She-Hulk – The People vs. Emil Blonsky Review

When it comes to new television series – especially those that deviate from the norm of what we see day in and day out – it often takes a couple of episodes for the show to teach the audience how to watch it. What I mean is, with something like She-Hulk, another cog in the ever-expanding MCU, the series needed to teach us how watching it was different from say, watching an episode of Hawkeye. After three episodes, I think She-Hulk has not only hits its narrative stride (more on that in a moment), it’s shown us just what kind of show it wants to be. Yes, we knew it would be a half-hour comedy before it premiered, but the use of breaking the 4^th wall, the silly (occasionally bordering on ridiculous) dialogue that occurs, hell, the cameo from Megan Thee Stallion, all worked perfectly to set us, the audience up for how we should be watching the show. This isn’t a series we should simply laugh off – but it’s a series we should laugh with. And, after being a bit agnostic myself through the first couple of episodes, I’m fully on board moving forward.

Jen in “The People vs. Emil Blonsky” was able, in a mere half hour run time, to get Blonsky out of his maximum security prison (and perhaps into the line-up for the Thunderbirds?) with an assist from Wong (who, it turns out, needed to fight Abomination as a means to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme – seems like someone might want to take a look at the ethical ramifications of trying to get that title), help Pug (who is such a lovely character) win a lawsuit against an Asgardian shapeshifting elf, and get a chance to twerk with Megan Thee Stallion. Not a bad episode of television. Oh – and she also had time to take out a handful of low-level bad guys who were rocking Asgardian imbued construction equipment, whose boss (a yet unnamed character who I suspect we’ll get to know down the line – could it simply be Titania, who we keep getting updates about via the news chyrons or is it someone with a bit more clout?) is apparently going to be pissed that they couldn’t get a sample of Jen’s blood.

Jennifer Walters is certainly living her best life – despite not really wanting to deal with her alter-ego on a larger scale. It’s all well and good that her job requires her to hulk out in the office, but she definitely doesn’t want to have to do the (admittedly annoying) leg work of getting in front of the media to combat some of the more out there rumors about her life. Sure, some definitely don’t warrant comment (having Blonsky’s baby? Nah, not worth it), but I’m actually shocked that her law firm hasn’t made press a regular part of her work for them. After all, part of working in private legal practice is bringing in cases – and what better way to do that than by getting out there and showing the world who She-Hulk really is – a capable lawyer, ready and willing to fight for the those super powered individuals who need someone in their corner, or to stop super powered individuals from taking advantage of the normal humans of the world? Plus, it’s just fun to see Jen have to react to some of the more ridiculous questions and rumors that are circulating about her. It was also a nice touch – particularly in light of the review bombing that occurred before the series even aired – to have a quick sequence that addressed a lot of the (annoying and unfounded) complaints such as adding She-Hulk added to the MCU is just another “woke” move to push out the MCU’s white cis-het male characters (no, guys, Hulk and Mark Ruffalo aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, so chill out).

The episode was light, fun, and still had time to tie the series a bit more into the larger MCU (the Wong guest spot was, as Jen realized in her 4^th wall breaking aside, the third such in a mere three episodes – and I suspect we’re going to get more as time goes on – Daredevil, looking at you). The small, but lingering, question as to who ordered the hapless criminals to try and take out Jen is an interesting one – and allows for a bit of serialization for a series that has resisted a lot of that thus far (serialized comedies are doable, but not easy). The characters are falling nicely into place, Tatiana Maslany has proven she’s more than capable of leading a series (not that that was really a major question, considering the incredible work she did on Orphan Black), and we’re starting to see where this show falls within the MCU as a whole. I’m excited to see what next week will bring – and just who will bring the chill, fun vibes for that episode.