She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is a nine episode long show that follows Jennifer Walters. She is a lawyer who is a cousin of Bruce Banner. The first episode shows how she got her Hulk powers and it’s done in a quick way that kind of downplays the enormity of the situation. Unlike Bruce, she is able to easily control her powers and retain her own personality in Hulk form, much to Bruce’s dismay and jealousy.
The show has a different style compared to the other Disney+ MCU shows in that it instantly breaks the fourth wall. Jennifer constantly faces the viewer and speaks to them directly. It’s weird the first time it is done because you don’t expect it, but you’ll gradually get used to it. The show is also going for a legal comedy but ultimately, the fourth wall breaking doesn’t quite suit the show, although it is faithful to the comics given She-Hulk did have this ability.
After a spectacular public display of her powers, Jennifer is now known as the She-Hulk and as you’d expect, this wrecked her legal career. No other firm is willing to hire such a divisive figure. After a lot of rejections, she ends up being forced to work as a lawyer. They hired her specifically because she was She-Hulk, and her competent legal abilities was secondary. Her role is to specialise in superhero cases, and her first case? The parole of Abomination.
We haven’t seen Abomination in detail for a while and he is supposedly reformed. Given he is such a dangerous individual, the public is hesitant and against his release. It is up to Jennifer to convince the panel otherwise. The show does have the legal drama in it but it doesn’t go into too much depth or detail into the specifics. It has just enough to communicate the logic. While Abomination does seem to have repented, you can’t help but still suspect something is up given that you just don’t get a villain that so easily walks back on what they have done before.
This show is the most episodic in the MCU thus far. Each episode is effectively a standalone, so the Abomination is only one small story arc in the season. Other episodes dives into what happens when all the superpowers and magic saturates the population. There are copycats, people with minor abilities, or people who misuse what power they have. All these problems have it resolved through the legal system. It’s an interesting approach but not necessarily one that is flawless. Then it also delves into Jennifer’s private and social life, and how she is coping with all the attention on her now.
There’s a bit of angst from Jennifer as she initially frequently comments on being looked down upon as she is a woman, or how she is much better than people give her credit for. It feels like posturing and can be pretentious since it is done in such an unsubtle manner. Show, not tell, is the key to these kinds of messages. It gets better as the season progresses.
Despite being a comedy, the show isn’t that overly funny. It couldn’t balance the humor and drama well, so we get some awkward mood whiplash from time to time. What is great though are the few familiar faces from the larger MCU showing up. The same can’t be said for the visual effects. The Hulk was always iffy, as hie skin is usually too shiny, smooth and plasticky to pull off. Unfortunately, She-Hulk is even worse and she looks out of place and is very clearly CGI.
The season finale doubles down on the fourth wall breaking, and… it’s to mixed results. Jennifer was right in that it was messy, but it was deliberately so to create that final sequence and it felt forced. The fourth wall breaking did not work too well throughout the season, it was bearable but wasn’t earthshattering. So when it doubles down on that and makes it even bigger… it can be too much and too pretentious. It’s like it was trying too hard.
Overall, She-Hulk is average and probably the weakest TV show in the MCU thus far. It’s not that it was a bad idea, just that it wasn’t executed that well. The show felt like a character that’s smug and pompous, and that makes it just tolerable at times. The plot was so so, it was great seeing so many familiar characters, but on the other hand, mashing up those various genres wasn’t done in the most elegant of ways.
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