Marvel’s The Defenders (Netflix)

[Silver Nemesis]

Krysten Ritter teaching Charlie Cox to knit in between scenes.

Because real men know how to knit.

[riddler]

Here was my show's discussion on the Defenders. Keep in mind I have only seen one episode and the host had only seen 8 so it's not a full season review

[thecolorsblend]

As far as comic influences go (and that subject definitely deserves its own thread), this was basically a mixture of Frank Miller's Elektra Lives Again, Andy Diggle's Shadowland, and Brian Michael Bendis' 2017 The Defenders Vol 5.

I'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't a heavier Shadowland influence. Yeah, there was that business with the Midland building but that's pretty much it. Shadowland was in a way The Exorcist with superheroes and that's not really what Defenders was like.

In one sense, I shouldn't complain since it's not like the showrunners lied to me or something. But on the other hand, the final outcome seemed scaled down as compared to what it could've been... and maybe would've been if the aforementioned Exorcist angle had played a bigger role in the story.

This is another instance where the source material was circumvented in a detrimental way. A defining (and iconic) element of the comics was Bullseye killing Elektra. She was good but he was magic. We've been deprived of that story and I doubt we'll get it in some future season of Daredevil. When Bullseye killed Elektra in the comics, big stuff came out of that. It didn't just happen and then get forgotten about. It's important that Elektra died and it's important that she was killed by Bullseye. The two go hand in hand in the comics... but not with Netflix.

Now, here with Defenders, we've been deprived of key elements of Shadowland. And here again, I doubt future seasons of anything will give us the missing items from Shadowland.

Assuming they go in a Born Again direction for Daredevil s3... well, we'll be deprived of key elements of that too. There won't be a slow, methodical deconstruction of Matt's life where he wonders if he's paranoid or something.

I don't expect panel-by-panel adaptations of stories in these Netflix shows. I think it's wrongheaded to demand that. But at the same time, the stories followed a particular arc. A character begins the story in one place and then he finishes the story in a different place. Important character dynamics are fleshed out before, during and after.

Now we're getting into major storylines where key issues and story points are sidestepped. If there was a reason for sidestepping them, I wouldn't gripe about it. But there's no logical reason for sidestepping them, other than those micro-story elements don't function within the macro-story the writers are telling.

As you and I are fond of saying, Daredevil isn't Batman. As much as I love the character, even I have to acknowledge that he doesn't have as many marquee storylines as Batman. Shortchanging the few iconic stories that he does have makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The death of Elektra, Shadowland, Born Again, the writers won't get a second change with any of those stories. When they're done, they're done and then it'll be time to move on. It's just frustrating to me.

[The Laughing Fish]

I finished watching The Defenders yesterday. I hate to say it, but I was underwhelmed.

It had some good character moments, but the overall story didn't impress me. Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra was a waste, I wasn't too enthused with Daredevil's arc, Iron Fist's dialogue continues to be below par compared to the rest of the characters, and the entire Hand storyline has been forgettable. I thought an eight episode mini-series would've made the show more cohesive, but instead it felt overlong and slow.

This is where I'd put Defenders if I had to rank Marvel's Netflix shows:

• Daredevil Season 1
• Jessica Jones
• Daredevil Season 2
• Luke Cage
• The Defenders and Iron Fist - tied

Disappointing. I hope Punisher will be better.