S01.E12: Bar the Big Boss

[The Crazed Spruce]

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Ward receives an offer with strings attached. Davos advocates for an extreme solution, and a deadly duel gets personal.

[wayne67]

Poor Davos he sounds like a jilted lover, abandoned at the altar. Typical of the protagonist to abandon his duties because of his own personal issues.

These people may be decent fights but they are terrible strategists. Always cut off the head. That way you can keep it as a trophy like Rigel off Farscape. When enemies keep coming back from the dead, make sure they stay dead. 

[Enigma X]

I find it hard to believe that Bakudo hadn't shown Colleen his brand of batshit crazy before now. From Danny to Colleen to Ward...who is not gullible on this show?

[NorthstarATL]

Once again, Joy was wearing pants, so we knew something was coming. Harold progressively channeled Montgomery Burns, and i found it amusing. If IF doesn't get a second season, perhaps Keeping Up With The Meachums might take its place.

[Dream Boy]

3 hours ago, Enigma X said:

I find it hard to believe that Bakudo hadn't shown Colleen his brand of batshit crazy before now. From Danny to Colleen to Ward...who is not gullible on this show?

That was my issue especially with Danny. Is there any lie that he didn't take as fact?

Edited March 19, 2017 by Dream Boy

[Helena Dax]

Harold really, really, really sucks at parenting. He's trolling Ward all the time, lol. And omg, he was hilarious at the hospital! And aw, Ward. I'm fond of him, I want him to survive. 

We've had some cool fights by now, but the Iron Fist itself needs a more epic scene. I haven't been properly awed by its power. Maybe next chapter?

Poor Davos, he just wants his BFF back. 

[MissLucas]

28 minutes ago, Helena Dax said:

And omg, he was hilarious at the hospital! And aw, Ward. I'm fond of him, I want him to survive.

That mocking cough was such an inspired ad-lib (er... ad-cough). Wenham is really committed to playing an unhinged assh*** - too bad most reviewers are so focused on tearing the show apart that his performance (which I think is at least on-par with D'Onofrio's on DD) gets overlooked.

[Bec]

What made that cough even funnier was that the closed caption said "coughs mockingly".

I see they saved their best fight choreography (so far) for this episode. I should have known they made that elevator lobby so pretty for a reason! It's a cool backdrop for a cool fight scene. That central park archway was another cool backdrop for a fight scene. Sword fight in the rain was also pretty awesome.

Still not as epic as Daredevil, but marked improvement for this show.

[Sakura12]

12 episodes in and I still don't know what makes the Iron Fist so great. Since it only seems to work sometimes and the wielder is a dumbass. Why do Matt, Jessica and Luke need this guy? He's really really dumb, believes anything anyone tells him, is a terrible strategist, doesn't appear to be that awesome of a marital arts fighter and acts like an angry 10 year old whenever he gets mad. The other three have their issues but they at least act like adults.  

Does Danny really think Bukuto's gone. I mean come on, he knows they can bring people back from the dead. There is no way he's gone for good. I'm guessing the person that wanted to meet him was Elektra but then upon meeting him she'd kill him for being stupid, especially since she's a better fighter then he is. 

[wayne67]

2 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

12 episodes in and I still don't know what makes the Iron Fist so great. Since it only seems to work sometimes and the wielder is a dumbass. Why do Matt, Jessica and Luke need this guy? He's really really dumb, believes anything anyone tells him, is a terrible strategist, doesn't appear to be that awesome of a marital arts fighter and acts like an angry 10 year old whenever he gets mad. The other three have their issues but they at least act like adults.  

He's got money ? He can bankroll the Defenders operations costs by himself. He can probably provide some basic ninja training. Luke and Jessica could do with some ninja skills.  He could provide them with money to hire Claire to be their medic and provide them with facilities that don't rely on terrible secondary businesses for funding. 
 

He also has magic hands that get rid of poisons and presumably if he targeted the other chi, he could kill with a touch. That could be quite useful against characters with super strength. 

[thuganomics85]

While I'm still mainly indifferent to them as a couple, Danny and Colleen's tandem mediation bit/dance was probably the only time I felt like Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick actually had something close to sexual chemistry.  Which meant Ward had to cock-block it.  But at least he had a good reason!

That was certainly the most honest "last words" ever seen on screen.  "Ward, you suck.  You're a loser and I can't believe you are my son.  Joy?  You're the greatest!!"  Harold is such a dick, but David Wenham continues to be one of the best things about this series.  But he likely overplayed his hand (ha!) now, because Danny knows he was behind the set-up, and realizes he is not even close to being family.  You've done fucked up, Harold!

No way is Bakuto done for.  If he wasn't already immortal, the rest of The Hand likely took his body to become immortal.  He is so hanging with Elektra right now.

Both of the big fight scenes were the best this show has done.  I was even impressed with Finn Jones' work, which is saying something. 

Davos really did come off like a jilted lover, upset that Danny wasn't as invested in the relationship as he was.

Can't wait to see what the finale brings!

[blueray]

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Why do Matt, Jessica and Luke need this guy?

I honestly agree. I haven't read the comic books so this is strictly based of of the shows. I feel like Luke will find him annoying,Jessica will hate him (from what I've seen of her show). I can see him getting along with Matt, but more in the lets go gets drinks at a bar with friends. He's not a bad fighter and has been told that. I still feel like I don't fully get what the "iron fist" is and I'm 12 episodes in. Hopefully something will happen in the finally.

