Viewer Log: She-Hulk ep 2

Blonsky's baaaccckkkk. 

Last time on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, we met and got to know Jen Walters. She and her cousin Bruce Banner were in a car accident while on a road trip. Wasn’t her fault, an alien space cruiser flew in front of her. Jen pulls Bruce from the wreckage but accidentally is exposed to Bruce’s blood and transforms into She-Hulk. Bruce kind of, sort of, definitely kidnaps Jen and takes her to his remote beach lab in Mexico to help her get control of her new powers. It becomes clear quickly that Jen might not have the same level of physical power as Bruce, but she’s faster, has greater dexterity and isn’t warring with another personality in her head. Jen continually asks to leave, feeling that she’s learned all she needs to in a few weeks, but Bruce is adamant she stays to get control. Even after Jen gives a very earnest speech about having to control her anger infinitely more than him. The two Hulks fight when she tries to leave, smashing Bruce’s bar in the process. They apologize to each other as they fix the bar and Jen leaves with Bruce’s blessing and offer to train her more if she needs it. Jen tries to just live as a normal lawyer, but a large super strong lady burst into the court she’s lawyering in, and she Hulks up to fight the woman off. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Episode 2: Superhuman Law

 

Yeah, this about sums up what it feels like when you
hit rock bottom.

We open with news segments about Jen’s brawl with the large lady. Turns out, the large lady is Titania, a “superpowered influencer” who caused a panic after smashing her way out of traffic court. Talk about turning a molehill into a mountain, am I right? They coin the term She-Hulk almost immediately and Jen’s normal life is basically over. That night, Nikki encourages Jen to just embrace it at the local bar and have fun. Jen is obviously a little miffed at the name “She-Hulk,” but, in the name’s defense, it was thought up in the 80s, so it could have been worse. Jen Hulks out and goes inside. She’s basically an instant hit with everyone except Dennis, who thinks it was a publicity stunt. He tries to get her spill how she got her power but she’s not talking. Nikki comes back with drinks, saying they’re on the house for the new Superhero, but Jen still isn’t into that idea. She’s a lawyer, not a vigilante, as that’s for Billionaires, narcissists, and adult orphans (for some reason). Nikki points out that she could be an Avenger, and Jen asks if that comes with pension, maternity leave or even a paycheck. Her boss comes over and asks to speak to her as “Jen-Jen.” She de-Hulks and stumbles because she’s way drunker as Jen Walters than she was as She-Hulk. Her boss tells her that their case got declared a mistrial because GLK&H said that because she saved the Jury, the jury was biased in her favor. That’s some legal ese right there. She’s fired because she’s considered a “liability” by the DA’s office.

 

The next day, Jen wakes up to a message from Bruce offering to talk if she needs it. He promises to only gloat a little. Jen then goes for several interviews but is rejected because the firms think that the She-Hulk thing will be too much for them to work with. Later, with Nikki and depressed, Jen considers switching to being a mascot at a Swiss village. She gets a text from her mom reminding her about a family dinner. Also, Jen’s wallpaper is Captain America’s ass, so I guess she’d agree with Ant Man that his IS America’s ass. Jen tries to get Nikki to come with her but she’s busy.

 

It's actually a good if dysfunctional family.

Jen goes to her parent’s house, and we’re introduced to Morris and Elaine Walters, her parents, and her Uncle Tucker, Aunt Melanie, and cousin Ched. FYI, Elaine is the Banner connection. Initially, Morris tells Jen that he’d already told the family about her being fired and so no one will bring it up, only for Ched to bring it up immediately. It’s classic awkward family dinner, with the added complication of her being a superhero and her family having superhero questions. Her dad asks a good one about if Hawkeye collect’s his arrows after fights. Jen zones out but pulls back out when her dad asks her for her help with something. They go to the garage, and it’s revealed that Morris only asked for her help so he could check in with her one on one. She tries to play it off, but then lets all her feelings out all at once. Her dad just points out that 1. This isn’t the first time they’ve had a Hulk in the family, 2. She didn’t destroy a city (or two, well, maybe New York twice), and 3. The worst thing happened and she’s still standing. Morris is a good dad.

 

Later, Jen is drinking at the bar when she’s approached by a Mr. Holden Holliway. He buys her a drink and offers her a job. Turns out, he was impressed that she almost beat GLK&H in their case before the mistrial, and he wants her as head of a new division. Jen immediately says yes, on the condition she can hire her own paralegal, Holliway doesn’t care even slightly and says she reports in on Monday.

