She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1 Episode 7 Review: The Retreat

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1 Episode 7, “The Retreat,” may not have earned time off from work. However, this staycation earns its spot in the season.

Part cinematic rom-com, part healing retreat, this latest installment is reminiscent of Dollface‘s bubbly demeanor as it explores the world through Jen’s lovestruck gaze.

This is the weirdest take from the series yet; however, as we have learned with She-Hulk, the more peculiar, the better.

Ghosting, Actually

She-Hulk goes full rom-com, and it’s not hard to fall in love with the result.

From the swoon-worthy date montage to the cringe texting exchanges, the episode holds little back regarding romantic cliches. It doesn’t bother to flesh out another suspicious man and instead leans on the tropes we love to encapsulate the giddiness of finding someone.

It’s a massive departure from the bleak sitcom dating tropes, and by taking a more cinematic approach to the show’s dating aspects, She-Hulk turns this romantic spectacle into something on a scale worthy of its hulk lead.

Seeing Jen Walters address many of the insecurities the show has poked fun at this season is so rewarding and precisely the development needed to bring this hero to life.

Everything Jen vents about are rooted in female experience, and despite being surrounded by absurd men in costumes, it is incredibly raw.

Fulfilling Filler

I have heckled She-Hulk (and the many shows that came before it) for their misuse of self-contained episodes, and if we are being honest, that won’t stop anytime soon.

Not as long as Marvel continues to promise something beyond the standard six-hour movie and wastes that precious time on everything but the plot of the show.

That said, “The Retreat” feels like the first honest acknowledgment of what a filler episode should be and what it can accomplish.

Filler episodes may not bother with the main plot, but they must progress the story meaningfully. So sending Jen to check on a client and ambushing her with a side quest to face the very insecurities that have plagued her all season — that’s effective filler.

It instills fate in this series, knowing that even if this comedy is overflowing with unnecessary filler content, it can still produce good filler content. I was concerned for a beat there that the series had lost touch completely.

Supervillain Support Group

It feels like we have waited far too long for Marvel to give into the Arrowverse-personification of its brand.

The company made the frustrating decision years ago to distance this “serious” storytelling from the goofy, low-stakes shenanigans of The Flash with a darker lens and strict scope. Sure, that gave us the Punishers and the Kingpins, but we lost out on the much more fun Captain Colds and Weather Wizards.

A tragedy because we know that for every well-funded Spider-Man, there must be a dozen wannabe anti-heroes running around in insane dollar-store costumes. Enter Man-Bull, and El Águila.

This support group of reformed supervillains is pulled from the comics, with little adjustments to account for digestibility.

They are absurd super-powered beings with even weirder alter-egos. Instead of hiding that fact behind layers of grimy street violence, She-Hulk pulls the veil back on the more bizarre corners of these superhero stories.

Who knew Blonsky and his questionable ranch would be the season’s savior? 

Tim Roth has done wonders for this series as a lighthearted catalyst. It’s such a drastic change of pace from his Incredible Hulk days, but Blonsky’s stern hippy ways have become a source of enjoyment.

Yet, the vanity on display within the support group with self-portraits and giant three-word quotes with Emil’s name plastered across them suggests these villains still find fun ways to be menaces to society. In Abomination’s case, it’s running a pyramid scheme out of his retreat center because why not?

Whether it’s Jen making an excellent case for why heroes need to start apologizing with money or the abrupt introduction of vampires into the MCU, this group session gives our hero something fans have wanted to see for years — therapy.

That fact may be lost in the absurdity. Still, after years of begging for these characters to face their greatest self-doubts in therapy, She-Hulk lets Jen speak her truth.

Closing Arguments

Now we can make way for the most entertaining stage of the Marvel/Disney+ series — the final two-episode sprint.

The simple solution would be not to wait to unload everything on your audience in the final two episodes, but clearly, we’re not willing to part with that problem. Thus, another round of chaos plotting ensues.

That said, I cannot find it in my heart to be mad at this detour because this one has a renewed purpose, unlike the others that came before it.

This episode’s must-needed therapy session is proof when She-Hulk lets Jen Walters stand as her unfiltered self, it is capable of making anything look good. And for that alone, “The Retreat” can carry this season to victory — although Man-Bull helps.

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New episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law stream Thursdays on Disney+.

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