Iron Fist Review

The central problem is not the casting controversy, real as that argument was; it is that the show cannot deliver on its one promise. Finn Jones was reportedly given a fraction of the rehearsal his role demanded, and the fights show it, staged in wide flat masters with visible pauses between beats and cut so cautiously that no exchange lands. Around that hole sits a corporate succession plot, endless meetings about Rand Enterprises and a hero who has been trained by monks for fifteen years and behaves like a distracted teenager.

Danny Rand is written as petulant and easily manipulated, so the plot advances mostly by him making the worst available choice. Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing is the only person on screen who moves like a fighter and is by some distance the more compelling lead, which the show notices too late. Tom Pelphrey's Ward Meachum is the other bright spot, playing an addict's spiral with more truth than the material earns. The season ends without resolving its own villain.