It's a miracle! My wife and I finished all eight episodes of the Netflix series The Defenders in just eight days.
Many of you may be thinking, "What's the big deal? I finished that in one night."
Here's the big deal... we are a middle aged married couple with a twelve year old son and ten year old daughter. Not only that, this was the first week of school for them and for me (I'm a teacher). In other words, we are ridiculously busy. My wife and I have have approximately seven hours to watch TV each week. Hence the miracle.
We enjoyed The Defenders so much that we put all other programs on hold in order to reach the conclusion of this exciting season ASAP.
My wife and I have been faithful viewers of all of the previous Netflix Marvel series. To put things in perspective, here is our lists of the shows in order of preference.
Our lists are nearly identical (aside from the fact that she is totally wrong about her choice for #1).
While we truly enjoyed the action, story, and side characters in Daredevil, the real star was Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin. Not since Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker had we found a villain so compelling.
Although many people did not like Jessica Jones, we LOVED it (my wife just loved it slightly too much). We found the villain to be one of the creepiest and most destructive we have ever seen. We also enjoyed the side characters and Jessica's interactions with Luke Cage.
Conversely, we HATED Iron Fist. We found the casting, acting, and story excruciatingly bad. I almost wrote about it at the time but I was too angry. Here's one piece of advice for Marvel: comic book fans don't give a rat's ass about the inner workings of a billionaire's corporation. Billionaire superheroes use their corporation to fund their awesome toys and weapons. That is all we need to know. We also hate watching our heroes going to a seemingly endless stream of business meetings. Actually let's go with two pieces of advice. When you cast an actor to play a superhero, it is not a good idea to make the audience want to punch the whiny, annoying, petulant, spoiled, weasel-like millennial. The villains are supposed to take care of that. Unfortunately, in this show, when the villains do take care of that, the fight scenes are laughably bad.
Even the actor on the left can't keep a straight face.
Luke Cage was just O.K. Even though we loved the casting of Mike Colter as the hero, it seemed more like a lost season of The Wire than a superhero show. Don't get me wrong, we loved The Wire... but there is no place for a superhero in it. Luke Cage is nearly indestructible. This fact makes it difficult for him to have a realistic nemesis. Him fighting a crime family was actually fairly silly. There was not enough action in the show. When there was action, it was not very compelling. Aside form the last couple of episodes, you knew every fight with Luke Cage would end with him simply crushing the bad guys.
After finishing The Defenders, my wife and I had to adjust our lists. This time we agree...
The Defenders is the best Netflix Marvel series yet.
It was almost as if the previous five shows purposely got all of the boring setup out of the way so this show could be fast paced and action packed.
Here are six reasons why my wife and I loved The Defenders:
1.The Action
The choreography of the fight scenes in the first two seasons of Daredevil is some of the finest I have ever scene. Because all of the back stories have already been told, The Defenders has plenty of time to include equally amazing fight sequences. Every episode had a significant amount of action. When there wasn't action, it was only to set up the inevitable next action sequence.
2.Jessica Jones
Her character was PERFECT. She added just enough smart ass humor to break the tension of the 3 very serious brooding crime fighters. She honestly reminded me of an "R" rated female Han Solo. If Star Wars were rated "R", Han would drink, swear, gamble, fool around, drink some more... and then kick ass. That is Jessica Jones. She also shares the similarity of being a reluctant hero. Like Han, Jessica claims to be in this for herself. Then we find out just how far she will go for her team... even if she won't admit it. She is constantly making fun of the members of the team. However, it is never slapstick or corny. She is quick, sullen and witty. The show would have been far too serious without her.
3.A Villain Who Would Pose a Real Challenge to a Team of Superheroes
Without providing any spoilers (hence no picture), I believe Luke Cage could be hurt by these villains. That goes a long way when making a superhero show. I believed Luke was in danger of losing many battles. If he were in danger, the entire team was in danger. That fact helped create the right amount of tension and excitement during each battle.
4.Now I Get Why Danny Rand (The Iron Fist) was so Annoying on His Show.
Yeah it kind of did... but I get it now.
The Defenders actually made me like Iron Fist more (I still would never watch it again). Danny had to be portrayed as an annoying and impulsive "kid" who was searching for his parents. If he were a reasonable and smart hero, much of the story of The Defenders would not make sense. He had to be flawed in order to drive this story.
5.The Development of Luke Cage and The Iron Fist's Friendship.
Spoiler alert... in the comic books Luke and Danny are best friends. In this show it goes deeper. You start to see a relationship developing that resembles that of an older brother (Luke) to a little brother (Danny). Luke is calm and altruistic. He has a code he lives by. Danny is the impetuous little brother who will start a fight over something stupid... that his big brother will need to finish. Like all good big brother's part of Luke's code is to always take care of his little brother (and everyone else). Although it was not fully developed, I definitely saw the start of it.
6.Luke Cage
As previously stated, we thought Mike Colter was perfectly cast as Luke Cage. Unfortunately, we thought he was wasted in Luke Cage. That was not the case in The Defenders. Many would not expect the huge, indestructible, ex-convict to be the moral compass of a team... but that is a another lesson in why you should never judge a book by its cover. Luke Cage is just that. He is the most altruistic member of the team. At one point, The Night Nurse explains that, "You know what his [Luke's] true north is? Doing the right thing, no matter the consequence."
My son may not be old enough to watch the show yet, but in a couple of years I plan on pointing out that line to him and teaching him a geeky life lesson.
Unfortunately, by that time his response will probably be, "What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys. See you later. Can I have them please?”
Geeky Guy’s Viewing Guide
Number of times I fell asleep: 0
Number of eye rolls: 4 (Every time Iron Fist and Colleen Wing were alone together on screen)
Number of face palms: 0
Number of times I checked steemit: 0
Number of times I said "That's ridiculous": 2 (Iron fist did some really stupid things)
Binge watch/weekly/take your time: Binge watch!
Would I watch it again: I may actually put it on in the background while I’m obsessing over steemit for the next few days
Appropriate for my kids: No (My oldest is 12. There is too much graphic violence and inappropriate language)