She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Review – Is It As Bad As They Say?
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law has wrapped up recently and is currently sitting at an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes with a very poor audience score. Reviews from fans have been relatively mixed with some praising the series and others that are extremely disappointed with its humor and general direction. We’ve had a chance to watch the entire series, and have decided to share our thoughts.
Our goal with this review is to share both the positives and negatives with the end goal of helping you determine if She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is as bad as people say. There will be spoilers in this review as we will be discussing many polarizing issues that fans have had with this series. Let’s start this review by briefly explaining the synopsis of She-Hulk.
What Is She-Hulk: Attorney At Law?
The series follows Jennifer Walters, a prominent attorney deeply focused on her career, who just so happens to also be the cousin of Bruce Banner (Hulk). In an automobile accident, some of Bruce’s blood spills into some open wounds Jennifer experienced during the incident, which gave her the powers of the Hulk.
Even with the ability to transform into a Hulk, Jennifer refuses to be a superhero and instead wants to continue with the law career that she has worked so hard for. After being fired from her law firm after transforming in public, she is hired by a competing law firm and heads her own division where she will defend other super-powered people in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is primarily about Jennifer’s struggle to balance her career while accepting her newly acquired Hulk powers. The overall story is told in a humorous and for the most part, carefree manner. Which is one of the many things that I enjoyed about this series.
The Contrast Between She-Hulk and Jennifer
Jennifer is a character that struggles with the acquisition of superpowers in a fairly realistic way. We are used to many characters acquiring powers, and due to some unforeseen circumstance, they must use their powers, and from that moment on they are a hero and must find their place in the hero world. Jennifer’s opposition to becoming a superhero primarily stems from her own ambitions and plans she’s had for her life thus far.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t like the part where Jennifer explains that she is far better at controlling her powers due to her “being a woman and being cat called”. I feel that this was lazy writing, and does a disservice to the struggles we’ve seen of Bruce Banner, but that’s a topic for another article. But the show isn’t about Jennifer being a better hulk than Bruce Banner, but rather Jennifer finding her way of doing things.
She-Hulk for the most part is the much more confident side of Jennifer. She-Hulk is more attractive to men, stronger physically and mentally, and people are all around more accepting of She-Hulk than Jennifer Walters. My critique here is that it seems like the series just drops this dynamic about mid-way through the series. I think this was a missed opportunity in the storytelling department. It would have been nice to see Jen come to grips with becoming She-Hulk, and the two personalities could have worked together by the end of the show to overcome their obstacles. Instead, we are presented with a show that doesn’t necessarily feel like it has any real substance, which brings me to the next topic which is the humor of the show.
The Comedy
Yes, the MCU is known for its humor and at times it is received well like in the case of Thor: Ragnarok. She-Hulk’s humor is great at times, and can also feel like a crutch for a story that doesn’t add any value to the audience. The first several episodes are so funny, that I didn’t know why there was so much hate for this series, but about midway through I started to get overwhelmed with funny, especially when we get the She-Hulk twerking scene.
Humor by itself is not bad for a superhero show or movie, and I enjoy a good comedy like Deadpool, Thor: Ragnarok, and Guardians of the Galaxy, but the issue I can’t stress enough is the comedic timing and the lack of general direction in the overall story. What’s the point of the jokes, if we aren’t going anywhere from episode to episode?
The Cameos
There are many MCU cameos in She-Hulk. Some of these are Daredevil, The Abomination, and Wong. No matter how great or bad a show is, I love the fact that we have this interconnected MCU with its characters that can link up from time to time. All of the cameos are a welcome breath of fresh air to this series. All of the characters are there for a brief time, but when on screen they are true to themselves and you can tell that every actor involved was truly having a good time. Out of all of these cameos, Abomination is the only one that I have a few complaints about.
The Abomination
Emil Blonsky’s Abomination is originally introduced in the series early on and I thought he would end up being the series’ primary villain. He’s supposedly a peace-loving person and part-time motivational speaker, but I thought Marvel was setting him up for something big. This too was a letdown, although the Abomination did leave with Wong at the end of the series so I’m sure we’ll see him again.
This series didn’t have an overarching big bad, instead, there were much smaller moments with other characters such as Titania, whose origins and motivations differ greatly from her comic book origins. The lack of a true villain made this story feel unfocused and made me question where all of the moments we see on screen are headed.
Jen’s Dating Life
My final topic in this She-Hulk Review that I’ll mention is Jen’s dating life. Earlier in this review, I did mention my thoughts on the dynamic between She-Hulk and Jennifer, and the show wants to drive the point home that Jennifer is lonely. I’d say she is far from lonely as she appears to get more action in this show than many other Marvel superheroes we’ve come across except for maybe Daredevil.
One moment we are highlighting how single Jennifer is, and how men are only interested in She-Hulk, but her dating life isn’t touched on again until she sleeps with a guy she meets at a wedding that ghosts her. Later she then meets Matt Murdock, which just so happens to be the perfect fit. He’s a superhero, and attorney and understands much more of what Jennifer is going through, but Jen seems more bent on sleeping with him than actually forming any real connection which is odd when that’s a primary issue we see from her in the early episodes of the series.
In my opinion, Matt Murdock should have been introduced much earlier in the story and the two could have crossed paths later on, which would make the reveal and future dialogue between the two that much more impactful. I did enjoy seeing Daredevil again, and this was a highlight of the show for me, but I do feel like this was another missed opportunity in the writing department.
Final Thoughts
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law misses the mark when it comes to storytelling, and this appears to be a trend for this phase of the MCU. This is not to say the show is still not entertaining and funny at times. The early episodes get off to a fairly decent start, and there are a few moments that might make you question what you are watching exactly, but towards the end near the appearance of Matt Murdock, the show tends to find its beat, but for many viewers including myself, it just might have been a little too late.
I do recommend watching She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, but just don’t expect a cinematic achievement here. If you go in just expecting a fun ride, then you’ll probably love every minute of this show. If you are a die-hard comic book fan, then I’d recommend skipping this or just watching some highlights on YouTube.