Okay, so we’ve hit the season
finale. How does it open? To Harold Meachum getting dressed and heading to the
office, all with a smug grin on his face on forcing Danny to go on the run. He
arrives just as Ward is having a meeting with Jeri Hogarth. Ward is letting the
#$%^#y attorney know that he’s certain that Danny’s been set up. Jeri doesn’t
see much hope, though, as Danny kind of assaulted federal officers. They’re
interrupted by Harold’s arrival. Jeri is obviously freaked out to see Harold,
whom was her boss back when she was a Rand Enterprises intern, and mentions
that faking his death will mean a massive fine when reported. Once Jeri leaves,
Ward lets his father know what a terrible idea that him coming back from the
dead will be. Harold brushes it off, claiming that they’ll just spin some bs
about Rand Enterprises used gene therapy and cryotherapy to keep him alive and
fix him up. Harold is already plotting about how they’ll proceed with Rand now
that the Hand is out of the picture, and Danny is a fugitive. He plots to both
sell the Iron Serpent Heroin, and the cure that Bakudo gave Ward to make huge
bucks. Ward shakes his head and points out that Harold must have been
manipulating Danny from the moment he came back. To which Harold laughs, and
claims he’d been manipulating Danny for much longer than that.
 |
| So which one is Coulson, and which one is Fury? |
Danny and Colleen, meanwhile are on
the run. They have I guess spent the last few days separate, but met up in
Central Park for supplies and exchanging info. Apparently, Danny is so naïve that
he can’t seem to process why the man that has shown to be a lying,
manipulative, violent sociopath would stab him in the back like this. “But he
didn’t see all the stuff we saw, Michael” I hear someone saying. Shut up, I can
be mad about Danny being stupid. After some debating, they use Claire to get
Jeri Hogarth’s attention and the four have a legal meeting. In a back alley.
Jeri let’s Danny know that, legally speaking, he was hosed the moment he
smacked around those DEA officers. She gives him the evidence that the DEA gave
her, since she’s Danny’s legal counsel. He confirms the info is largely real,
but all the names had been edited to read Daniel Rand. So, he would have a
legal leg to stand on, if all of the originals weren’t on a tablet. That Harold
has. Shoot. According to Hogarth, Danny has three options. 1. Go back to K’un-Lun
and live out his days doing whatever monks do. 2. Turn himself in and spend an indefinite
time in prison as the case goes through the legal system, or 3. Prove his
innocents. Being Danny Rand, he chooses option 3. And as much as it pains him,
he has to go to the one person less trustworthy then Harold Meachum.
Danny and Colleen break into the Hand
compound. The place is completely deserted, looking like the evil Ninja Cult
has moved its future operatives to a less conspicuous location. But, there is
still one person left, locked in her sell. Yeah, not shocked no one wanted to
get Gao out of her cell. Old woman is just so off putting. Though… technically,
with Bakudo either dead or indisposed, doesn’t that make her the ranking Hand?
Whatever, Danny and Gao have a nice little chat. She points out how stupid he
is, and then gives him the bit of info that I think he should have been able to
puzzle out by now. That, the Hand didn’t have a huge amount to gain by killing
the Rand’s, as they were already a tumor in the companies belly by that point.
Harold Meachum on the other hand, had quite a lot to gain from Wendel Rand
crashing in the mountains.
Danny, Colleen, and Claire reconvene.
Danny is still, somehow, having trouble believing that the guy that has been
acting like a supervillain is actually a supervillain. Geeze, Luke Cage had an
easier time accepting that his former best friend Diamondback was his half-brother
and evil. Claire tries to convince Danny that killing Harold won’t help, but
she kind of gets outvoted by Danny and Colleen, who are both for killing Harold.
Ward visits Joy in the hospital,
and tries to convince her that their father is a murderous psychopathic
kind-of-zombie. Which she refuses to believe. Can’t say I blame her, as Harold
has largely been in control around her, and Ward has most certainly not been.
Afterward, he and Danny meet up and exchange info. Danny tells Ward that Harold
killed his parents, and Ward tells Danny that the tablet is locked in a hidden
safe at Rand. Joy, meanwhile, visits her father and finally gets some
suspicions that Harold at least lied about Danny’s involvement with Gao’s
heroin.
 |
| I never completely got this effect. Is this signaling Danny's Chi is out of balance? Or that something dangerous is coming? |
Off camera, it seems, Danny and co
formulated a plan to get the tablet. The plan was to have Ward sneak in and
check the situation. If clear, Claire would cause a distraction outside, and
then Danny and Colleen would break in and steal the tablet. This plan fails
miserably as Harold and a bunch of goons are inside, and Harold knocks out Ward
with a golf club when Ward tries to report in. Danny, despite several rational
objections, runs in. Claire is able to distract the guards using a burning
peanut stand, and Danny takes care of the remaining guards using his martial
arts.
