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Five Thoughts On: The Defenders “Mean Right Hook”

By | August 23rd, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

And we’re back with the second episode. Somehow even at 8 episodes a Netflix series still manages to feel like it wastes precious time and achieves almost nothing. While I’m not a hound for plot movement, there is a difference between a groovy pace and aimlessness. “Mean Right Hook” barring a couple of scenes feels aimless, not something you want in the second episode of an event miniseries.

“Mean Right Hook” is directed by S. J. Clarkson and written by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich & Marco Ramirez

  1. How Not to Follow Game of Thrones‘s Lead: Variety Edition

In the previous post, I mentioned how The Defenders could learn from Game of Thrones by tying its disparate foursome together with thematic unity. “The H Word” did that and it is one of the best episodes in this series. “Mean Right Hook” drops that with the force of an Iron Fist fueled right. The key to thematic unity in Thrones was how actions echoed across the various threads in small and big ways. There was a variety, “Mean Right Hook” has everyone doing the same thing and none of it feeling important or meaningful. This is an episode the save for a couple of scenes, a waste.

I get structurally “why” this episode has to exist, just none of what you’re seeing is interesting (with a slight caveat to a visual choice). “Hook” is a procedural in search of a mystery. By this point, audiences are clued into somehow this being #allconnected, from the appearance of Alexandra(Sigourney Weaver) and it being the conceit of the show. The episode falters by not meaningful forwarding those connections. While convergence does occur, it is not in the service of the larger plot. Which defeats the purpose of treating this episode as a procedural. Contrary to decades of broadcast television, procedurals are not boring. They are about the minutia of systematic action towards an end goal (solving the case). In film, there is High and Low or Stray Dog on TV there is CSI and Columbo, these examples show how to make procedurals sing. In all of those cases, it is because there is a clear purpose for investigation, which does not yet exist in Defenders. If you took out the moments of convergence, and Alexandra-Stick, you’re left with about 30 minutes of boring action that serves no real purpose but to reinforce character traits the viewer already understands.

  1. An Odd Visual Choice

There’s a voyeuristic quality to this episode that is distracting. Director S. J. Clarkson (“The H Word,” Jessica Jones) films the characters from very long angles or through objects. While I’m a nerd for frames within frames and referencing the overall voyeuristic nature of the medium, all it did was heighten the feeling of how disconnected the 4 protagonists are from themselves, audience, and whatever narrative this series is attempting to spin. When Clarkson does this with Jessica Jones it makes sense, even if it strands some credulity with the cramped corridors. But for the other 3, it just feels out of step stylistically and becomes a visual reference for how disconnected and monotonous it all feels. “H Word” making each segment with a hero feel unique to that hero was a smart play when they’re all disconnected. As of this episode, they are 90% of the time. Homogeneity is not what this series needs.

  1. How Star Power Works

In an era that seems to herald the end of the Movie Star as a guarantee of box office, “Mean Right Hook” is a good example why screen presence and star power will always be a currency. Getting to watch Sigourney Weaver and Scott Glenn bounce off one another as adversaries with an unspoken history is fun to watch because these two have screen presence and can sell the vague exposition. There’s a straight-faced seriousness to it, not cartoonish self-seriousness (ex. Finn Jones and his “Tough Guy Face” acting) but a dignified grasp of what is required.

Stick also cuts off his hand which is pretty extreme.

 

  1. Convergence … Not the DC Kind

While I rail hard on the lax structure of these series, they have largely been workable television for a couple of reasons. The main one being each series clearly explores and defines its lead character and environment. Everyone hates bad 24 writing, but it’s still fun seeing Luke Cage and company fight it out in a night club like Jack Bauer’s stuck in an airport terminal. Because we know the character. This is why Iron Fist is such a complete failure, it neither defined its character or environment rendering it limp.

Continued below

Part of the charm and promise of The Defenders is seeing characters we know interact with other characters we know. And it finally happens … for a brief couple of minutes. Besides the visual novelty of seeing Luke Cage interact (well shrug off really) Iron Fist and Matt Murdoch come to the aid of Jessica Jones, these moments of meeting don’t really add up too much. It does in the next episode, but that’s just a byproduct these series thinking unresolved cliffhangers are the mark of a strong finish.

Luke Cage no selling all of Iron Fists kung fu is just a delight to watch. Luke Cage and Jessica Jones in general, while featuring similar power sets, provide a nice Buffy-esque counterbalance to the physical action employed by Daredevil and Iron Fist. And like smart pro wrestling booking, Cage’s no sell leads to the best example of the power in Danny Rand’s titular fist thus far. He sends Luke Cage flying and you finally begin to treat Danny Rand as a potentially powerful individual. The Defenders, in general, does a much better job selling/actually explaining the mythology of Iron Fist compared to his own show.

The joy of convergence and seeing characters interact is the strongest tool The Defenders has. These series ability to be a little self-indulgent on that end is mostly a good thing, it just could use a tighter engine.

  1. Heroic Color Theory 2.0

I couldn’t be the only one who chuckled at the color play when Matt and Jessica meet one another. The soft overhead light playing off the blue walls and suddenly broken by the garish deep reds conjured up by Matt’s presence. Or, well, the door. While the score gives everyone a distinct theme (which makes for some odd moments later on) having everyone defined by a color like in the credit sequence is a great visual call I wish they could have kept up. It’s the kind of comic book sensibility that makes Punisher: WarZone a blast as well as the work of Zack Snyder and Larry Fong,

When Luke and Danny meet up, their heroic color contrast is more represented by their clothing than overt stylish lighting.

 

 


Michael Mazzacane

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