Iron Fist: Dragon Plays with Fire

 "It was someone much more treacherous than I..."

And so the season ends, at last. And the finale is, in the end, superb. What could have been a tiresome tale of false accusations turns out to be much deeper.

This is about Harold, the arch-manipulator, who always was the malevolent puppet master. I suppose we didn't need Gao to tell us it was Harold who arranged for the plane to crash, not wanting Danny's father to expose what was always his heroin operation. I'm sure I wasn't the only viewer who had more than an inkling.

But it's about more than that. It's about Ward redeeming himself, being loyal to Danny and enen showing some wise self-knowledge at the end. It's about Joy realising the terrible truth about her father, yet being perhaps easy prey for Davos trying to turn her against Danny as Gao smiles. It's about bad, abusive families and the damage they cause across the generations, some treatable, some bad. Colleen and Danny are a sweet couple but, as Claire says, they're both pretty damaged people.

I saw thend coming, too: K'un Lun is gone for the next fifteen years now. Yet Danny has learned a lot about himself, and what he wants to do as an Iron Fist: to be a hero. It's fitting that he and Ward are reconciled. Both of them have grown.

Yes, this series was uneven in places. But overall the final episodes are strong enough to make it a very impressive serial.

Iron Fist: Bar the Big Boss

 "I know a good family therapist that could help... should any of you survive the night."

This is an excellent season finale, wrapping everything up, or at least wrapping enough things up. Yet there's an episode to go after the surprise cliffhanger. It'll be interesting to see where this is going.

The episode is all about family relationships.We see Ward for the first time in a while, offered freedom from the, er, psych ward by Bakuto and the Hand, causing an almightily dramatic hostage situation with a helpless Harold and Joy. Harold and Joy continue to have a lovely daddy/daughter relationship- poor naive Joy. Yet Harold's ultimate reaction to Wards's betrayal, the betrayal of the son he called a "disappointment" when seemingly about to be beheaded- is admiration. We learn that he, too, killed his father out of ambition. Which is, well...

Meanwhile we have the total breakdown of trust between Danny and his "brother", Davos, who continues to feel abandoned by his bettrayal of his duty to guard K'un Lun... and be with him. They clash over everything, not least the trustworthiness of Colleen, who goes on an admirable redemption journey with the loving help of Danny... who has regainedthe power of the Iron Fist. Fittingly, it is Colleen who defeats Bakuto. Yet she refuses to kill him out of ethics... only for Davos to do so, angrily fight Danny, and leave all mardy like. Well then.

We end with Danny and Colleen declaring they've found family in each other. Good, because it seems the Meachums, or at least Harold, have utterly betrayed them...

Superb telly. But what happens now?

Iron Fist: Lead Horse Back to Stable

 "I wasn't chosen. You were. And you took it and ran."

Again we get a bloody good episode. You never quite know what you're going to get with Iron Fist, but this is two very good ones on the trot."

It's fascinating seeing the dynamic between characters here. First there's Danny and Davos, friends, brothers and rivals to be chosen as Iron Fist. Yet Davos sees his brother chosen instead of him... only for Danny to be seen to desert his post. Why? We're still not really told, although we see that Danny is supposed to guard the pass to K'un Lun until he dies. "You know what the rest of your life is going to be. Quite.

Then there's the newly reunited Harold and Joy, soon plotting with Danny and Davos to take down Bakuto. Joy has made financial jiggery-pokery possible, to lure Bakuto into a trap. Yet cracks begin to appear between father and daughter. Harold's new temper once more, and Joy's qualms about the plans to kill Bakuto.

Then there's poor Colleen, the only person in the show at this point who believes in Bakuto and the Hand. Even Claire, the conscience of the show, is disappointed in her. The attempted reconciliation with a bitter Danny doesn't go well, but her loyalties are divided. It's only when she's betrayed to Bakuto by her own former proteges- that must hurt- and about to be killed by the Hand that she heroically escapes, to be reunited by Danny. Yet she's broken, betrayed by the very thing she always believed in.

Intriguingly, Danny hints at understanding how she feels. There's more to be learbed here. But first, Bakuto...

