The best episode so far. Fun action scenes. Strong
development for Jen as she continues to wrestle with the pros
and cons of being She-Hulk. Clever world-building in so many
subtle ways, like a magic show being completely unimpressive to
citizens of the MCU. Interesting legal discussions. Sharp
fourth-wall breaks. And, best of all, Patty Guggenheim as
Madisynn, an instantly likeable, infinitely memeable,
laugh-out-loud funny show stealer who will definitely be in
Doctor Strange 3 as Wong's bestie, mark my words.
It was
indeed good to see Wong again and to see him use his powers this
time, but ultimately the cameos are just bonuses. This show has
so much charm and life on its own. Donny Blaze is a fun
creation, and his tricks walk the perfect line between being
genuinely impressive slight-of-hand and a bit naff in a world
where real magic exists. There are also just a load of other
little stand-out roles like Donny's hypeman and the judge. Jen's
world is packed full of larger than life characters and I love
dipping into it every week. Can't wait to meet Titania properly
next episode.
The music for this show has always been
fine but it got my attention this episode in particular. The
mystical electric guitar theme at the start accompanying Donny
Blaze was very Multiverse of Madness, loved it. The highlight
though was the paying in the restaurant gag. We're so used to
the idea of comic relief music being whimsical Bulk and Skull
from Power Rangers type stuff - a once size fits all wacky theme
that just gets slapped onto the editing timeline during comedy
bits. Here, the music itself is actually being funny rather than
just telling us something funny is happening.
This is a
show that feels like a show rather than a show that's trying to
be a movie in 6 parts. There's definitely a place for that - I
love big epic movie-style MCU shows like Loki. But She-Hulk is
very confident in what it is and what it's doing. There are
overarching threads being woven together in the background, but
so far every episode gives you a different self-contained story.
In 35 minutes you get a beginning, a middle, and an end rather
than a middle chunk cut from a 3 hour blockbuster. The result
has me feeling well fed every week - it's never too much and
never not enough. Looking forward to more.
Next: Episode 5 + 6 Review