By Jack McLaughlin
Staff Writer
“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” is Marvel Studio’s latest series that finished its first season last week.
The show follows Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), who is trying to live her life as an attorney after becoming a hulk, following a car accident involving her cousin, Bruce Banner.
Marvel Studios has found trouble translating their storytelling formula to a multi-hour television series, but “She-Hulk” is a sign they are starting to find their footing at last.
Right at the series premiere, the viewer is quickly introduced to the confident and snarky Jennifer Walters. Her interactions with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) will make you adore her immediately and get a strong taste of the unique humor style the show has.
The first few episodes after the premiere focus on how gaining powers affects her life, specifically with her work as a lawyer and socially with plotlines surrounding dating and attending weddings.
“Is This Not Real Magic?” is the best of these first episodes. The story brings fan-favorite sorcerer Wong into the series to sue a magician that is using the mystic arts to send unsuspecting audience members to dangerous situations.
This episode is a perfect example of how well the show exceeds with its humor, character, and plot. Each character gets to have iconic moments, most notably Wong’s introduction to the episode.
Along Jen’s dating prospects, she meets the main antagonist of the show, Todd (Jon Bass). His distaste toward Jen motivates him to form a group online to attack her. The group mostly focuses on sexist remarks against her, remarking that there “doesn’t need to be a She-Hulk” along with many others.
The actions of Todd’s group are eerily like how people online responded to this show. Many people online commented on the show throughout its run with the same type of remarks that it was actively making fun of.
It was good to see a show with prominence like this acknowledge this type of discourse online and give it the proper criticism it deserved.
Episodes 5 through 7 are a bit slow, but still prove their worth by delving deeper into Jen’s internal conflict with her newfound celebrity status which comes together in the episode “The Retreat.”
The episode is primarily set at a wellness retreat. However because of unforeseen circumstances, Jen is forced to stay there for a day. The inability to do work while at the retreat allows her to open up about problems she’s had since becoming She-Hulk and offers viewers the most personal episode of the season.
The story picks back up in the last two episodes, with the finale “Whose Show Is This?” being a fantastic wrap-up with an abundance of meta humor.
The show does have a lot of cameos from a variety of different MCU characters, some of which you may not see coming. They fortunately offer a lot more to the episodes compared to lesser attempts at cameo appearances in other Marvel shows.
Visual effects are probably going to be the biggest gripe the viewer will have with this show. There were so many moments where the She-Hulk character looked poorly animated, which is shocking considering the huge budget this show had.
While this wouldn’t be an issue if it were only a few shots or scenes, this would happen many times every single episode, and it ends up being distracting enough to where it can take you out of the story.
“She-Hulk'' was a great surprise especially for someone who has been largely unimpressed with most of the Disney+ Marvel shows. It’s offering something different enough that will keep you engaged all the way through and will leave you excited for the small surprises they set up in the finale.
Marvel Studios has lately been on a streak of shows and movies that have been largely hit or miss. If you have been apprehensive about their shows because of their less desirable attempts in the last year, I encourage you to give “She-Hulk” a fair chance.
B: Brings hope for future MCU shows