In "Whose Show Is This?," the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law season 1 finale, Jen Walters' narrative is resolved. Jen loses her job, her home, and her superhero rights after being detained by Damage Control at the conclusion of last week's episode.
Jen asks the titular question and decides to direct the episode as Titania, Intelligencia, and the Abomination all make appearances. The Incredible Hulk opener from the 1970s is hilariously parodied in the episode's opening, and director Kat Coiro stays true to that episode's witty tone and self-aware absurdity throughout.
The episode begins right away with Jen's attack on Intelligencia's legal repercussions before quickly bringing all the season's plot threads together. When Jen is released from Emil Blonsky's cutting-edge Damage Control prison cell, she returns to live with her adoring, moral parents. Also she takes a mental health break at Blonsky's wellness retreat. As soon as Nikki uses a humiliating Jen video that Jen's mother gave her to secure an invitation to a prestigious Intelligencia event where she sends Pug undercover, the A-plot and B-plot immediately cross.
We learn that the creator of Intelligencia and real-life "HulkKing '' is Todd Phelps, a lecherous man, who also obtained Jen's blood in order to transform himself into the Hulk. Titania practically crashes the party in order to take part in the action when Bruce returns from Sakaar in order to save Jen. Jen smashes the fourth wall to tidy up the conclusion just as it becomes too chaotic.
This is the most meta-episode in the entire season. It provides a hilarious conclusion for the first season. In order to speak with the Marvel Studios production team, Jen interrupts the pivotal battle just as it is about to begin and leaps across the Disney+ library to an Assembled behind-the-scenes special. This blatant fourth-wall-breaking and acknowledgment of the filmmakers.
Jen rushes to the She-Hulk writers' room after assaulting the set to ask her creators, "What kind of idiotic finale is this?" She asks to talk to "Kevin," but the writers inform her that he only wants to see the conclusion. Jen storms into Kevin's office after punching and gouging her way past Marvel's security personnel. When fans are anticipating Kevin Feige to make a brief cameo, they are instead surprised to learn that Kevin is actually a content-generating A.I. named "K.E.V.I.N."
Jen brings up numerous popular criticisms of the MCU in the ensuing dispute with K.E.V.I.N. Including the franchise's propensity for action-packed climax confrontations and its lack of female representation. Before totally rewriting the episode to avoid those flaws.
It was a brave move on the part of the show to spend weeks building up ongoing plotlines like Titania's fight against She-Hulk and Todd stealing Jen's blood to give himself superpowers, only to have all of those plots to be abandoned. However, it excels when applied to She-Hulk.
The She-Hulk season finale was beginning to unfold similarly to every other MCU season finale, with all the plot lines converging at the scene of a significant conflict. Yet, things take a turn for the truly unusual when Jen begins to change the conclusion of her own story.
After all the self-aware fun is over, Jen's character arc is resolved in the finale when she tells a reporter outside a courthouse that she will continue to defend the rights of the oppressed and battle evil both as a lawyer and as a superhero. Perhaps more than any other female hero in this series, Jen has agency. She practically breaks through the fourth wall to confront the writers, take her complaint up the chain of command to the head of the studio, and rewrite the entire episode to fit her vision when male characters begin to dominate the show.
She-Hulk has generally been one of Marvel's most original, eccentric productions to date. Even while certain episodes may have been more exciting than others and some plotlines may have become redundant, the season finale of She-Hulk has succeeded in cementing its position as a unique MCU endeavour. Even though K.E.V.I.N. may have been joking when he said to Jen, "See you on the big screen," maybe She-Hulk will appear in many more films in the future.
Overall, the ending was strong and it set up a lot more in the MCU universe. Especially, as we were introduced to Hulk’s son, that was an exciting twist no one saw coming. I hope we get to see more of Jen and that we get more strong female-driven stories from the MCU.
Performance | 4.6/5 |
Enjoyment | 4.8/5 |
Overall Rating | 4.7/6 |