'She-Hulk: Attorney At Law' Episode 5: "Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans" Recap and Review
She-Hulk battles Titania, in the court of law, in the pursuit of justice, and naming rights, in another solid episode
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
With the admitted surprise uptick in quality over the last few weeks for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law it was only a matter of time before that quality would dip. That time was this week but the dip was ever so slight. The quality of comedy is still there as well as the performances, including the much anticipated proper debut of Jameela Jamil’s Titania, but the episode felt too much like filler in terms of story. There seems to be a trend beginning way back in the days of Marvel on Netflix where the build up of where the hero gets their new suit is the focus of the episode. These episodes treat the suit reveal as way more epic than they actually feel. This could be a call back to the original Iron Man where the bulk of the second Act was dedicated to the building of the Iron Man Armor. The difference is that the Iron Man Armor is Tony Stark’s superpower and building the armor was like building Iron Man himself. Again, this episode is not bad by any means, it just focuses on the wrong aspect of the character in spite of having some really deep character development hidden in the courtroom.
Episode 5 begins with a commercial for She-Hulk by Titania (Jameela Jamil), a beauty product that’s causing a suit against Jennifer Waters (Tatiana Maslany), Much to Jenn’s dismay. She sees and hears the ads everywhere, even confusing Jenn’s cousin Ched (Nicholas Cirillo) into buying a few cases. Jenn and Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga) decide to confront Titania at a She-Hulk product showcase. She finds Titania signing autographs and pleads with Titania to stop to no avail. Back at the office, Jenn vents to Nikki but Nikki manages to escape only to have Pug (Josh Segarra) ask her to join him for a sneaker drop, as a favor. Pug mentions his “Drip Broker”, someone who could get any clothes for any one, which gives Nikki the idea to glam up She-Hulk. They meet the custom merch dealer at a Boba Tea cafe which leads to another location where they score a consultation with “The Guy”. Back at the office, Jenn meets with Holliway (Steve Coulter) about the issues with the She-Hulk trademark. Holliway assigns Mallory Book (Renée Elise Goldsberry) to Jenns case but Mallory demands She-Hulk dress better. At the first hearing for the countersuit, Mallory argues her case successfully and the court determines that the case can go to trial if she can prove a pattern of using the name. Back at the secret location of “The Guy”, Nikki and She-Hulk meet Luke Jacobson (Griffin Matthews) who agrees. At the office, She-Hulk runs into a previous bad date Todd (Jon Bass). At lunch Jenn and Nikki discuss the bad date when she gets the idea to use the bad dates as witnesses to prove her pattern of using the name She-Hulk. At the Trial, the previous bad dates state their experience dating the She-Hulk one by one. After the eye opening testimonies, the court rules in favor of Jennifer Walters a.k.a She-Hulk. Afterwards, Jenn and Mallory celebrate with a drink before returning to Luke to pick up her new suits where we see a glimpse of a familiar horned helmet.
That’s right, the return of Charlie Cox’s Man without Fear is imminent. After being the centerpiece of the shows ad campaign, Daredevil seems to be slated for a debut next week. One thing to watch out for is how Daredevil meshes with the silly tone of She-Hulk. Series Creator Jessica Gao stated before that the series will show a “lighter-side” of Matthew Murdock compared to his original series which riled up the less accepting of the fan base but with the Daredevil: Reborn series and Echo appearance set to give them all the brooding, bloody brutality expected of the hero a light take might be a nice lead-in. This episode featured a heavy dose of Jameela Jamil’s Titania. The character is a beautiful caricature of the modern influencer which was as off-putting as it was entertaining, the only issue was the lack of Titania. Her time on screen was limited and her lines were short which left a lot to be desired as the debut villain of the series. The series took another small step towards the direction of serious character development of Jennifer Walters. Bringing back her failed dates highlighted the difference in desirability and likability between She-Hulk and Jennifer. This is the most interesting character development of the series but is being trickled in very slowly. You have to really examine the episodes to find signs of this in the series but it is present, hopefully this conflict will take focus in later episodes. Instead, the bulk of the episode was centered around She-Hulk’s wardrobe. it’s not necessarily a bad thing that they are explaining how they plan to glam up She-Hulk but it didn’t really need need an entire episode dedicated to it. This certainly contributed to the feeling of a filler episode.
So much of this episode felt minimized be She-Hulk’s quest for new threads. Titania was heavily featured in the ad campaign and Jameela Jamil has been up front in the promotion of the series yet her time on screen was limited to one face to face and two courtroom scenes where her attorney spoke more than she did. There is an interesting internal conflict brewing in Jennifer where she may come to resent the popularity of She-Hulk but its hidden in a single broken smile in the middle of a court scene. There is so much good in this episode but it is pushed back so Marvel can debut a costume that most of the audience couldn’t even recognize, here’s a hint: its purple and white. With the looming return of Daredevil and four more episodes there is plenty of room to bounce back and continue the incredible quality set forth in previous weeks.