Spoiler-Free ‘She-Hulk’ Episode 2 Review: It’s A Setup (Episode)
Image Source: Wallpapersden
Disney+ released the follow-up to the season premiere of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Thursday. Episode 2 was shorter by about 7 minutes, and you could feel it, which is fair since that's cutting it down by about a quarter. If last week felt like it crammed in a lot quickly (but well), then episode 2 felt like a bit of the opposite. Let's get into a fuller breakdown.
The premise of episode 2 seemed to move things from the origin story to where they wanted the character to be for the rest of the series. It felt a little as though the first episode was a Marvel-origin episode but that the series truly begins with episode 2. You get a better sense of who the leading players in the story are, the story itself starts to take shape a bit more, and you also get a sense of the show's personality compared to other MCU properties. It's an interesting episode because, in some ways, many things happen; it just didn't feel like much. I think it's a mixture of the shorter runtime and the fact that it was mostly introductions (and reintroductions), exits, and setups.
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The CGI is still an issue to get this out of the way. As I mentioned last week, it's better than the trailer, but it can still be pretty distracting. I think the main issue is the motion capture for She-Hulk. Her movements look unnatural, and her lips are still not appropriately synchronized. At this point, it seems like this is how it will be for the rest of the series. Again, it's not bad; it's just not up to what I would expect from a Marvel property.
There was definitely more of a sitcom feel this week. The last episode was more like a typical Marvel show, whereas this week started to have a more noticeable attempt at a sitcom. A family dinner full of compelling characters felt straight out of network television. While it didn't land for me, it gave it more of the tone that She-Hulk had been billed as having. This week, her job also had more of a workplace comedy feel, and we were introduced to another interesting character. At this point, She-Hulk is still setting up the premise and the characters, so it will take a bit longer for the series to truly find its comedic stride.
Nevertheless, I had a genuine laugh for a couple of moments, so I'm optimistic about the comedy side of things. They even joked about how Edward Norton first played the Hulk in 2008! See if you can catch it.
The biggest area of improvement I found was how it handled gender issues. Episode 1 made a point of making it evident that it would talk about women's experiences in the workplace and the world in general. The keyword is obvious. This week we had a couple of male characters that didn't come across as jerks or frat guys (I'm looking at you, Beach House Bruce). Instead, some subtle examples of women's struggles felt much more organic and less like they'd been shoehorned into the dialogue.
Image Source: Gamespot
One of my favourite things they've done so far was to use her superpowers as an analog for women in the workplace. It was perfect for a few reasons. One, it was a well-written and well-executed monologue; two, it allowed them to talk in self-explanatory terms about genuine issues without coming across as preachy; and three, anyone that might be turned off by talk of gender issues would be able to recognise the inequality and hopefully would one day connect the dots they wouldn't have otherwise be open to hearing.
Overall, it was an eventful episode where it felt like not much happened. While it still has some room for improvement in a few areas, there is definitely some progress, and hopefully, as time goes on, She-Hulk as a series, much like the titular character, will grow into its own. Don't forget to check out another post-credit scene! She-Hulk episode 3 drops September 1st.
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Source(s): Disney+