Wong becomes a client…

The first three episodes were set up. It feels like we’ve finally reached a point where the show can grow beyond needing to establish Jen’s character and have some story.

Except the show isn’t interested in that. Nothing happens in this week’s episode.

What we do have is something that none of the other MCU shows have done – which is an episodic adventure of the week structure. In this way it’s leaning just as hard into the Ally McBeal approach as possible – a little bit of legal jeopardy together with a bunch of dating and numerous cameos from other parts of the MCU.

In some ways this wasn’t an episode of She-Hulk but rather an episode of the ‘Wong’ show. This is both fine and also revealing about what She-Hulk is and isn’t.

I think I have to say I haven’t really understood the show until this episode. You can make of my previous reviews what you will in light of that admission!

What I mean is I expected She-Hulk to follow a similar narrative format to the other MCU shows – in that it would have a story to tell that would start in episode 1 and end with a climax in the final episode.

Instead we have an episode of the week. Like any number of Legal Dramas to which it’s paying homage who have their crime of the week to resolve and around which they play out interpersonal dramas with their chosen tone.

The characters effectively end up exactly where they were the previous week, aka sitcom land, and with that reset we start anew each time. There may be some interconnectedness across the season but it’s secondary to the central standalone drama of each episode.

The other thing I didn’t understand but is more clear now relates to how being a Superhero Lawyer essentially means that the entire show is a vehicle for She-Hulk to encounter other characters from the MCU. Hulk, Abomination, Wong, Titania etc. She-Hulk’s work as a lawyer makes her a nexus for every single character in the MCU in some form or another. The struggle then becomes how to centre Jennifer Walters when so many other names have the potential to land on screen.

The fourth wall breaks help with that centring – they’re vital because they put Jen right back in the frame no matter what else is going on.

Honestly though the format doesn’t work for me personally. I want a more coherent serialised story. Adventures of the week feel anachronistic in the landscape of modern television. I appreciate the risk they’ve taken in putting this together but in relying on a format that was innovative thirty years ago it feels like this is less a creative experiment and more a failure of imagination. Other opinions are available.

The women in my house haven’t quite given up on it but they expressed both boredom and frustration with a show they were exceptionally excited about in advance. Most tellingly they didn’t tell me off for watching it without them – if I’d done that for Ms Marvel or Moon Knight I’d have been in real trouble.

She-Hulk remains funny but the big opening gag is wearing thin and there’s not a lot behind it.

Verdict: Tatiana Maslany’s Jen Walters is fantastic. The set up remains compelling but the delivery feels like a show from the late 1990s with all the baggage that brings.

Rating? 6 demon eggs out of 10

Stewart Hotston