 

On Monday, Jen heads to GLK&H. Holliway greets her and gives her the details on her new job. Turns out, Superhumans are becoming increasingly common, so they’ve started a Superhuman law division, and they want She-Hulk specifically to be the face of it. As such he expects her to be at work as She-Hulk and requires Jen to transform. As he shows her around, Jen has a fourth wall breaking conversation with us about how frustrating it is to know she’s qualified to be head of a department but now everyone is going to think she just got the job because she’s She-Hulk. Holliway shows her to her office, with Nikki waiting for her.

 

Inside, Jen explains about the whole She-Hulk as the face of the Superhuman law division. One of her new lawyers, Pug, introduces himself to her and brings a welcome basket. Office supplies, snacks, and a map to the best bathrooms for pooping. Huh, weirdly specific, but helpful. Jen has a meeting with Holliway, who gives her the first case at GLK&H, the parole of Emil Blonsky… huh… you thought that she’d be cool with that? Jen is obviously familiar with Blonsky, and tries to turn down the case, due to her conflict of interest due to the whole “he tried to murder my cousin” thing, but Holliway says that isn’t an issue. Not for Blonsky, anyway. He signed a conflict waiver. Holliway says it’s this case or she’s fired but gives her the option to meet Blonsky first.

 

I was honestly shocked to see Tim Roth's Blonsky again.

Jen goes to the DODC (Department of Damage Control) facility where Blonsky is being held and immediately told she can’t go in as She-Hulk. They have a no-powers rule. She’s lead into the bowels of the facility, being told to not cross the yellow line between her and Blonsky at his cell and that they can’t guarantee her safety. She’s let in to meet Emil Blonsky. Looks like he’s been doing well since Shang-Chi, he’s at least back in his human form. Blonsky tells her that he’s “transformed” himself, spiritually as well as physically. He can still become Abomination but chooses not to, and that he’s just “Emil” now. He also mentions that he has seven “soulmates” he met through prison penpal system that he wants to start a new life with. Emil claims that the whole “kill Bruce” thing wasn’t personal, and that his rampage across Harlem was due in part to the Super Soldier Serum that the government gave him before the mission. He claims that he thought was the “good guy” and wants justice. He claims to be remorseful, in the form of bad Haikus to his victims. Jen says she’ll think about helping him. Jen gets a message from Holliway saying she has until the end of the day to make her decision. Jen announces, “Oh that sucks,” and the credits roll.

 

Well, that complicates things.

Jen calls Bruce. She gives him the gist of the situation, new job, but if she wants to keep it, she must represent Blonsky. She is clearly nervous and tries to sell Bruce on the argument, not letting him speak. When Bruce can get a word in edge wise, he says he’s cool with it. He tells her that Blonsky sent him a letter with a Haiku years ago and the two buried the hatchet. There’s an extremely meta joke that Bruce is a “completely different person” now than he was when he fought Blonsky and he holds no grudges. Bruce laughs when he hears that She-Hulk is the name that stuck. Jen asks if he’s going to visit her in LA sometime soon, but Bruce says that he’s got some things to take care of. We then pull out to see he’s on a spaceship heading into deep space. Great tachyon cell reception. Jen calls Holliway and accepts the offer. She claims she has a winning strategy, and that it’s in the bag. Holliway tells her to check the news. Jen does, and discovers that video has surfaced of Abomination fighting in the underground fight club from Shang-Chi.

 

In a post credit scene, Jen does odd jobs for her family in her She-Hulk form. Lifting the car to change a tire, hanging their new TV, and carrying like 6 of the big jugs of water in.

 

This was a good continuation from the last episode. Jen got to enjoy a few of the highs of being a publicly known superhero, before being hit with the rather large low of potentially not having a career anymore. I liked the short dinner scene with her family, as it conveyed the awkwardness that those can bring up incredibly well coupled with the Superhero reveal. I especially liked the scene with her Dad after, it was a very human moment. It’s nice when a parent-child relationship in a show feels genuine, and Dad coming up with an excuse to talk with daughter 1 on 1 is incredibly genuine. The interview with Blonsky is very well done. I’m truthfully a bit shocked they got Tim Roth back for this. I totally figured he’d be Abomination the whole time and we’d just ignore that his face was slightly off, like with Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Roth was great in that scene. He comes across as genuinely trying to improve himself but there’s just this… smug air that makes it seem like he’s just playing the part he needs to get out of prison. I also liked the nods to the one MCU movie that is probably the most disconnected from everything. Blonsky bring up the Super Soldier Serum, mentioning that it truly wasn’t personal between him and Banner, Mark Ruffalo making the joke about being “a whole other person” now, all of that made me chuckle. Also, good way to remove Bruce from the equation for the rest of the show’s run or at least until the finale, having him go off planet. I’m curious to see what the explanation was for him going to the fight club and how it’ll impact Jen’s case. We’ll talk about that, though, tomorrow. See you then. 

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