I actually ended up liking this show a lot but that's mostly due to my love of Daredevil and Charlie Cox and the Matt/Elektra relationship and to my pleasant surprise, Defenders was full of amazing moments for all of those previously mentioned things. This does not mean that the show was perfect as there was a lot of problems that I found watching this season. Despite those problems, I enjoyed myself. I loved seeing all four of the Defenders team up and bounce off one another as well as seeing all the side characters from the four shows coming together. The cinematography and editing were also amazing as well as the incredible and bittersweet ending. The major downsides were with the pacing of the show, the length which goes hand-in-hand with the pacing, Danny Rand aka Iron Fist (I'll explain more in the spoiler section) and the Hand as villains. Overall I'd give this show a 7.5/10!!! If you're interested, my Marvel Netflix rankings are now as follows: Daredevil S2, The Defenders, Jessica Jones S1, Luke Cage S1, Daredevil S1, and Iron Fist S1. Honestly Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Daredevil S1 are so close in ranking that they might as well be interchangeable (I'm not kidding, I switched around the three in order so often I can't even explain!!)
Let's jump right in shall we? There are spoilers beyond this point so if you haven't watched all of Defenders S1 (the one or two of you left out there), go watch it and then come back!!
As always, let's start with the positives!
I loved the interactions between the four Defenders. I loved how Danny seemed to look at Luke as basically an older brother and Jessica was so exasperated with Matt and his antics as Daredevil. To be honest, I loved everyone's reactions to Matt in the full costume. They were all hanging out in leather jackets and jeans and there's Matt with his spandex and leather and horns. It was hysterical. One of my favorite scene in the show was at the Chinese restaurant when they were all finally talking to each other for the first time though their first fight together might be up there too.
I enjoyed seeing Luke and Jessica meet again and how everyone could see the tension between the two and that their ending scene was so open-ended which gives me hope that we might see them together in future shows. I can't decide if I like Luke with Claire or Jessica. I'd be good either way (just no love triangles please for the love of everything!)
I also loved seeing the supporting characters again especially ones I hadn't remembered too much about. Though Daredevil, Iron Fist and Luke Cage aired pretty recently, I almost completely forgot how much I enjoyed Jessica Jones and her supporting cast until they appeared. I remembered that I loved the show and them but it wasn't until I saw them on screen that I felt a rush of affection for them. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't see more of the supporting characters interacting with each other other than a few scenes but it makes sense since the show isn't about them. I was also disappointed with how much Colleen was sidelined cause she was the best part of Iron Fist though I loved everything we saw of her here.
As I mentioned earlier, Matt is definitely my favorite Defender and so I was pleasantly surprised to see how big of a role he played in the show because I expected Danny to be front and center as he is the main antagonist to the Hand. I loved that the Hand feared Matt more than anyone and how badass that moment was when he finally put on the costume again for the first time since Elektra died. His fighting was the best and he was leagues better than the other Defenders. And can we take a moment to praise Charlie Cox's acting again? Even after all this time, Charlie is still adding nuances to Matt. That little head tilt he did whenever he was confused but feeling that Elektra was in front of him? Amazing! Speaking of Elektra, she might be my favorite character beside Matt. I just love how deeply flawed her character is. Despite being the villain, I couldn't help but want to root for her anyway. She breaks my heart and one of my favorite scenes in the show was the one where she curled up in Matt's bed because her memories were coming back.
I also can't help but love the Matt/Elektra relationship. I liked them during Season 2 of Daredevil but I think I really starting loving during this show. Elektra is Matt's one true love and this show proved it to me. There's no one else for Matt that could hold the same candle as Elekra. I was excited to see how their interactions would play out but everything we got went beyond anything I could have expected. The fact that Matt gave up Daredevil when Elektra died, then joined the Defenders just to help her and then when his voice cracked when he talked about losing the one person he loved most in the world? My heart melted. I loved that Matt was the only person Elektra couldn't kill and that all she wanted was to be with him. As the show went on, I was so sure that poor Elektra would die again and this time at Matt's hand so I was thrilled beyond words with how the show ended. The fact that Matt wanted to die with Elektra just because he couldn't live in a world with her dead again was so beautiful and I can't wait to see what else we get from these two in the future because if Matt's alive, so is she.
Now let's jump into the negatives which were few but pretty major.
First of all, the pacing of this show was so strange. I couldn't tell if the show was too short or too long. The Defenders took a bit longer than I would have liked to get all four characters together and then when they did, there were a few episodes where nothing really happened (ugh tbt to the one where Danny was tied to a chair) but at the same time, there wasn't enough time given to fleshing out the Hand and seeing their plan be carried out.
This leads to my second problem with the show. The Hand. They seemed so powerful and menacing in Daredevil S2 and Iron Fist but they were kind of treated as afterthoughts here. We never really learned what they wanted until the final episode and we never really understood what this substance was that they wanted. If it was made from dragon bones, why couldn't they say that earlier? And let's not even talk about how easily they were defeated and killed. One was literally captured off camera. That's how menacing they were.
And finally my last problem was with Danny. When Iron Fist aired, everyone was going on and on about how terrible the show was and how terrible Finn Jones acted but I enjoyed the show and I didn't think that either opinion was true. Watching The Defenders however made me change my tune. Once Danny appeared aside the other Defenders, I realized how childish and unable to control his emotions Danny really was. He was throwing tantrums left and right while the others were acting like adults. Next to Matt, Danny who's supposed to be the best fighter, looked like he never trained a day in his life. Next to Luke, he looked like nothing but a spoiled rich kid. Next to Jessica, his temper constantly looked right on the edge. And don't even get me started about his terrible scenes where he googled the Hand at Rand Enterprises and then stormed their office building with no semblance of a plan or when he couldn't understand that the Defenders were trying to keep him safe and whined to Luke about how it was unfair of them to keep him tied to the chair (which they wouldn't have had to do if he'd just listened to them) or when he was told by Elektra that the Iron Fist would open the door to the substance and he started swinging willy nilly and punched the wall by mistake completing the Hand's plan for them. Ugh.
Despite all the negatives, I was able to look past it and enjoy what we got. I'd definitely go back and watch some of my favorite scenes again! So if you haven't checked this show out, I'd say do it though I would recommend watching all the previous shows so you can understand everything but if you really don't have the time, I'd say Daredevil S2 and Iron Fist S1 are musts as a lot of the Hand is explained in those shows. Again, I'd give this show a 7.5/10 and it's probably my second favorite Marvel Netflix show!
xoxo Allie
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