She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) s01e09 – Whose Show Is This?

“She-Hulk” does not end with a second season announcement, which is—possibly reasonably, possibly not—heartbreaking. Especially since the mid-credit sequence erases one of the episode’s “wins.”

Because even though “She-Hulk” is a Marvel show in an MCU, the show and its star—Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk gets significantly less to do this episode)—would rather be a superhero legal comedy than set up Planet Hulk for 2033 or whenever. And Maslany tells the head honcho at Marvel Studios as much after she does a major wall break to plead the show’s case.

There are a handful of surprise guest stars, several twists, and another good subplot for Ginger Gonzaga and Josh Segarra. The show does a rapid-fire cliffhanger resolution, with Maslany ending up back at home with parents Mark Linn-Baker and Tess Malis Kincaid. Kincaid’s finally distinct, opposite Gonzaga; there’s potential there. There’s potential all over the place for “She-Hulk,” including a move to New York City or at least a guest appearance in a sequel to a particular Netflix Marvel show. Not to mention the big MCU reveal, stealing Maslany’s last scene from her like it’s a Robert Downey Jr. cameo.

The episode starts with some inspired franchise homage, then destroys the fourth wall to save Maslany from having to do just another Marvel movie resolution, only to leave her in limbo. The episode wraps things up, including some solidly acerbic observations about the Marvel Studios creative process, but it doesn’t take the show anywhere new. It just doesn’t take it anywhere old.

And if “She-Hulk” doesn’t continue, if Maslany just gets wrapped into the occasional guest spot, it won’t get to go anywhere. The second season tag would at least acknowledge they know what they’ve got here. The show’s incredibly aware of what it’s done, what it’s accomplished, and what it’s whiffed on, but it also says those things might not matter.

The finale’s not disappointing or even underwhelming. It’s also not the home run I’d been hoping for.

If they don’t do a season two, I hope they’ve better plans for Maslany than costarring in Fantastic Four and guesting on “Daredevil” as the love interest. I feel like “She-Hulk” knows better, but does Marvel?

The season’s an incredible success for Maslany, who took the show over from big-name guest stars and CGI twerking, and there have been some excellent scripts throughout the season.

I want more “She-Hulk.” I’m glad we got any at all. I hope we get some more.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) s01e08 – Ribbit and Rip It

A couple things to get out of the way again for this episode. During Tatiana Maslany’s perfect beyond words Ferris Bueller “go home already” fourth wall breaking (she’d already inhabited the part, now it’s time for her to bend the devices to her will), she says next episode is the “finale.” They’re doing another scene to get them there. And the hook for next episode’s good. It’s not perfect, but it’s coming at the end of a transcendent accomplishment: “She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law” just perfected the superhero show crossover episode.

Well. Sort of. I mean, I think they did it once before, and I think it involved the same other half of the crossover, “Daredevil” Charlie Cox, making his big return to the proverbial tights after showing up in the latest Spider-Man, answering the question of whether or not the Netflix Marvel shows “count.” They do for Cox, anyway.

And it’s no surprise why. It’s a magnificent return, starting with him and Maslany facing off in court. Her client (Brandon Stanley playing the perfect dipshit) is suing superhero fashion designer Griffin Matthews for faulty jet boots. Even though Maslany also frequents Matthews’s establishment (he’s designing her lawyers’ gala dress, in fact), she’s stuck trying to case. She wasn’t expecting a New York City lawyer who can tell when people lie just from their heartbeats.

It gets more complicated after Maslany and Cox have drinks—I’d forgotten how wonderfully slutty Cox plays the part, seducing Maslany with the potential of using her powers for good. Between that soulful moment and Cox saying “Sokovia Accords,” the MCU suddenly gets that “street level” thoughtfulness it’s been missing since… well, always, actually. At least outside Netflix.

Anyway.

Because it’s a crossover, they’ll have to costume up at some point, but because it’s a first-time crossover, they’ll have to be enemies at the start.

It’s glorious, even if director Kat Coiro should’ve done at least one bad-ass “Daredevil” long fight instead of just joking about them.

The next episode’s going to be a whopper based on the cliffhanger, but between this episode and the last, “She-Hulk”’s earned itself all the seasons. Though the four-minute setup should’ve been a mid-credits sequence; someone needs to rethink the MCU show’s lengthy end titles.

It had so better end with “She-Hulk Will Return in She-Hulk: Season Two.” It so better.

