Iron Fist Review: Mountains and Valleys (Season 1 Episodes 7-9)

Building off the momentum of the rockin’ good time that was Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 6, combined with my first free day in a month of Sundays, I decided to amp up my viewing schedule.

I was not disappointed.

Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 7, “Felling Tree With Roots,” felt more like the episode before a season finale than the seventh of thirteen. Madame Gao has won, Harold gets got, Joy gets booted from Rand, Ward has officially tumbled over the edge, and Megan finally says more than “yes, sir.”

Although a lot happens on the episode, the one question that slinks across my mind here is: Is this actually Ward Meachum’s show? From the pilot, Ward was set up to be more of a thorn in Danny’s side, a mean bully from his childhood who never grew out of being mean.

Ss the season progresses, however, it seems more attention is being given to Ward’s Oedipal drug-addled spiral than Danny’s journey as The Chosen “Earned” One. While Danny runs around trying to solve a vague mystery (it isn’t until this episode that we realize his ultimate goal has been to, presumably, honor his father’s name), Ward has his own daddy issues exacerbated by the sudden appearance of a childhood friend.

I daresay, I’m actually starting to like Ward. Shouting at dead bodies is a good way to get me on your side. By the end of the episode, I’m cheering as he stabs his father over and over again. The dark horse becomes the true villain.

Meanwhile, Danny and Colleen briefly discuss their respective pasts before she takes his V-card, and in doing so, subtly broach the interesting notion of Danny as a reluctant hero, although it fails to expand upon it, at least in this block. While it’s certainly blasphemy to compare Danny to Buffy, the idea of a powerful hero who just wants to be a normal high school girl would certainly make for a far more compelling and relatable protagonist than the one with whom we are currently saddled.

But alas.

On Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 8, “The Blessing of Many Fractures,” also known as the infamous Marvel Road Trip Episode, Danny recruits Claire and Colleen to travel with him to Anzhou to find Madame Gao.

While I’m not certain why they needed to fly all the way to China (and Claire correctly points out that dragging Madame Gao back on a 14-hour flight will be awkward), the road trip episodes are generally a lot of fun as we get a break from the hum-ho of the day-to-day, learning a bit more about the universe, and this episode is no exception.

Added bonus: we finally get to see Lewis Tan (#3 reason why I wanted to watch Iron Fist) doing his best Captain Jack Sparrow impression as a drunken ninja and dammit, I was reminded all over again of the show that could have been had he been cast instead.

Bygones.

On Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 9, “Mistress of All Agonies,” the weakest episode in this block, Harold Meachum returns from the dead like:

Unfortunately, while the resurrection itself is WHAAAAT, the walking-around-New-York part shows that there’s a reason the Bible doesn’t mention Jesus’ trip back to… wherever (I haven’t read the bible in awhile.)

Just as the snowball is reaching critical velocity—Madame Gao is captured and we finally have the opportunity to get some background on Danny’s childhood—Iron Fist decides that we haven’t quite had enough of the Meachum family (guys, I assure you, we have), and spends a good 30 minutes following Harold as he relearns how scalding hot dog water is.

Seriously, if he had just popped out of the swamp in one scene and then shown up a few scenes later in a business suit impatiently drumming his fingers as Ward enters the apartment, I would have been just fine.

Harold Meachum is not the focus of this show. Why do we need to see how he gets from point A to point B? The writers have been pretty big on telling instead of showing in previous episodes. Why is this the one journey we needed to see? Why not some more drug addict Ward scenes or a Joy scene, even?

Ultimately, this episode also falls a little flatter than the others as it suffers from the same problem we had in Season 1 Episode 5: the scenes stretch on a bit too long without actually moving the plot forward, again a problem I suspect has something to do with Netflix’s moribund and unnecessary 13-episode rule.

Overall, I will say that episodes 1-5 were a waste of my time and with this batch of 3 (plus episode 6), I finally get the Netflix show where I actually don’t groan aloud at the thought of clicking “Play Next.”

