Ward confronts
his sister about refusing the offer without consulting him. She reveals that
she has another strategy. Ward assumes that she wants to use Danny’s 51% voting
share to get their jobs back, but she has an even shadier strategy. A couple
months back, she’d hired a PI to follow the Rand Board Members around, taking
pictures of them doing sleazy or unethical behavior. Said PI, whom Joy mentions
is an alcoholic woman, was clearly a reference to Jessica Jones. Joy tries to
get her brother to open up to her, but he refuses. Until she admits that she
looks up to him. He resolves to tell her everything, starting with their Dad
and his penthouse. Oh dear.
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| Could this guy make it any clearer that he's a drunken fist master? |
Danny and Colleen invade the
facility and start setting it up to burn. They’re interrupted by Madam Gao’s
sudden arrival. Danny and Colleen split up, Colleen to meet up with Claire, and
Danny to catch Gao. He’s stopped after Gao enters a separate building. Said
building is guarded by a man with a giant scar across his face. He fakes being
drunk, but looks to be a master of drunken boxing. Danny and Scarface throw
down, with Danny slamming him through a wall when Scarface claims Danny lost
his honor. Meanwhile, Colleen has a swordfight with a woman guard. This is why,
even when you’re an evil Ninja cult, you outfit your guards with GUNS. She gets
a slash across her arm, defeats her opponent and links up with Claire. They
meet up with Danny, just before being confronted by Gao.
Ward takes Joy all the way up to
Harold’s penthouse before stopping. When at the final security door, he starts
hallucinating more blood. He obviously freaks out and tries to flee. He tries
to lie to Joy about what he was going to show her and then storms off in a
huff.
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| This is why even evil ninja cults need to give their guards GUNS! |
Danny and co are forced to confront
Gao’s guards. They kill the two guards, and learn that Gao’s guards use weapons
with poisoned blades. The effects of said poison are identical to what Danny
saw happen to his family’s pilots’ years ago. He, in a fury, summons his Iron
Fist and swings at Gao. He intentionally misses, shattering the wall behind
her. He decides to take Gao back with them to the US. Oh joy.
Again, this is a significantly
better episode to what we’ve been treated to thus far. It’s kind of funny, that
Luke Cage started off really strong
but started to fizzle out towards the end, while Iron Fist started off weak but seems to be building to a decent
ending. It’s funny because Luke and Danny are best friends, for those who don’t
know. The fight that Danny had with Scarface is significantly better than the
darkly lit fights we’ve been shown before. Seeing Danny shaken up, both early
on with the bout of rough turbulence and later when Danny started pounding
Scarface’s face in, are much better character moments, too. Madam Gao continues
to be one the best element of this show, as she’s still intensely creepy and
unshakable. I’ve never been more terrified of a little old Asian woman then I
have been with Madam Gao. So creepy. Hopefully things will continue on this
upward swing.
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