Credit:@TheDefenders
By:Travis Farmer
Netflix’s newest original series as well as the culmination of two and a half years of television development, “The Defenders,” has finally released to an incredibly positive reception from comic book and television fans alike.
The Defenders is the crossover series of all of Netflix’s Marvel superhero shows. With “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” and “Iron Fist” all coming from their titular shows to team up to battle the forces of evil that were behind many of the problems in their own seasons. The easiest way to think of The Defenders is to think of it as a smaller version of The Avengers, with each character getting their own story before they all team up together.
The Defenders are a group devoted to fighting bad guys and stopping the forces of evil, much like other Marvel team ups, the Defenders have a rotating or fluctuating membership, with the most usual members being The Hulk, Doctor Strange, and other more minor superheroes. In the comics, Luke Cage and Iron Fist have both appeared as members of the team.
In the Netflix show, The Defenders is comprised of Jessica Jones, a grungy private investigator with super strength, Luke Cage, a bulletproof ex-convict who was framed for his crimes, Iron Fist, the defender of a mystical group of monks and sworn enemy of The Hand, and Daredevil, the blind fighter who has super powered senses, besides his sight. While these superheroes are quite well known and fan favorites among comic book fans, they are not on the level of The Avengers or the likes of Superman or Batman with the general public. With Daredevil being possibly the most well-known superhero from the group, Netflix took this group of smaller known superhero’s and propelled them into the light of the world with their own well written, usually well-choregraphed television shows.
The shows plot comes from “Iron Fist” and “Daredevil” season 2, mostly. The plot revolves around The Hand, an order of ancient ninjas who thirst for immortality. In “Iron Fist,” we learn that The Hand has five “fingers” or sub groups, and the leaders of these five groups compose the antagonists in the show. The show revolves around the four main characters, where they were left off after their individual shows, and how they end up coming together and all end up discovering The Hand and their motivations for defeating them.
The shows strengths come mainly from its actors, characters, and the fight scenes. All four of the main cast as well as amazing performances from veteran Sigourney Weaver and Elodie Yung. A noteworthy performance comes from Finn Jones as Iron Fist/Danny Rand. In his own show, Danny Rand was not that great of a character, with a rather boring performance and blatantly bad choreography. However, in “The Defenders,” Finn Jones shows that his poor performance was a symptom of the writing on the show, and that he can give a good performance when aided by better writing and fight direction. Many people were confused as to his bad performance, as Jones comes from a several season run on “Game of Thrones,” known for its almost universally fantastic acting from nearly every character.
One important thing to have in your superhero show is excellent fight scenes and choreography. “The Defenders” had very excellent fight direction throughout the series. However, there are simply so many fight scenes that they begin to lose their impact. There comes a point later in the show where the viewer can almost want less fights and more character developments and interactions, as this is truly where the show shines.
As most of the shows prior to “The Defenders” drag on with 12 episodes and quite a bit of filler in episodes 8-11, it only clocks in at eight episodes. The characters do not all meet face to face until half way through the season, and then the final four episodes fly by in a flurry of action scenes. This is a drawback for anyone who came into the show thirsting for character development, as there is simply not enough time for every character to get their moment in the light.
In conclusion, “The Defenders” is fantastic while standing on its own, and also when compared to the shows that come before it. However, the real strength comes not from its own merits as a well-made show, but rather from the fan service of finally seeing these four characters come together after more than two years of waiting to see them in action. It is easy to recommend the show, as well the entire Netflix Marvel catalog; however, the show will be next to incomprehensible if you have not watched the previous Netflix shows.
