It’s been almost three years since the announcement that She-Hulk would be getting her own show on Disney+, and after a worldwide pandemic halted production, the show has finally premiered. The first episode, titled “A Normal Amount of Rage,” manages to work the character into the existing MCU naturally and believably. But is the series all that it’s cracked up to be, or is this just a lifeless show churned out by the studio?
She-Hulk’s Origin
The show takes some liberties with She-Hulk’s origin. Instead of getting a blood transfusion from a gamma-irradiated Bruce Banner, Jennifer Walters, after getting into a car accident, gets some of Bruce’s blood in an open wound of her own, which sends her into a confused rage into the woods. It’s similar to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk when a broken vial of Bruce’s blood drips into an open head wound of Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) in an attempt to tease the Leader. While nothing ever came to this — due to the tepid response to Incredible Hulk — at least Kevin Feige was able to recycle the trope into something new.
One departure She-Hulk: Attorney at Law takes is the way She-Hulk’s origin is portrayed. Instead of a full six-episode season stretching out the character’s heroic origins and coming to terms with their new powers, She-Hulk gives us Jen Walters’ transformation and acceptance in a single episode. This may be due to the nature of the show. It is a nine-episode series focusing on different situations. But it could also be that there’s no need to draw out Shulkie’s origin. It’s simple and straightforward. It doesn’t need that much screen time.
What I liked about this episode, though, is that they managed to introduce us to Jennifer Walters and get a feel for who she is while also expanding on Bruce’s story. Due to behind-the-scenes contractual issues, we’ve never gotten a full Hulk movie after The Incredible Hulk, with Hulk/Bruce being relegated to second stringer. But She-Hulk took small opportunities to fill fans in on Bruce in the time between Avengers films, such as the wistful way he tells Jennifer about he and Tony Stark building the bar in Mexico.
The episode also builds on the Hulk’s mythos in the MCU, with the sudden appearance of a Sakaaran spaceship being the inciting incident. MCU fans will recognize Sakaar from Thor: Ragnarok as the planet Hulk lived on for years while battling as a gladiator for the Grandmaster. However, comic fans know Sakaar as much more, being the homeworld of Hulk’s son, Skaar. And we already know that Tim Roth will be reprising his role as Emil Blonsky/Abomination in a later episode of the series. The sudden appearance of the Sakaaran ship could be a hint that Skaar is coming to the MCU.
But who knows? There has been plenty of unfounded conjecture surrounding the MCU shows before, so why not this?
The Humor
What makes She-Hulk interesting is that she was one of the first characters in a monthly book to use meta humor and regularly break the fourth wall — nearly a decade before Deadpool became popular doing it. So naturally, fans would expect this sort of humor to show up in the series.
Luckily, the showrunners understood this about the character, and She-Hulk does include scenes of Jennifer/Shulkie talking directly to the viewer However, it’s not something that gets used often, at least not in the first episode. It only occurs twice: once at the beginning of the episode, before the flashback to Jen getting her powers, and once in the middle.
I understand wanting to be prudent in the usage of the trope; after all, overusing it is the fastest way to drain the humor out of it (just like any meme on Twitter ever). However, using it so sparingly can have the opposite effect, making the sudden occurrence jarring and taking the viewer out of the story. Hopefully, the showrunners will find the right balance for the meta-humor over the next eight episodes.
But at the very least, the humor was actually funny. Many of the jokes landed well, and the writers made Bruce funny in a straight-man kind of way. Jen’s reaction to becoming She-Hulk and Bruce’s expectation to up-end her life was fitting. Much of the humor comes from Maslany’s delivery of the jokes. Maslany has mostly appeared in dramatic roles in her career, such as playing numerous characters in the series Orphan Black, but she has excellent timing for comedy, as evidenced in her guest appearance on Parks and Recreation. Her expressions and mannerisms come off as natural, and she has great timing for her jokes. Overall, she seems like a genuinely funny person who just “gets” comedy.
The CGI
During the show’s earlier promos, it received feedback from fans concerning the less-than-stellar CGI of the main characters. And looking back on those trailers, there is a bit of uncanny valley to it that we’re not familiar with in the MCU. Marvel’s use of CGI in its movies and shows is generally top-notch, so to see the shaky, inhuman aspect to its latest show was nothing short of jarring.
Of course, by the show’s premiere, the effects were updated, and things looked pretty smooth in the first episode. However, there still seems to be some lingered weirdness to the design. I can’t tell if it’s just a side-effect of CGI’ing over Tatiana Maslany’s face or if they’re using a bargain brand effects company. It’s still a little unsettling.
And while the CG isn’t make-or-break for me, I do not like the hair length difference between Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk. Why does her hair grow twice as long when she hulks out? Bruce’s doesn’t do that, so why would Jen’s? It just makes no sense.
Where Will She-Hulk Go?
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is much different from the rest of the MCU shows on Disney+. While WandaVision, Loki, and Moon Knight all worked on expanding new or existing characters through multi-episode story arcs, She-Hulk seems to be taking the sitcom route, putting Jennifer Walters into absurd situations and seeing what shakes out. Of course, there’s to be expected some aspect of a long-term story. We know that a handful of MCU characters are slated to appear, but the meta-humor of She-Hulk means that the showrunners have every intention of veering off in a new direction.
And honestly, I’m here for it. While I loved all of the Disney+ shows so far, I’m exhausted from all of the drama being wrenched from them. Sure, there have been fun moments, but Wanda’s mind-controlling war crimes and Loki’s destruction of the sacred timeline have left me numb to massive, overdrawn dramatic set pieces. I need some light-hearted fun and self-deprecation. And if that’s what She-Hulk has to offer, I am all about it.
