[Tom4784]

I finished it. I thought it was better than Iron Fist and the second half of Luke Cage but way below the quality of the Marvel Netflix shows at their best.

The main problems are centred around Danny for reasons I've mentioned before. The actor doesn't fit the role, the character is badly written which is made all the more prevalent when he appears alongside an actual well written character and all the problems centred around him are magnified considering that he is pretty much the central character. I wish the rumours from a few years ago were true that they had scrapped Iron Fist in favour of a Punisher or Moon Knight series. The Iron Fist series has derailed the Marvel Netflix train.

The second issue was the supporting characters from each series.

Spoiler:

Most of them were there for the sake of it. Having them basically form the Superhero WAGs club in the police station was a pitiful waste of their characters. It also annoys me how little Claire was given to do until the very end, Her character is the glue that linked the Defenders together, to have her sit around and do nothing until the last two episodes is an insult to both the character and Rosario Dawson as her performance in all the Netflix shows so far have often been a highlight. Having Misty basically be a nuisance for most of the season really did a number on her character and her losing her arm like her comic book counterpart felt cheap and undeserved. It should have happened in the Luke Cage series so it could have more time on it rather than it being the cheap nod to the comics that it was in Defenders.

Most of the supporting casts' appearances should have just been cameos like Hogarth was.

The third big problem is the villains.

Spoiler:

Sigourney Weaver basically has no role in this season, her role was to walk out on stage at Comic Con and create buzz for Defenders. It annoys me that Marvel continues to waste good talent on thankless roles. Alexandra was a nothing character that did nothing and provided nothing and The Hand made for weak antagonists because, just like in Daredevil and Iron Fist, they are poorly defined and just not that threatening. Most of the Fingers were throwaway henchmen and even Madame Gao whose character has been another highlight of the Netflix universe is starting to wear thin here now we know everything about her. There's nothing about The Hand that makes me believe that the Defenders would need to team up to beat them.

Elektra on the other hand (ha) makes a good antagonist but, as with everything to do with the Hand, her abilities as The Black Sky are vague which makes it difficult to accept that she could give all four of the defenders a run for their money plus it didn't help that she spent most of the season as a mindless slave. Her scenes in the last episode with Matt were electric though and it annoys me that the writers didn't allow for Elektra's personality to resurface until the last two episodes. The Villains and the overall plot (HOW were they going to destroy New York?) were generally poor.

I did think that, for all it's problems, it was mostly enjoyable. They just need to come up with a credible threat for Season 2 and get better writers. The writing of everything Marvel Netflix related from the second half of Luke Cage and beyond has been worryingly terrible and I hope that's not a sign of things to come from The Punisher and Jessica Jones Season 2.