Focusing the Glow

Episode 7 – 4 stars

• Are we ever going to get an explanation for this glass coffin?
• “I have no idea what an iron fist is. Sounds like a sex toy.” HA!
• Both Ward and Harold have injured left hands. SyMBOlisM???
• Kind of a dull reaction to watching your father cut off his finger in front of you. Xanax is a hell of a thing.
• I’m upset that there’s no Claire, but I’m glad she’s safe.
• We still have no idea why Danny left K’un-Lun defenseless. Did all the monks die and he’s hiding it?
• It took a moment to figure out why we had to sit through this sex scene (yeah, I get it’s supposed to be “meaningful”), but then I remembered that, having left society at ten years old, Danny is actually a virgin—unless he was up in K’un-Lun having his way with the goats… which I would believe.
• Why would you keep all that money in one place, Ward? You really are an awful businessman.
• I wanna see more of this British lady. She seems awesome.
• I feel like Bakuto is supposed to be important because his name showed up in the opening credits.
• Wow. I get that a CEO can’t just do whatever, but wouldn’t it take an extreme amount of power to vote out all three of them? Although, Danny isn’t paying attention, so I’m sure he has no idea.

Episode 8 – 4.5 stars (Lewis Tan is gets a whole half point for his scene)

• I’m going to cry, I love Claire so much. Reading her letters from Luke.
• Who is responsible for cleaning this apartment? We haven’t heard from Kyle in a few days.
• Joy wants to fight for her position back. I hope we get more of her character now that her dad is truly gone. She’d be such a perfect anti-villain.
• How did Danny get access to a plane if he was removed from the company…?
• Claire is definitely a Virgo: pragmatic, helpful, blunt, stubborn, keeps her private life private, gives good advice, can hang with the girls as well as the guys.
• Ward sells his own sister out. That’s cold.
• We finally get a little backstory on Colleen. She did, in fact, once have parents. One of them dead. The other?
• “I hired a private investigator. She’s pretty good, when she’s sober.” JESSICA!!!
• Oh, look. A designated girl fight.
• Danny, if you [further] damage Lewis’ face, I’ll summon the iron fist right through your spleen.
• Awful transition scene, although I really wanted Joy to slap Ward. Just one good time. People don’t slap enough anymore nowadays.
• The not-killing Madame Gao would have been a lot more compelling if it were earned. Like if Danny were struggling with it throughout the season, like Aang and Fire Lord Ozai. Instead, it’s just a lame reason to keep her around for the next episode.

Episode 9 – 3 stars

• Damn, Ward. You couldn’t even be bothered to pull the knife out of your own father before dumping his body? Disrespectful.
• In ep. 7, Claire listed the “awkward-ass plane ride” as a reason to not go to China to retrieve Gao. I’m wondering how that went.
• Neighborhood Ma was about to square up with Harold the undying. Touch my son and I’ll send you right back to that grave—and this time you ain’t getting up again.
• Is this the same hot dog vendor from the pilot? That’d be hilarious.
• Do I believe Claire only hangs out with special people because she wants to be special? I don’t know. These situations keep finding her, not the reverse, but why does she stay? Pure selflessness? An altruistic desire to help? Or…
• Madame Gao, you ain’t psychic. You just Googled. Quit playin’.
• Ironically, I was recently talking to a friend about Sacha Dhawan and, lo, he appears.
• Why are we watching him fold aluminum foil for so looooooooonnnngggggg????
• Danny keeps getting help from women of color. They really do make the world go round.
• Ooh. Madame Gao knew Mama Rand. That’s strange because not even Danny has mentioned her since the pilot…
• Girl, 17th century?? Ooh, she might be psychic…
• Kyle likes vanilla ice cream. He probably also watches E! religiously and thinks Robert Pattinson is hot.
• Aaand another dead gay person.
• Joy’s reaction to her undead father is some prime acting. (Not sarcasm!)
• So, like, it never occurred to you to open your fist, Dan man?
• This Meachum storyline is getting too convoluted, honestly. Let’s see where Bakuto and Colleen are taking Madame Gao and Danny.

4 plus 4.5 plus 3 is… 3.8333 repeating stars. The highest score yet!

What did you think of this episode of Iron Fist? Are you also writing a stern letter to Marvel to get Lewis Tan a recurring role in future seasons? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Iron Fist is currently streaming on Netflix.

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