“She-Hulk” Episode 7 R&R: This Is How We Work Through Our Issues
It’s a breakthrough! Now they ALL hear the voices I’ve been talking about.
by Rob LoAlbo
All photos courtesy Marvel Studios and Disney Plus
Murdock Watch, Day 7. We’re being ghosted by the savior of Hell’s Kitchen. and I’m 0-4 in calling the shots. (Why won’t he return my calls! His new suit is ready!) As a result, I’m depressed about my track record, and there’s just one cure for the red devil blues: group therapy. The only problem is having to share my feelings with a group of F-lister super hero wannabes taking up too much room on the therapist couch.
Sure, that inkblot looks like two parrots smothering a gecko to me, but what you see in these spoilers will cost you a Freudian slip.
This week’s case: Relationship Trauma v. Walters
FACTS OF THE CASE
After all-to-perfect (and now super-creepy) Josh decides to stick around despite last week’s wedding debacle, he cashes in his wedding invite for a week-long dating marathon with Just Jen, which apparently includes food-truck hopping. She’s all giddy smiles and batting eyelashes, he’s all goofy eyes and unclear ethnic descent, but someone’s got an ulterior motive, something that becomes much clearer when he disappears after a night of hot hulk passion. Is he connected to Intelligencia or just a bro ho who’s in it for the action?
You know the rule: if he’s too good to be true, then he’s probably stalking you.
So what’s a girl to do when she puts all her feelings out there and he just doesn’t text back? It’s shame spiral time for our favorite green giantess who is hard on the outside but all jiggly insecurity on the inside. Like watching a pot of water boil, Jen is stuck to her phone awaiting his return text and spends days going through the 5 Stages of Grief. The biggest villain of this episode isn’t a guy with a crowbar or a wall-busting Tatiana—it’s the looming specter of being single in your 30s. (If only Thanos could have snapped THAT out of existence!)
Jen will try anything to distract herself, but as fate would have it, Emil Blonsky will handle her issues in more ways than one. You see, his ankle inhibitor malfunctioned, so she has to schlep up to his Koresh-ian retreat ranch to make sure he’s not violating parole and cage fighting on the weekends. A false alarm turns leads to a convenient wrecked car which strands poor Jen for the remainder of her weekend, minus a cell tower or two.
“Sorry by I only validate feelings, not parking.”
The car wreck comes courtesy of mutants El Aguila and Man-Bull (actual Marvel comic book characters—might be worth a Google) who are dealing with their issues out in the open. Never one to look inward, Jen is invited into the circle of trust (actually the calming chair) when she spies the veteran Wrecking Crew member who attacked her three episodes ago. He’s ready to work through their issues, but she’s ready to work through his limbs. It’s then that Brother Blonsky kicks his therapy in on Jen and gives her yurt a hurt.
Through hilarious emotional reveals, Jen lays bare that Josh not responding isn’t really about that but about how she feels overshadowed by her Hulk persona and wants people to love her for who she really is. Giving a heart-tugging monologue about acceptance, rejection, and insecurity, it’s a moment that would make Carrie, Sam, Charlotte, and Miranda cry in unison. By the end, she’s a more certain person on a better path, a third act battle rarely fought in the MCU.
“Ask me to give you a smile just one more time, and I’m throwing you through that back wall.”
EVIDENCE AND TESTIMONIES
Something about this episode felt very different from the rest, which is strange considering this is the third in a row directed by Anu Valia. It’s not a complaint: far from it. It’s such a deeply weird and affecting episode with a stronger rom-com visual flair than usual from the director and showrunner Gao. Edited for maximum emotional and comedic effect, the beats hit fast and the feels hit hard. Not sure how they approached making this episode differently, but more, please.
Where we suspected that Blonsky was faking it just to get loose, it turns out that he’s the real dippy deal. He’s breaking down barriers and building bridges with hilarious psych speak that has a somewhat surprisingly realistic and effective edge to it. Watching the group slowly open up to one another felt real, endearing, and had an Ant-Man comedic vibe to it. Sure they sometimes speak in ludicrous pro-therapy trite platitudes, but those mantras and approaches kinda work on many levels, too. I found myself smiling throughout Jen’s recovery process, which goes to show that some of the best moments of this show are often the quietest ones.
This group is about as secure as the lock combination on my luggage.
And let's not forget our support group supporting actors! What an embarrassment of riches with great chemistry and real heart. As always, this show manages to take minor comedic characters and give them real staying-power and depth. (If only Paul could do the reverse and take his minor comedic talent and depth and give it some character!)
CGI Side note: when Jen is in Hulk form and is going for emotion over laughs, the effects work surprisingly well, reflecting small grimaces and ticks that improve upon Maslany’s emoting performance.
VERDICT
Just when we thought the show might be dipping in quality with last week’s ersatz wedding episode, it’s a big rebound that is totally character-centered and satisfactorily free of any real action, plot development, or side plotlines. It’s only about Jen and her learning to love herself, something I’d never thought I’d either see, appreciate, or be riveted by under the House of Fiege. Again, just because this show isn’t made for you, fanboys, that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Get in touch with your feminine side, as when you are rejecting Jen, you are really rejecting…yourselves.
“So my patient tells me he’s all worked up because he believes he’s a teepee sometimes and a wigwam others. I told him to relax: he’s two tents.”
WIN, LOSS, or SETTLEMENT
We the jury find the viewers guilty of empathy, healing vibes, and real emotion. The sentence is two more episodes with a now-empowered Jennifer Walters who is ready to tackle the world not as a hulk but as herself.
Line of the Week: “Alejandro, you’ve been warned about using bio-electricity in group before.”
Star City Rating: 4 out of 5
Next Week: West Side finally meets up with East Side to help defend against the Marvel trolls.