Netflix Defenders- I am not looking for superfriends (spoilers)

[Colt Ward]

Hard to believe this topic has not already been started BUT . . .

Wife & I binged it Friday night and Saturday night when both of us got off work.  I was a bit disappointed it was only 8 episodes BUT . . . those 8 episodes were well written, well integrated and played out over a matter of days.  I am not sure you had to watch all the individual hero seasons, but they would definitely help when the four start gathering the people closest to them at the police station or explaining the ties.  I think all the appropriate cross over characters- Claire, Foggy, Hogarth and Turk- appeared in the right places at the right time to help build the MCU NYC community.

I kept expecting to see the Punisher wander in for a cameo since his season was teased in one of the trailers.  I thought it was interesting none of them even mentioned letting the Avengers solve this . . . though I am not sure why Luke or Jessica were not required to sign the Accords.  I do hope Stark gets involved with Misty rather than Danny Rand waving a hand for a magical arm to appear.

The team vs Hand fights were great, the hallway in the building and down in the cavern were well done.  It seemed like they were stylistically going back to Daredevil's hallway & stairway fights or Luke's break in to Cottonmouth's building.  The team's power & abilities were very nicely matched against the Hand, it was not like you had a power level discrepancy involved.  In fact, Jessica Jone's Kung Fu week joke was great b/c it mocked that sort of situation. 

[Sharpnel]

I'm saving it for my off work days. The only part I'm trepidatious about is Danny Rand. Iron Fist is very dry as a character. Like sleep inducing dry. It took me three days to watch Iron Fist, whereas I watched all of the others in one sitting.

[THUD]

I wouldn't say they fixed Danny's character,  but they definitely improved it. I liked the shorter season, even the really great seasons felt like they had too much filler.

[JadeHellbringer]

Finishing Ep. 8 as I type this. Pleased overall- Rand is still infuriatingly dull and poorly-written, but at least this time the rest of the cast can carry him a bit (sometimes literally). The move to eight episodes is sad on the one hand, because it means less to watch, but the other side of it is that the bloat and drawn-out 'eh' portions of prior series (particularly Iron Fist) were greatly reduced- there was more of a flow here, and I found that to be a good thing. There were entire episodes of Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Daredevil S2 that could have been contracted out almost entirely and it wouldn't have hurt the story- probably helped, in fact. This didn't have much of that problem at all.

Overall, B+. Marvel has returned to form following the Iron Fist debacle- mostly- and I'm a lot less worried about future offerings. (Which reminds me, wait until the end of the credits for Ep. 8, folks...) I still believe that the Iron Fist character is weak enough that a second season isn't a good idea, and weaving him into other, more interesting series is a better way to go, but this finally has me thinking that second seasons of Jones and Cage would be interesting- Cage in particular, since very little of what happened in his first season was touched on here.

[Skyth]

Binged it on Friday. Surprising since the other shows I could only make it through an episode or two before I had to take a break.

Granted, I never watched Daredevil (either of the seasons).

[Jaim Magnus]

Overall, I thought it was okay. It took too long to ramp up... 3 episodes is not a slow burn, it's lazy plodding. I actually feel that 8 episodes was too many. I think they could have told a tighter, better constructed story in 6. YMMV.

And the last scene before the credits in episode 8. They just couldn't leave it alone. No such thing as suspense any more.

I'd place Defenders in the middle of the pack. Better than Iron Fist and Luke Cage, but nowhere near the quality of Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Personal opinion here, but I feel like some of the Marvel writers assume that people will declare whatever they put out to be brilliant, and are becoming lazy because of it. We'll see if Punisher changes my opinion.

[Colt Ward]

Granted, I never watched Daredevil (either of the seasons).

You are missing out on Daredevil . . . unlike JHB I liked nearly every episode even the slow ones b/c you saw the pieces in the background being moved around.  Jessica Jones I had to walk away b/c it was such a twisted series of events.

I am fine with it being episode 3 before they all join up, I think it plausibly led to that rather than instantly jumping into forming the team.

Iron-Fist was a disappointment b/c the story potential was there . . . it had a lot of interesting angles but they just blew every single narrative opportunity they had in that first series.  Luke Cage was like 2 seasons crammed into one, I preferred the Cottonmouth arc of the first half and felt it had some problems with the last half in execution.

[Skyth]

I guess how brutal DD was is why I didn't really care to watch it.

[Øystein]

Overall, I thought it was okay. It took too long to ramp up... 3 episodes is not a slow burn, it's lazy plodding. I actually feel that 8 episodes was too many. I think they could have told a tighter, better constructed story in 6. YMMV.

And the last scene before the credits in episode 8. They just couldn't leave it alone. No such thing as suspense any more.

I liked that they built it up and just didn't throw them in together in notime.
As for the last scene - suspense? Come one, it's like being told Hitler dies in the end of WWII. Everyone knows he'll pull through. (the guy in question that is, not Hitler).

[Cache]

Loved the series, pacing and all. Wing also nailed what annoys me most about this Danny Rand character. Sometimes he's a still a child looking for his parents (paraphrased). As for the final scene, I agree there was no need for suspense about the character living or dying. We knew the character would live. The scene piqued my curiosity more wondering where on earth the character is and how he/she got there.

[THUD]

According to most of that characters fans, they are setting up a famous arc from the comics.  I wouldn't be surprised if they don't combine the two arcs and have some one else carrying on their work.