She could also move to New York and do a season with Cox. Whatever. But they’ve finally hit that sincere and unique sitcom level; they need to keep it going.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) s01e06 – Just Jen

Are self-contained wedding episodes a thing? This episode of “She-Hulk” breaks the fourth wall so Tatiana Maslany can tell the audience it’s one of those episodes. Those being self-contained wedding episodes, which—if they are a thing—I have many questions about. Like do they usually involve random guest stars with no bearing on the series, who’ve either never been on the show before or have no dramatic impact whatsoever?

It’s a perfectly good lawyer and Maslany character development episode, but it’s also a bizarre one if it’s supposed to be a trope.

So Maslany goes to her childhood family acquaintance’s wedding as a bridesmaid. Patti Harrison plays the bride. Eh.

Harrison’s obnoxious (getting married on a Thursday), and Maslany wants to show her up by going as She-Hulk. But then Harrison bursts into tears, and Maslany agrees to play human for the wedding. Except then powered but not super villain influencer Jameela Jamil shows up to take her revenge on Maslany. Can Maslany make it through the episode without getting angry? Will cute boy Trevor Salter still like Maslany when she’s angry? Why so many rhetorical questions?

Because rhetorical questions are a slippery slope.

Anyway.

The wedding stuff’s just okay. Kara Brown gets the writing credit, and the script goes overboard making Maslany sympathetic and Harrison terrible. I can’t remember what shitty thing Harrison’s doing, but Maslany should’ve just left at some point. Like, her only family member there is the stoner cousin, played to two or three-line perfection by Nicholas Cirillo. And then there’s a whole night with Jamil at the wedding venue (they had to get there Wednesday) where she and Maslany could bicker or something.

Plus, Jamil’s not the show’s best casting. A little goes a long way because, at some point, she has to realize Maslany can crush her head like a grape, only she never does, even though they superpower-fought in the first episode. So it’s the part too. She’s too many contradictory kinds of bad at once.

The lawyer plot has Ginger Gonzaga teaming up with Renée Elise Goldsberry to defend David Pasquesi in some divorce cases. Pasquesi’s known as “Mr. Immortal,” and whenever his wives yell at him, he kills himself to widow them and move on. Pasquesi’s great, Goldsberry and Gonzaga are an excellent team (six episodes in, and I don’t think Gonzaga’s actually helped Maslany on a case yet)—it’s the superhero lawyer show; it’s perfect.

It’s just got a weird wedding thing going on next to it. Good direction from Anu Valia at least keeps the nuptials moving along.

Then there’s a very dark cliffhanger, which again suggests Disney’s not going to shy away from the trolls in its properties’ fan bases.

Can’t wait. Hope there’s literal troll-hunting by episode nine.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) s01e05 – Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans

There aren’t any big guest stars this episode; it’s all regular cast—including Renée Elise Goldsberry getting a big part after showing up in the background for an episode. Two episodes? Did I sleep through a scene in the first episode where they introduced the law firm staff? Because they really should’ve. Especially since Josh Segarra’s back this episode, and no one says his name (it’s “Pug”), so if you weren’t paying attention for his minimal involvement an episode or two ago… he’s basically just some dude.

But forgetting the characters not being introduced by name, this episode is the law firm sitcom I’ve been waiting for. Tatiana Maslany has to go to court to fight for the “She-Hulk” moniker, and her ostensible nemesis Jameela Jamil starts a wellness brand with the name to be an asshole. Goldsberry represents Maslany and the two bond over lawyer stuff, but also the alter ego business. Their tactics are good both as legal show banter and character development. She-Hulk, the character, has an odd place in the Marvel Universe, someone who can change their appearance at will, without a secret identity; the show’s been staying pretty light on the psychology of it, but it’s nice to see it still affecting the arcs.

Then Ginger Gonzaga and Segarra have a subplot about trying to get Maslany clothes for both She-Hulking and not. It’s a strange delayed costume reveal arc, complete with an Easter egg reminding of the last time a Marvel show did such a delay. Albeit not a Disney+ one. Gonzaga and Segarra are fun together, even if the arc’s busywork.

Because it’s a law firm sitcom episode, not an “MCU movie star guest stars” episode. Though I’m not sure anyone’s thought out the legal ramifications of superheroes and trademarks yet in the MCU. Kevin Fiege should get on it.

Script credit to Dana Schwartz, Anu Valia directs; it’s exactly what it should be. I’m going to be so sad if the last episode doesn’t promise another season. “She-Hulk”’s what a Marvel show should be.

