Idiot Boxing: The Defenders (2017); Ballers, season 2 (2016)

The Defenders (2017)

One of Netflix's better offerings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), even if it misses the mark in a few areas.

In the first Avengers-style team up of the Netflix Marvel characters, The Defenders brings together the four grittier heroes introduced on the streaming service - Matt Murdock (a.k.a. Daredevil), Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand (a.k.a. the Iron Fist). Each one is a hero is his or her own way, but they all have demons lurking in their closets. All four are residents of New York City, where the nefarious and shadowy organization The Hand has been secretly exerting control for centuries. The four of them, each in their own ways, comes across The Hand's plot to essentially level New York in order to obtain a mysterious, magical substance from beneath the city's surface. Reluctantly, the quartet band together to stop The Hand, including their deadliest weapon - the assassin Black Sky, who happens to be Murdock's former lover, Elektra Natchios.

I found that The Defenders got many of the necessary elements right. The story finally fills in several details about The Hand and their dark plots which had been teased in the Daredevil and Iron Fist series. We finally learn more about the vicious and diminutive Madame Gao, the presumed dead Bakuto, and the other three "Fingers," who together with Gao and Bakuto make up The Hand's leadership. The show also brings to a conclusion story lines which were left dangling at the end of Daredevil's second season and Iron Fist's first. In fact, The Defenders can very much be considered Daredevil season 2.5. Unfortunately, the show also further highlights some major shortcomings in the first season of Iron Fist, making that entire season feel more like a lame, overly long prequel that one could dub The Defenders season 0.5. All the same, the eight episodes of The Defenders move things along at a good pace, bringing in each of the New York heroes in his or her turn and joining them together quite organically. Once this fully happens, in episode 3, the story clicks along at a satisfying pace that has sometimes been lacking in the other 13-episode, single-hero shows.

Another Netflix Marvel show, another hallway full of hench-
men get beat to hell. This was one of several strong action
sequences in the show - something sorely lacking in its
virtual prequel, Iron Fist.

In addition to the general story and pacing being solid, I found that the characters were handled fairly well. I felt that Matt Murdock and Jessica Jones were written particularly well, feeling very much like the engaging characters who they've been in their solo shows. Oddly, Luke Cage wasn't quite as consistent as I had hoped. He's generally struck me as the deep and silent type, based on the first season of his show earlier this year. While he is often just that in The Defenders, there are moments when he seems a bit more rattled or even unreasonable than he should be. At this point in the MCU, where aliens have attacked several times and other world-threatening forces have arisen and been defeated by god-like superheroes, nobody should be surprised when they are told that organizations like The Hand exist and are trying to exert control over entire megacities. And yet, the writers decided to try and make Luke Cage the skeptic of the group, although he has been shown to be an exceptionally aware and intelligent man in his previous shows. And then there's Danny Rand, the "Immortal" Iron Fist. While he is handled better in The Defenders, he is still by far the least interesting or fleshed out of the quartet. The writers still don't seem to know exactly how to handle him: is he a ferociously angry young man out solely for vengeance? Is he an easy-going, cohesive force who casually throws back Chinese food while the forces of evil gather outside of their hideout? Is he a naive but wise Zen master? They haven't figured this out, though there are some intriguing options for what to do with his character.

The action was some of the best we've seen in the Netflix MCU shows. I can't say it was ever quite on par with some of the best sequences from Daredevil or even a few from Luke Cage, but there are some really fun segments that show off the different abilities and styles of the four heroes. They even worked in a few entertaining "cross-ability" maneuvers, such as Jessica Jones throwing a thug towards Cage, to have him clothesline the poor bastard two feet into the ground.. It was also fun to see Luke Cage simply "tank" hails of oncoming gunfire, while Murdock or Rand literally use his massive frame for shelter before emerging to unleash some vicious martial artistry. Coming on the heels of the woefully tepid fight scenes of Iron Fist, seeing The Defenders get mostly back on track was a relief. I do wish that some of the sequences were better lit and made less use of hyper-quick editing cuts, to let us enjoy the action a bit more, but I found it more than passable.

The Defenders was a success, in my eyes. It juggled several distinct elements and fused them in ways that didn't feel overly forced, and it put together an entertaining tale that was well-suited for an 8-episode series. While it is certainly not terribly accessible to those who haven't seen most or all of the other previous Netflix MCU shows, it should satisfy nearly all fans who have seen and enjoyed them.

Ballers, season 2 (2016)

I had gotten halfway through this season when I grew frustrated and stopped watching for a few months. Fortunately, after I had gone back to it, I found that the show righted the ship fairly well and turned in an enjoyable second season that fans itching for a mature sports show can appreciate.

At the end of the first season, former NFL player-turned-aspiring financial advisor to pro athletes Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and his partner Joe had managed to save a few key clients from slipping away, all while they were seriously considering the risky proposition of setting out to start their own company. Though Spencer's business dealings mostly fall back into line, his health issues continue to be problematic - he dodged one bullet by having a CT scan on his brain turn up negative, but his hip is causing him greater and greater discomfort, leading to higher and more furtive use of prescription painkillers.

These victories and demons follow Spencer into season two, which jumps forward a little less than a year after the first season. Spencer's roster of athletes is still relatively small, including dynamic and quixotic characters like Ricky Jerret and Vernon Littlefield. Spencer and Joe also roll the dice on a very talented but massively abrasive NFL prospect, Travis Mack. All the while, several nasty skeletons from Spencer's playing days' closet are laid bare when he tries to take down a powerful rival in the pro athlete financial advising business. By the end of the season, Spencer is broken down in several ways, clinging to a few shreds of hope that he can have some sort of post-playing days career.

As stated above, I had actually been worried about this show after the first few episodes, as it seemed like it was turning into little more than a showcase for lifestyles of the fictional rich and famous, and celebrity athlete cameos. However, once I went back to it, I was glad to see that the season's arc went back to the drama surrounding Spencer's pride, his injuries, and his desperate attempts to keep several massive egos in check, including his own. The final episode features a straightforward speech given by a tattered, bedraggled Spencer, which actually has some power to it.

A beaten-down Joe and Spencer take stock after dropping
several of the balls they'd been juggling, then going on a
bender. The show's at its best when these guys fail and end
up showing some vulnerability.

I have enjoyed how this show truly has stuck to the off-the-field aspects of professional sports, rather than going the typical route of building each season around a corresponding sports season. That latter approach always leans heavily on the ready-made drama of a player or team's attempts to succeed at their chosen sport. Ballers, in contrast, looks almost exclusively at how such athletes may succeed or fail in any and every other aspect of their lives, be it personal or financial. No, it doesn't do it with the gravity of a well-made documentary, but it's still a unique blend of fun and drama that scratches the itch of anyone who is into sports and the industries built around them.

I can't say that Ballers is an earth-shattering, must-see show for anyone. It is, however, a fun little foray into a vibrant world, with as charismatic and capable a ring-leader as one could imagine in Dwayne Johnson. It's a great lead-in to the upcoming football season, to be sure. I've already dived right into the current season, the show's third.