The Defenders-only Discussion Post!

[ddk_mod]

All Rounds & Other Useful Links | Rules | Mod Post | Fills: Completed & WIPs
The Defenders Prompt Post

Talk about the Defenders! Speculate, discuss, squee and debate. There's a thread for each episode so you can discuss what you've watched so far without being spoiled for future episodes - click on top level view to see only the first comment in each thread and stay spoiler-free.

Anon commenting is not mandatory for this post. Playing nice is always mandatory.

Comments

Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

As the anon who wrote the comment on Father Lantom, I hearby commit this thread to complaining about all the bad writing we got in Defenders. Let's face it, we all had moments when we just wanted to scream at the writers, because a scene, line or idea was so *explicitly bad*.

Anyone wants to recall these fond memories?

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Why didn't Stick kill Danny earlier? It seems like an obvious solution.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Because the death of Iron Fist midway through Defenders would have mucked up the Netflix universe quite a bit.

There is probably no other reason.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

To me that looked like it was going to be his intention, as he put his hand on his sword when they were discussing how the Hand needed the Iron Fist for something. But then the others spoke up about keeping Danny there and he stayed quiet. I was surprised until he made his move later, but it makes sense in retrospect. He was probably expecting to have to fight the others in order to kill Danny, but when he realized they were going to incapacitate Danny in some way themselves and hold him there, he took the opportunity to wait until he had fewer of them to deal with before making his move.

If there's bad writing to complain about in that situation, I would say it's the others thinking it'd be a good idea to incapacitate Danny and leave him vulnerable to an attack. XD But it gave us that great Luke and Danny scene afterwards so I'm not going to complain TOO much. (I'm a big Heroes for Hire fan and seeing them together on screen is giving me life. XD)

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

It felt like Stick wanted to get Matt out of the way so he wouldn't have to kill him too, but he goes for it when he has a good chance.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Probably for the same reason he saved Electra's life in DD s.2, only to try to kill her like two episodes later... for reasons he knew since she was a kid.

So, yeah.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Luke getting up so fast after Madame Gao shot him in the head. That bugmed me cause he was out of it just for a bit but he should've stayed down

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Stick was there for virtually no reason, and his character served little to no purpose. He also died for no reason.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

well I mean, someone had to explain everything to the defenders.
and elektra killed stick to reclaim part of her identity, so there's that I suppose.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Shoving Madam Gao down several pegs just to graft some gravitas onto Alexandra was some real bullshit. Finally got to see more of the magnificent Madam Gao after the awesome mysteriousness in Daredevil and now she's playing second fiddle? For real?

Also, why was she American? In the comics, the Hand was founded in 1588, and in the shows, it's implied it's so old that records of its founding barely exist. It vastly predates America.

While Alexandra was done really, really well and I like her (Sidelining Madam Gao was unnecessary even) the fact that she's American really undermines her legitimacy re: being part of the Hand for me.

Why is the Hand so multicultural anyway? Bakuto is a weenie (Much like the Iron Fist) and they never bothered to inform us much at all about Sowande. So what's the justification for it not being a terrifying Asian clan of ninjas? And like, that's the other thing. Nobody but Madam Gao displayed real prowess. SHE was scary. SHE had goddamned telekinesis. What exactly did Sowande do other than having cliche African mercenaries? (Also: Give the black guy the pimp outfit, really? I was hoping it was something from the comics but I can't find anything...) What did Bakuto do other than creep on Colleen?

If they got some really fantastic actors and well-fleshed-out parts to fill those two fingers (Alexandra manages to do so) it might not have been a big deal, but as it is they feel out of place.

How did word of Kun-Lun even GET to South America back then...?

I just can't get over how lame and wasted The Hand was in this. We didn't even get one single creepy setpiece like the scene where Matt found a bunch of slaves being drained of blood in Daredevil. Surely an organization capable of that should have MORE creepiness in store when they finally get into the heart of it, not less. Elektra only barely counts considering we already know about Nobu and the mechanism (more or less) that resurrected him. SIGH. Dragon bones my ass!

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

THIS. Well, most of this. The blood-draining scene wasn't my favorite. The hospital-zombie kids that followed that motive were such a cliche B-rate horror movie scene that I feel my intelligence suffered from watching it.

But yes, not only Madam Gao is suddenly the Hand (okay, so that started in Iron fist, but still; it used to be Nobu and the Japanese, now it's Gao and... everyone?), but she is also a minion.

