Iron Fist The Best and Worst of Iron Fist (Spoilers)

[writer0327]

What were some of your favorite and not-so-favorite moments/characters/etc. from the series? I honestly thought Iron Fist had some shaky moments here and there, but the good stuff far outweighed the bad.

Best Character - Ward Meachum. Loved the character, loved the acting. Close call with Colleen.
Best Episode - Ep. 6 - Immortal Emerges From Cave
Best Moment - Ward killing Harold and dumping the body. Loved that whole sequence.
Best Fight Scene - Drunken Master. Purely awesome and hilarious. Hope he's okay.
Best Quote - "That wasn't a compliment." (Harold to Kyle about wanting to eat nothing but ice cream.)

Worst Character - Joy Meachum. Mostly just there with nothing to do.
Worst Episode - Ep. 2 - "Shadow Hawk Takes Flight". Could've eliminated this entire episode to be honest, found it redundant to Ep. 1
Worst Moment - Hogarth proving Rand's identity with the fingerprint on the bowl... C'mon writers, really?.
Worst Fight Scene - Iron Fist/Davos vs Hand students. Felt this could have been a more interesting and thrilling scene. It wasn't. Just a lot of punching until Colleen opens the gate.
Worst Quote - "I am the Iron Fist!" (said about 100 times unnecessarily throughout the story. Okay, thanks Danny, we got it! Yep, you're the Iron Fist....WE GOT IT! Thank you!)

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

I would say Iron Fist and Davos vs the Hand was one of the few times I looked up from my phone.

 

[Mike Murdock]

To me, the best episode was 12. I thought that combined all the elements the show was trying to do effectively. I thought Danny had some fun fights, but the sword fight with Colleen sticks out in my memory.

I put the worst episode as episode 1. I think 2 was at least more interesting than 1 and his description of the plane crash (which would be redundantly repeated later) actually showed some good acting. Honestly, what they needed to do was combine the two episodes. Maybe cut out the driving scene, the burglary scene, etc., or at least speed them up.

Best Character - I'll put Colleen. Ward definitely wins for most improved, but he didn't start great at all.
Worst Character - I have no problem putting Joy here. I appreciated the brother/sister dynamic so I wouldn't have cut her from the show, but, short of secondary characters, she's the easiest to criticize. The alternative would be Claire Temple.

I'll think about some of the others. I disagree about the fingerprint on the bowl being the worst moment. To me, my reaction there was "oh thank God, they're finally getting this plot over with." Off the top of my head, I'd put Harold coming back to life in a weird Zombie mode as the worst moment. I genuinely thought "they don't know what they hell they're doing anymore" when that happened.

 

[chamber-music]

Episode two was definitely my least favorite. The mental hospital scenes bored me.

I enjoyed all the Meachum stuff. At times it almost felt like a black comedy. The reactions to Harold's behavior was amusing at times.

Collen was fine. I wasn't as enamored with the character and her story arc as much as other seem to be.

 

[Protar]

I'd say episode 2 was probably the worst overall episode for me - I also found the mental hospital scenes a little dull and Danny's naivety in the earlier episodes frustrated me to no end. Like he didn't realise how crazy he would sound telling his psychiatrist that he has super powers?

The best episode? Episode 12 I'd say, as that was when the hand plot all came together and became really exciting.

Best character? Harold (with Ward in a close second). Clearly an awful excuse for a human being, but his wit made him likeable to watch and his clear love for his family, twisted as it was, made him sympathetic at times. He was clearly the series' equivalent to Fisk, Kilgrave or Cottonmouth but because his goals were aligned with Danny's for pretty much the entire season it added a new spin on that. He didn't reach the level of Fisk or Kilgrave but I think he surpassed Cottonmouth.

Worst character? I think Joy had a fairly directionless arc which probably puts her in this spot. Having her plotting to kill Danny at the end of the season came out of literally nowhere and tarnished what merit there was in her character. I think Danny himself needs a mention in this category as well because he is just not up to scratch as the protagonist. At best he is bland, at worst he is outright unlikeable, ranging from frustratingly naive, to being whiny an angsty, to being a patronising white yoga dude.

Best moment/fight - the drunk ninja fight. Came right out of a different show, a fun kung fu show that didn't take itself too seriously and wasn't afraid to be a little ridiculous.

Worst moment - I've got to hand it to our white protagonist telling an asian woman how to perform martial arts in her own dojo. In terms of both race and gender it was one of the most patronising scenes I have seen on tv period.

Best quote - "you're the worst ironfist ever."

 

[metaphysician]

Best Episode: for me, 6. The little mini tournament was exactly the kind of thing the show needed more of. Challenges, clashes of honor, kung fu fighters with bizarre schticks and strong personality. The individual fights may not have been as good as Drunken Master, but it overall was stronger.

Worst Episode: A tie between 2 and 13. 2 took the "is he real" nonsense from 1 and doubled down. 13 sidestepped away from the whole kung fu world for an anticlimactic finale. Sure, 13 had some decent fights and character bits, but this gets balanced out by the stupid "Joy and Davos" scene.