Iron Fist hasn't exactly been consistent. But it looks to be headed for a strong finish. And yes, I know, Secret Invasion. I'll get round to it.

Iron Fist: Black Tiger Steals Heart

 "Wow. You are the worst Iron Fist ever."

Oh, Iron Fist, why so inconsistent? This episode is actually pretty good, all about lies, the murkiness of the truth, whom we should believe, whom we should trust. For 2017, it's a pretty accurate harbinger of the directions in which society has moved.

Joy, of course, has been lied to, in that she was not told of her father's resurrection. Now she knows, and Harold is busy gaslighting her, with some success. Yet his temper briefly shows, and he tells his first outright lie. Yes, by murderous means, Harold performs a boardroom coup, getting the Meachums and Danny reinstated. But is Joy beginning to see through him? It's all cleverly done, with much ambiguity.

But the A-plot, with Danny and Colleen, is even murkier. All starts in a lovey-doyey way, with both of them waking up together, the adorable couple. Then Danny is properly introduced to Bakuto, who shows him more about his powers... and shows him footage of an earlier Iron Fist, from 1948.

But secrets are being kept, as a conversation between the seemingly idealistic Bakuto and the certainly naive Colleen attests. And the secret is out- Bakuto, as much as Gao, is part of the Hand, and so is Colleen. The argument between the lovers is heartbreaking. Colleen is sincere... but Danny is right. Bakuto may be less brutal than Gao, but it seems clear that his wider goals are the same- he even slots right into Gao's place in Harold's life.

And then we find out who Sacha Dhawan is playing- Davos, sent to rescue Danny and return him to K'un Lun. Danny's doubts and anger have lost him his power, his chi. And he's accused of abandoning K'un Lun... why? Worse, the two of them are only able to escape because of Colleen deciding what side she's on. I'm genuinely excited to see what happens next, and I haven't always been with Iron Fist.

Iron Fist: The Mistress of All Agonies

 "Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is leave."

Argh. This episode could have been really good. The ideas are good, the plot is even good. It's just... the script and some of the performances are not up to par.

I'd exempt Wai Ching Ho from that though. She's a chillingly evil, gaslighting power who seems powerful even when tied up and interrogated, perhaps partly because she "spend most of the 17th Century being interrogated. Then there's David Wenham as the resurrected Harold, a kind of evil Captain Jack Harkness who, Ward is told by a rival, is fated to become a little more evil with each resurrection.

Harold has quite the journey, first acting like the wandering monster in Frankenstein before remembering who his is, ultimately killing his underling suddenly and callously on a whim. He's a dangerous man, manipulating Ward into the clutches of the same psychiatrist who "treated" Danny. And then Joy has the shock of her life, falling right into his manipulative clutches. If handled better, this could have been superb, with both Gao and Harold being manipulative and evil.

But there's more- Sacha Dhawan as an assassin after Danny. Our- and Danny's- proper introduction to Bakuto. Who is he? He certainly knows a lot, to the point of knowing more aboiut what the Iron Fist can do than Danny does.

This should be good. This is a fascinating plot, on paper. Why am I not enjoying this? Because by this point things are feeling a little off.

Iron Fist: Felling Tree with Roots

 "And it makes my hand light up..."

Wow. This series is bizarrely all over the place. Last episode was pretty awful. This episode is pretty damn good. Yes, we get a very sweet, heartwarming sex scene between Colleen and Danny, the sort that feel very real between two people who genuinely feel an intimate bond. Yes, Danny has the courage of his convictions and gives a defient speech to the board of Rand, showing himself to be media savvy in the process.

Yet it's a dark, dark world. Madame Gao visits Danny in Rand's offices, where she has a pass: "I've been in Rand a lot longer than you have." She's there to troll him, yes, to annoy and disorient him, but also to warn him off. As it turns out she uses the thirteentrh floor of the building for her heroin trade. The continues to goad Danny about his father. Yet, by the end, after Danny, Collen and the Hand's rivals have trashed the heroin factory, it turns out that the whole operation is now, like much Western industry, outsourced to China. And it seems Danny's own father may have had connections to heroin too. Wow. Quite the bombshell.

