'She-Hulk: Attorney At Law' Episode 8: "Ribbit and Rip it" Recap and Review
The Devil reveals his incredibly handsome self in a triumphant return to Marvel Television
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
To put it bluntly, that was the best episode of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law to date. Not just because of the the Devil in Red and Yellow, the goofy and inept villain, or the infusion of the consistently excellent Marvel action. No, this is the best episode because of the character work Tatiana Maslany. The character of Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk has become one of the most relatable characters on the Marvel roster. She doesn’t really want to be a superhero, she can be petty, jealous, cocky, generous, and loving; to put it simply, she is a human. She reacts to the ridiculous side of the Marvel just as any of us, mild bemusement followed by exasperated acceptance. She is trying to live her life in spite of the utter ridiculousness of the world that surrounds her and in the end, isn’t that what we are all trying to do? She is along for the ride just as much as we are which makes the fact that she talks to us directly all the more fitting.
The episode begins on the mean streets where a consumer electronics theft is interrupted by Leapfrog (Brandon Stanley). Cut to Leapfrog in the law offices of She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) as he recounts the malfunction of his rocket boots. She-Hulk sees a good case against the manufacture and is ready to take the case until she realizes that the defendant would be Luke Jacobsen (Griffin Matthews), the superhero tailor who currently makes all of She-Hulk’s clothes. With no way out of the case she visits Luke and begs for a civil agreement to avoid the case, to which he denies. The court case begins but there is a surprise representing Luke, Matthew Murdock (Charlie Cox). Within minutes Murdock gets the case thrown out of court much to the chagrin of She-Hulk. Liking her wounds at the bar, Murdock offers Jen a peace offering and a few flirtatious jabs before a pair emergency phone call cuts their encounter short. Murdock tends to his emergency while She-Hulk is forced to tend to Todd (Jon Bass) who lures her to a fancy restaurant on the basis of a law emergency. The second She-Hulk realizes Todd’s true intentions she bails and returns home, only to get another emergency call, this time from Leapfrog who is under attack. Jen puts on her custom Luke Jacobson supersuit and goes to save Leapfrog. She-Hulk intervenes to find Leapfrog under attack from The Daredevil. Jen secures Leapfrogs escape and barely manages to unmask the horned hero to find that Daredevil is really Matthew Murdock. The two hash it out and he tells her that Leapfrog actually kidnapped Luke Jacobson. They find Leapfrog at his non-secret hideout and the two dispatch the goons and save Luke with ease, the fight ends when Leapfrog leaps out of a second floor window and breaks both his legs. After the fight Matthew and Jen give into their carnal urges and spend the night together. In the morning, Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga) arrives and helps Jen prepare for the Female Attorney of the Year Gala. At the Gala, She-Hulk is joined by all her friends, colleagues, and family to celebrate her. She receives the award but during her speech, the screen is taken over by Hulkking who has some scathing remarks about She-Hulk and ends it with a recording of her and Josh in bed together. Furious, She-Hulk destroys the screen and some of the room before running through walls to catch up with someone believed to be responsible only to be met by an armed security force.
Yes yes, Daredevil is back… kind of, but that’s OK. Charlie Cox’s return to the character also brings a different tone to the Man Without Fear that had the potential to be quite jarring. When we last saw Daredevil he was beating Wilson Fisk within an inch of his life while Bullseye lay in a bloody heap on the floor. Upon his return he is seen flirting with Jen while quipping and flipping in a mustard yellow helmet. Rather large and startling difference without context. But if you look at the whole picture, which may be difficult for some, you will see Daredevil doing a favor for a friend, against a very non-threatening enemy while paired with an indestructible rage monster. Yes the Goons had guns weapons but they were crossbows and their leader was a moron. Compared to his life in New York this was a much needed vacation. If we really break it down, Matthew Murdock won a case within 5 minutes of arriving to the courthouse, flirted with a pretty lady with similar life experience, beat up some goons, and hooked up with an indestructible rage monster. Not a bad two day trip to Los Angeles by any standard. Anyone upset by the tone of this appearance needs to remember that not only will his next appearance on the show Echo will warrant a darker done and he will have an entire show dedicated to enough darkness and brooding to make Bruce Wayne blush. Daredevil’s use in this series was to give Jen a small win as far as her love life before tearing it all down with a leaked sex tape. Speaking of sex tape, this is the weapon wielded against Jen by the mysterious Hulkking, and to great effect. The attack on Jen’s personal life is quite a massive success as it caused She-Hulk to properly Hulk out and cause severe and avoidable collateral damage which certainly doesn’t paint Jen in a good light. This has to be the beginning of a larger plan from Hulkking but attempting to destroy Jen’s reputation is a great start.
No that the return of Daredevil has come and gone, it is time to focus on the mystery of Hulkking. Good timing too considering there is only one episode left in the series. There are several new leads to who the Hulkking may be aside from the return of The Leader and that now includes Emil Blonsky, thanks to Twitter, and a surprise entrant the mix: Todd. Yes yes the seemingly one off bad date montage filler is now up with the top three guesses for Hulkking due to his persistence with She-Hulk and the simmering Incel-like hatred for Jen due to her refusal to fall money trap. One more week and we will have our answer and the anticipation and expectations for the finale are high, the down-side of creating a great series.