Best Character: Ward Meachum. He had an actual arc, and depth, spread across the whole show, as well as a lot of the best scenes. From a start as someone totally despicable, he ends the show as someone you can legitimately believe is one of Danny's closest allies.

( I disqualify the returning characters, since they all have the unfair advantage of prior appearances. )

Worst Character: Bokudo. Oh, his purpose in the plot was fine. However, the actor never clicked for me. It felt like he was just going through the motions, unchanging. Even when he was allegedly giving a passionate pitch, it just felt monotone.

Best Fight: Drunken Master! Need I say more?

Worst Fight: So, so many to choose from, but I'll put my money on the final rooftop fight. They shouldn't have made it a fight at all, because the dramatic need to make it a challenging "climactic" fight required Danny to basically forget how to kung fu. Blocking the bullet was cool, but not enough to make up for fisticuffs that would have embarrassed Daredevil, and a sudden random vulnerability to being shot at. If they *absolutely had to* have that fight, they should have had Danny get winged a couple times by the mob of guys with machine guns downstairs. Possibly while saving Ward's life.

 

[writer0327]

Worst Fight: So, so many to choose from, but I'll put my money on the final rooftop fight. They shouldn't have made it a fight at all, because the dramatic need to make it a challenging "climactic" fight required Danny to basically forget how to kung fu. Blocking the bullet was cool, but not enough to make up for fisticuffs that would have embarrassed Daredevil, and a sudden random vulnerability to being shot at. If they *absolutely had to* have that fight, they should have had Danny get winged a couple times by the mob of guys with machine guns downstairs. Possibly while saving Ward's life.

You know, I completely forgot about this crappy fight but yeah, you're right, it probably is the worst. I recall rolling my eyes through the whole thing. Wretched on every level. I thought they would have had Harold poison Rand to even his odds up a bit for a mano y mano throwdown since he had been training for half the series.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

That rooftop finale was right out of a 90's TV adaptation of comic books. Which is to say, really crappy.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Worst moment - I've got to hand it to our white protagonist telling an asian woman how to perform martial arts in her own dojo. In terms of both race and gender it was one of the most patronising scenes I have seen on tv period.

I really don't understand this being an issue. In the world of the show, Danny is just a better martial artist than Colleen, fact. Race has nothing to do with martial arts ability. He's the Iron Fist, he should be the best fighter in the room.

 

[Web-Head]

Favorite episode was probably 12.

Favorite moment was the fight between Davos and Danny.

Worst episode? Off the top of my head, 2 or 9.

 

[chamber-music]

I really don't understand this being an issue. In the world of the show, Danny is just a better martial artist than Colleen, fact. Race has nothing to do with martial arts ability. He's the Iron Fist, he should be the best fighter in the room.

Agreed.

British actor Warren Brown is a former Thai Boxing World Champion. If he gave a Thai woman fighting tips in a ring it would not be a racial or gender slight as long as he was respectful.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of people criticizing that scene but I didn't think it was as bad as people made it out to be. I've seen similar scenes in a lot of different films where the superior fighter gives little lessons to the person he or she is sparring against. I can see why it's a little problematic but I don't think it was that bad.

That said, Colleen was a lot more believable in her fight scenes than Danny was, lol.

 

[Incredible Hans]

I really don't understand this being an issue. In the world of the show, Danny is just a better martial artist than Colleen, fact. Race has nothing to do with martial arts ability. He's the Iron Fist, he should be the best fighter in the room.

This.

Danny was brought up in an Asian monastery since he was 10. This makes him culturally Asian. Of course it's possible that he knows a whole lot more about that stuff than Asians living in New York. Knowledge doesn't come from skin colour.

 

[Syncos]

Worst moment - I've got to hand it to our white protagonist telling an asian woman how to perform martial arts in her own dojo. In terms of both race and gender it was one of the most patronising scenes I have seen on tv period.

This is honestly one of my favourite moments in the series.

Are you kidding me? He was trained as nothing but to be a living weapon for 15 years. OF COURSE he's a better martial artist than Colleen. He's supposed to be one of the best in the world.

Colleen is a bushido sensei. This was a moment where Danny was teaching her Kung Fu. He'd been paying attention to her anger and it's effect on how she fights, and was guiding her.

It's one of the few moments where he seemed as capable as he should.

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

I'm probably the only one that really enjoyed episode 2 in the mental hospital. I thought it was a great connector between the almost absurd mystical aspects to the more realistic premise of the Netflix shows to date. Whenever Danny would try to explain K'un-Lun to his doctor I would get a chuckle.

The episode with Zhou Cheng and the drunk fight was actually my least favorite. The fight was cool I guess but I just didn't like the flow of the episode overall and having Claire there just seemed reckless and silly.

I'll agree that Ward was a standout. Very interesting character to me. Yes he's a total a-hole but you honestly feel bad for him.

