The Defenders Review

In Netflix’s “The Defenders” the Marvel superhero team comes together to take on The Hand and its mysterious leader, Alexandra (played by Sigourney Weaver). The series picks up three months after the events of the second season of Daredevil as well as immediately after Iron Fist.

The series waste no time in establishing the timeline, emphasizing on each character’s mental state as well as their respective supporting cast. Though the focus of The Defenders is our four superheroes, the supporting characters shine in innovative ways. With a concentration on the dynamic relationships of each hero and the characters that have helped mold them, the series succeeds in creating more levels to their already complex characters.

On a technical level, the cinematography is remarkable. The director shows how unique each character is using color and character-specific camera angles. For example, Luke Cage’s scenes are brighter in contrast to the darker grittier look of Daredevil’s scenes.

My favorite character in the Defenders is Jessica Jones; she serves as comic relief, clue-finder and pure unadulterated badass. I also enjoyed the main villain Alexandra and she does not disappoint. Alexandra delivers a wonderful balance of pain, anger and sheer evil. At times, I felt compassion for her plight but then I would quickly come back to reality. Alexandra treats human life as insignificant. She uses the people around her like expendable tools to accomplish her bidding. Having lived for centuries, her goal is to continue living and gaining power through the ages. The most powerful scenes with Alexandra involve her monologues with The Black Sky.

The plot is a bit thin and can seem rushed. Each character has a separate reason for investigating the mysterious on-goings around the city. Cage is asked by Misty Knight to look into

the mysterious deaths of young poor kids from Harlem. Jessica Jones is searching for a missing architect whose family she initially turns away until she receives a phone call telling her to stay away. Danny and Colleen have been chasing down The Hand to avenge Kun Lun. Matt Murdock is hired to defend Jessica Jones. Their missions all eventually converge on The Hand’s dealing. That’s where the plot begins to muddle and we lose the magic that made each heroes’ individual story unique.

Shortening the series to eight episodes from the standard 13 seems to have forced the show-runners to cut to the action faster. There are a lot of interactions I wanted to see more of. I wanted to see Luke and Danny bro down over old school hip hop and Luke tell the story of running into Method Man at a Bodega in Harlem. I wanted to see Matt Murdock’s internal struggle between being a lawyer and being Daredevil. Overall, the series was fun to watch, even with its problems. The ending sets up the next season of each hero’s series, especially Daredevil. However, I would have loved a cameo or mention of The Punisher.

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