The show fell flat tbh. Started out strong but then became more like a CW show than the quality I'm used to from Netflix.

 

Spoilers for the Defenders S1.

Spoiler

We've got confirmation on what Misty's arm is going to look like. Link.

 

Bump because I've just finished watching series 2, and it's a big step up from the first, and a big improvement over the last two or three of the Netflix bunch (except possibly the Punisher, which I haven't seen any of at all). There's some clunky elements, but all in all well worth a watch. Even the one episode with Danny Rand, which was actually pretty fun.

Spoiler

There's an ongoing thread about Luke heading down a darker path that they made work by the end, but at the start felt really forced, and more about needing something to (temporarily?) write Rosario Dawson out due to other commitments than a natural character development. Like I say though, they got there in the end with it, so fair enough. For the last couple episodes, it did feel a little like they were dragging things out to fill 13 episodes rather than wrap everything up neatly, but again, it mostly paid off - the last two episodes are pretty packed with incident and unexpected twists and turns.
Other than that, not much I can really criticise, except, perhaps, that the villains remain more interesting than the hero; no critique of Mike Coulter there, who's very good, but they really knocked it out of the park with the villains this time. Maria and Shades were always compelling, and even more so this time, even when they're utterly awful, but Bushmaster is a great addition to the franchise as well, and while I found her a little tedious this series, I'm looking forward to a potential villain in Maria's daughter, Tilda, in future.

 

Does it matter if I never finished the first season? I got bored a few episodes after his origin story, IIRC.

 

They recap some of the key events at the start, and throughout the season; it's certainly not going to make as much sense as it might, and some things will seem to come out of nowhere instead of being a logical development, but I don't think it's going to be incomprehensible. I'd have a look at a recap online though, if possible.

 

That's good to know. I've been avoiding it because the first season was such a slog.

Just watched the first ep. My main beef is that Rosario Dawson and Mike Colter still have zilch romantic chemistry.

 

I am not very familiar with the source material for any of the netflix shows, so I can't speak toward the faithfulness to any comic book similarities, but for my money Punisher was by far the best of the Netflix Marvel bunch, with Daredevil coming in second, mostly because of the S2 Punisher arc and Fisk. Jessica Jones is the least likeable character in the MCU, Iron Fist we don't need to say much more about, and Luke Cage is basically so overpowered it's boring, although I like the guy playing him and most of the rest of the main cast.

 

Luke Cage cancelled after 2 seasons. Pretty surprising, in my opinion. Some people have speculated they're trying to set up a Heroes for Hire show with Iron Fist, but I'm not sure how that would work with Disney starting their own streaming service.

 

Now that actually is surprising, I saw Iron Fist being cancelled from a mile off but I was sure they were going to do at least a couple more seasons of Luke Cage.

 

That sucks. I'd much rather they cancel JJ S3, especially after how bad S2 was.