As the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is introducing new heroes, the nine-episode “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law ” on Disney+ following the fourth wall breaking heroine is the latest addition to their digital library.
The show follows lawyer Jennifer Walters as she gets Hulk-like super strength from her cousin Dr. Bruce Banner, the original Hulk. As Jennifer deals with her transformation, the viewers watch her deal with the public reaction as well as toxic masculinity, older enemies and other mystical forces.
The MCU’s Phase 4 has been mediocre so far. Despite phenomenal projects like “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Eternals” and “Loki,” fans have declared some recent releases as misses, such as “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Hawkeye.”
“She-Hulk” also falls at the lower end of the spectrum, failing to impress audiences with anything new.
Emmy award-winning actress Tatiana Maslany portrayed Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk with ease. Maslany was very fitting for the role as a lawyer with her professional mannerisms and dash of feminism. She also slickly handled the fourth-wall breaks making them convincing, although not as smooth as the fourth-wall breaks in the “Deadpool” franchise. Breaking the fourth wall means directly interacting with the audiences by talking to or addressing them.
British actress Jameela Jamil played one of the antagonists, Titania. Titania is a fashion model who also possesses superhuman strength on par with She-Hulk. Jamil’s acting seemed forced and it was apparent on the screen, leaving many scenes to appear unnatural. However, Jamil’s presence felt powerful as her poses and choreography were executed perfectly.
“She-Hulk” also featured returning characters Hulk, Abomination, Daredevil and Wong, played by Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth, Charlie Cox and Benedict Wong, respectively. All the cameos were exciting and meaningful, making the show fun to watch in parts where they appear.
Hulk surprised the viewers in the last episode by introducing an unexpected character. Abomination, who was introduced as the villain in “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) and later cameoed in “Shang-Chi” (2021), played a pivotal role in the show as Walters tries to pardon him from his life sentence he received from the events in “The Incredible Hulk.”
Fan-favorite actor Charlie Cox makes his return as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen from the Netflix “Daredevil” and his short cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Cox is already a master at playing Murdock and kept doing that in this show.
Another fan-favorite character Wong plays another important role in this show as he requires Walter’s help multiple times throughout the show. Wong also plays this role with ease as he did before, using his quirky and funny humor.
Even though the cast was extraordinary, the visual effects were a big letdown for the show.
She-Hulk did not look natural at all throughout the show. In scenes where She-Hulk was the main focus, it was especially easy to get distracted by the imperfections of the CGI. This was probably due to the Marvel Studios’ VFX artists being rushed with many projects being released so close to each other.
As for the overall show, most of the nine episodes were boring, containing cringe humor and uninteresting screenwriting. One of the scenes was She-Hulk twerking with famous rapper Megan Thee Stallion, which instilled second hand embarrassment.
Senior Josh Thomas watched the show and disliked it for the most part. “They lost sight of the fact that Jen was actually a pretty good character and instead of developing her, they tried to hastily make her relatable by adding poorly done pop culture references,” Thomas shared.
However, three of the episodes stood out in the show. Episodes 1, 8, and 9 were the most interesting.
“Episode 1” showed how Jennifer got her powers and gave a bit of insight on the research Dr. Bruce Banner did with the Hulk, which was interesting to watch for Marvel fans as they delve deeper into events never explored before.
“Episode 8” reintroduced Daredevil and was fun to watch as him and She-Hulk developed their relationship. It was a treat for many fans to see Daredevil suited up as a lawyer and a vigilante many years after the Netflix show got canceled.
The show concluded with “Episode 9,” which contained many twists and turns using fourth wall breaks. It addressed many problems that Marvel was facing with storylines and CGI and gave the show a quality finish.
MCU fan and freshman Zach Bauer enjoyed the show. “Overall, I thought it was good. I loved breaking the fourth wall jokes and Jen’s sarcastic personality gave the show a lot of character. It was a decent show and is worth checking out for Marvel fans,” Bauer stated.
Apart from these select episodes, looking at the show from just the plot and screenwriting perspective, it was a hot mess. None of the storylines seemed to connect anywhere and it had no meaning to the overall story.
“There were some parts that made no sense and some episodes were very slow and sort of boring. Both episode five and episode seven felt unneeded and their runtime could have been used more productively by more world building and or mysteries and action and less messing around,” Bauer added.
Although most of the show is tedious and dull, “She-Hulk: Attorney at law” can be a fun watch strictly for Marvel fans.
