‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ Episode Seven Review: “The Retreat”

*Warning: the following article contains spoilers for episode seven of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law*

Were you waiting for Daredevil to show up again this week? Ha!

I was too, but I wasn’t going to be mad about it if it didn’t happen. Spoiler alert: it didn’t, but oh well.

Sorry, but it’s hilarious to see the internet collectively losing their minds every week when they don’t see Daredevil in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law instead of enjoying the show for what it is. But I’ll admit that the situational plotlines are becoming redundant and dull. We only have two episodes left, and it doesn’t seem like we’re actively moving the needle in terms of story and importance to the MCU and what the show wants to talk about.

Read: ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ Episode Six Review: “Just Jen”

Because what’s the main overarching plot? HulkKing receiving a sample of Jennifer Walters’ (Tatiana Maslany) blood for…reasons unknown. But did it have to take over seven episodes to [sort of] get to the point? It would’ve been fine if the show’s crux was entertaining, but this week’s episode was not. After being ghosted by her [too good to be true, let’s be honest here] love interest Josh (Trevor Salter), Jennifer has to go to Emil Blonsky’s (Tim Roth) retreat after his inhibitor malfunctions.

There, she meets a group of eccentric superheroes: Man-Bull (Nate Hurd), El Águila (Joseph Castillo-Midyett), Porcupine (Jordan Aaron Ford), and Saracen (Terrence Clowe). And one of the members of The Wrecking Crew, Wrecker (Nick Gomez), shows up, which causes some tension between him and Jennifer. In this episode, Jen learns to accept herself as Jennifer rather than She-Hulk. She meets more people who genuinely take her for who she is instead of that nitwit Josh who, surprise, surprise (but not really), is working for HulkKing and only started to get interested in Jennifer for her blood…

The plan worked, and all will be revealed (hopefully) soon. Still, Jennifer’s detour is far duller than the wedding episode, which was nearly saved through Tatiana Maslany and Jameela Jamil’s performances. Aside from a charming Tim Roth, who is diametrically opposed to his personality in The Incredible Hulk, few works. It’s incredible to see how much Blonsky has changed, but one wonders if this is just a façade and we will see his “true nature” soon enough. Not necessarily in this series, but in future feature films and TV shows. Why did his inhibitor break? Because he touched an electric fence? Doubtful. We may not have time to explore it in this series, but some hints signal that the Abomination wants to return and has something in mind with the half-baked “heroes” he assembled.

As for the heroes themselves, they are Marvel deep cuts but are not funny. None of the action sequences between the heroes are any good, especially regarding its unfinished CGI. The movements are static and unnatural, while bad editing erratically cuts between fight moves to hide its cheap look. It’s a shame because the show could’ve had a good dose of fun comedic action but fails on both counts. The action doesn’t look good, and the comedy isn’t funny.

Aside from good fourth wall breaks, it’s been a while since I’ve laughed at any of the jokes in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Many of them are lazily written and are more in line with cringeworthy humor than anything thoughtful or, better yet, genuinely funny. I hope the banter between Daredevil and She-Hulk will be fun to watch because I haven’t been impressed with the show in a while. The cracks are starting to show. As much as it could be fun to see the character go through a “case of the week,” or in this case, a situation of the week, there needs to be something that entices the viewer to watch the show instead of doing it to “understand the bigger picture of the MCU.”

So far, you don’t need to have watched She-Hulk understand the bigger picture of the MCU. Of course, that may change, but the show’s inconsequential nature makes it completely forgettable. But I would still expect to be entertained even if it weren’t that important. And I haven’t been in a long time. It’s hard for me to emotionally attach myself to the characters when the CGI is deeply unsettling, the action scenes are poorly choreographed, the cinematography is as bland as a white wall, and none of the jokes are funny. To some, it will be the best MCU show yet, because of its revolving door of cameos. But take that out of the equation, and She-Hulk isn’t that great. Granted, there were a few good episodes, but I am mainly left unimpressed by what it’s establishing with only two left. Let’s hope the Daredevil episode blows us all away because we desperately need it to salvage this show somewhat.

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The seventh episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now available to stream on Disney+.

About Post Author

Maxance Vincent

Maxance Vincent is a freelance film and TV critic, and a recent graduate of a BFA in Film Studies at the Université de Montréal, with a specialization in Video Game Studies. He is now currently enrolled in a graduate diploma in Journalism.

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