Iron Fist is the latest Marvel series on Netflix, coming after a series of impressive comic adaptations like Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Luke Cage, and setting up the upcoming Defenders series that’s going to bring these shows together. However, Iron Fist failed to rise to my expectations, and the fact that it’s essential to the Defender’s show is the only reason that got me to finally finish the series. Here’s the good, bad, and ugly.
The Good:

Ward’s and Joy’s Dynamic
These duos took the show by a storm. Their dynamic was so stirring that it made the cooperate part of the show the most exciting plot line. Ward was introduced as the druggie crazy cruel man that is constantly making bad decisions influenced by his not so dead abusive father. Where Joy is portrayed as the soft hearted but firm business women that puts Dany and the cooperate before her own self. That doesn’t last as the show slowly switch their characters in a surprisingly believable development that puts both of them at the opposite sides. The bomb drop at the end of the last episode makes me eager to see what’s going to happen between these two, and what Joy has up her sleeve for Danny.
Madam Gao

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The Bad
Harold Meachum

Clair Temple
She was introduced in Daredevil, phenomenal in Luke Cage and cute on Jessica Jones, but on Iron Fist she was downright obnoxious. Her character is often shoe horned in the marvel Netflix show in a way to bring them closer. And while it’s understandable that they wanted to connect these shows in a not so obvious as the CW legendary DCTV crossovers, Clair Temple was a bit of a fail. Hogarth did the job just fine, as she actually had a role to play instead of just shuffling around attempting to be a comic relief and failing. The only bright side in this is the fact she wasn’t playing a love interest to Dany Rand.
The Ugly
Iron Fist
It’s refreshing to see a hero actually embrace his powers and is ready to train others to do the same. As a concept, he’s a perfect fit in the Defenders. Nevertheless, the real deal is absurd. Finn Jones did not deliver a bad performance per say, but perhaps the wrong one. The biggest casting mistake in this show is unfortunately the lead character. He plays what’s supposed to be a powerful and self-assured superhero as a spoiled brat, always bragging to himself and others that he is iron fist. A great quality in concept, but onscreen it just felt wrong. Appearance wise he’s very charismatic, but it takes more than that to make him relatable . His flashbacks were handled very badly, and in effort to keep the superhero show realistic to fit with the others it did the opposite. Iron Fist was supposed to introduce us to fantasy and mysticism, just like Doctor Strange did in the MCU. But instead we got boring flashbacks and a very vague description of how Danny got his powers.
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Iron Fist series sets up the main villain that the Defenders will face, but glosses over its own. It’s a combination of every short coming from the previous Netflix mcu universe. Merging strong secondary characters that surpass the lead, and struggling to tell a boring story in 13 hour long episodes that could have easily fit in 8. When it comes to the legendary Hallway fight scenes we wait for in Daredevil, the one in Iron Fist while not bad, looked tragic in comparison. It doesn’t have the swift and crafty transition between reality and flashbacks that Arrow has, or the exciting plot twists of Luke Cage. It’s not heart wrenching as Jessica Jones or as gritty as Daredevil, but it is a show that had potential to be the best in its group, but failed to do so. As a standalone it’s an okay series, but when we have the rest of the wide superhero variety on tv and Netflix it falls short. Iron Fist might redeem himself in the upcoming Defenders series premiering on Netflix on August 18, 2017.