[shrewd.buddha]

With only one episode left to go, it doesn't seem as if the Iron Fist has accomplished much of anything in NY, except getting Colleen's dojo destroyed and cause a few bad guys to get moved around to new places. 
Madam Gao is still around, The Hand is still active, The Rand company is still corrupt, Bukuto is temporarily dead - but his compound is still running, and Harold Meachum died and came back one more time. 

It seems odd that Claire isn't trying to contact Matt (DD) - - seems he would be very interested in the Hand's new activities. 

As far as continuity goes, those staples that Claire used to stitch up Danny seemed to disappear pretty quickly. And you can tell from Danny's hair that not a lot of effort went into making the flashbacks to the Himalayas with Davos look dated. 

And at some point Davos pulls out a phone to explain how he located Danny in NY. Then Danny smashes it, saying it could be traced by Bukuto. But, then, Danny has a phone in his pocket when Bukuto calls to demand that Danny come to Harold's lair or Joy will die. (Danny could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he just let some calls go to voicemail.) 

But the show does keep barreling forward at a fast pace - and I'm interested in seeing if they manage to bring any of the story lines to a conclusion in the final episode.. 

Edited March 24, 2017 by shrewd.buddha

[Primetimer]

And other, non-burning questions about the episode!

View the full article

[tennisgurl]

Seriously, I would be so not surprised to find out that Davos and Danny were actually exes, and Davos is still not over a bad break up. It would explain everything!

Wow, Zombie Harald. A++ parenting there. "Ward, I hate you, your a disappointment, and your not my son. Joy, I love you, your awesome, and I should have made you my sidekick years ago". And, hey, looks like Ward is siding with Danny. The guy is really growing on me. I hope he turns out ok.

Solid fight scenes this episode!

Danny seriously needs to smarten up.

[Ottis]

I find the reason for this season to be a mystery. What has anyone accomplished? And now It's slowed down, and the one interesting thing about Colleen, that she reveled in fighting and destruction, was inexplicably dropped. And she got stupid. Arrest a Hand leader? 

Also, if the path to Kun Lun is only open every 15 years, why does someone need to guard it all the time? 

Edited March 30, 2017 by Ottis

[xqueenfrostine]

On 3/29/2017 at 10:12 PM, Ottis said:

Also, if the path to Kun Lun is only open every 15 years, why does someone need to guard it all the time? 

Maybe the Hand isn't the only thing it needs guarding from?  While we know K'un Lun is only open to Earth once every 15 years, we don't know anything about the 15 years where it's closed.  It could be exposed to other sources of danger in that time.  Maybe even from the dragon the Iron Fist has to fight in order to score the position.

[benteen]

Man, there was some bad acting in this episode to go along with the shitty writing.  Bakudo's dialogue and line-reading was cringe-inducing at times though occasionally funny.  Harold telling Ward what a disappointment was funny too.  But what exactly is this leading up to?  It felt like the season was over until the last two minutes.  Who exactly will Danny be fighting in the last episode?  After being beaten by Danny, being beaten by Colleen and being stabbed to death by Davos, I can't exactly take Undead Bakudo seriously anymore.

This series was not good and didn't need to be 13 episodes, all of which were at least 50 minutes which is too long.

[AudienceofOne]

So all that stuff happened. And I have no idea what any of it means or how it actually contributes to the season. 

Pretty much a setup season and, like most others, I'm not sure what the Iron Fist adds to the hero genre. I mean, he's an ok fighter whose fist glows. It sounds like a bad porn movie. 

But here I go with episode 13. Nearly there...

[AKA...CJ86]

Bakudo's been pretty cringe inducing.

Please finish strong on Ward. They gave him that starting of a redemption, commit to it!

[WatchrTina]

So to answer the question posed in the recap about how someone could have a fight to the death at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park with no witnesses . . . I can willfully suspend disbelief on that point because of the torrential downpour in the middle of the night.  That's probably the ONLY time there are no "legit" people hanging out there.  As for anyone crazy enough to be there in the dark in the rain watching -- I pretty sure they wouldn't be the kind of people who:

1. Would report ANYTHING to the police or
2. Would be believed if they did report it.

So . . . I just binged my way through the last few episodes after dropping this show for a while.  (The part of my brain where willful suspension of disbelief lives clearly needed a rest after the road-trip to China.)  I don't love it.  I feel obliged to watch it so that I can enjoy The Defenders fully.  I think my biggest beef is that I can't tell who the good guys are other than Danny.  Joy's Daddy is a bad guy.  Gao's Hand are bad guys.  Colleen's mentor's Hand are bad guys too.  The Rand Board sucks pretty hard as well.  Ward is a seriously fucked up dude and Joy, while not a bad guy, accepted her Daddy's reappearance WAY too easily.

Which brings me to another thing that has me confused.  Why is it suddenly safe for Joy to know her father is alive?  Ward said is wasn't safe and we know Gao's Hand kept a pretty close watch on Daddy Meachum.  Does Daddy Meachum even know that Gao is locked up?  (And is she still locked up?)

The plot of this show . . . it is confusing.

But add me to the list of people who thought the hip-hop-backed pas de deux kata was pretty hot.  Finn Jones may not have the martial arts chops to really sell that kata (Adrian Paul did a better job in Highlander) but damn, the boy looks good with his shirt off -- especially that v-shaped back.