Iron Fist Season 2, Episode 8 title art. Photo courtesy of the the official Iron Fist Twitter Page.
**This review contains spoilers for “Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance” and events that occurred in Marvel Netflix shows prior**
“The only answer when it comes to Davos is a final one.”
Colleen and Danny’s tirade continued as she trained him—which I guess has successfully healed his wound at this point? Even Danny pointed out how silly Colleen was being. It really doesn’t have to be between their relationship or stopping Davos. It’s so forced. The way that they are getting Danny to confront his emotions here just doesn’t click. There are better ways of getting Danny to confront his emotions, and the way they are doing it here just doesn’t click. But I guess it conveniently did for Danny—as he’s figured out his baggage. Even though path the show took to get Danny to his revelation was rocky, there was still some good character development as he realized that he has always been fighting solely for the power of the Iron Fist. Though I wouldn’t think he’d go as far as to give the power up—or offer it to Colleen. While I don’t think that’s actually going to happen, I question why the writers would think this is a good plan—or option to tease. I mean, we haven’t even gotten a proper Danny Rand Iron Fist yet.
When it came to Davos, he clearly has gone off the rails. His noble intentions and motivations have now been blurred and distorted, and he’s out of control. His attempted peace offering went downhill fast—clearly he no longer has a sound mind. I do wish that they could have kept Davos more in line with Punisher—in the sense that he never clearly crossed a line (like killing a perfectly innocent man). Davos is fully vilified, and it’s almost a shame—because that would be a good way to connect to him as an audience. Sacha Dhawan’s performance is still fantastic, however, and it alone elevates the character.
Alice Eve as Mary Walker. Photo is a screenshot taken directly from the show.
You know who else is still doing a fantastic job? Jessica Stroupe. Joy’s character has really been a pleasure to watch this season, and her development as a character has been extremely strong. I absolutely loved the moment when she looked Davos straight into the eye and told him the truth: she wants to be a better person. Her ruse under Davos is still going strong; nonetheless, but she couldn’t keep from slyly helping BB– something that came in handy later as he is the one that was able to acquire the bowl for our good guys as Joy masterfully maintained her role as Davos’ ally.
Joy didn’t let her turn of character go unnoticed. She actually made contact with Ward—much to his surprise. This led Ward to realizing that his sister was in trouble, and that she feared for her life. This gave us an incredible and unlikely pairing: Ward and Walker. Striking a deal to help Walker, Ward has enlisted her help in order to save Joy—even if it means giving Davos a final answer.
Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum. Photo is a screenshot taken directly from the show.
Now when it comes to Walker, I think she may easily have had the most intriguing plot of the episode. An alternate personality that not even she knows about has now been teased. While Mary thought Walker saved her life in Sokovia, Walker always thought it was Mary. This startling conclusion leads Walker on a mission to understand the variables of her condition before she even thinks of attempting life in Arizona. Even the idea of the integration of her personalities—one that really excites me—was brought up as Mary’s next potential step if she wants to understand the blank spots in her traumatic Sokovian past.
Colleen’s training sessions with Danny continued to be dull, slowly leading us to the conclusion that Danny has been power-obsessed—something the show could have gotten to a different way. Joy and Walker once again were the highlights of the hour, as Ward looks to be getting in on the action once again. It really is a shame that every storyline except for the show’s main character is still going strong (well, I guess Davos has faltered here and there).
Bonus Notes:
- I guess it was fun to learn the heritage of Colleen’s Katana.
- Joy is fantastic at improvised metaphors.
- Ward’s moment at the flower shop was quite literally lol.
- I still think it’s silly that it’s taken this long to even introduce the idea of that our character can use both fists. Like, you should have that from the beginning.
You can catch Iron Fist Season 2 available now on Netflix.
