The Defenders
This review contains spoilers for both seasons of Daredevil as well as Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.
The day The Defenders dropped on Netflix, some nice young women were in midtown Manhattan handing out free stickers, cookies and sunglasses. Not that this matters much, except it certainly got my attention. A few days later, I asked some friends on Twitter if I needed to see the other shows before viewing this one. The consensus was, "No, you don't, but you'll enjoy it more if you do."
They were all crazy: viewing the earlier shows is mandatory. Furthermore, if you watched Jessica Jones or Luke Cage, you absolutely need to see The Defenders before you catch the next season (if any) of those shows because their story lines continue here.
Unlike the other series, we only get eight episodes of The Defenders, but that's all that's necessary. The familiar faces from the four tributaries flow right into the river of this story. They cross over early and often, but they won't all get together until about a third of the way through the episodes. There are also some new faces, the most prominent of which belongs to Sigourney Weaver. Her casting here is the Netflix equivalent of getting Robert Redford to be in a Captain America sequel. Marvel and Netflix are doing something right, and that's attracting people. Once you get past the fact that it's her, you forget it immediately as she becomes her character, Alexadra, the leader of The Hand. Her celebrity does not distract.
Luke serves out his sentence in Georgia, quietly, and meets his lawyer, Foggy (not Matt) on his way out. Foggy now works for Hogarth, who shows up yet again, while Matt is trying to put his life back together without Daredevil (or Karen) in it. Luke makes it back to Harlem, finds Claire, and before you know it, they're finally "having coffee". This makes Luke the Marvel equivalent of Oliver Queen from Arrow in that there's at least one scene Luke appears in alongside three women he's slept with. (Not that anyone has a problem with this.)
The Hand showed up in both Iron Fist and Daredevil, and their story continues here. Apparently, Madame Gao, who had been held captive by Bakuto, who had been dead but got better, is actually just as much a part of the Hand. In fact, the two of them, along with Weaver, are original "fingers" of the Hand. Two other newbies round out the rest of the digits. Oddly, Nobu, who was featured in two seasons of Daredevil, despite dying in the first, wasn't one of those fingers. Probably because he died yet again. Nothing special about the new guys, really, except you wonder why we haven't heard of them before if they were so important.
Despite their amazingly long lifespans and abilities to resurrect, Alexandra gets a medical death sentence, which causes her to speed up the timetable of their fiendish plans, which has to do with that "huge plot hole" (my words) from Daredevil. The problem is that they hit a wall, literally. A wall built by K'un-Lun, which could only be opened by ... wait for it ... an Iron Fist! (Technically, "the" Iron Fist, but they're really old and have known of many Iron Fists before Danny Rand.)
If you think about it, then, Danny leaving K'un-Lun to do battle with The Hand in the rest of the world, instead of just in the other-worldly realm he was trained in, may have doomed the planet by allowing the Hand to continue after their supplies of the life-extending substance have depleted. (Another nit to pick with the continuity: in the series Iron Fist, Meachum resurrects without the benefit of any substances or preparation. He just floats back up to the surface. He also remembers who he was after some time. Meanwhile, Alexandra uses the last of the substance to resurrect the Black Sky who is just an empty vessel of her former self. Or is she?)
Anyway, the group works well together after their rough start, and the sidekicks and supporting cast get stuff to do. ("Wait a minute. Where's the chick with the sword?") But any love triangle between Matt and Karen and Elektra will be woefully lopsided, to the point that I feel sorry for Karen for even being interested in Matt. Should've stayed friends, or hung out with Foggy more.
Here's the Too long, didn't read version: The Defenders is an enjoyable series. It's strongest when dealing with Matt and Luke (although it's not really Luke's story) and weakest when dealing with Danny (even though it is his story). Sigourney Weaver steps into her role seamlessly as the corporate face of the Hand, or rather the shell companies that they use so that they can remain invisible. Missing is any kung fu Badness on the part of Weaver or her stunt double. She's all business. Madame Gao is back, and still the best of the returning characters, even if what she says and does is sometimes inconsistent or even contradictory. (That could be explained by "head games" and "mind fakes".)
I'll look forward to a second season of The Defenders, but be sure to watch the intervening series and hope that those improve.
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