She-Hulk Episode 7 Review: Certainly There Are Steps Forward With Respect To The Incredibly
Cast: Tatiana Maslany, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth, Benedict Wong
Director: Anu Valia
Streaming Platform: Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
At this point, we can almost safely say that the much-heralded legal comedy of the MCU is already over. A change of register and structure so anticipated by the experts, but that we still struggle to understand and digest, because it is as if She-Hulk suddenly was more interested in ticking the items from a list of clichés of the genre than to build on its format full of potential. And so after the episode dedicated to a marriage that practically came out of nowhere (here you can find our review of She-Hulk Episode 6), now our trusted lawyer finds herself entangled in the wellness center run by Abomination, pushed to the beginning at least for business reasons.
A negative spiral that not even the always welcome presence of Tim Roth manages to lift, despite the episode still dealing some interesting blows, both in terms of horizontal plot and characterization of the protagonist. It’s just that, especially in the early part of the season, this She-Hulk: Attorney at Law had accustomed us to a much higher quality.
She-Hulk Episode 7 Review: The Story
The episode begins with a montage – in our opinion excessively long and repetitive – of the first dates between Jen (Tatiana Maslany) and Josh (Trevor Salter), who met at the wedding last week and can make a strong impression precisely because he is interested in her and not to, She-Hulk. But after their first night together he vanishes and, while Jen is still obsessed with staring at her phone every 2 seconds waiting for a message from her, she is forced spite of her to visit Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) due to a malfunction of your inhibitor. As anticipated, it is an episode that certainly reserves some surprises and that opens to a final sprint of the season now impossible to avoid or delay and that could raise the small swamp of mediocrity in which the Marvel series has wedged itself.
Above all, however, it is the chapter that marks the real turning point in the relationship between Jen and her Hulk part, always on the border between the exaltation of being able to perform incredible feats – as well as drinking a lot without consequences – and some hint of depression as everyone seems to prefer the green counterpart. A theme that often and willingly accompanied the entire show, sometimes underground and others under the light of the sun, is now addressed once and for all, in the hope that the classic bad or archaic sitcom mistake of resetting these is not made developments in the next episode.
She-Hulk Episode 7 Review and Analysis
And in fact, the group therapy scene is complete, it is the perfect manifesto of what She-Hulk offers to his audience: healthy entertainment with jokes and back and forth that flock all the time, a pinch of trash that never hurts and in this case brought to the screen thanks to the use of semi-unknown Marvel characters and, finally, the touch of drama deriving from the peculiar condition of the protagonist. A mix that works right from the start (we refer you here to our review of She-Hulk Episode 1), however not supported by the rest, which looks more like an episode of a comedy that has jumped the shark for a long time.
A worrying decline that does not spare even Tim Roth’s Blonsky, now extremely boring, predictable and less sprightly than in the first appearances; an incomprehensible decay even on the narrative level since he is no longer in prison. Normally this would be synonymous with greater happiness, an improvement in one’s living conditions and mood, but She-Hulk doesn’t seem to see it that way. In short, for the umpteenth time, a Marvel series got lost on the road after an engaging and successful start, sucked into the black hole of the central episodes of the season, as if you didn’t know exactly what to do to carry on the story or the concept. All that remains is to hope for an ending away from the disappointing results of the other Marvel Studios serial companies.
It is clear that with the series, Marvel seeks to be something different from what is expected of it, and that is why it has been able to anticipate its critics by laughing at all those who hoped that the “judicial comedy” was just an excuse for fights and that Daredevil was his co-star. By the way, for that matter, what about Daredevil? With the MCU’s tradition of making fun of its fans (something some find unnerving, and I find very funny), it wouldn’t be surprising if Matt Murdock just made a glorified cameo and the entire ad campaign was an in-joke. The crescendo has forced viewers who can’t stand the series to watch it in its entirety (and perhaps, by rebound, feel identified).
Still feeling compelled to watch it, surely more than one of those who say they can’t stand the series have enjoyed this episode that gives an epilogue to Abomination (although in the case of a season 2, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again) and culminates the trip Jen and Hulka’s initiation: if the lawyer always felt inferior to her inner monster, here she has finally learned to make peace with herself thanks to a group of third-tier villains. The jokes flow and work, but you must indeed have a certain propensity to enjoy the so-called “slapstick, She-Hulk although it is watered down to reach a general public, from time to time he lets out glimpses of what was probably his initial scripts, with a very unique sense of humor constrained by his mandatory adherence to the MCU.
And although for some it is torture, I must say that I am enjoying it moderately. It’s not the series I wanted it to be, but it’s twenty pleasant minutes in which there is a good joke, Marvel characters that are more a wink for fans than fanservice and even surprise twists playing with the conventional narrative, including a cliffhanger that puts the very interesting things. Speaking of breaking conventional narrative, remember how I said I wish She-Hulk was more like the Byrne comics? The joke in which he forces to put a “Previously” dedicated to one of the characters. That’s pure She-Hulk. If they manage to raise the level and go crazy in the last two episodes, who knows? Perhaps, after all, and for the first time in a long time, the Marvelite journey was worth it.
She-Hulk Episode 7 Review: The Last Words
It seems almost impossible for a Marvel series to hold attention for the entire duration of its season. After the first half of successful episodes, involving and fresh just the right, now even She-Hulk has long wedged itself in a negative spiral that does not spare even this week’s episode. Certainly, there are steps forward concerning the incredibly disappointing episode of the wedding: one sequence, in particular, is rich and pleasant, the right manifesto of what She-Hulk can offer to the public of her; and above all, there is a turning point in the relationship between Jen and her green counterpart, which we hope will be maintained and not thrown away instantly. The rest, however, is missing, because she seems to be watching an episode of a comedy that has jumped the shark for a long, long time Slow.