[Aokarasu]

Finished tonight; also agree that 3 episodes was fine for when they team up. I have a noticed that fans tend to fall in one of two main camps when it comes to superhero movies/shows: those that want to see the hero(ine) almost right away, and those that are okay with the story developing the "debut" of said character.

We don't know how Matt got out - could be that Elektra, or possibly Madame Gao got him out? If it was the latter, that would certainly make for a twist.

Sorta surprised we didn't see anything of Fisk, but given that this series was all about the Hand, it makes sense.

Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra was a superb casting choice; without knowing who she was at first, when they showed her giving orders to Madame Gao - and Gao obeying them without question - made me sit up and take notice right away.

I have not watched any of the other characters' series, save Daredevil; I definitely want to check out Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Based on Danny Rand and the fact that his character's behavior is reportedly an improvement over Iron Fist, I am inclined to give it a miss.

[JadeHellbringer]

The thing to remember on Murdoch's survival is why he (and everyone else) was down there.

Why is in in the hole? Because the portal is down there (why is it in New York, that's a better question)

What was on the other side of the portal that The Hand wanted? The 'substance' that allows them their indefinite life. They ran out by using the last of it on Electra, so they needed more.

So Murdoch got a building collapsed on his head... in a place full of a substance that can bring the dead back to life.

You don't say...  ;)

[Aokarasu]

What was on the other side of the portal that The Hand wanted? The 'substance' that allows them their indefinite life. They ran out by using the last of it on Electra, so they needed more.

They were removing ribs in segments, so my presumption is that whatever the "substance" is, it is within the marrow of those ribs.

[JadeHellbringer]

They were removing ribs in segments, so my presumption is that whatever the "substance" is, it is within the marrow of those ribs.

Oh I believe you're right, but in the show they only called it 'the substance', so I was going off their cue.

[Cache]

So Murdoch got a building collapsed on his head... in a place full of a substance that can bring the dead back to life.

Was the area they were in actually located under the building, or was the door a portal that led to Shao-Lao's graveyard? Meaning that maybe some rubble made it into the portal to injure them and someone (Electra) found another portal out to a different part of the world. I know they apparently all were destroyed but one, but things happen.

[Aokarasu]

Was the area they were in actually located under the building, or was the door a portal that led to Shao-Lao's graveyard? Meaning that maybe some rubble made it into the portal to injure them and someone (Electra) found another portal out to a different part of the world. I know they apparently all were destroyed but one, but things happen.

Having not seen Iron Fist, I didn't know where Danny had fought and killed the dragon. If there was a portal, it definitely wasn't made very clear, in my opinion.

[Aokarasu]

Oh I believe you're right, but in the show they only called it 'the substance', so I was going off their cue.

Thinking back on it, in the first episode when they show Elektra being resurrected, there is a gray powder being mixed in the liquid. Could easily have come from the fossilized bones.

[monbvol]

Overall it wasn't bad.

The characters stayed true to themselves rather well but I will echo I would have liked to see more growth for Danny Rand/Iron Fist.

Some of the plot elements did actually almost seem integrated after the fact though and it id feel a bit slow and pondering at times.

[Sharpnel]

After watching this, Jessica Jones has reinforced my belief that she is the best of the four main characters.

[roosterboy]

Was the area they were in actually located under the building, or was the door a portal that led to Shao-Lao's graveyard?

It was under the building. Gao specifically said that New York was the last place fossilized dragon bones could be found, so it wasn't a portal to elsewhere.

How twisted is it that I almost cheered when Misty's arm got cut off? Bring on a Daughters of the Dragon spinoff!

Eight episodes was just the right length.

Danny was much more bearable in this series but he's still a putz. The writing for the character was also better here so I really think the weaknesses are mostly due to the actor. I did think Danny and Luke had some good chemistry, though. I also enjoyed how everyone kept pointing out what an idiot Danny is. "Thundering dumbass" was Stick's assessment, I believe.

[JadeHellbringer]

After watching this, Jessica Jones has reinforced my belief that she is the best of the four main characters.

"Put your hand on me like that again and I'll punch you so hard you'll SEE."

[Colt Ward]

My wife loves her 'Classy' line from the restaurant.

[THUD]

I love how everybody piles on Danny, but they let go how Matt left him alone, tied to a chair, with Stick. That was the most unsurprising betrayal ever.

[garhkal]

With all the stink i am hearing on this, i am Hoping that both Inhumans and the Gifted do much better.

[Colt Ward]

Huh?  Iron Fist was the stinker series . . . Defenders is pretty solid.

As for Inhumans . . . my wife was laughing that Ramsay Bolton was trying to get a throne again, but is it me or are they making the hidden superhero areas look retro?

[solmanian]

The MCU and Netflix Marvel shows are very seperate. Agents of shield is actually part of the MCU, and they're barely allowed to even talk about the movies. And now that Disney is cutting ties with Netflix... not only you can forget about cross-overs with the MCU, I'm worried about the long term viability of the defenders spin-offs.

I didn't think it was a big deal when I heard of it "what, so I won't binge watch duck tales on Netflix? Who cares?"; only after reading this thread I put 2+2 together and like "waitaminute...". After all this years Disney still means Mickey Mouse and Goofy to me, and not instinctively Star Wars and Marvel...  But hey, maybe we'll get Star Wars and Marvel cross overs! I remember when they made the StarTrek/DoctorWho/transformers/GIJoe crossover and it was pretty badass.

[Colt Ward]

The Netflix shows take place in that universe . . . we will see if they continue to reference it, but I thought the Infinity Wars movies were already including them and those have been shot.  Honestly, it will come down to how the Marvel brand is treated by Disney.