(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law)
Doug (vo): Well, I know a lot of people who hate this show. Not gonna lie, I did debate on whether or not I wanted to review it for a couple reasons, one I'll get to in a second. The other, there's just so many damn videos saying this is the worst thing ever made. "Phase 4 is officially dead", "The MCU has officially destroyed itself". (Posters for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Loki, and Spider-Man: No Way Home are shown) I think they're gonna be okay, folks. And while I don't think this show is quite as bad as everybody made it out to be, I didn't think it was very good. But on that note, I do think it's salvageable. Let me explain.
Premise[]
Doug (vo): Jennifer Walters is the cousin of Bruce Banner, the Hulk, when one day, a car accident happens, some of his blood drips onto her, and she officially becomes She-Hulk. Honestly, I thought her transformation would be more complicated than that, but I actually kind of like they keep it simple. She discovers, though, while she can turn big and green, she can still have control of her mental state. She doesn't turn into a blood-hungry monster like Banner. Because of this, she says she doesn't want to do any superhero-related stuff, she just wants to be a lawyer. That's what she went to school for, that's what she wants to do. As you'd imagine, though, there's situations where she has to use her powers, the cat's out of the bag, and now, everybody knows her as She-Hulk. And that's kind of it. Most of the show is just her taking on legal cases, mostly with other superheroes, sometimes as a superhero, sometimes as herself, and all the comedy hijinks that ensue.
Review[]
Doug (vo): Okay, so, before I get to the problems, let me get to what I actually do like about this. First of all, I love this setup. I love the idea of someone with superpowers being a lawyer, which, yes, we already have that in Marvel, but I like she takes on superhero cases as a superhero. That just kind of seems funny to me. It's kind of like in Harvey Birdman, where you hear all these legal cases of these classic cartoon characters. How can that not be funny?
(Several clips focusing on Jennifer's balances between her social life as a lawyer and her new life as a superpowered being are shown)
Doug (vo): I'll also say, if you just told me the plot of every episode and showed me where it was going from beginning to end, for the most part, I think I'd be onboard. All the clients and cases she has to represent are funny setups, and I like the little touches of seeing how this person has to live a social life with this strange power. I like the fact that she can drink a lot as a Hulk, but when she goes back to human, she's instantly drunk. I like a lot of people keep passing her up on dating apps until they find she's the She-Hulk. The superpower ties in well to the pros and especially the cons of being a professional in an already-difficult world. There's a part where she gets a job at a law firm, and they require her to be She-Hulk the whole time, kind of like she's the token superhero of the company. There's a really great scene where her boss is requiring her to take this case whether she wants to or not, she is sitting there as this giant mammoth, she could break this guy in two, and she can't do anything about it. That is so clever, and I feel like probably sums up what a lot of women feel in some work places that I don't even think the creators are aware of how clever it is, because if they were, she would turn to the camera and explain how clever it is.
(Clips focusing on the show's comedic aspects are shown)
Doug (vo): Yeah, let's get into what's wrong with this show. It's very clear this is supposed to be a lighter show, and that's honestly what I want. She narrates, she breaks the fourth wall, there's constant one-liners, and this is a setup where I want to see that happen. But most of the humor just isn't that great. It is slow and clunky. Even when there's something that is legitimately funny in it, a lot of times, the delivery just mucks it up. There's one scene where two guys are about to shake hands, but one tries to do a fist-bump, and then they keep going back and forth. That's actually very observant. I've kind of noticed that after the pandemic, people are like, "Oh, do we shake hands? Do we fist bump? What do we do?" But it is done so slow and so awkwardly. It if was just done as a fast, little thing, like you kind of blink and you could've missed it, it would work, but, no. Somebody decided most of the humor should be a Disney Channel sitcom. There's a scene where she goes home and the father says, "Don't worry. Nobody will bring up that you lost your job." First thing that happens when they walk in, the son says, "Oh, you lost your job!" And the father says, "I told you not to say she lost her job!" And he says, "Oh, I thought you said tell her she lost her job." That's a joke. Good Jesus God, are we on Nickelodeon?
