Tag: Madame Gao

Marvel, Television5 Comments

Iron Cyst and the Eight Point Strike

Dennis R. Upkins

It’s too bad Iron Fist wasn’t remotely close to being as entertaining and brilliant as the backlash it’s been receiving. If it had, it would’ve been as popular as Daredevil or Luke Cage as opposed to being one of the biggest punchlines of 2017.

I’m sure one day we’ll all be tired of the proverbial “T” Madame Gao is serving us.

However, today is not that day.

Shifting into Midnighter mode, I’m about to demonstrate my 8-point strike on the fustercluck of white mediocrity that is Iron Cyst.

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Marvel, Television4 Comments

Fixing Marvel’s Iron Fist Problem: Why Netflix Can Handle Mysticism

Guest N.O.C.

by MC Nedelsky in collaboration with MCU Exchange

What exactly is the problem with bringing Iron Fist to Netflix? It’s hard to know. Though the latest news is that the show is still on track, it’s clear they haven’t yet figured it out — they don’t have a star; they don’t have a showrunner; and for some reason, no one has bothered to ask Lexi Alexander on how she could make Iron Fist “the most popular show ever.”

One of the issues is apparently no one at Marvel Studios can figure out how to bring the character’s “mystical” elements into the grim and gritty universe established for its Netflix series. Devin Faraci, who first reported on Iron Fist’s troubles back in July, writes that “one of the big hold-ups is the mystical element, with lots of different opinions on just how much weird wuxia to bring in to the show.”

This seems like an odd concern, given that these shows share a cinematic universe with Asgardians, Kree, and Inhumans.

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Marvel, Recaps, Television5 Comments

NOC Recaps Daredevil: So Much for a Complete Daily Bugle Staff

Eric S.B.

“The Ones We Leave Behind” is another dense episode that fortunately doesn’t feel like it drags. Two of the leads deal differently with killing, there’s some backstabbing in the consortium, some classic Daredevil roof hopping, and another climactic and shocking ending. Damn. Fucking Sony.

It opens with Karen tossing the gun in the river. She’s obviously messed up after murdering Wesley and this plays out once she gets home and hits the bottle hard to put herself to sleep. She wakes up startled thinking she hears something, but then relaxes and decides to switch to beer for bed. Does that ever work? She turns from the fridge and our bald menace is staring her down. He delivers another stellar speech telling her he knows how hard it is to take a life. He goes on about how you feel the weight of the person’s life, the cherished moments, and such. Then he says: “I want you to know something, something important that I’ve learned: that it gets easier the more you do it.” And he attacks. And Karen wakes up. Really wakes up this time. The old nightmare within the nightmare. Well played writers.

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Marvel, Recaps, Television2 Comments

NOC Recaps Daredevil: The Trial of the Incredible Matthew Murdock

Eric S.B.

Yes, the boys are fighting and Foggy Bear attacks like a… bear. It’s Foggy’s turn to learn about Matt’s powers and the first part of “Nelson v. Murdock” basically repeats previous scenes and flashbacks of folks that know about Matt. Nothing new that we don’t already know until the way Foggy plays it at the end. Besides Foggy’s cross examination of Matt, we get flashbacks to their meeting and law school daze days, Madame Gao puts Fisk in another time out, Karen tricks Ben in a game changing way, and a benefit dinner really could have used a Medieval cup-bearer.

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Marvel, Recaps, Television3 Comments

NOC Recaps Daredevil: Papa Don’t Preach

Eric S.B.

At this point, the similarities between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk both wanting to make their city a better place have been repeated a few times. Yep, they’re two sides of the same coin; we get it. Well, there’s another strong tie that binds; they both have serious daddy issues. Matt’s came earlier and now we get to see a big reason why Fisk is who he is. I mentioned there may have been a hint at potential childhood trauma on the fourth episode recap, and my, my; “hint” seems so wrong after this. In addition, Matt ends up in Karen and Foggy’s (and Ben’s) investigation, and Fisk’s grip on his empire starts loosening, creating tension among the consortium in “Shadows in the Glass.”

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Guest Post, Marvel, Streaming, Television85 Comments

Black Mask, Yellow Peril: Anti-Asianism in Netflix’s Otherwise Brilliant ‘Daredevil’

Guest N.O.C.

by Takeo Rivera

So let’s get one thing out of the way: it’s probably safe to say that Marvel and Netflix’s Daredevil is the finest piece of television ever made in the superhero genre. With its stellar cast and consistently tight writing and direction, the show can easily go toe-to-toe with any other major serialized TV drama in this golden age of Mad Mens and Breaking Bads, elevating superherodom to an unequivocal status of high art in much the way Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica elevated the space opera. And, as a cherry on top, Daredevil happens to be one of the most progressive shows of the genre; in particular, Matt Murdock battles not some alien Super-Wario intent on blowing up the planet with an ancient glowing Rubik’s cube, but a scion of urban “redevelopment” — read gentrification — in Wilson Fisk, and spends an unhealthy time fighting white collar crime and community displacement by punching the crap out of it.

But Daredevil also has one massive problem: Asians. That is, Asians are the problem, and Daredevil’s problem is that Asians are a problem.

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