The Short Take:
Slightly more mature humor than the average MCU outing, and it’s very funny. The pacing of the first episode is a little odd, and I have concerns about the show being too self-conscious about its genre, but the witty, acerbic writing and Tatiana Maslany’s pitch perfect performance make me want to see more.
Image Credit: Marvel.com
[Since this is the first episode and you might not know whether or not you’re planning to watch She-Hulk, I’m going to try to keep this spoiler free for as long as possible. There are a couple direct quotes from the episode sprinkled in, but I do not reveal any plot points until the very end, at which point I give fair warning.]
The Long Take:
Here’s looking at you, viewers at home.
Based on the trailer, I knew going in that She-Hulk would break the fourth wall and address the audience directly, as preceding comics have in the past. As soon as I finished the first episode of what its creators have billed as Marvel’s first half-hour comedy (that may be a loose guideline considering we got 38 minutes), I thought, this fourth wall stuff is fun, but does it have a purpose? What can it add to the story?
As a narrative device, these intrinsically subversive winks and nods to the audience can serve a number of different purposes. Comic relief, parody, establishing the eccentricity of a hero (looking at you, Deadpool), creating a sense of intimacy or playfulness with a narrator character, to name a few. Creating meta-commentary about the artifice of narrative or storytelling itself, or about a specific genre or medium, is another big one. Fourth wall breaks often afford creators an opportunity to self-reflexively work out issues they themselves are having as artists and storytellers. The more I thought about the value added in She-Hulk, I realized that Jennifer Walters turning to the camera would be an easy way for the series to situate itself within the larger MCU and convey to the audience that it might not be the standard Marvel Disney+ series to which we’ve become accustomed.
Immediately after the opening scene, up-and-coming lawyer Jen Walters says, “It’s true. I am a Hulk. And I’m guessing you’re not going to be able to focus on this fun lawyer show until you know all about that, so let me get you up to speed.” I’m not sure how much resentment lurks behind this comment, but to me this line reflects a self-consciousness, perhaps even anxiety, about how MCU fans might receive anything other than the Avengers: Endgame formula. Through Jen, Head Writer Jessica Gao can say something like, “hey, we’ve got this really great new thing over here — it’s a lawyer comedy that happens to have She-Hulk in it — but since this is the MCU, we know that you might reject it unless we pander to your thirst for more familiar superhero content, so...we’ll throw you that bone first to hopefully convince you to keep watching.” That’s a lot of cynical inferences for one line at the top of a pilot episode, but I think considering how reactionary fandom can be, especially online, a preemptive strike like this is perfectly reasonable.
Image Credit: Buzzfeed
Such a self-consciousness determines the structure of the episode, which I didn’t mind but found odd in its pacing. In between a few minutes of what indeed appears to be a “fun lawyer show,” the episode sandwiches a superhero origin story smashed (sorry) onto the front of a lengthy, at times meandering training montage. I know that in my reaction to the most recent trailer, I said that I loved all the Bruce-Jen Hulk School scenes and was skeptical of everything else, but now I’ve kind of flipped around. All the yoga, lab tests, and tiki bar drinking was highly entertaining, and I adored the banter between Bruce and Jen. The writing made me actually believe they were competitive cousins who constantly hassle each other but still care. But there was a lot, and it didn’t seem to have a clear sense of direction. Individual retorts were some of the funniest and smartest I’ve ever heard in all of the MCU, but I felt like these scenes just kept going and going, like a bullet train with no schedule. I’m not saying the scenes were unnecessary; quite the opposite, as we learn key things about how Jennifer Walter’s Hulk is different than Bruce Banner’s Hulk. I just had a hard time keeping track of what was happening when, why, and where it was going. Each scene immediately ran into the next. But should I complain about that when most if not all of it was charming and hilarious? Probably not.
Meanwhile, I really want to see what the “fun lawyer show” is going to be like. I’m a little disappointed that Disney+ did not drop two episodes at the start so that we could get a full sampling of the case of the week legal procedural promised to us in this episode. This is mostly because actor Tatiana Maslany was so funny and like-able. She plays Walters as smart, sometimes smug, sassy, and tenacious. And I want to reiterate that she is insanely funny. Physical comedy, insult comedy, and situational comedy. She’s firing on all cylinders.
In some ways the sandwich structure is a very savvy move on Gao’s part because we get a tease of the actual show as opposed to a bait and switch where the series seems like it’s the Smart Hulk/She-Hulk show this week when in fact it’s Ally McBeal with superhero antics for the rest of the season. On the other hand, I wish the series had enough confidence in what it wants to be. To not worry so much about what people will think. If the breaking of the fourth wall lapses into the show’s insecurity or shame about the kind of show it is and how it compares to other stories in the MCU, then I think we’re in trouble. If Jen continues to poke fun at the MCU when she turns to us, needling other venerated heroes, then I think we’ll be fine. The CGI, by the way, is fine too. At no point did I get the uncanny feeling that I had during the trailer. Save a couple of fleeting moments, I felt like I was watching Tatiana Maslany acting, like I could still recognize her face beneath the green.
