Started Iron Fist last night and continued it today. It's not as bad as it was made out to be after three and a half episodes, but it's not as good as any of the other Marvel shows on Netflix either. The fight scenes haven't bothered me as much as some (they're not as good as Daredevil, but there's a hell of a lot better than Jessica Jones). Finn Jones obviously isn't an amazing fighter, but the fights aren't insultingly bad either, at least not yet. It does have that dumb thing going where everyone seemingly knows kung fu, but I guess I can forgive that since a ton of movies and shows have fallen into that trap before as well.
The writing is definitely the weakest point. The bad guys in the first few episodes are just comically evil, which is fine for someone like Thanos who is literally trying to conquer the universe and is in love with death, but less fine for a couple of humans who run a business. A bit more nuance would have been nice. When they flashed back to Ward being an utter prick even when he was a kid, I just rolled my eyes. A better story would have been that he was Danny's friend as a kid, but over time under his father's influence he became a prick motivated solely by financial gain.
I was pretty sure Finn Jones was portraying Danny Rand as mentally challenged in the first two episodes. He just kept making such baffling decisions and sharing entirely too much about himself to literally everyone. I get that he didn't have your average childhood, but you'd think he'd at least be smart enough to realize that, in the real world, his story sounds fucking insane.
Anyway, the show is watchable so far. I'd probably lose interest if it weren't a Marvel show and, thus, must-watch for the upcoming Defenders series. Still, hard to say this thing got fairly reviewed either, as most reviewers seemed obsessed with the manufactured controversy surrounding the casting of the lead and refused to review the show on its own faults and merits.
Also, this might be the first time I've watched a show and felt that one of the characters (the guy who plays Ward) was more likable in a previous role when he played a Nazi (on Banshee).
Although to be fair, he was actually a pretty likable neo-Nazi.
