What to Watch: Iron Fist Season 2

by Mike Lunsford, the Immortal Editor-in-Chief of the Great Geek Refuge

Danny Rand, the Immortal Iron Fist, is the little brother of the Netflix Marvel universe. He’s kind of annoying, a bit obnoxious, and he’s trying to prove himself. Of all the Defenders that have had their own series, Iron Fist took the most flack by far. It had the lowest scored reviews, the most backlash and the highest amount of criticism for it’s first season. Viewers were tired of the “white savior/chosen one” trope, the uninspired fight choreography and overall annoying portrayal of Danny Rand by Finn Jones. I described him as a trustafarian Napoleon Dynamite who was dope at Kung Fu. At any rate, Season 1 was not well received, carrying a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Season 2 looked to correct the course and took many steps to do so. Their first move was to bring in a new show runner. They tagged M. Raven Metzner (Heroes Reborn, Sleepy Hollow, Falling Skies Season 4) to bring a different take on the defender of K’un L’un. There was also a new fight choreographer to clean up the scenes, which with a series that is almost exclusively about martial arts, need to be top notch. As far as Marvel/Netflix was concerned, there was nowhere to go but up for the Iron Fist Season 2. And with the impending match up of Danny vs Davos for the big confrontation in season 2, there would at least be plenty of excitement.

“No, Davos. I will not pull your finger.”

If you were disappointed with the first season, you will be pleasantly surprised with it’s follow up. In fact, it set a record on the aforementioned Rotten Tomatoes site for the biggest rebound for a show in it’s second season, going from 19% in season 1 to 53% in season 2. Now, let’s talk about why it was 34% better than season 1.

The most noticeable improvement and focal point of the show was Finn Jones as Danny Rand, the immortal Iron Fist. When you’re looking at this character, there are some important points to consider. He is a person without a home, still essentially a child. He was the sole survivor of a plane crash that took his parents from him and thrust him into the mystical world of K’un L’un. His life of privilege in New York City was immediately erased and replaced with cold, harsh training as he learned various forms of martial arts. Then, after beating his best friend and adopted K’un L’un brother, Davos in a no-holds-barred-bare-knuckle fight, he punches out a dragon, he get’s a sweet tattoo on his chest, and a glowing yellow hand. Plus, he now owns the super sweet title of “the immortal Iron Fist.” He is the protector of the gates of K’un L’un and sworn enemy of the Hand. But he misses home and takes a sign from a hawk (like ya do) to go back to his original home.

The problem is, New York City hasn’t been his home for about 12-15 years. He doesn’t fit in any more. He didn’t fit in K’un L’un either as the only caucasian. The boy has no home. He’s not quite Danny Rand nor is he fully the Iron Fist. And the term “boy” fits. He may be a man in age and size, but emotionally he’s still a child, to no fault of his own. Yeah, he did lots of physical training and learned how to meditate but what about his emotional well being? He lost his entire family and then the sibling-like friends he grew up with, they don’t really want him around because he is interfering with their plans. It does explain a great deal about why he acted the way he did in Season 1 but this should have been conveyed and not just implied. It was oversights like that that led to it’s poor reception.

All that backstory with Danny leads to this: his portrayal in season 1 was whiny, awkward, and uneven. In season 2, there was a noticeable difference. He carried himself differently and this disparity of a “man torn between 2 worlds” was communicated to the audience. Not only is the performance better, Danny looks cleaner, less “trustafarian” and more of a man with a direction. At the end of The Defenders, Daredevil tells Danny to “defend his city.” Danny takes this request very seriously and it weighs on him but, contrary to the mistakes made of season 1, Danny tells the audience this through conversation with Colleen. This Danny doesn’t just brood and get pissed off without their being a reason we know about. It’s written in his dialog and his actions going forward. So, credit should be given to both Finn Jones and M. Raven Metzner for these character tweaks.

