“She-Hulk” Episode 9 and Series R&R: Smashing ALL the Walls
Your honor, if it pleases the jury, I’d like to suggest that the VFX artists working on these two are getting paid more than my own.”
by Rob LoAlbo
All photos courtesy Marvel Studios and Disney Plus
To answer my initial question from episode one’s review: can I keep up this format for eight more episodes? Yes…yes, I can. (As for Daredevil, I’ve got until Spring 2024 to recover for THAT 18 episode writeup.) Thankfully, Walters made it easy for me with her charming meta-ness that plays a crucial part this week as She-Hulk takes on Disney and Marvel, Bruce and Abomination, Titania and Todd (called it, but still ew), and most importantly, Kevin. Who gets declared the winner in this WrestleMania barn-match brawl? Let’s get ready to crumble!
We initially wrote this review without spoilers, but She-Hulk broke into our house and rewrote it with them.
This week’s case: Formulaic Season Finales v. Walters
FACTS OF THE CASE
In the most bonkers series finale yet, the show veers well off the rails and then keeps going, all the way to my Disney+ menu. Truly inspired and original, it’s a finale fit for a hulk, as Jennifer doesn’t just destroy the usual Marvel expectations for a final act: she smashes them. Stuffed to Abomination’s gills with creativity, not a moment goes unused for the potential that is this show. Usually they save all of these clever cards for the first two episodes, but Gao did the exact opposite by making the first episode really ordinary and getting more wacky and meta as the show progressed. Bravo!
This image is so meta that the writers are currently breaking 9 walls.
The opening goes full-tilt 70s with an almost shot-for-shot remake of the original Bill Bixby “masterpiece,” letting us know that we should leave our expectations at the door. Jen wakes up in Emil’s jail cell, as now the tables have turned around and the hunted has become the prey (I may be mixing my metaphors). Thankfully, she immediately addresses the issue we all had with last week’s episode: she was rightfully angry and acted as anyone would and should. The problem though, as is always for a woman: the court of public opinion, a double standard that plays a role the entire episode. She plea deals to wear a hulk-inhibitor, so it’s time to crawl back home with mom and dad.
And of course she’s fired.
She’s put through the media wringer, being called unstable, undateable, and unbalanced. (Forget it Jake, it’s Troll Town.) Tracking down these web-bros is harder than they think. (Why don’t they look in these web hackers mom’s basements? Just follow the trail of Cheeto dust.) Nikki wants to get even, but Jen wants justice: the legal kind. Nikki gets hold of a humiliating Jen video from her mom and uploads it to Intelligencia, managing to get herself invited to their next all-boys shindig, while Jen hightails it to Emil’s for some rest and guidance, setting up our all too convenient showdown.
“Thank you, gentlemen. I just flew in from the coast, and boy are my ear flippers tired.”
Pug goes undercover at the bro-soiree, posing as one of them, and joining in wherever he can. (Listening to them complain about women actually knocked off a few of my own IQ points.) Apparently using IMDB as a script now, the complaints about women in Marvel fly everywhere as Todd leads the Loud Boys in a Half-wits who Hate Hulk rally (HHH?). And who’s their life coach guest speaker? Give it up for the Abomination! He’s there to show them how they can reclaim their lives (from what, exactly?).
Jen walks in on them just as Nikki does, who tells her all about Todd being behind everything, including stealing Jen’s blood. Todd shoots up with it and hulks out, Titania smashes through the wall, and Bruce ex machinas from Sakaar. We see just how convoluted all this is, and thankfully, so does Jen. In a meta move that shoves itself so far up its own ass that it’s actually brilliant, Jen breaks out of her own show, makes her way over to “Marvel Assembled” and walks the studio lot looking to talk to the writers.
And here’s where the whole game changes.
“Let me see if I got this right: in the final act you were going to have me fight a giant spider?”
