Iron Fist Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch review S1, Ep. 3

Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch didn’t do much to excite me about Danny Rand’s exploits, but I will happily sign up for Colleen Wing: Cage Fighter.

We’re three episodes in now and Colleen has thoroughly stolen the spotlight from Danny. Part of it might be that Danny continues to be written like a moron. Or it’s just that Colleen isn’t weighed down by such uninspiring supporting characters? I’ll take the dojo students over Ward and Joy any day.

Undoubtedly, Luke Cage benefited from the Cottonmouth and Mariah dynamic. Even as criminals, they were compelling, engaging characters who were just as important to the series as Cage. The Ward and Joy focus isn’t nearly as interesting. Are they good? Bad? Confused? Or just simply multi-millionaires desperately trying to find something to make their lives not awesome? They’re not sympathetic characters and it says a lot that the gangster and crooked politician were more endearing.

[irp]

It was indicative of how the series has progressed so far that immediately following Colleen’s exciting cage fight we trudge through Danny’s not so hostile takeover scene. Cage fights > legal business drama all day every day. This was set up as a big win for Danny, but that payoff hadn’t been earned yet.

What does it matter if Danny gets a controlling stake of the company? How does that impact his mission and why has he suddenly taken to wearing shoes again? It was nice to see Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) again as Danny’s lawyer. I keep finding it funny how people have such strong feelings for the Rand family despite them being thought dead 15 years ago.

While Hogarth was originally a character created for the Iron Fist cartoon, it sure felt like the show needed to bring in a well-written character to salvage Danny’s subplot this episode.

Although he’s got Ward jumping at every order, Harold takes orders himself. From the mysterious woman (I’ll stay spoiler-free for now) leading the Hand squad. Honestly, I would have enjoyed Rolling Thunder far more if it just focused on Colleen spiraling into joining an underground fight club.

Colleen suffers from the same writing inconsistencies as the other characters, but at least she’s not dull. That fight scene was brutal and showed she definitely won’t be the series’ damsel in distress. She’s more likely going to have to constantly bail Danny out like she has so far in carrying the season.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Photo Credit: Sarah Shatz and David Giesbrecht/Netflix