Another improvement, character-wise was having his K’un L’un brother, Davos be the main villain of season 2. This Marvel/Netflix team up has brought some incredible depth to the villains and they didn’t drop the ball with Davos. We see how cold and uncaring the relationship Davos shares with his mother and how that shapes who he is. We see how truly heartbroken Davos was to lose the title of Iron Fist to Danny and how his jealousy has poisoned his soul. Their battle over what it truly means to be an Iron Fist is portrayed much more clearly in this season.

Let’s go into some of my other character notes from Season 2:

• We saw at the end of season 1 Davos teamed up with Joy Meachum (Jessica Stroup) as she feels slighted by Danny as well. Her arc is incredible as well as we see how truly broken she was by the events that transpired in season 1. Not only is she pissed at Danny, she’s also angry with her blood-brother Ward.

• Ward Meachum (Tom Pelphrey) really grew in this season as we see his battles with substance abuse and trying to become a better person. His interactions with Danny and Joy are realistic as siblings trying to mend a broken relationship after tragedy. He’s trying to make amends but his sister is less receptive to this, which any person who’s dealt with a fractured sibling relationship can attest to, happens often.

• Alice Eve (Star Trek: Into Darkness) was incredible. Eve plays the role of Typhoid Mary, who is normally a Daredevil villain in the comics. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the character, Mary starts off as a sweet, artistic, kind of flighty girl who seems like she would make a great friend to have coffee with. There’s a dark side to Mary though, in the form of an alternate personality who carries a dangerous secret. Eve plays this dual role expertly and makes you both fear and empathize for her. For the sake of spoilers, that’s all I can tell you.

• We also get more depth into Danny and Colleen’s relationship and Danny’s desire to live a somewhat normal life. We see them do things like having a date night, turning the dojo into an apartment and even inviting Joy and Davos over for dinner. Having Joy and Davos over for a “couples date” was very strange but it really fit with Danny’s desperate desire to have a normal life, when all signs point to this being nearly impossible. His adopted siblings, both Davos and Joy essentially hate him but as far as he’s concerned, they’re still family and that trumps all. With his history, can you blame him?

“Normal people do this, right?”

• Jessica Henwick continues to build upon an interesting Colleen character from season 1 and her crossover in Luke Cage season 2 where she kicks some ass with Misty Knight. We even see some more of Misty and the subsequent teases of a potential “Daughters of the Dragon” team up that come with such partnerships. Plus, we get to see some more badassery with Misty’s robot arm.

I’m one of the few people who liked season 1 of Iron Fist. I thought people were overly critical of the show and gave it too hard of a time. It’s a show about martial arts where the main character has a glowing chi-infused hand, it can’t be taken too seriously. It was originally written in the 70s when the idea of a white guy learning an Eastern philosophy and becoming a “chosen one” wasn’t as culturally insensitive as it is now. Granted, it was still insensitive then but there was precedence in shows like Kung Fu starring David Carradine, but now there’s definitely no excuse. They could have made the Danny Rand character of Asian decent or even bi-racial to eliminate this played-out, racist trope. Which side note, a half white, half Asian Danny Rand who is torn between two worlds (New York and K’un L’un) and the fact that he is not 100% Asian would have made for a great tie in. That’s the point though, we’re supposed to be more evolved than this in the 21st century and correct these sins of the past. Iron Fist Season 2 addresses this in a wonderful way that simply can’t be revealed because it’s a massive spoiler which I won’t do in the “What to Watch” series. Watch it for yourself. This season is way better than the first. If I’m ranking it in quality compared to the other Netflix/Marvel series, Iron Fist is still the weakest franchise. Both seasons pull up the rear as far as rankings go, but at least with season 2, it’s moving in the right direction.

Looking for more in-depth analysis of Iron Fist Season 2? Then look no further than our very own podcast, GGR Pirate Radio where we talk about that exact topic! Just click on the gif below to listen!