**This review contains spoilers for “Heart Of The Dragon” and events that occurred in Marvel Netflix shows prior**
“Your fist lights up? That’s really exciting.”
Well it would seem that we officially have a new Iron Fist—or Steel Serpent, I should say. Davos has gotten everything he’s always wanted. Now he can use the Fist in ways that Danny never could—except he, too, seems to be limited to one hand. Two fists guys; you have two fists. Use them. Anyway, Davos made it clear that the Fist is one deadly weapon and that his plans are just beginning. Davos doesn’t plan on stopping until all crime is wiped out. As we saw Davos run around with his prize, we got some flashbacks fleshing out further motivation on his part. While it was great to see that Davos’ stakes in everything were more personal than we thought, the flashbacks were rather on the nose and could have been done better. Nonetheless, Sacha Dhawan’s performance made the scene at Davos’ mother’s door, the best of the lot.
Joy is certainly regret for her part in everything—even though she still seems to feel that Danny needed to experience the same loss that she felt. Really, what came out of this episode for Joy was her newly born fear of her former partner. Davos’ tirade made Joy rightly concerned and frightened of what he is now capable. So much so, that she turned to her other rather unstable business partner—in search of protection.
Sacha Dhawan as Davos. Photo is a screenshot taken directly from the show.
That’s right—Joy got jumpy enough to want to rely on her dissociative disorder Mercenary-for-hire to protect her from the imminent threat of Davos. It’s interesting that Walker/Mary isn’t being posed as a villain anymore. She is simply a mercenary in need of money, dealing with a complicated personal situation. This alone is an interesting angle; however, I could see why some may fault the show for not presenting her as a clear bad guy. That being said, while she’s not a clear villain yet, her story is likely far from over.
While I say she isn’t quite a villain yet, we did get to see Mary/Walker fight Colleen and Misty as their search for Danny led them to Joy. It was nice to see Typhoid Mary in a fight sequence with other characters so soon after her brawl with Danny. She’s an extremely skilled and scary fighter, so I hope we see more of this down the line, especially since it would seem that she and Davos are more than likely to cross paths. Rewinding just a bit though, Colleen and Misty spent the majority of the episode looking for Danny. I’m very happy that they immediately realized that someone else was responsible for all of the destruction and killing in the city. Had the writers gone and tried to drag that out–and had people believing it was Danny–I would have sighed very loudly. I do really enjoy the dynamic between Misty and Colleen, and it’s a relationship I hope to see much more of—much like Danny and Luke.
Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum (left) and Finn Jones as Danny Rand (right). Photo is a screenshot taken directly from the show.
As for Danny–well, he was clearly sidelined for most of the episode. He was at his lowest, completely powerless, and nearly broken. I am a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see any of the ritual that took away his powers, as I do think it was a missed opportunity. While he eventually was rescued by Colleen and Misty, Danny himself didn’t play that big of a role this episode. Nonetheless, his predicament did end up giving us a fantastic scene with Ward. While their friendship still feels unearned, it was a scene that certainly helped to build that dynamic and friendship.
The show continued its sudden momentum, as everyone dealt with the fallout of Davos’ ritual. Everyone is uncomfortably in the same place but all with the same goal in mind: stoping Davos. He is now a threat to everyone in that room, no matter their intentions. It’s gonna be pretty interesting seeing everyone interact now that everything’s out in the open.
Bonus Notes:
- I feel that they should be using the Steel Serpent name more than they are.
- Nice little 616 Easter egg they got there.
You can catch Iron Fist Season 2 available now on Netflix.
