Episode Title: The Blessing of Many Fractures
Originally Aired: March 17th 2017
Welcome to China by way of New York because the filming of Iron Fist never left the state of New York. Tension abounds in the newest episode of Marvel and Netflix’s Iron Fist, with only five episodes left everything is coming to a head.
Joy and Ward vs The Board & Joy vs Ward: The board is here to complete the removal of Joy and Ward from Rand, mostly because they were responsible for bringing in Danny, even though they didn’t have a choice. The rest of the reason is because of the recent moves that Ward made on the behalf of his father and The Hand. Ward is experiencing some PTSD after the events of last episode and is seeing blood where it doesn’t exist and is happy to take the severance package they are being offered and get as far away from the company and city as he can. Joy on the other hand is ready to fight dirty and show that she isn’t as good of a person as she would like to believe. Instead of accepting any responsibility for the recent path Rand has been on, she chooses to blackmail her way back into power. Since she has stopped interacting with Danny and fighting to decide what kind of person she is going to be, Joy has become an unwelcome presence to the show. She is still acted well but she doesn’t do much of interest that I care to learn more about. Maybe things will change now that she is beginning to learn a little more about what has been going on with Ward, but until that point, I am fine if we don’t see her again.
Danny vs Danny & Danny vs Claire & Danny vs Gao: The easiest fight Danny has this episode is with Claire because it is a fight born from a disagreement over tactics and nothing else. Danny wants to rush in with minimal planning taking whatever risk may exist to learn more about Gao and his Father; while Claire would rather take the time to come up with a good plan maybe get some help and not kill anyone. Danny on the other hand cannot promise that he will not kill Gao or anyone else they may find in China. He is the living weapon with a blunt edge because he never really wants to hurt anyone. It is the typical problem with heroes because they will knock someone unconscious or incapacitate briefly in some way instead of ending the threat for good. For some heroes it makes sense because they are only fighting because they have the ability to do so; Danny however, who underwent 15 years of training with one goal, to defend his people and destroy The Hand, has been doing nothing more than slapping them on the hand.
Danny takes on the defender of The Hand, this series’ drunken master in a very interesting fight. I enjoy the use of the different fighting styles that we see here and in colleen’s fight, even if each individual fight isn’t exciting the differences keep me interested, as I can’t wait to see what techniques will be used next. The drunken master calls out Danny perfectly that he is using his role as Iron Fist as a mask to who he truly is and that he fights like a child throwing a tantrum. Which is one thing about Danny that I know is bothering many people while they watch this show, they wanted a confident single-minded man out to destroy The Hand not a confused and angry child. I think it adds to the complexity of the character and makes him more lifelike but I can total see how it would rub others the wrong way.
Danny thinks he finally has proof that Gao is responsible for the death of his parents and he came within inches of killing her but decided to capture her instead. Will he torture her to get the answers he wants or is he just living in the moment once again with no plan? What is Gao’s game, we know she has powers but she chooses to go along quietly for the time being, but to what end? She offered to train Danny to harness his anger and to join The Hand, which may be her goal, to turn the destroyer of The Hand, the immortal Iron Fist against the people who trained him. We will have to tune in next week to find out if Danny is as pure as Luke, or if this universe’s Emperor will corrupt him.
Channel: Superhero 