Shaun Munro reviews the seventh episode of Iron Fist…
We’ve now reached the mid-way point in Iron Fist‘s run, bringing to an end the batch of episodes that were screened to critics ahead of release day. Will the latter seven episodes indicate an upswing in quality for what has been a rather underwhelming Netflix Original so far?
Well, “Felling Tree with Roots” begins promisingly enough, with a hilarious opening gambit from Harold, where he likens Danny Rand’s more ballyhooed namesake to a sex toy. This is followed by a highly entertaining pre-titles sequence, as Harold and Danny double-team a gang of assailants in gleefully, unsparingly gnarly fashion.
One almost feels like a content warning might’ve been prudent for this episode, because the sight of a man’s face being dismantled with a hammer may be too much for some, especially going by the mostly mild tenor of the first six episodes (a few exceptions aside). It’s all slathered in a healthy helping of dark comedy, of course, carrying through the pulpy tone of the prior episode, peppered with even a little of the film noir flavour found more abundantly in Jessica Jones. David Wenham in particular did some really fine work here, for while his villain is for the most part a hoary cliche factory, the actor clearly relishes unleashing Harold’s savagery.
Danny meanwhile gets a solid bonding session with Colleen, though again the romantic aspect feels forced and wholly unnecessary, like the overwhelming majority of the box-ticking, executive-pleasing romances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Danny’s virginity, a subject of much discussion prior to the show’s release, is finally broached in this entry, and while a unique superhero characteristic, it’s just not very interesting. Danny’s interactions with another female, on the other hand, are; his gassing with Gao continues to err on the right side of mysterious, teasing out some juicy morsels of information and providing fun nods to Luke Cage and Daredevil at the same time.
Ultimately, though, much of Danny’s focus in this episode revolves around a political/PR issue pertaining to Rand Enterprises, and while it’s clearly an attempt to endear him to the audience in spite of his being a boring, rich white guy, it’s basically dull as dishwater. Danny being suited and booted has gone on far too long already, and the subsequent corporate fallout of Danny’s humanitarian behaviour doesn’t even seem to cohere much with previously established facts. With Ward and Joy ending up on the skids alongside Danny, Tom Pelphrey gets another chance to give an unnecessarily good performance, especially during an emotionally brutal confrontation with his father later on.
This really should’ve been the final episode shown to the press ahead of release, because it features a pivotal, climactic gear-shift that may have positively influenced those reviews at least a small measure. Action-wise there were some grotesquely memorable moments to savour, though a sequence involving Danny and an elevator was subject to jarring bargain basement CGI this show really should be above.
Overall, however, episode seven was a decent outing more often than not, if again the subplots bloated it out to feel slightly punishing at times.
Shaun Munro
Originally published March 23, 2017. Updated April 11, 2018.
