10 Things The Netflix Iron Fist Show Must Do To Improve Upon Its First Season
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Marvel and Netflix Iron Fist season two is set to premiere. While its first season was divisive, its second has the opportunity to not be. Whether or not it will remains to be seen.
Until its premiere, I can only speculate. And speculate I will.
I’ve sat long and hard thinking of all the reasons that it may succeed or fail. Being one of my favorite characters, this was no easy task. I hated the fact that I had to sit down and pick apart its shortcomings while thinking of all the things I’ve wished for.
I’m reminded of a lesson I was taught long ago. “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” And stronger I’ll be.
Here are 10 Things The Netflix Iron Fist Show Must Do To Improve Upon Its First Season.
1. More fight scenes
Let’s be honest, the first season had a good share of fight scenes but the way that the characters danced around one another resembled a modern-day ballet, not a martial arts show. Season 2 needs to showcase what Danny Rand can do in a battle.
Many fans, myself included, felt that the good fight scenes involved Colleen Wing. That’s not taking anything away from the actor who played her, Jessica Henwick. It merely states that the show is called Iron Fist and not Colleen Wing. For season two to surpass season one the scenes involving Iron Fist have to be better.
And they will.
If his appearance in Luke Cage is any indication, this version of Danny Rand is a martial artist and not a dancer. Or at the bare minimum, a little more rehearsed.
2. Too much whining
The downfall of season one, among many other things, was having to continually watch Danny Rand whine his way out of situations. Watching him reminded me of playground children whose only recourse to find common ground is to whine to the adults.
But in this situation, it’s an adult.
For Danny, his whining makes him appear out of grip with reality (which may be justified) and, I can’t say this any other way, dumb.
Danny needs to get a grip on reality, embrace his role in New York, and quit whining. He is the Iron Fist, the protector of K’un L’un, and martial arts master. What he should be is confident, brash, and willing to take risks. Not whiny.
If Netflix Iron Fist season two doesn’t fix this, the world will stop watching.
3. Luke Cage appearance
Speaking of his appearance in Luke Cage, it would go a long way to see Luke reciprocate it.
Watching the two of them “take care of business” as Heroes For Hire was a shining point of a really good Luke Cage season. Marvel knows the world wants them to unite on television and to have them come together, is a step in the right direction.
The two are like fire and ice. The dynamic they bring to comic books is unlike anything else. It’s no wonder that they have endured 40 years of history together. However, for their live adaptation success to continue, Marvel needs to bring them together.
4. Meachum family
Joy and Ward Meachum. Need I say more?
For the entirety of the first Netflix Iron Fist season, all I wanted to do was mute my television each time one of them spoke. It was like a bad commercial that couldn’t be skipped.
Aside from the whining, nothing was worse than watching these two. I don’t want to go as far as saying that nobody cared about them, but I will. Nobody cares about the children of the man who killed Danny’s father.
We care about the man who killed him.
Or at least we did until his story was drawn out worse than the Notebook, Titanic, and The Hobbit movies. Don’t get me wrong, watching Faramir foil the plans of Danny Rand was exciting…for a while. Then, like so many other things in season one, he grew old. His plot, his schemes, and his character fell out of style.
If the show it to progress, it needs to leave the Meachum’s behind.
5. Davos, The Steel Serpent
The foil to the Iron Fist, Davos, the Steel Serpent, is the quintessential villain in Danny’s world. Equal in nearly all capabilities, Davos is the Yin to Danny’s Yang. We got a small sniff of him in the first season and from what we saw, he will be a great focus character for season two.
The Steel Serpent first appeared in as an unnamed character in “The Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu” back in 1975. He finally
Who is Davos?
Davos is capable of going toe-to-toe with the Iron Fist and has even bested him in combat. He is also able to drain the power from the Iron Fist. Most impressively, he has replaced his own hand from pure Chi.
If the show follows his development, it is taking massive steps in the right direction.
6. Choreography
The show will be an utter failure if it doesn’t embrace what it is…a martial arts show. Season one drew criticism in many areas but none more than its stylized fight scenes.
Yes, I realize that the actors playing the characters aren’t necessarily trained in martial arts. However, that doesn’t lessen how important it is for the fight scenes to look like, well, fight scenes.
Watching season one was like watching Dancing With The Stars. Save for Colleen Wing and Davos, its characters resembled semi-professional dancers rather than martial artists.
It’s no wonder that the first many episodes followed Colleen Wing and her cage fighting instead of everyone else who was supposed to be capable fighters. If season two doesn’t take steps to correct this, it will fail harder than any Epic Fail video on YouTube.
7. Flashbacks
One of the highlights of season one was watching a flashback of an Iron Fist dispatching of all those around him. As a clan with thousands of years of history, why didn’t it tap into any of it?
The best part of the Iron Fist, aside from the costume, is the history. Shao Lao the Undying, Lei Kung the Thunderer, K’un L’un, Orson Randall, and so much more. Season one did a halfway decent job of mentioning the history but did a terrible job of showing it.
If season two is to be successful, it will have to delve into the history. More than that, it with have to
If the trailer is any indication, season two does this. And I couldn’t be happier.
8. Corporate focus
Aside from the Meachum children, the first season was littered with corporate bullshit. This may be entertaining in, oh I don’t know, Suits, but in a show called Iron Fist…c’mon. The corporate garbage was as unnecessary as extra cheese on a cheese pizza.
Look, it’s great that Danny returned from K’un L’un and fought to regain control of his company. Hell, I’d even say that it was necessary. But that could’ve been handled in two episodes. Not thirteen. Two.
If season two has any hope of succeeding, it has to leave Rand Industries behind.
9. Less Danny, more Iron Fist
This harkens back to everything else I’ve said. The show is called Iron Fist and not Danny Rand. Sure, the two go hand in hand but that doesn’t mean that the audience is force fed 10 hours of Danny Rand and his insecurities.
The world has enough problems and watching a rich boy deal with theirs isn’t what the doctor ordered.
I, like so many, love the Iron Fist character and have been a fan for years. Watching Danny Rand was a huge disservice to the fans. I’m not saying that Marvel has to verbally apologize but correcting this will go a long way.
For this reason alone, the second Netflix Iron Fist season will be superior.
10. No Luke Cage
Let’s go back to Luke Cage because he is too important to talk about only once. What if Marvel does the unthinkable and forgets to include Luke Cage? I mean, they did it in the first season, so it’s possible, right?
Of course it is.
We all know the two work as well as peanut butter and jelly. We saw it in Luke Cage and The Defenders. However, even with the two already coming together in the Netflix Universe, it isn’t a guarantee that they will do it again.
Luke Cage is one of the better Netflix shows and pairing him with Iron Fist may be of detriment to his own show. Perhaps, Marvel sees this and is afraid of ruining a good thing. As the old saying goes, “Why
Would you risk ruining Luke Cage for the sake of Iron Fist? I would and think Marvel’s going to as well.
And that’s it. 10 Things The Netflix Iron Fist Show Must Do To Improve Upon Its First Season. Did I miss any reasons? Would you add or subtract any? If you ran the Netflix Iron Fist show, what would you change and do? Let me know
Cheers,
Joel
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