'The Defenders' Episode 2: 'Mean Right Hook'

It seems that the Hand setting off that giant shock wave was just the kick start that the plot needed, as this episode is a marked improvement over its predecessor.

The characters are more proactive here.  We see them go out and help people in the aftermath of the event, as well as make progress in investigating their various independent and seemingly unrelated leads.  It results in a much more engaging episode.

There are still great character moments, the scene where Foggy reaches out to Matt to reconnect and to dump some work on him to prevent him from taking up the "Daredevil" mantle again is a notable example.  We also get more action, which is one of the things that draws people to the superhero genre.

I'm not going to lie, though, I would have liked to see the Elektra/Jessica fight extended a bit.  Not only is the cast and plot intersection from two shows interesting, but it seems like it would be a solid match up.  Maybe we'll see a "round 2" in a later episode.

While the team doesn't come together yet, we do see see the first introductions for both Luke/Danny and Jessica/Matt.  It's a solid start and it will at least give us a hint of the dynamics to come.

The confrontation between Luke and Danny goes on a bit longer than it does in the trailer, but it's to the episode's benefit as it's a fun sequence.  You kind of feel bad for Danny, who is valiantly trying to no avail to hurt Luke.  It's mostly a curb stomp battle, but it also makes the moment that Danny decides to use the iron fist that much more satisfying.

I did find it a little odd that Danny was skeptical about the team idea.  Considering his stance later, it's jarring.  You could somewhat justify it as him not knowing about the other heroes, but even with the information that spurs that conversation, you'd think he'd take whatever help he could get to improve his chances of ultimately bringing the Hand down.

Sadly, not much progress is made in terms of building up that threat.  I guess they're relying on what we saw in "Daredevil" and "Iron Fist", but were it not for those (the prior in particular) there isn't a lot that would suggest a team is needed.  Some of the dialogue does try, but a little more showing would be to the show's benefit.

Weaver's character, Alexandra gets a bit of development as we see that she is cultured and still determined to follow through on their goal...whatever it is.  It still doesn't seem like the show is giving Weaver a lot to do.  Hopefully, she'll be have meatier material as we move into the latter half of the season.

The real disappointment for me was the lack of Stick.  I was excited to see Scott Glenn's name in the opening credits, but all he does is get revealed to be a captive of the Hand.  He only has one line and that's about it.  Honestly, it might have been better to keep his name out of the opening crawl so that the viewer is shocked to see who is under the hood.  As it was, you pretty much knew who it was when the scene started, and you were right.

Still, the episode still does a masterful job of juggling the cast of four shows.  They all get a respectable amount of screen time and it all feels natural.  That's not an easy thing to do, so props to the show for pulling it off so far.

This took the momentum from the last episode and ran with it.  It moved the plot along a lot quicker and had the heroes going out and doing what they do best.  I think it's a much better showing and I hope that the subsequent episodes only continue that pattern.

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