Thread:Mister Explicit/@comment-24669364-20170310004014/@comment-26838855-20170310203940

Personally, I feel the four seasons of Marvel/Netflix content are as good as the order they came out, with Daredevil: Season 1 being incredible, Jessica Jones: Season 1 slow to begin with but really good, Daredevil: Season 2 starting strong but losing its way a little, and Luke Cage: Season 1 starting strong but falling victim to having to stretch out to 13 episodes.

The thing is, each show knew what it wanted to do. But Iron Fist, it just felt like they were a bit stuck. They said they'll look at something like "the top 1% of the top 1%", which felt to me a bit like they were grasping at straws for something to explore. I worried that they didn't have a strong story and arc to fill out 13 episodes, and this was a bit more like the necessary one they have to make before Defenders. However, the trailers look fun and like they have some cool action and characters, and I was excited.
 * Daredevil wanted to be a stylish show driven by character relationships, with really well-shot and choreographed action, great cinematography, and a really gritty and grounded feel, all with the underlying theme of morality and grappling with his Catholicism.
 * Jessica Jones wanted to present what it's like being a woman in modern life, to highlight issues with rape and consent, look at feminism and a bit of addiction, while being a great character study of both hero and villain.
 * Luke Cage wanted to show off black culture, rap culture, black history, ongoing current racist issues, and diversity, while being stylish and cool, and having a great soundtrack.

With all that said, I get the impression from the wording of reviews, and less hyperbolic reviews as well, that these first six episodes are just kinda meh... just not much happens, there's a lot of nothing. Not particularly badddd, but just unimpressive, repetitive, unoriginal, and a little boring. As well as this, I do feel there is a little bit of a case here that some publications or critics have been waiting a while for something sub-par at Marvel to talk about their issues with the Marvel productions. And this is the very much sub-par product that is their punching bag to get their chance. I'm not attributing all the reviews to that at all, I respect their criticisms and the overall reaction is similar, obviously not everyone feels that way or is being biased or creating a "conspiracy" or any of that rubbish - but I feel that at least contributes to just how low the Metacritic score is, for example. It's a chance to give something Marvel-related a low score.

I've seen in one or two reviews that things pick up a little in Episode 6, so one can still hope that the episodes the critics have not seen are the much better ones. And at the end of the day, I will still appreciate the world, the characters, the crossovers, the timeline, the build-up to Defenders, the stuff I liked in the trailers, and just the fact that it's another Marvel production.

As for the whitewashing controversy. While I agree that it might have been better to cast an Asian-American in a martial arts-related role and have some diversity, as well as being more culturally appropriate - I don't see this as whitewashing, casting someone of the same ethnicity as the comic character. While it might have been better to change things, I don't think it's worth getting angry at the show for casting true to the comics, personally. It also depends I guess on how they treat Danny's adopting of the culture.

Still looking forward to Iron Fist, albeit with reserved expectations. Sorry for the long message, I just had a lot of thoughts ;)