Marvel Live Action

[gunswordfist]

Yeah, the first half of DD season 2 is sooooo good. I kind of lost interest after that but the first half may be the best material the MCU has produced thus far. I will say that the Captain America films definitely have a unique and special feel to them that I don't think anything else in the MCU has captured, so I definitely agree there too.

I need to rewatch the Cap Trilogy. I still stand by loving The Winter Soldier for somehow surpassing the ludicrous hype I had for the film.
And yes, the first half of Daredevil S2 just might be that good. I don't think even John Woo's The Killer has pulled my heartstrings as hard as Jon's Punisher did, when it comes to badass characters.
Heh, I somehow forgot about Homecoming, you know, the last movie in theaters I've bothered watching. Everything else has been said so I'll just say that I love how tight the directing/camera work on that film is. Hell, it's my 2nd favorite MCU film. Probably current 1st since I owe TWS a rewatch just to be sure.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I can't really argue about the first Punisher arc in DD season 2, or the high points of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. But it's also hard to go against Winter Soldier or the first Guardians.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Watched the series premiere of Runaways. Parts of it are cool and feel like the comic, while other parts feel a little too ABC Family for my taste. Confused on what they're doing with Molly, since not only is she not a Mutant due to rights issues but

Spoiler

her parents are dead and Gert's parents adopted her.

[close]

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Since I've done it for the movies before, I figured that I'd quickly rank all of the Marvel Netflix shows from favorite to least favorite just based on my personal opinions right now:

1. Daredevil (Season 1)- This is still the bar by which all of these others shows are measured in terms of quality. It's not perfect, and it has its share of pacing issues like all the rest of these shows have, but it still genuinely holds up as good television.

2. The Punisher- I still insist that this one is a lot better than some people give it credit for. I love Jon Bernthal's portrayal of Frank Castle, and in terms of plotting, writing, acting, and directing, this is still the tightest season of any of these shows next to the first season of Daredevil, so far.

3. Jessica Jones- While it does have some bigger issues with pacing than the above two shows, the great moments present here really help it stand out. One thing I can definitely say about this one is that it manages to have highs without having any real lows. At worst it can just be kind of "meh" at times, but the high points really help bring you back into the experience.

4. Daredevil (Season 2)- As I've stated before, if we were to divide this up into arcs, The Punisher arc is so good that it's not only my favorite thing to come out of the Marvel Netflix TV shows, it's my favorite thing to come out of the entire MCU, period (yes, even above the first two Captain America films, which I have a strong personal love for). The rest of the season, however, is a mixed bag. I flat-out just don't like the Elektra, and I'm really not a fan of the actress portraying her in these shows. The final arc which sees Daredevil finally confront The Hand straight on has some good moments in it but also feels very victim to the MCU's bad tendency of trying to shoehorn in too much set-up into one story in order to set up another. I'd argue that this portion of Daredevil was an even worse offender of this trend than Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 2, which is really saying something in regards to the latter especially.

5. Luke Cage- I still maintain my opinion that the first half was excellent whereas the second half was a drop in quality. To be clear, I don't hate the second half, but I have more issues with it than just Diamondback being a weak villain. I also felt that the plot itself became less focused and more of a mess after the tightly paced and well-written first seven episodes.

6. The Defenders- After all of the build-up and hype for this, I think that everyone was really holding out hope for the Marvel Netflix shows to really come together and have their Avengers moment, and in all honesty we were really let down. On a surface level this is a perfectly competent show. However, beyond that, it never really rises above "just alright enough to not be bad." It's essentially high quality mediocrity, in that it's a show made by people talented enough to make good content, but only really succeeding at not making complete shit while not really doing anything to excel either. Even if these shows are supposed to be a bit darker and more down-to-earth and realistic than the movies, there still has to be an element of both high-stakes to incite the team-up, as well as some sort of feeling of grandeur to emphasize what a major event it is for these characters to be teaming up for the first time. Instead, what's supposed to be the biggest event in the MCU TV shows somehow feels like an even smaller deal than most of these shows do individually. For a point of comparison, while the CW DC shows aren't technically what you would call particularly great shows, if nothing else, they have a much firmer grasp on how to do an exciting and memorable crossover than this series. Basically, either go all-out, or don't even bother. That said, I still say that it would work much better if, just like in real comic books, we had characters from one-show crossover onto another for one or two episodes to establish that they inhabit the same Universe and occasionally work together, as opposed to just pretending that the other characters flat-out don't exist until the next season of The Defenders rolls around. Once again, even the CW DC shows at least get this much right.

