Iron Fist season 2 Episode 4 Review – Target: Iron Fist

This Iron Fist review contains spoilers.

Iron Fist Season 2 Episode 4

Okay, I’m properly getting into this now. The confirmation that Davos is trying to steal (or duplicate?) the Iron Fist so that he can become the Steel Serpent (more like the STEAL Serpent, amirite?) is proof that this show is fully embracing what I describe as comics nonsense – that is, the less grounded parts of any character’s origins and powers – and I’m 100% here for it. The mummified corpse of a previous Iron Fist definitely counts too, and I’ve got more on that later on if you keep reading (boy, do I know how to tease a reader.)

This season is also doing a good job on making the episode’s openings not simply lead in from the previous scene of the last one. It often skips a little time or jumps perspective, or – as in this case – opens at a later point in the episode then flashes back. Props to the writers for being more interesting than they have to be.

I was a little surprised to see that Yang was alive (barely) but enjoyed learning what Davos actually did to him. I also liked that we got a quick follow-up on Danny’s potentially-paranoid interruption of the parley. He was right, people were watching, but it was the cops! And here’s Misty Knight, the only cop in New York! (Admittedly I don’t have a clue how New York’s municipal policing system works so maybe she could be policing Chinatown and Hell’s Kitchen and Harlem all at once. It’s not like she’s short on vigilante assistance.)

Joy and Ward’s inter-sibling drama was the only low point of this episode, since part of me doesn’t think they’re really going to go through with anything that dramatic. If Ward and Joy don’t end up friends by the end of the season, it’ll only be because one of them gets killed off by Davos or something. Mary, on the other hand, was super-interesting. I’m surprised to see her this formidable as a fighter, but again the exposition we deserved was delivered nice and quickly. The comics version isn’t an armed forces veteran but she was a special assassin for The Initiative, so I can see where that idea came from. I’m just wondering whether we’ll get to see her have powers or not. I suspect not, but I really hope so.

further reading: Iron Fist Season 2 – Who is Mary?

Anyway. As promised: I don’t want to speculate on the exact identity of this mummified Iron Fist, but I love the idea that they’re exploring previous Iron Fists and part of me is thinking this might be Orson Randall, the only other “outsider” to become an iron Fist, even though his primary role in the comics mythos is to be an Iron Fist who didn’t actually die like everyone thought. Whether or not this is Randall, I hope we get to spend a lot more time exploring the lineage of Iron Fists and Danny’s connection to them – it’s something I loved in Buffy and something I’d love to see more of here.

further reading: Iron Fist Season 2 – Complete Marvel Easter Eggs Reference Guide

The Crane Sisters are probably based on the Crane Daughters from Immortal Iron Fist #1 (2007), the excellent Matt Fraction/David Aja run on the comic which is frankly the high watermark for Iron Fist comics. In the comics they are the children of the Crane Mother. In the Netflix MCU the Order of the Crane Mother is the mystical organisation from K’un Lun that appointed the Iron Fist and from which the founding members of The Hand were originally banished. Are the girls in this episode anything to do with K’un Lun? It’s tough to say. But their kung fu skills suggests they’re maybe not all innocent (or does everyone in the Netflix MCU just know kung fu?)

Oh, the tattoo they give Davos is, of course, the Steel Serpent tattoo we’ve been waiting to see since he first appeared last year.

further reading: Iron Fist Season 2 Villain – Who is Davos?

Mary’s heterochromatic eyes hint at her split personality, but here’s a kicker: those are Alice Eve’s actual eye colors.

You all know Misty Knight, right? She was last seen in Luke Cage season two receiving a robot arm from Danny Rand.

Finally, the episode’s title is taken from Iron Fist #13 (1977) which is by the future X-Men dream team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne. You know I can’t pass up a chance to mention the X-Men, please humor me.