Why aren't the Hand Asian anymore? The whole multi-multi thing is throwing me off.

I can't see how an impossibly powerful organisation could be set up in however-long-ago-that-was by five people sitting on five different continents, who came from five different cultures and speak five different languages. Even if they understood each other through some language-of-Kun Lun, and could communicate via incense or something, I can't imagine they'd be able to create anything durable together. Their goals and values wouldn't align.

Why are some of the "founders" of an age-old organisation apparently in their thirties? No, I'm sorry, I'm not buying it.

And who the hell *is* Alexandra and how did she come out of nowhere only to die five episodes in? She was brilliantly played, yes, but the very *concept* of her character was bad writing.

And, yes. Dragon bones my ass.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Did this show seriously fucking expect me to believe that Jessica was able to tail Matt and snap photos of him without him knowing?

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Can I just strongly agree with you here?

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Do they all print money in their spare time or something? Coleen left her dojo for the life of adventure, but she at least has a Very Rich Boyfriend. Fine. But what about the others?

- Claire hasn't had a job for what seems like at least a year now. She's doing just fine, despite the fact that *her* boyfriend is spending most of his time in various prisons.

- Jessica has been avoiding her own clients since the mess with Killgrave, which must be a few months ago at least. Yet somehow, rent still isn't a problem. I guess she earns enough to save up half a year worth of rent, groceries and alcohol money while also drinking her weigh in whiskey?

- Matt is happily working "pro bono". He has no intention of changing that anytime soon. And the fact that he doesn't get paid by *any* of his clients, and apparently hasn't been since the dissolving of Nelson&Murdock, doesn't seem to weigh on his ability to live in a loft and pay for his, um, everything at all.

I know money is almost never a problem in tv, but this is ridiculous.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Matt's at least is covered in the show--apparently Elektra left her sizeable assets & cash up to him, so he's living and working off of that.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

I just like to assume Matt's a rent boy and always has been.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

In Matt's case, it may depend on exactly how he does his pro bono work.

For example, legal aid lawyers work pro bono, in that they're not paid by their client, but they are salaried employees of their organizations. Matt probably isn't one of these, since there'd be similar issues as he had working for Nelson and Murdock.

Some smaller legal aid organizations contract with private attorneys or clinics though. And smaller firms/solo practitioners might be able to qualify for some state or county specific grants. They'd then bill a certain number of hours a year and be paid for it.

I mean, this is all speculation, but it's somewhat feasible, even if you leave aside the inheritance from Jack or possibly Elektra.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

So a building in the middle of Manhattan gets leveled with randomly placed explosives, and there is no collateral damage?

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

It honestly feels like they forgot what the fuck they were doing in their rush to finish the season.

This WOULD have been viable had the bombs been placed at the correct locations. Architects and demolitions experts CAN do that. So what, did the showrunners forget that the issue is no longer taken care of if they don't follow the plans....?

I'm starting to think that Netflix or whoever shafted them on run time-- there was just so much stupid consolidated to the last couple episodes, from there magically not being any people in the massive building to allow Matt to participate, to the Hand running away like babies. 8 episodes is not enough.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Just HOW do you pull off the police never filing any charges when not only you have people explicitly and quite publicly disregard the law, first by running away from a precinct and then by *blowing up a building*...

...but also, you know, the blind man they were suspected of kidnapping is still missing, and might actually be dead.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

This doesn't really bother me. I assume they were able to convince the police that not escaping with Matt and blowing up the building would have been worse. Which it would have been. The whole team save Danny have been portrayed in their solo shows as these weird kind of folk heroes who get away with their unusual shit because there wasn't anyone else who could handle the problem. People know this, even if they don't like it.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

Matt suddenly being able to play piano was nothing but a deus ex machina, and not even a needed one.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

It was so nice, though! It played off of DD2 and it also fed directly into Jessica's understanding of him, and it deepened their relationship and respect. Or I thought it did anyway. Later we see Jessica giving her arm to Matt to lead him at the police station when she damn well knows he doesn't need it. As a fan I just loved that scene so much.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

I could live happily without seeing that furniture-breaking sex scene between Claire and Luke.

Re: Bad writing in the Defenders

[(Anonymous)]

LOL yeah, it was more funny than hot. I just giggled my way through it and rme a lot. Probably not the reaction the writers wanted.