7. Iron Fist- It's just not a very good show. For what it's worth, I'd still take even this dung-heap over Agents of SHIELD or Inhumans, but that's about the best thing that I can say about it, and it's not really much. I honestly don't have much to add beyond that. They're honestly better off just making Danny Rand a side character in the next season of Luke Cage (if they still intend to keep him around), than to give this show another full season. Essentially make him the MCU TV equivalent of what The Hulk is in the movies.

[Avaitor]

1. Jessica Jones- I can't argue against the show's pacing issues, or its weak supporting cast. But this still resonates stronger for me than any of the other Netflix series. Besides how genuinely terrifying Kilgrave is, Jessica and Tish's friendship is easily among the strongest of the MCU, and the mystery direction works. And while the fight scenes are the least impressive here, I don't think that's a detriment, but rather fits with the story and characters. It might not be the strongest overall, but it's my personal favorite.

2- Daredevil season 1- Easily the most consistent season thus far, it did almost make #1, but I just really connected with JJ a bit more. But this is a tight super hero show that only occasionally got a little big for its britches. It's also anchored by a strong core cast, as Foggy and Karen work well with Matt early on, and Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin just about surpasses Michael Clarke Duncan's take on the character, which itself was easily the movie's strong suit.

3- The Punisher- I mostly enjoyed this one, aside from Madani being practically worthless. The action scenes were fresh and exciting, finally taking a break from the other shows constantly trying and failing to match that stairwell fight in Daredevil's second episode. Instead, we get some exciting shoot outs and some other brutal twists. It also helps that Jon Bernthal is fully committed to the character, and gets a great performance out of him. He also works well with Micro, and even Karen, who's less of a wet blanket here than she was in Daredevil's second season. I think of all the shows thus far, this is by far the most that I want more of, which speaks a lot to its quality.

4- Luke Cage- We've talked about what doesn't work about the series before, and there's not a big need to repeat most of that here. I think another problem that I had with the series is Luke himself; Mike Colter does well with action scenes, but when the show needs him to pick up big dramatic moments, he wasn't totally game for it, which especially becomes apparent with the wealth of talent in the cast. Besides that, I give it points for giving the most character to its location- I get a better feel for Luke's side of Harlem than I did for Hell's Kitchen, or pretty much any other MCU location aside from maybe Queens in Homecoming. And I am curious to see where they go with Mariah in season 2.

5- Daredevil season 2- I almost put this above Luke Cage for the first Punisher arc, which is absolutely wonderful. But I really do not like the show's take on Elektra or the Hand, which is a shame, since I really like her character in the comics. This is the second time she's been screwed over in media now. I also really got tired of Matt and Karen's bullshit, and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to them having more scenes together in season 3.

6- The Defenders- I wasn't expecting the next Avengers, but I was hoping for something a little more notable. Or at least try to fix some of the flaws of certain characters, but the show only seemed to double down on Danny's stupidity and Elektra's annoyingness. When the heroes worked together, it could be entertaining, but on the whole, it's a strangely forgettable crossover.

7- Iron Fist- There were hints at a good show in the middle act, when Colleen and Claire showed surprisingly likable chemistry with each other. Davos was another decent addition, and I might like to see where his story goes in season 2. But Danny just fails every test of believability and likability, while the Meachums were no better. As annoying as the show got, I did think there was potential here, but Danny needs a serious overhaul, or these shows need more of a sense of humor to make it so we can laugh at him, not with.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've been reading through Frank Miller's Daredevil run, and while I know that season three will definitely be covering Born Again, I hope that it finds a way to fit Gangwar in there because it's a pretty damn great Kingpin story. Just change things around to keep Vanessa dead instead of it being a fake out, because fuck that character. Also it's about time that we get a genuinely good version of Bullseye in live action, so there's that, too.

[Avaitor]

I actually rewatched season 1 of Jessica Jones on and off recently, and I still really like the series. The weak parts are a little less iffy than I remembered, while the core story and characters that worked still really hold up. I'm about to start season 2 now.

