She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1 Episode 9 Review: Whose Show is This?
Leave it to She-Hulk to smash our expectations for this finale.
In this multiverse of fourth-wall-breaking madness, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1 Episode 9, “Whose Show is This?” throws away the script and leans into the meta antics that initially charmed us.
It is She-Hulk at her closest to the comic books, but her call for accountability isn’t the decisive punch to Marvel’s jugular the franchise behemoth thinks it is.
Jen Walters Alway Be Smashing
There’s meta storytelling, and then there’s what goes down on the finale of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
As Jen walks the halls of Marvel Studios, having just obliterated the Disney+ fourth wall, I should be thrilled to see decades of story culminate in this show-stopping moment of insanity. But when I reach deep, all I feel is a simmering disappointment.
Not for Jen. The She-Hulk standing before her writer’s room is a perfect envisionment of the wise-cracking, argument-winning queen we first saw flourish in the pilot.
Tatiana Maslany navigates the weight of this final fourth wall break with effortless conviction to bring Jen’s comic book persona to life.
There’s no denying the episode reaches its most incredible heights when Jen, sitting crisscross on the floors of Marvel Studios, chews the Daddy-issues-loving formula to pieces and asks for X-Men back before sticking her tongue out at us.
It all culminates with the epic slogan, “I smash fourth walls and bad endings, and sometimes Matt Murdock.” How could one hate chaos magic this horny? Short answer, you cannot.
Marvel’s Meta Overkill
No, my disappointment lies entirely with Marvel Studios.
To say Jen Walters smashed those lazy MCU tropes and to say she demanded better storytelling is all true from a fictional standpoint. But, the same company penning this call for change is the company we’re demanding the change from.
It’s an empty form of mockery for Marvel to write itself into the narrative as this disillusioned franchise machine instead of fixing the problem that has plagued every single Phase 4 finale.
There’s just something that doesn’t sit right with me about crafting an entire female-led show around this one big reveal when that reveal essentially says all the terrible plotting and last-minute storylines that “make no sense” were part of an elaborate joke.
Oh, my bad, you knew it was terrible, so it’s okay. No, I refuse to accept that as “good” storytelling, and I refuse to pat Marvel on the back for this performative accountability when real accountability is desperately needed.
And with the TV shows feeling more and more like glorified lead-ins for the bigger blockbuster films, this choice to advertise the Disney+ platform and Marvel Studios headquarters in this meta joke seems tone-deaf.
Marvel is not a character, it’s a conglomerate, and it shouldn’t be taking up physical space in these stories. The choice comes off as a glorified promotional tool at its weakest.
I don’t want to stew in the negatives because robot K.E.V.I.N. is adorable, but nothing in this finale is resolved after the fourth wall break. It’s as if Marvel waved this shiny piece of foil in front of us and hoped no one would notice.
Jen says she wants a different ending, one where the HulkKing and the season arc wrap up in a way that makes sense (same girl, same). Instead, the episode does none of that and concludes with a Fast and Furious farm-to-table family gathering.
The joke is even when Marvel is self-aware of its plotting issues, it still can’t plot a finale correctly.
Happy Endings
If the consolation prize is a finale that doesn’t follow a tired formula and has more Matt Murdock, who are we to complain?
It’s a pleasure to see Matt and Jen, two characters notoriously subjected to storytelling beatdowns, find a moment of peace together. Happy endings are always worth investing in, even if they come at a cost.
And it is an immense joy to see She-Hulk flip the script on the season’s “villains” by revealing they are just self-entitled trolls.
The show predicting exactly what these “fans” would say about the show before it even aired is the real superpower here, and I would happily watch Pug look on in disgust at their use of the word “females” for another thirty minutes.
She-Hulk didn’t manage to resolve its more significant plotting issues, but it found a unique brand of comedy and broke from routine to give us swooning romances, epic fourth wall breaks, and Madisynn. Jennifer Walter’s show did that!
—
What did you think of the finale of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Critic Rating:
User Rating:
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is available to stream on Disney+ now.
Follow us on Twitter and on 
Instagram!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Alicia Gilstorf
Alicia is a Rotten Tomatoes Certified Critic and a Critics Choice Association member. She credits her passion for TV to workplace sitcoms, paranormal dramedies, and coming-of-age stories. In her free time, Alicia loves to curl up with a good book and lose herself in a cozy game. Keep a lookout for her coverage of Ghosts. You can also find her work on Eulalie Magazine and Cool Girl Critiques. Follow Alicia on social media: @aliciagilstorf