As we approach the end of this season of Iron Fist, the show is no longer holding back. We’ve moved on from the traditional down on his luck hero making one last push against the villain and gone into something else. Something amazing. Something surprising. Don’t pretend you saw this coming. Let’s talk about season 2, episode 9: “War Without End!”
1. Big Trouble
The theme of the season has been sort of muddled, but now it is clear: Danny really is addicted to his fist. Unlike other Netflix heroes like Daredevil, he’s really trying to break the cycle of addiction by giving his powers to Colleen. To make matters more complicated, Colleen thinks Danny is giving her a second hand fist, but he really thinks she deserves it and that’s a dope creative decision. A constant problem of Iron Fist season one (and season two) has been that the titular hero has been so hard to like, while his girlfriend is way cooler and more worthy in every way. Major kudos to a show leaning into the problem and making it a solution.
The big showdown happens at Colleen’s community center. It’s worth pointing out that Sam Chung, the dude who runs the facility, is future Marvel hero Blindspot. In the comics, Blindspot fights crime with Daredevil and has the power to turn invisible. Here, Sam’s weapon are the hard drugs the center hasn’t had time to turn over to the police yet.
I won’t recap the fight blow-for-blow, but it’s a good one. Davos fights an axe-man in the kitchen. Danny and Davos have a well-shot duel. Colleen fights a gang of truly badly dressed teens. BB bites it. RIP BB, I never cared for you and you always seemed a superfluous character, but you definitely didn’t deserve to die for that. The Battle of the Community center ends with a nifty needle stab by Danny juicing Davos up with some Ketamine. Special K. Aw yeah.
2. Fall of the House of the Serpent
Davos has been falling for so long, he probably thinks he’s flying. There was like two minutes at the beginning of the season where it seemed like he had a plan and a goal, but once the writers decided he was crazy, it was just creeping escalation and now he makes zero sense. He makes goofy plans, fails at them, and abandons them at least once an episode. He declares loyalty and betrays his allies at a startling rate. He’s really an unhinged lunatic serial killer, even if the show is treating him like a sympathetic mastermind. Fisk he is not.
Case in point: he decides Joy needs to die. Davos cares for Joy. She’s messed with him and betrayed him all season (remember when she had that senator’s wife rape him for zero plot impact!?). But now? He abruptly decides she needs to die. So does he stab her, choke her, or blow a hole in her with his magic dragon fist? Naw. He backhands her pretty hard and fails to kill her like a punk loser. No follow-through this Davos.
Fortunately for… no one I guess, Captain One-Eye has gone from frightened survivor to full drinker of the Kool Aid. And then things really start going off the rails. Everyone is stabbing everyone. In hindsight this seems inevitable, but it is striking what a poor villain Davos has turned out to be.
3. The Legend of Bagger Vance
On the other end of villainy, let’s visit our old friend Turk. He’s not on a murderous rampage, shrieking about the purity of a city he could give two shits about. He’s practicing his golf form like a boss, and selling weapons out of the back of a van. You see? That’s all you need to do to bad guy it up. And Ward and Mary want to buy a gun. Ward even has advise on Turk’s swing. “That was melodramatic and a $500 fine waiting to happen.” Oh, Ward you have all the right priorities
4. The Legacy of Wu-Ao Shi
What’s in the box? What is in the box? Literally speaking it’s a brush and comb set. But a little bit of investigating trace it back to Wu-Ao Shi, the Priate Queen of Pinghai Bay. In the comics, Wu-Ao Shi is one of the coolest Iron Fists ever. Around 1545 she earned the Fist, stole some ships, and invented a new style of martial arts that charge her arrows up with dragon energy, inadvertently inspiring Kanye West centuries later. She’s a tremendous badass and apparently Colleen’s ancestor? As in, Colleen really is the true heir to the Fist? Destiny is at play here? And good writing? This is awesome.
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Even though Danny is making a good decision trusting Colleen with his powers, Colleen needs a better support system. Enter Misty Knight. “I don’t even know you, and I think this is the closest thing I have to a healthy relationship,” Colleen says to Misty. Stop teasing us guys, and just make it official.
5. Tatted Up
Oh look who it is, the CRANE SISTERS! The final moments of this episode go by quickly, and they are indescribably exciting. Again, a lesser show would pay lip service to Colleen getting the Fist and then steer away from it. After all, Colleen doesn’t play nearly such a big role in the the source material. She Misty’s partner, and friends with a bunch of X-Men, but she’s never wielded the Iron Fist ever. She’s also never been Danny’s girlfriend. The writers took stop of the incredible talent and energy Jessica Henwick brought to their show and said “YES!”
So all at once: Colleen’s getting herself a Fist!!! Oh look, she’s got the ink! Davos is breaking free! He’s still got the fist! No THEY’VE BOTH GOT THE FIST! Her fist is white! This is awesome!