I thought Finn Jones was perfectly fine as a lead. I just think he needs better writing. But I liked his affable innocence while he struggled with deep seated anger issues. I also understood his emptiness and ongoing need to find what was missing in his life. Working your whole life to become something and then discovering it's not at all what you expected resonated with me.

My biggest complaint though is that Danny seemed to play down to whoever he was fighting. I mean there are some guys he should just totally destroy effortlessly. The fight with Harold at the end irked me but I guess he was still in pain from having a bullet through his hand and he was dealing with psychological issues confronting the murderer of his parents who was supposed to be like a second father to him.

Also I was very disappointed Danny never suited up. Hopefully they fix that later.

I think my favorite fight was Iron Fist vs. the hatchet men though the fight with Davos was really good too. I really liked the portrayal of Davos.

Colleen was great. Loved the plot twist with the Hand and their recruiting methods.

They need to up the effects budget or something and not be afraid to embrace more of the fantastical aspects of Iron Fist. It was disappointing to me to not even get a glimpse of Shou-Lao the Undying or a better look at K'un-Lun.

But they can totally build on what they started. It's clearly doing well for Netflix. Marvel just needs to learn from this and not rush the next season.
A slam dunk second season with some course corrections will elevate Danny to right where he needs to be.

My $.02 anyway.

 

[Guard82]

I recently watched all of Iron Fist, and I enjoyed it, but I also admit that it is the weakest of the Marvel Netflix series thus far, and the one with the most flaws. I liked it overall and was glad I watched it, but I definitely had more problems with this show than I did with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or Luke Cage.

Things I Liked:

1) Colleen Wing. She was by far my favorite character in the show. Jessica Henwick was great in the role. I liked her from the start and all the way to the end of the season, and I always appreciated when she was onscreen.

2) Danny's early characterization in the show. He was interesting enough and likable enough early on to make me want to follow his journey. Later in the show, his characterization became more problematic for me, and I think for other viewers too.

3) The return of Claire Temple. It's always great seeing Rosario Dawson and watching how her character Claire interacts with all these Marvel characters. Along with Colleen, Claire was one of my favorite characters in Iron Fist's debut season.

4) Davos. This show's version of classic Iron Fist villain Davos the Steel Serpent was very well-written and well-acted by Sacha Dhawan. I liked how they started out as close friends until they had a falling out due to Davos' resentments, which I thought were well-explained. For me, Davos was a standout villain/antagonist from Iron Fist in the same way Kingpin, Kilgrave, and Cottonmouth were standout villains for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, respectively. And Davos has lots of room to grow as a character and antagonist in a future season.

5) Bakuto. He was an entertaining villain and provided some cool fight scenes and good tension.

6) The glimpses of Kun-Lun that we got were interesting.

7) A number of the fights were enjoyable to watch.


Things I Didn't Like:

1) The glimpses of Kun-Lun felt too limited and too vague. I know there are budget limitations on what the show could do with a mystical city, but I hope we see more of Kun-Lun in the future.

2) The pacing. This was one of my biggest problems with the season. The pacing often felt very slow and sluggish, and seemed to struggle to build momentum in the story. There would be noticeable periods of slow activity, and when the story finally built some momentum, it soon slowed down again and seemed to stall. I hope they address these pacing problems in the second season because this can really bore viewers.

3) Joy's change of heart at the end. I didn't understand why she suddenly turned against Danny at the end and why she seemed open to the idea of helping Davos and Gao kill him. It didn't make sense. Joy didn't have any logical motive for turning against him. She knew very well that nothing that had happened was Danny's fault; she knew all the trouble was caused by her father Harold. It was all very confusing and didn't serve Joy well as a character.

4) Some of the Meachum family drama dragged on too long and got boring. The Meachums had their good moments, but they were also responsible for some of the season's tedious, slow-moving moments, at least for me. The Meachums were also not the strongest characters for the most part. Ward got better and more interesting towards the end, but the Meachums overall weren't especially interesting to me.

5) Harold Meachum's resurrection scenes. These scenes were just way too strange-looking in an unappealing way for my taste. They also looked silly and ridiculous, and they bordered on being unintentionally hilarious.

6) Danny's characterization in roughly the second half of the season. While Danny had been sufficiently likable early on, he later became far too stubborn, unthinking, thin-skinned, and childish for my taste. And his ways of expressing his stubbornness and thin-skinned attitude were often too melodramatic. I was fine with Finn Jones in the role, but I didn't like the way Danny was written as a character in some of the later episodes.

7) The final fight on the rooftop. As other people have mentioned, this fight was pretty poor. It wasn't choreographed very well, and it didn't feel epic. Also, Harold Meachum had become too cartoonish in his villainy for my taste, sort of like Diamondback in the second half of Luke Cage Season 1.

Overall, I'm glad I watched the series and would recommend it to others, but I hope they fix some of the show's weaknesses in future seasons.