The Defenders Worst Behavior review S1 Ep3
After a two and a half episode buildup, Worst Behavior delivers exactly what fans have wanted to see — the Defenders united. Or assembled. If Joss Whedon won’t let the Avengers say it, somebody needs to in the MCU.
There was a lot to take in with this one even before the fearsome foursome’s first showdown with The Hand.
Worst Behavior kicked off with a look at Elektra’s resurrection. We’re still not any closer to getting sufficient insight on Alexandra’s end game or why Elektra is so important to her plans. One interesting reveal was the tease that Alexandra has also been subjected to a Hand resurrection…several times. I approve of Elektra’s new Hand outfit much more than the dollar store vigilante costume she rocked in Daredevil Season 2.
[irp]
More than some Netflix viewers, Alexandra wanted Iron Fist. And she wanted the captive Stick’s help. Not so shockingly, Stick told Alexandra to stick it going so far as to leave his hand behind to escape her and Elekta.
Despite their solitary nature, events kept bringing the eventual Defenders together. In Cage and Danny’s case it was Claire. While it’s taken her forever to play superhero team maker, Claire finally introduced Cage and Danny. Appropriately, they didn’t see eye to eye right away and Cage called Danny out for going after young black guys instead of their upper tier bosses.
Jessica and Matt had a rougher time. Chalk that up to Jessica not playing nice with others. But all roads led to the Hand’s new office building in the center of Hell’s Kitchen. I kinda wished Cage didn’t have to get the kid killed to end up there, but everyone saw that coming.
If Defenders did nothing else it’s already done a terrific job of salvaging Iron Fist. He seemed dead in the water after his underwhelming series, but he’s been redeemed here. His confrontation with Alexandra and eventual fight scene with The Hand looked better than pretty much every fight in his series.
I appreciate the first official team-up we got in Defenders was Luke Cage & Iron Fist. That’s one of comics’ all-time best pairings and it was a cool gesture to give them their moment before the others arrived. Side note: The Hand can’t be all bad guys as they’re a pretty diverse group and they’ve got a sweet office. Or rather had a sweet office. Once Cage, Iron Fist and the late arriving Jessica and Matt arrived, that security deposit is toast.
The pacing of Worst Behavior was also layered incredibly well. There was a nice progression to the fight with Elektra’s arrival delivering that ‘oh shoot’ moment. Now that Daredevil knows his ex is not only still alive, but working with The Hand, things are only going to get more personal from here.
Worst Behavior upped the intensity of The Defenders making for an episode worth getting hyped up about with no need for additional incentive to keep on binging.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Sarah Shatz/Netflix