The Marvel Cinematic Universe TV Thread

[Azazel]

10 minutes ago, Ruki said:

I'm feeling that way with Luke Cage season 2 (I'm most of the way through, I think). And I felt that way with The Defenders. And a bit with JJ season 2. And Iron Fist. Either the quality is dropping or my interest is waning

I think it is just over saturation.  In the last year they've put out The Defenders, The Punisher, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage which totals 46 episodes.  That is twice the number of episodes a normal TV shows has in a full season, and this episodes are 15-20 minutes longer, so it's a LOT of TV to write and watch.

[Jimmy]

I'm finally watching The Defenders purely so I can kick on with Jessica Jones S2, which was by far my favourite of the Marvel shows. I don't think I've missed out on too much from not watching Iron Fist or Daredevil S2, feel like they've done a decent job of covering that ground. It's been an easy watch so far, I'm about five episodes in. It's a little clumsy, sometimes lacking in quality, but the pacing has picked up nicely and it's also nice to spend a bit of time with these characters. 

On 04/07/2018 at 19:53, K said:

I think most of these marvel Netflix shows could do with being two or three episodes shorter. Just tighten them up a bit. I always start to wain about episode nine or so.

This was definitely the reason I've put off the Marvel stuff for a while. I think Luke Cage's second half of season one really killed my interest for a bit. I feel kinda ready now to get to JJ and then Luke Cage after, because despite its flaws, it was doing some really interesting stuff, especially a the beginning. 

[K]

I think eight episodes a season is enough for any show tbh

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Daredevil S2 is 100% worth it if just for The Punisher, who's arguably the best of the Netflix MCU heroes.

[Gabriel]

Season 2 of Jessica Jones was the first one that I had any trouble getting through. Season 2 of Luke Cage is going much more easily for me.

[Jimmy]

Eh, found the last few episodes of The Defenders to be uninteresting - the villains were pretty poor and it all kind've descended into something where the stakes didn't feel very high and I was never truly sold on the emotional stakes either. I felt it peaked in the middle with that scene in the Chinese restaurant. 

At least I can crack on with Jessica Jones now.

[JasonM]

Yeah, the Defenders never really clicked in terms of villains or stakes. The character interactions were great, and it had plenty other things going for it. But as a whole the Hand just hasn't done it for me as an overarching evil force of evilness that had to be stopped at all costs.

Obviously they did, and they've gone as far as build them up across both Iron Fist and Daredevil S2 as super bad people that had to be stopped. But they never really felt menacing or a prevalent enough threat for me to really get engrossed into the struggle. I felt they had interesting enough characters, but they never went anywhere, their intentions were always left super vague and confusing to a point where I never really got why they wanted to do the things they wanted to do.

And for some reason, whilst the MCU has arguably done weirder shit. Ancient Japanese Death Cult looking to sink Manhattan into the ground to dig up the soul of an ancient powerful dragon to become immortal(?) kinda was a bit too out there for me.

I liked Cottonmouth and Kingpin because they were human villains with very human motives. Greed and power, decadence and violence, and all other tropey virtues, but wrapped in an intriguing package where they just teetered on the outside of being straight up hamchop villains.

Meanwhile the Hand, they're goofy as hell. Obviously super dangerous and deadly, but there's just something inherently dumb about Ninjas in New York with over the top objectives.

Again, I think it's mostly just a disconnect where they should've simplified the storytelling a bit, make the motives easier to understand and maybe even do some tropey monologuing to really make it obvious what their plans were, and most importantly, WHY they were doing it.

I also liked Madame Gao, Bakuto. But I found Sigourney's character to be an utter drag and Alexandra's whole story with Elektra was poorly explained beyond 'chosen one' connotations. Also, Elektra suddenly going full evil and taking over the Hand, meh.

Iron Fist being the weakest of the four shows also invariably hurt them, because everything hinged on Danny's story.

I still liked the Defenders, but in hindsight the story itself is pretty half baked.

Edited July 16, 2018 by Jasonmufc

[Ruki]

Just finished Luke Cage 2

Huh...did not expect Cage to end up as the 'king' of Harlem. Is....he a bad guy now? Does Iron Fist need to knock some sense into him?

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Iron Fist Season 2 arrives on September 7th.

I really don't think they can make it any worse so I'll probably watch it on the assumption it must at least be halfway good this time. He was better in Defenders and they've changed showrunner so I'm optimistic.

[Benji]

Luke Cage season two is solid, a lot more consistent than season one and an improvement in general as it already was. Easily the best of The Defenders S2s released so far.

[Ruki]

2 hours ago, Jerazil said:

Iron Fist Season 2 arrives on September 7th.

I really don't think they can make it any worse so I'll probably watch it on the assumption it must at least be halfway good this time. He was better in Defenders and they've changed showrunner so I'm optimistic.

But I just finished Luke Cage!

[Lint]

So S2 of Luke Cage dropped a reference to Cloak & Dagger and now Cloak & Dagger is referencing Luke Cage!

[Jimmy]

I'm three episodes into Jessica Jones S2 and really enjoying it so far, although there was some really off-putting special effects in the first episode or two, which really undermines the world they're trying to build. Krysten Ritter's charisma is definitely the selling point, she makes Jessica she an irresistibly interesting character and the emotional stakes feel really high in the episodes I've seen so far. I'm less bothered by a pay-off to the mystery they've set up because, as far as character arcs go, I'm really intrigued to see Jessica battle her demons and come to terms with her past. That said, there's still another ten episodes to go and they're going to have to find interesting ways to sustain that, and I'm a little cautious because the side characters are a little under developed, or just not all that interesting. Still - by far the standout Marvel series for me. 

Edited July 22, 2018 by Jimmy

[Ruki]

Iron Fist season 2 will only be 10 episodes. Maybe that will fix some of the pacing issues

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Really hope they do that for all the Marvel series going forward.

Although it's probably just because they don't need 4 episodes to tell us that he definitely 100% is Danny Rand,  The Immortal Iron Fist, Sworn Enemy of The Hand and Protector of K'un L'un.

[JasonM]

 

[VerbalPuke]

I’m getting through season 1 of Luke Cage right now and I really like it. Probably my favorite of the MCU shows on Netflix, that or the Punisher. But I’ve enjoyed everything quite a bit.

[Lint]

.

[Ruki]

@Lint, don't spoil things :/

[Lint]

2 hours ago, Ruki said:

@Lint, don't spoil things 😕

 my bad,  didn't think about that