Only Matt Murdock is allowed to mansplain being a superhero to Jennifer Walters. He’s the one person who can get away with it. I don’t make the rules! All of which is to say: Charlie Cox’s long-awaited return to the MCU as Daredevil, after a brief cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, did not disappoint.
A seemingly innocuous legal case pushed Jen into the life of a vigilante, the arms of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, and an unpleasant spotlight thanks to an anonymous Big Bad. After two weeks OOO, she’s back at work and assigned a case that at first had her wishing she’d called in sick: A rich client’s son, Eugene Patilio, wants to sue her stylist Luke Jacobson. Eugene has been doing some vigilante work of her own under the pseudonym Leap-Frog, but the suit that Luke designed for him malfunctioned. Jen doesn’t want to upset the only guy who’s able to make clothes for She-Hulk that fit correctly, especially when she has a gala to go to, but work’s work.
Luke is offended, but also well defended. In comes his lawyer Matt Murdock, also known (but only to some) as Daredevil. Jen demands to see Luke’s client list so that the court can determine if any of his other designs have led to injury. Matt refutes this on the grounds that it would mean revealing the secret identities of multiple superheroes. The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t have a ton of heroes who keep their identity a secret, Daredevil and Spider-Man being two rare examples, but he has a point. Murdock’s legal prowess is not, however, what wins him the case. His super-sensitive nose picks up the smell of jet fuel on Leap-Frog’s suit. They determine that Eugene failed to read the suit’s instructions and that’s why it caught fire. Case dismissed. Oh, and Luke is still mad at Jen … so she’s still without a dress for the upcoming gala.
Jen goes for a drink at Legal Ease, where Matt shows up and buys her an appletini. They get along well. Surprisingly well, some might say. Murdock’s Daredevil comes from a more grounded and serious superhero world than the one She-Hulk offers us. His show was more or less devoid of levity, and the humor was much drier. All this spooked fans of the dark and gritty former Netflix series. And yet it’s not the first time that superheroes with different tones have meshed on a crossover event: The CW perfected it whenever the brooding Oliver Queen teamed up with the far more light-hearted Barry Allen and Kara Danvers in the Arrow-verse. (Also, hello, The Avengers?) Still, it’s weird to think about a hero defined by Catholic guilt and buried trauma on the same show as an elf who shapeshifted into Megan Thee Stallion. Could She-Hulk: Attorney at Law “get Daredevil right?â€
Here’s what they forgot: Matt Murdock is a huge flirt. Don’t believe me? Check out the video compilations with titles like “Matt Murdock Being Adorable†and “Moments That Made Me Fall in Love With Matt Murdock†on YouTube for just a taste of his charms. He has at least three love interests on his show. He bats his eyes at women to get information, including Vanessa, the Kingpin’s then-future-wife. Self-deprecating jokes about blindness and laughing quietly to himself are two of his superpowers. Netflix’s street-level heroes of the Defenders had ten times as much kissing and casual sex as the big screen MCU. So of course he’s the one guy on the show thus far who is as attracted to Jen as he is to She-Hulk. He can appreciate both sides of her. He knows what it’s like to lead a double life, even if their situations are very different
Matt suggests she consider using her powers to color outside of the legal lines every so often. Unfortunately, their tête-à -tête is put on hold when they both get work calls. Jen meets with Todd, who informs her that he purchased a Wakandan war spear in an auction that Wakanda wants back since it was initially stolen by colonizers. If he’s not the Big Bad, he’s for sure Big Bad–adjacent, right? Fetishizing African culture (it’s cool, he says, because he studied abroad in Wakanda) is just the latest in his string of offensive and cringe behaviors. He also calls her “babe.†No, thank you! She-Hulk storms out and goes home. Her corporate job really is soul-sucking. So when she gets a call that Leap-Frog is under attack, she takes Matt’s advice and grabs her super suit to rescue him hero-style.