[Avaitor]

Season 2 of Jessica Jones is a step-down overall, but not irredeemable.

Spoiler

For one thing, I feel like this is the only one of these shows that improved in the second half, as its themes started to mesh a little better and started to build on the main story. I also liked Hogarth and Malcolm a lot more this time around than I was expecting to, as they were only okay for me at best in the first season. Also, no Robyn, and Will was killed in his only appearance.

But a lot of it didn't work as well as I'd have liked. Trish's addiction arc didn't seem to have much of a point. It could have been built more on the stress of her reuniting with her mother and abuser, but she started using the inhaler... just cause? And I also wasn't a big fan of Sterling being the reason Jessica formed Alias, as it feels like he was literally made up on the spot. I'll give it credit that they had decent chemistry and while cliche, the episode dealing with it worked fine, but it was a half-ass reveal. And despite being a strong reveal, Alisa was no substitute for Kilgrave. Although I don't really know how you could top him. His appearance was probably the best episode of the season.

[close]

I'd probably put this in Luke Cage/Daredevil season 2 range. Definitely better than Iron Fist and Defenders, but not as strong as this or Daredevil's first season, or Punisher.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Honestly, this whole season felt way too padded and really shows that this mandatory 13-episode season structure is bad for these shows. You could boil this season down to just four or five episodes and it would likely flow a lot smoother.

Overall, though, this whole season was a massive disappointment. Jessica herself is the saving grace, but I didn't like anything else about it. The new characters all sucked, I hated Trish's subplot, and Hogarth's ALS issue didn't really connect back to any of the core characters or story in any meaningful way. Worst of all, though, is that most of the season was just painfully boring. In a weird way I found it even harder to get through than Iron Fist. That show was worse all around, but at least it had quite a few laughably bad moments worth sticking around for. Most of JJ season two was just stuck in this odd neutral territory of neither good nor awful, but just "meh."

[Avaitor]

I think part of why I liked the Hogarth stuff so much, besides it giving Carrie-Anne Moss the chance to show off some acting weight, is because of how disconnected it is from the core story. I liked that it rarely intersected with Jessica or Trish's arcs. In hindsight, that is probably more of a negative on the season, though.

These seasons definitely do run too long, although if The Defenders was anything, it was an example of how cutting the episode order isn't the only solution to making these shows more consistent. Maybe they should only be 5 episodes long, but I'd honestly suggest that maybe these should stop being season-long arcs, and should be more episodic. I'm not even saying exactly procedural-esq, but maybe even go back to something like the Whedon shows which balanced story with case of the episode material. I get that overarcing storylines are in right now, but not every show can be Breaking Bad.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Despite the overall quality being somewhat mixed, I feel as though Daredevil season two had the right sort of approach. Instead of doing one big story-line, break up the season into smaller, loosely connected story arcs. The Punisher arc comprises the first four episodes and is amazing. The Elektra arc is a bit more lopsided but a lot of that has to do with me not being a fan of her actress (she does a pretty poor job with the character, IMO) and her having so much screentime (but The Punisher side-plot in that arc is of course the best part of it), and the third arc is the Nobu arc which is a bit better than Elektra but does suffer a bit from trying too hard to set-up for The Defenders. Regardless, though, one thing that they all have in common is that none of them feel dragged out. They play out more like chapters of a larger story, with some being better than others, but if you don't like one, you can at least have hope that the next part is better. On the other hand, if you're already growing bored or outright disliking a season-wide arc like in Iron Fist or JJ season two, then you pretty much know that you're in for a long-ass slog the entire rest of the way.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I watched four or so episodes of the new season. And yeah, the producers don't have a story worth telling for 13 hours.

Spoiler

I am annoyed they killed off Nuke, meaning he won't have a place in Daredevil season 3.

[close]

[gunswordfist]

Jessica Jones Season 2 is the worst Marvel Netflix show ever.

[gunswordfist]

I watched four or so episodes of the new season. And yeah, the producers don't have a story worth telling for 13 hours.

Spoiler

I am annoyed they killed off Nuke, meaning he won't have a place in Daredevil season 3.

[close]

Him being alive was a bright spot quickly taken away from this show.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Legion's back, and so are the dance-offs.