Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ coverage of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law! There’s a whole lot to unpack in this finale so let’s waste no time in jumping into it.
1. A Deceptively Normal First Two Acts
“Whose Show Is This?” opens in a perfectly enjoyable, if incredibly predictable and formulaic manner. After her (justified) She-Hulk meltdown last week, Jen is thrown into Blonsky’s old cell and has to don a power-inhibiting ankle monitor to avoid criminal charges. She loses her job, moves back in with her parents, and generally mopes around. It’s all very sad on its face but unfortunately doesn’t manage to land on any real emotional level. We’ve spent so little time seeing GLK&H as anything but a nuisance for Jen so her leaving isn’t exactly heart-wrenching. And her family has been too peripheral, if charming and sweet, for her moving in with them to evoke all that much. Instead, a sequence staged like it’s informed by a deep emotional investment in Jen’s world falls a bit flat. It’s there’s no investment in Jen, just that nothing around her has been quite rich enough for us to feel a real connection to all of that.
It’s clear that the show is building toward something when Jen heads up to Emil Blonsky’s retreat center. At the same time, Nikki has scored an invite to an Intelligencia meeting and she recruits Pug as her proxy because only men are attending. As soon as Pug walks into the event, the “Today is Today” poster in the background acts as an effective red herring. Despite me writing “OF COURSE Abomination is HulkKing,” in my notes, Todd is revealed to be our mysterious villain and the creator of the Intelligencia (Abomination is just a guest motivational speaker). It’s not exactly shocking, but it does land well. After that, Jen shows up and things start to get messy – really messy. Todd injects himself with Jen’s blood, becoming a Hulk himself. Titania bursts through a wall, Abomination tries to protect Jen, then Hulk literally falls out of the sky and starts fighting Abomination. It’s not an unbelievable climax but it is insane to see the show trying to tie up every single thread in one fell swoop.
2. (Dan) Harmonization
Of course, the main event of the episode is not a giant brawl but rather the single most out-there fourth-wall break that we’ve seen thus far (or maybe ever). Rather than bend the knee to the Marvel formula, Jen literally leaves her show through the Disney+ dashboard, jumps into a behind the scenes special to enter the real world, and goes to confront the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law writers’ room then Kevin Feige himself. It’s a lot, but it’s a charming enough writing decision. Then the dial gets turned up to a point of meta that I’d like to deem Terminal Dan Harmonization. See, Kevin Feige isn’t the mastermind behind Marvel’s formula. An A.I. called K.E.V.I.N. (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus) actually tells the stories we’ve been consuming for all these years.
On one level, this is a clever, and extremely literal commentary on the hyper-corporate nature of Marvel Studios’s storytelling. On another level, this is Terminal Dan Harmonization: a level of comedic meta commentary that breaks the reality of the show that it’s in. “But isn’t that what the show is trying to do? I mean, Jen literally left her reality.” you might say. But there’s a difference between fourth-wall breaking and meta commentary that pushes the bounds of a story and commentary that makes it inert. And here, the show has pushed so hard against its boundaries that it sacrifices its own story for it. By sending Jen to the real world, the writers leave the world they’ve built behind in favor of some punchlines. And as much as seeing a Marvel third act swing for the fences is exciting, it would be nice if it actually just delivered a character-centric climax instead of having the character deliver a monologue about delivering a character-centric climax.
3. You Say You Want a Resolution
So, Jen reenters the show after getting K.E.V.I.N. to de-Hulkify Todd, delay Hulk’s return, get rid of Titania, bring Daredevil back because “a woman has needs” and make it daytime. Time to get that character-centric climax, right? Wrong. We jump straight to Todd in handcuffs and Blonsky agreeing to go to prison for violating the terms of his parole. What follows is fine: Jen and Matt have a cute backyard meal with her family and Jen gets her job back, resolving to be both a lawyer and a superhero. It all makes sense as an ending but it’s a bit baffling that we don’t actually see the process that’s just been hyped up. Jen makes a great point about the stakes of this show in her monologue; just as she started to find balance, the rug was pulled out from under her. But then the balance just returns. It doesn’t exactly render the first two-thirds of episode useless. We see the end of the Intelligencia storyline and as fate would have it, Blonsky really is a decent guy now. But one can’t help but wonder where any actual satisfaction is supposed to come from here. It’s like winding up for a solid high-five only to be met with a soft tap.
4. Let’s Tackle Those Teases
“Whose Show Is This?” does deliver a couple of teases for the road. First, Bruce shows up at the family lunch after a long trip to Sakaar. The actual story of his time there will come at a later date but we are introduced to the character most comic fans have been expecting – Skaar, Hulk’s son. It’s an exciting development mostly in that it promises a real future for Bruce. That plus Jen’s “save it for the movie” line when talking to K.E.V.I.N. about her cousin should make it clear the the future is bright for Marvel’s own Jolly Green Giant.
Then there’s Wong breaking Blonsky out of prison yet again, this time to live at Kamar-Taj full time. Wong is such a mainstay at this point that it would be surprising if this didn’t pay off in one way or another (maybe we’ll see Blonsky on the Thunderbolts?). No matter what, it’s a fun stinger that brings things full circle.
5. Taking a Step Back
Taking She-Hulk: Attorney at Law‘s first season as a whole, it’s a little tough to know what to make of it. It’s a good show, with a great cast. Often, it was funny and sometimes it was hilarious. The show was always true to itself in its tone and the social commentary was generally on point. Like Jen tells K.E.V.I.N., Marvel drops the ball with female characters a lot and that was far from the case here. Jen was a fully fleshed out character and we saw many of her dimensions. Better yet, this was a show that really centered and celebrated the womanhood of its main character. And of course, Tatiana Maslany is an absolute powerhouse. She brings a massive amount to the role of Jen Walters but gives her an ease that makes the performance seem effortless. It’s a delight to see her work and with any luck there’ll be a lot more Jennifer Walters in our future.
Still, structurally there was a lot left to be desired. What was marketed as a workplace comedy (I mean, the title literally includes “Attorney at Law”) only fulfilled that promise sometimes. When straying from its premise, the show worked well but solid episodes don’t necessarily add up to a fully coherent season. There was a large, strong supporting cast between Jen’s GLK&H colleagues and her family but somehow Emil Blonsky comes away as the second most fleshed-out character in the show. Nikki, Pug, and Mallory are solid characters brought to life by great actors and it’s a shame they didn’t get more time to shine.
It’s hard not to think that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law would be greatly benefitted by a notably longer season. Generally speaking, TV comedies are at their best when they have serious time to explore all the nooks and crannies of a world and of their characters. Plus, extra episodes would allow the show to make room for the funny stuff, the season arc, and more superheroics. This season did its best to balance all of that but when you only have nine episodes to do so, you’re not going to succeed on all of those fronts.
All in all,She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was a solid experience. If K.E.V.I.N. is just, he’ll give it a second season. But if there’s justice, that season will lean into what makes the show work a whole lot more.
