I finished the Defenders over the weekend and watched highlights again. I think it is safe to say that the Defenders is a quality addition to the Marvel universe but it isn't perfect.

NO MAJOR SPOILERS BUT GENERAL TALK ABOUT SERIES

Background:

I was a fan of Daredevil and thought it was pretty good. Jessica Jones was my least favorite, but it was also the most unique of the series. I want to give it a second view. Luke Cage, I loved. I would highly recommend to anyone that love super heroes and Harlem. Luke Cage is what brought me back to the Marvel shows. Then Iron Fist came out and it was good. I didn't think it was as bad as some of the critics said, but I thought it was a fun show to watch. Now we get to see all four of them team up in a way that mirrors how Marvel released the Avengers. They all had individual movies or shows before they brought them together. It works here too I think... well most of the time.

The Defenders:

The show starts a bit slow while it merges all the plot lines together. The events in the Defenders happens about 4-6 months after Iron Fist and about 9 months since Luke Cage went back to SeaGate. He returns home a hero and gets right back into the mix. Claire, Misty, Coleen and all the friends of the Defenders are in this season. There are some new Hand leaders introduced and Sigourney Weaver plays an awesome bad guy that is losing control. 

The Good Stuff:

All four team up after they individually follow a path to the Hand. What is interesting with the Defenders is the different character arcs and how each one is searching for family in a way. They all have their demons and they all have their reasons why they jump into the fire while others run away, but we learn more about the drive to do good each share, and how different the reasons each fight for. 

I think some of the side characters really saved this series in a lot of ways. It was the side stories of some of the characters that really shine. They saved some scenes and the dialogue help us drive deeper into the characters.  I love Misty Night... she is freaking awesome. Her and Coleen play big roles and I really hope that after this season, Marvel decides to do a Daughters of the Dragon series. They set it up at the end. I won't tell you how, but it's good.

They did a good job with showing the characters getting stronger and trusting their abilities a little more. That was fun to see. The show was fun. I enjoyed the banter between the characters, mainly Jessica making fun of everyone else. I liked the new characters introduced and thought the plot moved pretty well. They did a good job and it was fun to watch.

The bad stuff:

You can tell they were rushed. Some of the special effects were a little sloppy. A lot of the fights seemed to be safe and no real cool moves. Well, few cool moves and fight scenes. There are a few good ones, but overall, the fight scenes were a little lacking. 

Being rushed, the script wasn't as tight as I would have liked. I thought the Luke Cage script was great and more thought out. This script is slightly rushed, and there are some scenes that are not really needed. Overall it was good, but it could have been cleaned up a little.

Final thought:

The Marvel movies are epic, this show is gritty and if you are a fan of New York City, it has moments of being very authentic. Most of the time NY is just a stage, but there are moments and I appreciate them.  I also like how this show brought all of them together, but it doesn't go smoothly. The Avengers came together with a lot more professionalism than the Defenders and it makes it more real in a way. Sometimes the dialogue gets in the way of the story telling and sometimes the special effects are weak, but overall it was a great TV show. It isn't at the level of a Marvel movie, but as a fan of the MCU and other Netflix Marvel shows, I think it opens a new world wide open and I can't way to continue the stories of these classic characters. It wasn't a smash hit, but it broke a few walls..

(all gifs from giphy.com)

Have you seen the Defenders on Netflix? Let me know your thoughts below.

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