You just knew the fourth episode of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law was going to be different when it started with a lame magician. His name was Donny Blaze (Entourage’s Rhys Coiro) and you might have thought you were watching the wrong show until he pulled out the Sling Ring. But even then, the scene and subsequent storyline definitely felt like a tangent for the show so far, but here’s hoping it will all add up eventually.
Blaze’s use of the Sling Ring gets back to Wong (Benedict Wong) when one of his audience members, a drunk girl named Madisynn (Patty Guggenheim, clearly channeling Snooki from Jersey Shore), ends up at Kamar-Taj. Wong’s just trying to watch The Sopranos when Madisynn shows up from another dimension, mistakenly sent there by Blaze, and ruins a major plot point. Again, none of this felt like She-Hulk, but getting to see Wong in a more normal situation was fun…
…Which, in what’s now She-Hulk’s trademark, was then acknowledged by Jen (Tatiana Maslany) in a fourth-wall break. She said we, the audience, look happy because Wong is back and that his appearance should give the show Twitter armour for a week. That line, coming a week after She-Hulk was in the barrel over the character twerking with Megan Thee Stallion, was almost too perfect. Don’t forget, these episodes were written months ago. The level of self-awareness of how people were going to interact with the show feels superhuman in itself.
Wong pays Jen a visit at work and explains that he wants to somehow make sure that Donny Blaze can’t use the mystic arts anymore. Apparently, he was briefly a student at Kamar-Taj (hence the Sling Ring) but was kicked out and now uses it in a dangerous manner. Jen isn’t sure there’s much of a case here but she’s willing to try, so they give Blaze and his mentor Cornelius P. Willows (Leon Lamar) a cease and desist.
The case makes it to court where Blaze does some silly tricks to try and prove magic isn’t something anyone can own. Jen, however, decides to call Madisynn to the stand. She’s excited to see her friend “Wongers” and though her testimony doesn’t help, she does convince him to get froyo later. The judge says she’ll make a decision in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, Jen has filled out her online dating profile and is giving that world a whirl. The trailers to She-Hulk made it seem like this storyline was going to be 90% of the show so the fact that it’s just now becoming a part of it in episode four is almost surprising. After Jen endures a bunch of duds, Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga) suggests she changes her profile from Jen to She-Hulk. Instantly the dates start pouring in. One of them is Todd (Jon Bass) who seems a little too interested in her powers. That, plus the fact Bass is a fairly well-known actor, leads us to believe he’ll be back, and on the side of Titania (Jameela Jamil). None of the other guys pan out though until She-Hulk meets Arthur (Michel Curiel). He’s a doctor and things seem to be going very, very well.
Before things can get hot and heavy between the doctor and lawyer though, Wong comes to visit. It seems Donny Blaze, who was allowed to continue to practicing magic while awaiting the judge’s decision, has mistakenly created a flying baby demon, and now tons of those demons are flying around. Wong needs She-Hulk’s help. Why her and not any other MCU character? Well, she’s his lawyer and this directly relates to the case. So She-Hulk and Wong work together to fight the demons, which is when I realised this is really the first big set piece on the show. And it took four whole episodes to arrive? I kind of love that. She-Hulk has thus far been way more about narrative and character than big action, which is a good thing.
The two heroes win the day, She-Hulk goes home and takes Arthur to bed. When they wake up in the morning, she’s Jen again and Arthur doesn’t seem pleased. That’s already a bummer for Jen, who is then served papers from none other than Titania. The superhero influencer is out of jail and suing Jen for copyright infringement. It seems she went and bought the rights to the name “She-Hulk.”
“Kind of a bummer way to end this episode,” Jen says. “I bet there’s a fun tag.” Which, there is. It’s Madisynn and Wong eating popcorn and watching This Is Us while talking about their favourite drinks.
After three very strong, funny episodes of She-Hulk, I have to say this was my least favourite. It did show her doing her job, which was cool; developed the character a bit; and contained a solid action set piece, but the relationship with Wong feels like a dead end. Unless, of course, it’s not — which is the bigger question. If Wong plays a bigger role going ahead, that’s great. If he doesn’t, this seemingly tangential episode was fun, but a little frivolous. Thankfully with the Titania storyline finally coming to light, we imagine She-Hulk is about to really get rolling.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now on Disney+.
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