by Joshua H. Stulman

Netflix Iron fist season 2 fails to deliver after a poor first season. While changes were made to help improve the likeability of Iron Fist, a weak storyline and eventual abandonment of the titular character made for a barely watchable season.
 

Marvel Netflix series have long held an unofficial ban on superhero costumes. They also heavily depended on cheap studio set production to keep costs down. Current politics have also been the feature of many of their recent seasons. The problem is superhero fans want to see superheroes do fantastic things and fight deadly villains. The genre is based on fantasy and when that element is stripped away what are you left with?

The first season of Iron Fist gave us background into the inner workings of the gangster ninja clan, the Hand. It also dealt with the manipulation of several characters and eventual redemption of Ward Meachum who was by far the most interesting character of season 1. After the destruction of the Hand in Defenders Season 1 and the revelation that Iron Fist’s adopted home of K’un-Lun had been destroyed in his absence, one would think that season 2 would deal with this fall out. Well you would be wrong! Instead we are treated to yet another gang war in China town and the diminutive Davos’s attempt to steal the Iron Fist power.
 

Davos aka the Steel Serpent had previously been teased in the final scenes of Iron fist. Played by actor, Sacha Dhawan, Davos is physically stronger and more imposing than Iron Fist. He is conniving and a deadly force. However here, Davos is a short and while he is as muscular as possible, never really feels that tough. Through the season his big plan is the steal the Iron Fist power and to build any army to rid New York of crime. Unfortunately his grand ninja army is composed of about 8 street kids. If you’re tired of the good guy vs an evil version of the good guy Marvel motif, that’s pretty much what we have here.
 

There’s also a confusing romantic subplot between Iron Fist (actor, Finn Jones) and Colleen Wing (actress, Jessica Henwick) that sees the two break up. It seems to be that Wing has rejected her heroic tendencies and is trying to lead a normal life ,while Danny Rand is out doing his Iron Fist thing protecting the city. There’s no chemistry between the actors at all and no real feeling of love or rejection. Henwick is a great martial artist and pulls off some impressive moves in her fight scenes. But ultimately Henwick is stiff in her acting delivery.
 

Other subplots dealing with Joy Meachum (actress, Jessica Stroup)’s revenge and Ward Meachum (actor, Tom Pelphrey)’s narcotics addiction fall flat with very little twists to their storyline. The inclusion of yet another Daredevil villain, Typhoid Mary (actress, Alice Eve), also proves to have a very superficial storyline with none of her comic book drama. She’s a femme fatale caught up in the “Me Too” movement, so I guess that means she can’t be sexy anymore!

The main problem with Netflix Iron Fist Season 2 is that the writers aren’t sure what to do with their main character. While they backed off of his whining and childish attributes from season 1, the character still comes off as headstrong and un-heroic. Still no costume and no dragon (they need to borrow one from Game of Thrones), we are treated to a lackluster origin story in K’un Lun dealing with his initial fall out with Davos. This is perhaps the only interesting part of the entire season, and we get to see a handmade ceremonial version of his mask. By the third act of the season. The focus of the story has shifted away from Iron Fist completely in favor of  Colleen Wing who becomes the new Iron Fist. Kinda weird and unexplained why Iron Fist doesn’t want to be Iron Fist.  What’s more confusing is the final scene, which is a spoof on shoot out western bar scene. In the last seconds Iron Fist whips out two dueling pistols that shoot Iron fist bullets. So weird. (Although I’ve been advised that this actually happens in the comics!)

I wish we would have gotten a costume, I wish we would have gotten a dragon. And I wish Iron fist would have showed up to kick ass because Danny Rand is totally lame. Marvel Netflix has managed to make a cool Kung Fu character completely unappealing and undeserving of a third season. Cut your loss Netflix!

***UPDATE: Iron Fist has been cancelled by Netflix.

Joshua H. Stulman

Owner, BrooklynComicShop.com