For a shining moment everything was working. Danny was kind, his supporting cast was supportive and all was right. Then abruptly, the former Immortal Iron Fist, protector of K’un Lun and enemy of the Hand threw a fit and… well, we’ll get to that. Also, bowl is a weird word if you say it enough times. Bowl. Bowwwwl. Let’s sit down and discuss Iron Fist season two, episode seven: “Morning of the Mindstorm.”
1. One strange dude
Congrats to Captain Eye Patch, who finally got a real eye patch and not just a wad of cotton. Turns out you don’t need depth perception to beat up a bunch of kids though, which is what he does when he runs into Colleen’s friends of street toughs. The fight is cut short when one of the kids takes out a shotgun. Davos don’t care though; he’s the kind of guy who brings an iron fist to a shotgun fight. And of course he recruits the kids to his burgeoning dojo/cult. “That is one strange dude,” one kid remarks. Of course, he joins the cult.
Ugh, what frustrates me is how Davos is the worst kind of New Yorker. He moved here, yet all he does his mumble about the fetid air and how he will clean the cesspit of its filth. All he does is murder. Who asked you buddy? Like, why don’t you go clean of Jacksonville? Or Juarez? Or Hong Kong? Why does it have to be New York? No one likes you here, and you have no connection to this place. At least when Fisk was shooting abuelitas and gentrifying neighborhoods, he thought it was because of his connection to the NYC streets. Davos is a tourist and a murderer calling himself a savior. You don’t like New York? GTFO!
2. Bowl. Bowl. Bowl. Bowl. Bowl. Bowl. Bowl. Bowl. Bowl.
Misty Knight, clean up the town. What’s on the agenda today Misty? Oh no. There’s a special magic bowl? Now Misty is going to say bowl a lot. That’s a silly word. Every time she says it I’m pulled right out of the show. I respect MacGuffins, but at least make them cool. A ritual knife made out of obsidian. A jewel maybe. A magic tattoo needle, that could work. But a bowl? Bowl.
I’m real happy for the collector Misty meets up with. She’s clearly Ito show her stuff off. Not only does it help Misty solve the mystery of the bowl (bowl), she got to give a lonely nerd the chance to talk about Tibetan scrolls and whatnot.
3. Why can’t we be friends
I want to talk about Mary, and so does Joy, but we have to stop for a second and acknowledge: Joy has the silliest homewear I’ve ever seen. Are those holes cut into the legs of those pants? And she’s just wearing that as she’s futzing around the apartment with nothing to do? She doesn’t own a pair of sweatpants? OK, I’m done.
I didn’t realize how long it had been since we’d spent time with Mary, but she really has a completely different feel and vibe from Walker. And I really like both of them! Mary is genuinely sweet. We also learn the origin of at least a little bit of her traumatic past and it turns out it happened in Sokovia! Nice MCU connection you guys! Beyond that, there are still quite a few gaps in the story but Mary has been one of the most consistently intriguing parts of Iron Fist.
Mary then proceeds to record a video for Walker and the whole thing is heartbreaking, but also kind of cute? I’ve focused a lot on chemistry this season. Danny has it with Ward. Colleen has it with Misty. But I think the most interesting pairing is the growing relationship between the two halves of Mary Walker. Alice Eve has incredibly chemistry with herself. “I think I’m changing,” Mary says to Walker, “Which means you must be too.” Holy crap.
4. A really nice bar
“My brother Danny almost died,” a drunken Ward tells his girlfriend. “I know,” she responds tersely. He means again, but this time worse. Ward still sucks, but I guess he falls off the wagon very effectively. You know what he’s also really bad at? Punching. Add punching to the list of things Ward can’t do. That random bartender cleans his clock. I don’t blame him. Ward was over the line. Calling that place a “shitty bar?” That “shitty bar” looks like a really nice Brooklyn brunch spot. What fancy-pants spots is Ward used to?
Continued belowSo being 10 percent a human being causes Ward to seek out a meeting, to possibly apologize to his girlfriend/sponsor. He makes it as far as the door before the bombshell lands. She’s pregnant and he’s the dad! For the record, no real person would ever say, “I’ve been with child.” But damn. Drama bomb.
5. Shared space
Luke Cage has the Hero of Harlem app. Colleen has really ugle “if you see something say something posters.” These heroes for hire need to collaborate.
But this isn’t all about that! It’s about Danny and Davos and how Danny really loves Davos. And you know, Finn Jones plays nice really well. I believe he wants to save Davos. For the umpteenth time, Jones reminds us that Danny is a character who is best when he’s kind, honest and goofy. Jones gets a lot of flack for his performance, but actually he’s a really good Danny Rand. It’s the writing that sometimes gets confused. Danny is his own person, not a faded copy of the other Defenders. It seems obvious to me that when the show is being true to the essence of Danny Rand, Jones does a good job and the show really works.
Case in point: his petulant freakout at the end of the episode. He asks Colleen to help him defeat Davos. She says no, as she has been saying this whole time. Does Danny accept her explanation? Of course not. He throws a fit and starts turning their apartment, their shared space, into a dojo. This is beyond unacceptable. If my roommate did that I would throw them out. If my significant other did that, it would be over. The fact that Colleen eventually breaks down and agrees to help him just confirms to me that some of these writers are desperately misinformed as to who Iron Fist is.
TL;DR Danny is being a little baby bitch and Colleen is a better sensei than he deserves.
