Iron Fist (Season 1)

 

Continuing my watch party of the Marvel Defenders series in chronological order, Iron Fist was next in line. Much like the other characters in the Defenders series, with the exception of Daredevil, I was unfamiliar with Iron Fist. In summary, Danny Rand went to the lost city of K'un-L'un to study martial arts. During his training he was anointed as the Iron Fist in order to defeat the Hand. During his time training, people though he had died in a plane crash, so of course when he returns to New York City, everyone is surprised to see him. His family ran a mega corporation, and when they actually died in the plane crash, his father's business partner Harold Meachum initially took over the company. However, he died of cancer and now his kids Ward and Joy run the company. The twist is that Harold made a deal with the Hand to spare his life in order for the Hand to infiltrate their company. Danny figures this out and everyone thinks he is crazy at first. The company, and the Meachum family, are torn apart. Over time, people learn that Harold is still alive and is evil because of his deal with the Hand, and Danny is able to defeat the Hand with his Iron Fist power. That's the general synopsis of the first season of Iron Fist.

As far as the Defenders shows go, Iron Fist is one of the lower rated shows, with an IMDB rating of 6.4. I think the plot progression in season 1 is a bit slow, as is character development. It took several episodes to get past the introductions of who the characters were and how they knew each other from the past and get to the meat of the season which was the Hand's involvement with the Meachums and Danny's goal to destroy the Hand as the Iron Fist. Once we finally reached that point, however, the show was pretty good. I'm sure that an expert reviewer could pick apart the writing or acting or some other aspect of the show as being mediocre, but even a mediocre Defenders show is one of the better Marvel shows. 

The character's relationships in this show reminded me a bit of Peter Parker and the Green Goblin from Spider-Man, with Harold Meachum knowing Danny as a kid and ending up being on the bad side. It was very similar to Peter's relationship to the Green Goblin. One of the fun aspects of watching the Defenders shows is how their stories and characters intertwine. Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), originally seen in Daredevil, is featured in several episodes of the first season of Iron Fist. There are subtle references to Luke Cage ("sweet Christmas") as well as Jessica Jones. They are individual characters fighting their own battles, but their stories often intertwine which I like.