Welcome to Multiversity Comics’ coverage of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law! As the site’s resident law student, it’s exciting to take on these reviews. I hope you all have a good time coming along for the ride with me.
1. A Breath of Fresh Air
If I’m being totally honest, a bit of Marvel fatigue has started to set in recently. I’m still having fun with the MCU but there’s only so much of the same story structure you can take before it starts to feel less satisfying. The great news about She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is that it’s genuinely doing something fresh. The advertising alone would tell you that this is a different kind of Marvel project. It’s more a meta, fourth-wall breaking (though not quite Deadpool level) workplace comedy that takes place in a superhero world than it is a classic superhero story. You can tell from the tone of the Hulk training montage, which uses pop music and focuses more on laughs than abilities, that this is going for something unique. It’s nice because it gives us the chance to take in a new story from the most prolific company of the moment without feeling like we’re getting the same thing as always.
2. The Elephant in the Room
It’s an unfortunate truth that the visual effects on She-Hulk leave something to be desired. While our cg hero certainly looks better than she did in the initial trailer for the show, there are just enough things that are a bit off that it’s hard not to notice. Her hair looks weird, her skin is too smooth, and there’s a general effect that isn’t quite uncanny valley but it definitely doesn’t look right. It’s especially striking because of how good Hulk looks. Now, it’s not nearly as bad as some would make it out to be. A lot of the subtleties of Tatiana Maslany’s acting really come through even with the missing fine details and it’s still miles ahead of the CG you get on network television and even a lot of cable. Plus, we all know how poorly Marvel treats its visual effects workers and how little time they have to work. Still, this isn’t as good as the standard that Marvel has set and it would be dishonest to say otherwise.
3. My Gripes
Maybe it’s the rising second year law student in me but it was frustrating how little “Attorney at Law” we saw in this episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. It’s fair to assume that general audiences are more preoccupied with how Jennifer Walters became She-Hulk than they are with her daily life when they tune into this premiere. The premise of this show is that it’s like Ally McBeal with a superpowered protagonist. The pilot delivers on less than 5 minutes of that. It’s a really solid few minutes and the rest of the episode we did get is also good – it’s just shame that we get so little of what this show is supposed to be. I can’t help but wonder if a two-episode premiere or editing the origin material down might’ve been helpful. With either extra time or better balanced time, this premiere could’ve been an introduction to the life of a superhero attorney instead of just getting the profile of a character.
4. Cousinly Love
I suppose it’s good practice to spend some time talking about story and not just structure. I think the fact that there’s so much more to say about the latter speaks to both the strengths and weaknesses of the former. This is an incredibly straightforward episode of television, following Jennifer Walters becoming She-Hulk and then training with Bruce Banner to become a hero. The thing is, she doesn’t have an alter ego, she’s a pro at controlling her anger (being a woman who exists in the world and all), and she’s even pretty naturally great at acclimating to her new Hulk body and using her abilities. Tatiana Maslany and Mark Ruffalo have a chemistry that makes this nearly episode-long training sequence an easy, fun watch. The pair make fun and bicker like real family members and there’s a sense of ease that they have around one another that makes a shared history completely believable. The drama of Bruce being jealous of Jennifer’s immediate aptitude is relatable and strikes the right balance of genuine and funny. It does, however, lead to a far too long Hulk/She-Hulk fight sequence. While the flight has some of the fun pettiness that comes up when family members wrestle, its charm wears out long before the scene ends. The awkward, silent rebuild of Bruce’s bungalow is an excellent stinger, though. Ultimately, the best scene in the episode is its very last, in which Titania crashes a trial, only for Jennifer to transform in public for the first time, knock the villain out, then announce that she’s ready for closing arguments. If that represents what this series will be like, we’re in for a great time.
5. Three Cheers for Tatiana Maslany
This episode couldn’t have worked nearly as well as it does without Tatiana Maslany’s stellar performance. She’s being tasked with a lot, serving as a literal messenger to the audience, and having to establish the shows tone. This is a character who has to be funny and relatable enough to carry a sitcom while being confident, strong, and good enough to be a superhero. Oh, and she has to be our conduit to a whole new type of Marvel storytelling. Maslany does this masterfully. We see her carefree, angry, ambitious, passionate, disoriented, and thrilled, all in the span of an episode that’s very narrow in its focus. It’s going to be a real treat to see her as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law escalates and its scope expands beyond whether or not Steve Rogers is a virgin (which, by the way, is a discussion that Maslany really sells beautifully).