Evil (2019) s01e10 – 7 Swans a Singin’

This episode of “Evil” has a particular creative pedigree. Nineties neo-noir wunderkind (albeit flash in the pan) director John Dahl. Eighties and nineties sci-fi guy Rockne S. O'Bannon scripts. Seeing either of their names in the credits for “Evil” just tells of careers gone wrong; seeing both of them in the same episode, well… it feels like “Evil” is a pasture to be put out to. Though O’Bannon feels like he gets how to do an “Evil,” he knows just what contemporary middle class fears to exploit. Kids, obviously. The episode’s about a Catholic girls school where everyone spontaneously starts humming the same song from an inappropriately crude Christmas cartoon on YouTube.

But the actual fear is of YouTube influencers, particularly the make-up ones. Taylor Louderman plays the influencer, who ties into the Michael Emerson plot, natch, and she’s terrible. Also the show using Emerson as the occasional bad guy in his office sending out evil into the world isn’t working. It’s not like Emerson ever wasn’t silly, but he’s even more silly in his crappy little office engineering the downfall of western civilization. Or talking dirty with girlfriend Christine Lahti on the phone.

Lahti’s going to be all “Evil” at some point, as she starts manipulating her granddaughters this episode. While wearing red!

While Mike Colter, Katja Herbers, and Aasif Mandvi investigate the school and the humming, Colter has also got to deal with someone sending him pictures of his transgression with dead fiancée’s sister Renée Elise Goldsberry (who went from being featured guest star to third tier subplot) and Herbers has her home nonsense going on with the daughters and husband Patrick Brammall. Though Brammall’s growing on me. His performance isn’t getting worse. New Church boss Peter Scolari is just getting worse. And Lahti’s not fun anymore because she’s now just around to act as a constant threat to her granddaughters, who are obnoxious but still kids and the grandmother betrayal thing is really harsh.

Wait, forgot—the Christmas cartoon also tells kids to get stoned, because you should fear YouTube and counter it by… well, it’s unclear. “Evil” tries to terrify its audience with fear of tech but, other than calling the Catholic Church to investigate, has no opinion on alternatives.

There’s an okay cliffhanger? Or at least a surprise one. The episode woefully underuses Mandvi.

Evil (2019) s01e09 – Exorcism Part 2

This episode actually surprised me, which I didn’t realize “Evil” could do, but I was wrong. I really didn’t expect the show to head-on confront the Catholic Church enabling, supporting, and facilitating child rape with it being a-okay and turning their number one “defending child rapists” lawyer Renée Elise Goldsberry (from the show creators’ previous success, “The Good Wife,” playing a character named Renée, and giving a terrible performance) as a super-sexy woman from Mike Colter’s past who’s going to coerce him into physical relations or die trying.

When Goldsberry showed up in the first few minutes, after the show established it’s a follow-up on the episode where Colter and Katja Herbers argued over an exorcism but also Michael Emerson’s incel shooter training camp (are all psychologists bad for incels, or just the white men?), I was happy to see her. Any good guest stars would help, especially since incel shooter-in-training Noah Robbins is so bad it’d make more sense if his character were an undercover cop trying to bust Emerson and also Herbers’s decidedly not sexy husband Patrick Brammall is back and, after briefly seeming like he and Herbers might be good together, decidedly is not good with Herbers or anyone else. So, Goldsberry, who’s been not bad in the past but I’m now wondering, was a welcome sight.

Then she started acting.

I mean, the deposition thing is really bad—who wrote all “Good Wife”’s realistic-y lawyer stuff because they ain’t working on “Evil”—where Goldsberry tries to out-lawyer Jennifer Ferrin (who probably ought to find a better agent, like, real talk) while trying to obscure Herbers and Aasif Mandvi being atheists who don’t think Colter should’ve tortured the plaintiff in her exorcism. The best part is how the case resolves because it’s so obviously how poorly thought-out the plotting.

Also Peter Scolari is Colter’s new boss at the Church and he’s terrible.

The big surprise, besides the Catholic Church propaganda (guess who the incel wants to shoot? Good Catholics who don’t abandon the Church because of child rape, isn’t it progressive) and Goldsberry being bad, is Emerson’s ostensible demon. He’s less an evil mastermind and more an incompetent jackass. He has a silly “break stuff in my room” scene like he thinks he’s Kylo Ren, he’s just in his late sixties or whatever. It’s buffoonish. Though I suppose at least it’s not as gross as if “Evil” really is about being Catholic Church propaganda.

Also, also. A correction from an earlier post. Black Catholics are a thing in urban areas and “Evil” supposedly takes place in New York, just a really poorly shot one. They still aren’t in that survey I mentioned and they still seem overrepresented on the show.