The show’s perception of itself and how it sticks out in the MCU parallels Jennifer Walters’ perception of herself post-Hulk transformation. She wants to be a lawyer and doesn’t want to be thrust into superhero-dom. She insists that she can do her lawyering and continue to build the career she has worked so hard for and control her Hulking, keeping it to a minimum. Bruce tells her that she is in denial because she can never go back to what she was before. The superhero life will inevitably come find her. Just as the show feels like it’s being pulled in two different directions — lawyer show one way and superhero action adventure the other — Jen herself will likely spend the season being pulled away from being a lawyer and thrown into being a superhero until she, as Bruce advises, finds some kind of balance between what he calls “two opposing truths.”
Image Credit: Games Radar
[SPOILER WARNING: I am going to start to get into more detail about what happens in the episode. And I can’t ignore that end-credits scene, so make sure you catch that before you continue.]
I am more confident than I was before that this show can pull off a compelling treatment of She-Hulk’s inner conflict because Maslany demonstrates at every turn that she can simultaneously finesse the comedy and the drama this show might entail without missing a beat. For evidence of this, I look to the outburst she has with Bruce about having had so much more practice controlling her anger because she’s a woman, because angry women “will get called emotional, or difficult, or might just literally get murdered.” She goes on to say, “I’m an expert at controlling my anger, because I do it infinitely more than you.” This was the most powerful moment in the episode for me. Calling out the gendered double standard and making other women watching feel like they’re not alone if they’ve had to laugh off misogyny to stay cool and acceptable to society is remarkable, especially in a superhero story. It’s also a thoughtful callback to the earlier scene in which Jen, stranded at a dive bar, Hulks out at a group of guys who say they are “just being friendly,” as well as the male colleague at her the DA’s office who is already infuriatingly patronizing.
To counter my own concerns about the series not having enough confidence in its step off the beaten path, I recall an interview with comic book colorist and editor Renee Witterstaetter on the Women of Marvel podcast. She said that she always loved working on She-Hulk books because the character knew exactly who she was and made no apologies for it. She had issues, like all heroes, but was irreproachable and confident. In this episode, we see how Jen may actually be a better Hulk than Bruce’s. When Bruce says that his analysis of her blood revealed that it could heal his arm completely, she says, “Oh. Because I’m better than you?” She seems to excel at everything; she’s a natural in a way that frustrates Bruce. Hulk is trying to prepare her for a long, hard-fought struggle, but instead she just breezes through all the training exercises. Plus, she can do so much that Bruce either had to work for years to achieve or still can’t do — most notably, she can remain herself when she Hulks out, and she can control when she Hulks out. “Why are you talking to me like I’m a stray horse?” may be one of my favorite jokes, by the way. What a great way to show that she’s not meeting Bruce’s expectations, defying the assumption that they would both be the same.
One way to ensure that She-Hulk sustains the level of confidence it needs to make bold artistic choices is to keep knocking the more traditional elements of the MCU down a peg. I want full blown satire — roasts of all of the Avengers. Let’s make use of those fourth wall asides so we’re in on the joke. The best joke in this episode, or perhaps just the most provocative one, is on Captain America. At the start of the episode, Jen pitches her conspiracy theory about Cap’s probable virginity, worthy of the Charlie Day red yarn on the board meme. Then, in the stinger after the credits roll, she pretends to be weepy drunk, mourning the injustice of “America’s ass” not getting any. Bruce reassures her that Steve lost his virginity on a USO tour in 1943. Jen sobers up immediately in a gotcha moment. The way she opens her arms and declares victory by shouting at the sky made me laugh out loud. It also punctuates the episode and our introduction to the series with a loud and clear reminder that this is not Cap’s clean cut MCU; it’s a little more blue than stars and stripes.
Image Credit: Distractify
The other way to project confidence is to keep the specter of the rest of the MCU fairly muted in the background. I think we’re already in a good position to do this, considering the only direct tie-in to the Infinity Saga/Endgame is the location of the extended training montage. The reference to the old Avengers is literally in the background. I love the idea that Tony Stark built a “tiny” beach house lab for Bruce in Mexico, and it was nice to see him invoke Tony’s name and to show us that he hasn’t forgotten about his lost friend. They could have leaned into this even more, in a tasteless way, and I’m glad they didn’t.
Beyond the references to TS and BB sipping mai tais, there is similarly a very, very small seed planted that may pan out into something bigger in the future. The ship that causes Jen and Bruce’s original car accident is a “Sakaaran Class-Eight Courier Craft,” according to Bruce, “probably trying to deliver a message.” Sakaar, some may recall, is the planet upon which Jeff Goldblum’s The Grandmaster lives, as seen in Thor: Ragnarok. Could The Grandmaster be asking for help from The Hulk? I feel like if he had been trying to capture him, The Grandmaster would have used a more effective technique than flying a ship in front of a driving car. But, then again, the accident could have been the result of intentionally hostile hovering. Either way, I am excited at the prospect of Jeff Goldblum showing up in this show or something else down the line, especially after he got cut from Thor: Love and Thunder.
The idea of The Grandmaster verbally sparring with Jen Walters, now that I think about it, is an amazing opportunity for comedy. He would be so amused by her and she would be so annoyed by him. Could The Grandmaster be in some kind of Earthly legal trouble? Unlikely, but I can dream.
Image Credit: The Hollywood Reporter
I hope this series continues to exceed my expectations, not unlike how Jen surprises her cousin Bruce as she totally crushes this whole Hulk thing. This first episode ultimately feels like a warm-up, not necessarily reflective of the show in its full form. But it’s a good one that made me laugh and left me eager to watch next week’s episode.