She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has received nonstop assaults since its premiere. Whether it was calling out catcalling, or twerking with a big-name celebrity, or even confronting incel culture, the backlash has both been incorporated into the show’s narrative and completely missed the point. Nowhere is this more pronounced than the series finale, which utilizes its central gimmick to deliver a near-perfect conclusion thus far. Allow me to explain.
By the way, I’m about to spoil the ending, so…
Episode 9 begins with a campy callback to the 1978 Hulk series, except gender-flipped. The remainder has Jen grappling with taking the bait of Intelligencia in the previous episode. Forbidden from transforming into She-Hulk, Jen takes a trip to Emil Blonsky’s wellness retreat. Once there, she crashes an Intelligencia meeting and comes face-to-face with the orchestrator of her misfortune: a former date who’s jealous of her “unearned” powers.
Initially, this is yet another MCU action set-piece: Jen encounters an incel version of The Hulk, Emil has transformed into The Abomination, Titania reappears and Professor Hulk reappears from his absence. Everything is more of the same, until Jen calls the bluff, breaks the 4th wall and confronts the show-runners directly. She makes her way to K.E.V.I.N., The MCU’s “AI program”, and haggles her way out of a generic confrontation that makes absolutely no sense. She then returns with everything wrapped up how she wants. Dénouement over.
As expected, this ending was divisive, with many people deriding it for “jumping the shark”. But while I feel it could’ve been smoother, I still think it works for two reasons:
The first is that, honestly, She-Hulk breaking the narrative isn’t unique to this show. She’s been doing this since her comic debut in the 80’s. If anything, this is tame compared to some of the stunts she’s pulled there! Besides, the show has openly broken the 4th wall throughout its run, such that Episode 1 poked fun of it at one point. In other words, She-Hulk talking to the overlord of The MCU isn’t that farfetched.
The second is more complicated, but still worth mentioning: 4th wall breaks aren’t a unique concept. Movies and TV shows, particularly comedies, have utilized them for decades. In recent memory, both the Wayne’s World and Deadpool movies to-date used them excessively. With the former, they even had the protagonists stop their climaxes and “fix” them not once, or twice, but three times! If that didn’t kill their quality, then neither should this.
I don’t think the people complaining realize that 4th wall breaks can be effective and funny. In the case of superheroes, Deadpool, who stole the concept from She-Hulk, has done them in excess. His first movie had him not only poke fun at his actor, Ryan Reynolds, being Canadian, it had him lampshade the movie’s violence, engage in feminist discourse jokingly, call out the timeline of The X-Men movies, joke about how Hugh Jackman’s sexier than him and roast Wolverine’s briefly Aussie accent. The sequel doubled-down on everything, making fun of The Woman in the Refrigerator trope, calling out Frozen for ripping off Yentl with one of its songs and making fun of Domino’s superpowers, The X-Men as a dated allegory for racism, Cable being a DCEU wannabe with a lazy backstory and how Yukio says the same two lines constantly. It even ended with Deadpool going back in time to erase the film’s inciting incident. With everything I mentioned, and more I haven’t, how is She-Hulk confronting an AI “too absurd”?
The first is that, honestly, She-Hulk breaking the narrative isn’t unique to this show. She’s been doing this since her comic debut in the 80’s. If anything, this is tame compared to some of the stunts she’s pulled there! Besides, the show has openly broken the 4th wall throughout its run, such that Episode 1 poked fun of it at one point. In other words, She-Hulk talking to the overlord of The MCU isn’t that farfetched.
The second is more complicated, but still worth mentioning: 4th wall breaks aren’t a unique concept. Movies and TV shows, particularly comedies, have utilized them for decades. In recent memory, both the Wayne’s World and Deadpool movies to-date used them excessively. With the former, they even had the protagonists stop their climaxes and “fix” them not once, or twice, but three times! If that didn’t kill their quality, then neither should this.
I don’t think the people complaining realize that 4th wall breaks can be effective and funny. In the case of superheroes, Deadpool, who stole the concept from She-Hulk, has done them in excess. His first movie had him not only poke fun at his actor, Ryan Reynolds, being Canadian, it had him lampshade the movie’s violence, engage in feminist discourse jokingly, call out the timeline of The X-Men movies, joke about how Hugh Jackman’s sexier than him and roast Wolverine’s briefly Aussie accent. The sequel doubled-down on everything, making fun of The Woman in the Refrigerator trope, calling out Frozen for ripping off Yentl with one of its songs and making fun of Domino’s superpowers, The X-Men as a dated allegory for racism, Cable being a DCEU wannabe with a lazy backstory and how Yukio says the same two lines constantly. It even ended with Deadpool going back in time to erase the film’s inciting incident. With everything I mentioned, and more I haven’t, how is She-Hulk confronting an AI “too absurd”?
I don’t think it is. Granted, that isn’t to call it “perfect”, as it could’ve had better buildup and been less on-the-nose. I also thought Daredevil being there was unnecessary, and I wish we’d learned more about why Professor Hulk left Earth other than introducing his son at the family dinner. But it’s too late to fix that, isn’t it?
Either way, the detractors are overreacting. The MCU has been chastised, especially recently, for not taking risks, yet when they do…we’re left with vitriol. It’s not always unwarranted-I thought The Mandarin reveal in Iron Man 3 was lame-but it usually smells of entitlement from people who can’t accept that comics and film aren’t the same. In the case of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it even reeks of missing the point of the character. She-Hulk isn’t a conventional heroine: she’s an everyday woman with a day-job who happens to have superpowers and likes throwing shade. Considering how The MCU has become formulaic, I’d say that’s a welcomed change.
That said, I still think Professor Hulk’s reasoning for being absent is lame. The inciting incident hyped us all for a grand reveal, so why cop-out?
Either way, the detractors are overreacting. The MCU has been chastised, especially recently, for not taking risks, yet when they do…we’re left with vitriol. It’s not always unwarranted-I thought The Mandarin reveal in Iron Man 3 was lame-but it usually smells of entitlement from people who can’t accept that comics and film aren’t the same. In the case of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it even reeks of missing the point of the character. She-Hulk isn’t a conventional heroine: she’s an everyday woman with a day-job who happens to have superpowers and likes throwing shade. Considering how The MCU has become formulaic, I’d say that’s a welcomed change.
That said, I still think Professor Hulk’s reasoning for being absent is lame. The inciting incident hyped us all for a grand reveal, so why cop-out?
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