Have you ever seen those tweets where people wanted to know why superheroes never go to therapy? Well, Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk, processed her feelings in a group in one of the episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. This has been a crazy show. It didn't start on a promising note but got better week by week. I admire parts of it. Because, as a whole, the show gives me mixed feelings.
Actually, the things I like and dislike about She-Hulk are one and the same. I am happy that the show proved me wrong and didn't end up with a CGI-heavy boss fight. She-Hulk proceeded like a sitcom, and I was worried that the story would get too heavy during the finale. Again, it's my pleasure to report that I was wrong. Many Marvel shows, either quickly or by the midpoint, reveal their main villain. Not She-Hulk, though. This decision might have frustrated some and led others to believe it was saving itself for a big reveal. I somehow intuitively knew that the big baddies would be nothing but a joke. So who are the main villains of this show? Online trolls. And that makes complete sense to me.
Even diehard Marvel fans must have begun to see that a Marvel product is fueled by a formula. It's as if the whole assembly line is manufactured by an AI. She-Hulk takes this notion to the next level by introducing an...AI. Its name? KEVIN (as in Kevin Feige). It stands for Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus. It looks like a camera and has a robotic voice. KEVIN is kind enough to tweak the She-Hulk finale as per Jennifer's wishes. The orgy of CGI is removed, a clichéd turn of events is reversed, and those last-minute surprises are canceled (we still get bizarre information about Hulk's son).
It's all fun and games until you sit down and reflect on all these decisions. One can't help but wonder if this show was made just to undermine expectations. We know how stupid fandoms can be, and so does She-Hulk. That is why it comes across as a button-pushing nut who merely wants to offend the toxic Marvel fandom. The show is so occupied with this agenda that it fails to notice its own doom. Characters like Titania or Nikki Ramos remain unidimensional. Many good sitcoms are "light" and "cool," but they also remain curious about their characters and their actions. On the other hand, She-Hulk is so preoccupied with putting on a I-don't-care-fuck-you attitude that it sacrifices engagement at the altar of fun. When I look back at the finale, a part of me smiles, while the other part laughs at it for being blind enough to not notice that it's just being lazy. She-Hulk might have managed to ruffle the feathers of the toxic fans, but its victory comes at the cost of good storytelling. Ultimately, it's nothing but the work of a rogue AI.
Final Score – [5.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times