Challenging everything that has been Marvel up to this point, Jen questions the writers about what exactly the MCU has been doing in repeating itself endlessly with the same cookie cutter formulaic approaches that all end in a giant CGI indiscernible brawl. (Our complaint on Multiverse Fancast to a T.) She’s had enough and is escalating to the big guy: Kevin! After signing an NDA (which looks like the same thing that Paul made me sign to stop me from talking about his online cockfight gambling addiction), she fights off security guards (hallway fight?!?) to find that Kevin is actually K.E.V.I.N., a sentient formula-spewing AI that tabulates what people want in a superhero show and creates “near-perfect products.”
In an address to judge, Jen presents her closing argument to K.E.V.I.N. and convinces it to change the ending of the show through points that make real sense: flash and pomp distract from a main character-driven story. (I only hope that the real Kevin hears it, too, along with how every movie is a setup for the next one.) Altering the ending, we’re thrown back in and Daredevil drops in (I got my wish!) just as everything calms down. But don’t worry: he’s sticking around for the family picnic.
“Are we serving hot dogs? Because I brought my own mustard.”
That’s when ex machinas go au naturel. The burgers aren’t the only things getting grilled, as Matt gets the royal treatment from Jen’s family, Bruce drops in to introduce Skaar (!), and Ched drops some ketchup on his jorts. It’s an ending that calls not for violence and power struggle but for personal responsibility and character growth, something we could all smash.
EVIDENCE AND TESTIMONIES
Bringing in ALL the cameos, everyone has a part to contribute but no one steals the spotlight from Jen. She’s calling all the shots as it truly feels that this is finally her show. (Was just sad that we didn’t get a callback to Madysinn. Wait…maybe we did, but it’s just not where, we, oh never mind.) What started out as typical grew to extraordinary and blew our minds with a groundbreaking finale. It almost makes me think that we were meant to dismiss the first few episodes on purpose, thus undermining the show’s creativity, and falling into the same mindset as Intelligencia. (Art imitating life or vice versa?)
“Charlie Cox is my work boy toy. I got hubby Brendan Hines waiting for me at home!”
But it all couldn’t have been done without Maslany. In a casting coup, she aced every scene she was in and understood the character better than we ever could. She made us feel and care for Jen beyond the usual 2D MCU beefcakes. She brought back the fun just when we thought Waititi had taken it all away. (Seriously—Love and Thunder gets worse by the day.) With crack comic timing and real emotion, Maslany should be considered at Emmy time in the comedy category. And in this show, humor and heart came first, which we can only attribute to Gao.
Coming in hot, Gao knew exactly what she wanted and instead of compromising her vision, folded the MCU around it. I can imagine pitch meetings where Kevin and the suits negotiated these cameos, but it was Gao that made them work to the show’s favor and integrated them into Jen’s life. It felt natural but most of all enjoyable. For a show that no one wanted when we saw the trailers, Gao brought back Marvel TV as an event. Seriously, my descriptions don’t do it justice. You have to see it yourself to believe it.
Don’t objectify her and call her “sexy.” You wouldn’t like her when you call her “sexy.”
VERDICT
Is there really any doubt as to where the guilt lies? Maslany and Gao for the win.
WIN, LOSS, or SETTLEMENT
This time, the win is a huge cash award, in all greens. The ½ hour legal comedy format was the chef’s kiss to this material. Sure it stumbled in the first half of the season, but what a footing it found afterwards. It may not have always been consistent, but it consistently (and significantly) improved as it went along. I can only hope that the MCU and Disney+ have enough faith in it to let it grow and breathe for a second season. This show and its characters are worth the investment as the dividends are huge. More importantly, Maslany and the show stand on its own two muscled feet without having to lean on Bruce. Seriously, I could watch Jen do this all day.
Star City Rating: 4.5 out of 5 for the episode, 4 for the show
This December: Will the Guardians decorate Groot for Christmas, or will he decorate himself?