The opiatre addiction between Ward and a frustrated Joy is not quite working, but it certainly shows the stress Ward is under from the way he's exploited by his manipulative, amoral father, who has Danny eating out of the palm of his hand. Ward's sudden patricide i shocking, yes, But not foreshadowed. It's quite the ending to quite an episode. Oh, and who is Bakuto? And what happens now that the board have removed Danny and the Meachums? This really feels like a turning point. Unexpectedly good.

Iron Fist: Eight Diagram Dragon Palm

 "You're all I've got..."

Suddenly it all changes: Danny doesn't fall far, fortunately, and wakes up to a charm offensive by Harold, who is not dead after all. He's welcomed back into the company, 51% stake and all. Is this it? Has Danny won?

Well, no. From the start his new role has tensions. To the existing board members he's a cuckoo in the nest, and he would be wise to show some patience before throwing his weight around. Yet, on day one, the board meeting brings a moral dilemma about the pricing of a new drug... and Danny does the right thing, rather than the diplomatic thing.

There's more backstory, too. Harold did die of cancer. But he did a deal with the Hand, who resurrected him, but at the cost of secrecy and being their "good servant". Why do the hand want that pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn? They're certainly prepared to terrorise a triad for it.

Meanwhile Danny and Joy bond further, while Colleen continues with her cage fighting. I have no idea where this is going, as the arc has taken an unexpected turn. But the Hand, I'm sure, are the Big Bad. With Madame Gao at the centre of it all. I'm still enjoying this. It may not be quite as good as previous Netflix Marvel stuff, but the margin isn't great.

Iron Fist: Shadow Hawk Takes Flight

 "We're not bad guys, if that's what you think..."

For a series apparently disliked by the critics, this is pretty damn good so far. Yes, I know it's a cliche: the hero is stuck in a psychiatric ward where no one believes who he is and he's in the Catch-22 of having to pretend to be someone else- but it works here, and it's a nice means of both developing character and giving us more exposition.

So Danny was in K'un Lun, one of the seven capital cities of Heaven, that appears on Earth only once in fifteen years.There he learned to focus his chi into the Iron Fist... that won't work when he's drugged up. We see him slowly convince everyone that he's Danny- Joy, Colleen, Harold, even his doctor... who, ironically, proceeds to detain him for superhero fantasies, a nice touch.

Harold thinks Danny may be useful as an enemy of our old acquaintances the Hand... but Ward has a different agenda, as we see at the end. I'm not sure why, plot-wise, Danny's power suddenly works, but it's an awesome conclusion. More please.

Iron Fist: Snow Gives Way

 "That's my building."

"You should sell it and buy some shoes,"

Apologies, but I'm having trouble sourcing further watchable episodes of Robin of Sherwood so that will have to be paused for now. Instead, having caught up with the Disney Marvel series, I'm going to crack on with the Netflix stuff so it's hopefully done in toime for Daredevil: Born Again. I can only hope. I'll continue to alternate with other stuff, Dead Set for now.

So, Iron Fist. I read a few issuyes of Power Man and Iron Fist in the '80s not long before cancellation, mostly the Secret Wars II stuff. I vaguely know the broad strokes of the origin story. That's about it. So I enjoyed thr mystery here. It's an intriguing sert-up- Danny Rand, in theory a rich man, arrives back home after fifteen years to find himself unrecognised, friendless, homeless and, perhaps, conspired against by the family of his late father's seemingly dead business partner. The family dynamic is well developed so we get to know the characters- Danny is naive and good; Ward will always be the bully he was as a kid.

There is mystery upon mystery, though. Harold faked his death a dozen years ago: why? What happened to Danny after that plane crash, of which we see only dreamlike flashbacks. What and where is K'un Lun? Why indeed hid humanity abandon the paradise of hunter gathering for the hard slog of agriculture?

Also, we meet Colleen Wing, having met Misty Knight in Luke Cage.And we get some very, very cool and borderline supernatural martial arts. I'm aware the critics are a bit lukewarm about this show but so far I'm intrigued.