There are spoilers here, so be aware!

While some people were out drinking green beer, others spent their St. Patrick’s Day binging Marvel’s newest Netflix show, Iron Fist. The show dropped fully on March 17th to mixed reviews. I’m sure you heard backlash from fans regarding Danny Rand’s race, but I don’t want to touch on that too much here. I didn’t read the comics but according to Google images, he was a white guy there too, so I’m not able to comment on that aspect.

Iron Fist starred Finn Jones of Game Of Thrones fame, Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, Rosario Dawson and David Wenham.  The show follows the story of Danny Rand, a twenty-five year old returning home to New York after going missing for fifteen years; time he spent in a monastery training to become a hero known as the Iron Fist. His new powers combined with the fact that he was presumed dead like his parents lead to a rather unfriendly homecoming with old friends Ward and Joy Meachum, so he had to adjust to a lot.

Overall, Iron Fist was just okay. I think it was the weakest of the four Defenders shows because it wasn’t as exciting. Danny himself wasn’t the most compelling, his backstory at the monastery wasn’t nicely developed, and his powers weren’t that cool, considering he was supposed to be a legend. Only in the last episode did he do something that impressed me. Unlike Daredevil‘s first season and Jessica Jones, there wasn’t one main villain, which I think contributed to this show’s mediocrity, but the changes in villainous characters did keep viewers guessing and interested. This show also gets points for explaining more about The Hand, which appeared in Daredevil and will probably be a part of The Defenders. Not to mention that there were several fun ties to the other shows, which is exciting for fans.

Speaking of ties, Claire Temple always deserves a special mention. As always, she is the unsung hero, saving everybody several times over and being just so sassy. She really has had it up to here with enhanced people and their heroics, so she was a perfect parallel to Danny and even Colleen in that sense. That being said, she was better in Luke Cage.

Iron Fist has some fun dynamics though, that weren’t explored too much in the other shows. For one, having Ward and Joy’s father around was interesting as no one else had any parents in the picture, and Harold was a pretty creepy dude. This played well into the overall family dynamic, especially between Ward and Joy. Again, none of the other Marvel/Netflix characters really had siblings except for those weird twins in Jessica Jones and Luke’s half-brother. I have to give a shoutout to Tom Pelphrey who played Ward, as he gave a great performance through the ups and downs Ward endured. The best of the whole cast, if you ask me. 

Colleen Wing was a fun addition too. I can’t comment on how she was compared to her comic counterpart, but I really did like this feisty, tough, katana-wielding girl. Though I was at first a little upset at how slow her backstory was revealed, I understood at the end, that it had to happen the way it did, but it still isn’t clear how this twenty-something who looks fifteen came to own a dojo in New York doing well enough to live off of. In the comics she works with Misty Knight from Luke Cage, so hopefully we’ll see them meet in The Defenders.

Circling back to Danny, as much as we all were rooting for him, because his story of survival was true and it was kind of disheartening to see his old friends reject him, he did have a bit of a sense of entitlement. He came back expecting them to welcome him and give him Rand Enterprises back despite having a really wild tale that did make him seem crazy. To this degree, the fact that they made him a rich white guy kind of did work well. Even when he ordered Collen that fancy meal when he wanted to ask her a favor was a little entitled, so I wasn’t too bothered. And while we’re on the topic of Danny’s story, am I the only one who is disappointed that we never really saw the dragon?

So while Iron Fist is, in my opinion, the weakest of the four, it isn’t a bad show and if you have the time, give it a watch because there are some cool stories, cool fight scenes, and cool characters that will make watching worthwhile. Plus, I think everyone is excited to see The Defenders all team up so watching it will help you understand how Danny ties into the group.

Did you watch Iron Fist? Did you like it?