Colleen and Danny make it to the
top floor. The former using the stairs, and the later Tarzan swinging in from
the roof. A huge brawl takes place, which is only stopped when Danny Iron Fist
punches the ground to stop Harold from shooting Colleen. Ward gets the tablet,
and Danny chases Harold onto the roof for the final showdown.
Spoilers incoming. Also, got to
talk about spoilers in the synopsis, so if you want to experience it before
reading my summary and thoughts, stop here.
Danny is kept on the defensive
because Harold… has… a handgun. Sigh, I’ll get to that in a minute. They have a
few minor scuffles, with Danny getting in close for a few quick strikes but
falling back before Harold can shoot. Danny eventually gets the drop on him,
literally, and impales Harold on some doohickey. Danny has kind of a weird
flashback to fighting Shao-Lao, realizes his Chi is flowing correctly and
decides he won’t kill Harold. Harold pulls himself off the thing and tries to
attack Danny, but is shot and killed by Ward, whom had arrived with Colleen a
moment before.
 |
| How is it that Madam Gao can lose so consistently, but still get such major victories? |
In the aftermath, Danny and Ward
see Harold’s body laid to rest. They’re cremating him to ensure he doesn’t
resurrect again. Jeri arrives as well, to let Danny know that the charges have
been dropped in light of his evidence, and a sizable donation to the DEA’s
widows and orphans fund. Danny leaves control of Rand’s day to day in Ward’s
hands, and get’s Colleen to agree to visit K’un-Lun with him. He realized
leaving like he did was wrong and wants to make amends with the monks.
Davos and Joy meet up, and the two
agree that their respective lives were pretty royally screwed but by Danny. The
two feel he’s dangerous, and actually agree that they should put him down.
Madam Gao smiles evilly from a few feet away. Something wicked this way comes.
In the Himalayas, Danny and Colleen
reach the gate to K’un-Lun. There’s blood everywhere, and to Danny’s shock, the
entire city is gone. Oh that can’t possibly be good.
I have mixed feelings about this
ending. The good things first. The reveal that Davos and Joy will be gunning
for Danny if/when Iron Fist gets a season 2 was very interesting. It fits with
their characters, as both rather selfishly feel that Danny’s involvement in
their lives only brought on negative things. Davos feeling that Danny stole his
destiny as the Iron Fist, and Joy believing Danny brought about the end of her
family. Again, gross oversimplifications and selfish reasons, but
understandable. The reveal that K’un-Lun is either destroyed or the pathway has
been damaged is very ominous and a good set up for either Iron Fist season 2 and/or the Defenders.
 |
| How do you lose an entire magical monastery? Oh right, it's magical guardian and his immediate #2 left their posts. Yeah, this is all on you, Danny. |
The bad is the final fight as a
whole. It has the same problem as Jessica
Jones, where the hero and villain don’t match up at all. Like the Purple
Man, Harold has no combat orientated powers, and thus a lot of tension is lost
once Danny is able to get in close. Sure, he’s substantially weakened by his
Iron Fist not working reliably, but 15 years of Kung Fu training trumps
whatever the heck Harold’s been doing to stay fit. And hamstringing Danny by
giving Harold a gun is just a mood killer. There’s a reason why, when a hero
and villain throw down, guns are rarely involved. Because we’d much rather see
two people with comparable strength, speed, and agility throwing down then see
one guy chasing another with a pistol drawn. Also, I have no idea what the
dealio is with Danny flashing back to Shao-Lao in the end. Was there no Dragon,
and he was somehow given a vision of what his ‘turning point’ was before magic
gave him the Iron Fist brand? Did the flashing lights just remind him of the
aftermath of his fight with Shao-Lao? I get the sense that they didn’t think
this one completely through.
Overall, this is probably the
weakest of the Marvel Netflix family of shows. It’s about a 60/40 split on the
ratio of good to bad episodes, with the finale being mediocre at best. The plot
was a little jumbled in the middle, the multiple villains just added more
problems than they solved, the martial arts was largely a footnote instead of a
highlight, and Danny made me want to smack my head in frustration on a number
of occasions. Is it an awful show, no, I get the sense that there was a fair
amount of talent both in front of and behind the camera. It is, however,
sloppy. I hope that Danny as a character improves in The Defenders, and that if he gets a second season, that a little
more care is put into it. Have a good night everybody.
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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