Only the guy attacking Leap-Frog is … Daredevil, and the reason is that Leap-Frog went villain era and kidnapped Luke Jacobson. Oops! It’s a simple misunderstanding that only leads to She-Hulk whooping his ass a little bit and taking off his mask and learning his identity. Welcome to the inner circle, Jen. The two trade more banter and barbs and go to Leap-Frog’s lair, “the Lily Pad,†where Matt’s not too keen on having an inexperienced partner. He wanted her to do vigilante shit but, like, not right now and while he’s doing the heroics. Classic. He takes out half of Leap-Frog’s goons his way, in a dimly lit hallway, and she takes out the other half her way — property damage. Neither is wrong, they just have different approaches. You can take the Daredevil out of Hell’s Kitchen, etc.
Leap-Frog is arrested, Luke is rescued, and Jen’s gala dress is back on. On the roof, Jen resumes flirting with Matt. He’s leaving for New York the next day but offers to take her out next time he’s in town. Jen hints that he doesn’t have to buy her dinner first, and the next thing you know they’re back at her apartment doing the dirty. Good for them! In the morning, Matt does a walk of shame in his Daredevil suit — a great sight gag. Tip of the hat to whoever suggested he carry his shoes. (It’s also far from the worst morning the Man Without Fear ever had. Lest we forget, in the second episode of Daredevil’s first season, Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) pulled him out of a dumpster. He can rock the suburbs if he wants.)
Despite the A-story’s satisfying conclusion, wink, wink, the episode’s not over. Nikki bursts into her apartment like a character on one of WandaVision’s sitcoms and starts getting her ready for the gala, where we all know she’s being honored as Female Lawyer of the Year. Jen’s fourth-wall senses tingle, and she muses to the audience. Why is the show introducing a set piece late in the game? There must be a big twist coming. “Is it the kind of twist that’s like, Ooh, there’s another hulk but this one’s red,†she wonders, “or, like, I’m getting fridged?†For the uninitiated, “fridging†is a problematic trope found often in superhero comics, and really all media, where a female character dies as a narrative tool to further a male character’s story line. Don’t joke about that, Jennifer! It’s hard out there for women in the MCU right now. We lost Aunt May, Wanda Maximoff, Peggy Carter (for the second time), Maria Rambeau (for the second time), and Dr. Jane Foster in the last eight months alone.
Jen and Nikki get to the gala, where she’s slightly bummed to realize that the award is being awarded to half a dozen lawyers in a bit of faux-feminist posturing. She takes the stage along with Miss Mallory Book and the other women. Suddenly — because of course the gala was a trap — Intelligencia hacks the audio-visual presentation and shows the room, including Jen’s parents, the contents of Jen’s phone — including her dating-app history, her photos of Steve Rogers’s butt, and NSFW videos taken by Josh. “She-Hulk does not deserve your attention,†say the guys projecting She-Hulk’s personal information onto a giant screen. They falsely claim that she stole powers from the Hulk and call her a slut (derogatory). Clearly nobody told them that She-Hulk is a sex-positive show that celebrates consensual promiscuity, as evidenced by known slut (affectionate) Matt Murdock’s very appearance.
Jen sees red, both metaphorically and literally, as she smashes the screen and emergency lights pop on. The rage she thought she could handle bubbles over. Surrounded by armed security, she gets a taste of what it’s like to be feared by the public the way her cousin once was. Was the Intelligencia’s plan to make her look unstable? What were they doing with her blood? Who is their leader, the Hulk King? We’ll find out in the finale.
Legal Pad
• Matt Murdock mentioned that the Sokovia Accords were repealed. Hello, future MCU plot device! Might this have something to do with the upcoming Captain America: New World Order or with how Bucky Barnes, who last we heard was making amends and attending therapy sessions required by the Accords, ends up working for Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine in Thunderbolts?
• As for an MCU plot device tailored to my interest … there’s a Rogers: The Musical billboard in the background of She-Hulk and Daredevil’s fight scene. Of course that hacky musical has a national tour already.
• Tag yourself: I’m Nikki putting makeup brushes between her fingers like Wolverine.
• I am not Matt negging Jen about math. I am also not Broadway’s Renée Elise Goldsberry and Josh Segarra getting under five lines in the episode again.
• Shout out to John Paesano’s Daredevil theme that creeps into the score when Jen asks Matt if he’s a superhero.