'She-Hulk: Attorney At Law' Episode 9: "Who's Show Is This?" Recap and Review
A stunning season ends in a stunning finale that no one could have predicted… literally
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
Not going to lie, they were one hundred percent spot-on with what we thought was going to happen. The reveal, the return, the endgame… all of that was exactly how everybody thought this finale was going to go and it wouldn’t have been terrible. Predictable, derivative, cliche and mediocre yes… but terrible? No. From the moment Jennifer Walters turned and looked directly into the camera it was clear that this series was going to be a tad different. After the slow start, the show developed into a great and unique episodic legal comedy. Far different from the eight hour movie format what we’ve seen from previous Marvel series. Think about it this way, can you remember any specific episodes of the previous series on their own? Compare that to She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and you can name the wedding episode, Wongers and Madisynn, the one where She-Hulk twerks with Cardi B (yes, that is an factual statement), the Daredevil episode the list goes on. This is how Jessica Gao has guaranteed that the series is memorable. She has taken everything wrong with the current flavor of Marvel shows and smashed them with malicious intent. Bravo, Jessica, bravo.
The episode begins as Jessica Walters (Tatiana Maslany) wakes from a 70’s sitcom nightmare to find herself in a cell at a high security prison. Not long after she is joined by her friends and colleagues Pug (Josh Segarra), Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga), and Mallory (Renée Elise Goldsberry) where she is given her only option, a power inhibitor. Upon release, she packs her things from the law firm and returns home, her parents home. Her and Nikki’s attempt to find the Hulkking is fruitless which leaves Jen frustrated and in need of some time away. She packs up and heads to Emil Blonsky’s (Tim Roth) Meditation Retreat. Meanwhile, Nikki uses an embarrassing video of Jen to gain access to the Intelligencia website and leans of a secret meeting. Jen arrives and is shown to a guest room while Nikki drags Pug to the Hulkking’s secret meeting. Pug does his best to blend in with the angry dude-bros at the meeting with Nikki’s help when he finds out that Todd Phelps (Jon Bass) was the Hulkking. Todd gathers everyone together as Jen goes looking for Emil. Todd then introduces the guest speaker, The Abomination, and this is when Jen walks in to find the secret meeting and confront Emil about transforming. Todd then reveals his true plan, he pulls out a needle and injects himself, becoming a Hulk himself. Chaos erupts as Titania (Jameela Jamil) and Smart Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) arrive on the scene. Suddenly the episode ends and returns to the Disney+ Marvel page. This is when Jen takes matters into her own hands, busting through the She-Hulk show icon and entering the real world. She-Hulk wanders the Disney lot before stumbling onto the She-Hulk writer’s room. She-Hulk chastises the room for the idea but the writers insist that it is what K.E.V.I.N. wants so she goes to find K.E.V.I.N. She finds K.E.V.I.N. in a large secure room and learns that K.E.V.I.N is an Artificial Intelligence controlling Marvel. Slowly, she convinces the A.I. that the best course for her finale is somthing completely different than the rest of Marvel shows. She has it drop the Todd-Hulk story, get rid of Hulk, and Abomination learning from his mistakes… and Daredevil, he has to be there for sexual reason. That’s exactly how things end. Jen celebrates at a family BBQ, with Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox). Just before the episode ends, Hulk shows up and introduces his son, Skaar. After the credits we see Emil, back in his cell, when a portal opens up and Wong (Benedict Wong) offers Emil a room at the Kamar-Taj.
Yes, the enemy of Marvel is, wait for it, K.E.V.I.N. Of course Todd was the Hulkking, it was practically shouted at us in the last episode, but bonus points for the Abomination swerve, Bruce made his return from Sakaar, the She-Hulk blood was resolved kind of, and even Titania and Daredevil made guest appearances. None of that mattered. She-Hulk was determined to fight real villain of Marvel Entertainment and that was the Marvel formula. The show went full meta by having She-Hulk escape Disney+, sneak onto the Marvel lot, and address the real problem: a Marvel-centric A.I. that goes by the acronym K.E.V.I.N. No, they weren’t going to attack the credibility of Kevin Feige, and why would they, the man has helped create one of the most entertaining and lucrative cinematic experiences to ever exist. He was never the problem, the Marvel formula was the problem. The formula that was unintentionally created by writers over fifteen years of stories which, unique at the time of creation, has become stale after all these years. That is what K.E.V.I.N. represents and it is what She-Hulk defeats. The in-universe ending is far easier to explain. She-Hulk is back to practicing law after being acquitted of all charges related to Hulkking and the invasion of privacy. Emil Blonsky’s only real mistake was transforming back into The Abomination to sell his motivational speech side business. He accepted his parole violation and went back to jail but, after the end credits scene, Wong returned to give him a room at the Kamar-Taj. Daredevil returned for a family BBQ and Hulk is back on earth from a trip to Sakaar to bring back his son Skaar. This is actually a big moment for Marvel that was snuck into the ending, Skaar’s story is deeply rooted in the Planet Hulk, reformed into Thor: Ragnarok, and World War Hulk storylines from Marvel Comics. This could theoretically lead into WWH which would be incredible to see, Hulk beating the snot out of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but more likely would lead into some sort of father-son bonding story now that Hulk has dropped his savage nature. After all the meta-commentary it would be interesting to see where the show goes from here, you can’t return to the meta bucket without expecting a flop. Do you give She-Hulk a real villain? Or do you continue the episodic format and dial down the expectation of an overarching plot? Honestly, there is no way to guess and that is a beautiful thing.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law has proved itself against all the un-warranted criticisms before the show even premiered. It survived a very rocky start thanks to the great performances, witty writing, and a fresh episodic format. They saved a very formulaic ending by smashing the fourth wall and said exactly what critics have been shouting at the studio for years. This is the answer to the question of “Will people ever suffer from Marvel fatigue”? With the access of visionaries like Jessica Gao with the ability to look at the MCU objectively and adapt the answer is a resounding no. But where does the series sit amongst the gallery of MCU Television shows? Hard to say exactly but the answer is Incredibly high… Incredibly, get it? It’s a pun.