
Doubters, haters and naysayers – here’s my super quick verdict of the first episode of She-Hulk for you, so you can get back to your regular daily task of hating everything for clicks and engagement.
I liked it.
It’s a really well made, witty and amusing show that works an awful lot better than the trailers, advance word and trollish YouTubers would have you believe. Even the uncanny valley CGI of the trailer didn’t seem to be an issue here.
This first episode introduces us to Jennifer Walters, an attorney who just so happens to also have the power to Hulk out, thanks to a freak accident that occurs while she’s catching up with her famous cousin, Bruce Banner. Jen is smart, successful and completely uninterested in becoming a superhero, wanting to carry on – as much as possible – with her life as it was before the change. Yet it seems that fate may have other ideas.
The origin is handled really well and at lightning speed; Tatiana Maslany is absolutely perfect in the role. Her scenes with Mark Ruffalo’s Banner/Hulk demonstrate an easy chemistry between them; they play off each other nicely. There’s some genuinely funny moments and lines, without veering into the forced wackiness that slightly derailed Thor: Love and Thunder, for example. There’s also some really cool nods to MCU Avengers events and characters too.
The few fourth wall breaks are fun too, though they’re a little odd. They don’t make as much sense for She-Hulk as they do for, say, Deadpool – even though her comic book fourth wall breaking predates the Merc with a Mouth’s by several years.
Only a fight scene towards the end of the show feels a little off in terms of setup (and some choreography/effects that feel pretty rough) though no doubt it’ll be expanded upon in terms of motivation in the next episode.
My biggest complaint is that it felt almost as if I’d seen the entire episode play out in the trailer; they really did run through and spoil so many moments that would have been much better to discover upon watching the show. At least that means that we’re likely to be a lot more surprised and entertained by new moments as the weeks go on.
With the episode being so much fun and the post credits scene being genuinely hilarious too, I have high hopes for the rest of She-Hulk’s first season.






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