(Footage focusing on Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk is shown)
Doug (vo): I think there's also a major problem with the main character. Tatiana Malansy*, I'm sure can give a funny performance. But the problem is, she's written like someone entering law school, not graduated it. She does not take anything seriously, and again, if this was complete zany, surreal humor like Harvey Birdman, you can work with this fine. But it's clear you're supposed to sympathize with her struggles, and I can never take her seriously if she never takes herself seriously. Seeing her turn to the camera and giggle, "Lawyer show!", does not show any investment. Jim Carrey in Liar Liar acts like a goofball, too, but at some point, the weight and importance of his job does catch up to him. Jennifer's too busy twerking with Megan Thee Stallion to ever have any of that sink in. I mean, my God, Deadpool breaks the fourth wall, too, but I buy him as an assassin. Again, that's the kind of comedy it is. It breaks the fourth wall, it's silly, but when it needs to tell its story, I do buy it. And the humor here is so constant, so desperate. How bad did it get? Well, this is where I debated whether or not to do this review, because I stopped watching the show. I couldn't take it. And I know what you're thinking, "How can you say something isn't as bad as you're saying it is when you couldn't even finish the show?" Well, a lot of those people say there's nothing good in this, and I disagree. I think there are some funny moments and funny ideas. But the bad parts just far outweigh the good ones for me.
(*Her name is Tatiana Maslany)
(Several clips focusing on the show's final episode are shown, as well as clips of Daredevil's appearance on the show)
Doug (vo): That is, until the finale, 'cause everybody was asking me my thoughts on it, and I thought, "Oh, maybe it does something different." And it does. And I think if you watch it, you're either gonna enjoy it or you're not, but I did like it for the most part. It was different, and I didn't know where it was going, and it broke the fourth wall in a very imaginative way, in a way that did make me laugh quite a bit. But it seemed like too little, too late. They even tried to work Daredevil into this universe, and talk about apples and oranges. These don't go. He just looks so uncomfortable being there.
(As various clips continue to show, we are shown clips focusing on the show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Doug (vo): But, okay, I said this was salvageable, and I do believe that. If you want me to point to an example of how to do Season 2 right, I'd say look at the show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. That's another show about a woman entering a world that kind of has the cards stacked against her, and she becomes a celebrity, and she doesn't know how to deal with it. But it's also a comedy that's trying to tell a straightforward story about a goofball who also knows when to take herself seriously. She's a standup, she's silly, she's a nutball, but she also knows how to be a professional and care about what she does. It also goes back and forth between tones. The first time I saw it, I thought, "Well, that's not how that time period was." But I realized, it goes back and forth between how that time period was and how the fantasy of that time period was. It kind of feels like a sitcom you would see on TV at the time, like that's how people saw everything at that time, and it's constantly contrasts with how things actually were, and they're kind of fighting for space in the same show. And it's really clever. I think that's what this show is missing. You just need her to act like someone who gives a shit. Mrs. Maisel is silly and goofy, but she gives a shit, so I follow her. When she cares about something, I care about something. You can still do the fourth wall jokes and have her looking at the camera and have most of it be a funny legal show...again, I think it's a really cool idea...and have your lead still be silly, but invested. And, you know, make the humor fast and less Nick Jr.-y.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): So, yeah, there it is. You could argue this was a very unprofessional review for someone that has not seen the entire show, but I just kind of know the three or four episodes I missed aren't gonna change my mind. I dropped back in to watch the finale, and I felt like I missed nothing. I guess it's the equivalent of Gene Siskel walking out of Black Sheep.
(A clip of Siskel and Ebert's review of Black Sheep is shown)
Gene Siskel: This is the first movie that I have ever walked out on...in a theater...in 26 years.
Roger Ebert: I envy you.
Gene Siskel: We should never do this. I left minutes...
Roger Ebert: It's okay to do it if you say you did it.
Gene Siskel: I did. That's why I have to say it.
(We go back to various clips from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law)
Doug (vo): We're not supposed to do it. To our shame, we sometimes do. And it probably goes without saying, but if you like this show, great. I'm not gonna say you're part of the problem or yell whatever buzzword is popular now and is gonna be dated next year. You like what you like, and you hate what you hate. And honestly, if they do a season 2, I will check it out to see if it gets any better, because, again, I do think there's possibilities for this show. But in my opinion, unless they make these changes, it doesn't look like anything worth Hulking out over.
(A scene showing Bruce Banner as the Hulk punching Jennifer as She-Hulk off a cliff, while an annoyed Jennifer flips off Bruce as she falls, is shown)