‘The Defenders’ Episode 7 Recap: Here, There Be Dragons

Sometimes, to truly put into words why exactly a TV show or film just isn’t working, it helps to point to a small moment that is indicative of the overall problem. For The Defenders, that moment came about three-quarters of the way through “Fish In The Jailhouse.” Following a confrontation with three of The Hand’s Five Fingers, Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Claire Temple, and Colleen Wing flee down a parking deck staircase. The NYPD arrives several moments later, finding only Misty Knight. “We got movement in the stairwell,” shouts an unnamed officer, alerting the police to our heroes’ whereabouts. Unless I missed the episode where it is revealed Random Officer #3 was also gifted with super-senses after being blinded in a tragic childhood accident, I just…cannot comprehend how he heard movement in that stairwell. But it doesn’t matter. The story needed him to hear movement in the stairwell, so he heard movement in the stairwell.

That, more than anything, is the reason Marvel’s first small-screen team-up feels less and less exciting with each episode. Nothing matters. Things happen just to happen, and then the next scene begins. Showrunners Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez (who co-wrote this episode with Lauren Schmidt) seem content to line up all their coolest action figures in the dopest poses—which was straight up thrilling for two or three episodes—but outside of Comic-Con there is very little reason to stare at a bunch of toys for eight hours.

Look at the fight that preceded “the noise in the stairwell.” In theory, it’s a momentous moment; The Defenders (minus Danny) coming face-to-fists with the surviving leaders of The Hand. In practice, it’s an enjoyable slice of action. While nowhere near the heights of Daredevil, the fight choreography of The Defenders has certainly improved from the awkward lumbering of Luke Cage and gentle baby slaps of Iron Fist. And it has everything you need for the surface-level joys of The Defenders: Jessica throwing quips as much as kicks, Luke Cage combating highly-technical martial arts by throwing bodies like a sack of potatoes, and even Madame Gao low-key possibly being a Jedi. It’s fine. It’s all perfectly cromulent. It almost makes you wish it was lit by something stronger than the flashlight app on one production assistant’s iPhone 4.

But then Colleen’s arrival turns the tide, the scene ends, and not a single thing has changed for anyone. After much punching and flipping The Defenders are in the exact same place as when the scene began, and, if anything, The Hand looks even more like a threesome of goobers than they already did. These immortal cult mystics well-versed in the ancient ways of murder and mayhem can’t subdue three people, one of which is fighting in skinny jeans, another without the ability to see. But, again, The Defenders doesn’t seem particularly concerned with the relationship between the awe-inspiring way its characters are described and the noodle-legged way they act on-screen. If it was, the entirety of The Chaste—this warrior sect that has been defying The Hand for millennia—wouldn’t have been randomly slaughtered off-screen in one night.

There’s only so many ways to scream “this show has no story” before I start to sound like someone trying to describe a shadowy ninja cult to the New York Police Department. But as satisfying as it is to hear Misty Knight repeatedly tell people to “cut the shit,” as legitimately fantastic as “Super Joan Jett” is as a nickname for Jessica Jones, as unexpectedly stirring as it is to see Matt Murdock wearing an NYPD t-shirt roughly two sizes too small, there is no denying that the majority of our time spent in the police precinct consisted of characters recapping to each other things we already know. Having Jessica repeatedly roll her eyes at the repetitiveness of a situation does not make it any less repetitive.

It’s frustrating, because the give-and-take chemistry between Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, and Mike Colter is so genuinely electric; you can see an exciting show begging to be made. Marvel and Netflix captured lightning in a bottle with its casting, and then left the bottle on a shelf to gather dust. Or, wait, no. A better metaphor would be if three charming-as-hell superheroes were like “let’s go kick some ass” and a police captain was like “no go sit in that corner room and discuss your legal options.”

Things go both literally and figuratively darker down at the bottom of the hole under Midland Circle Financial. Elektra has been allowed to transport Danny Rand down there herself—because at this point Gao, Bakuto, and Murakami are basically The Three Stooges, except worse at fighting—where she proceeds to explain mythology to Danny that has already been explained to us several times. The gist: Elders of K’un Lun constructed a door beneath New York City, making sure that the only way through is with the lit-up chi-knuckles of an Iron Fist.

Of course, because Danny Rand is the clumsiest living weapon since those racist twin Autobots from Transformers 2, the Iron Fist ends up doing exactly what Elektra wanted in his attempt to punch her in the face. Behind the door, Danny sees the remains of what definitely appear to be dragons, which is 100-percent how the 2002 film Reign of Fire began.  

And much like the 2002 film Reign of Fire, this sudden twist is largely hollow and ultimately forgettable. The Big Moments of this show hit with such dull thuds because there’s no natural lead-in; we’ve been beaten down by so, so many vague conversations about “the substance” and “what The Hand wants” that when the answer is finally revealed to be dragon skeletons the immediate reaction is, “sure, why not.”

It’s a shame, because this episode did feature a number of small character moments that were given half the attention, and should have hit with double the oomph. Luke Cage begging Misty to let him protect her, which also means willingly letting him lie. Matt Murdock telling Karen Page “this is my life,” which is akin to the resignation a smoker feels every time they buy a new pack. Even Jessica Jones stealing a beer from a passed out homeless man, because all four of these people are slaves to one vice or another, even as the city is about to crumble around them.

It’s extremely telling that that last moment takes place on a New Jersey PATH train (trust me) masquerading as a New York subway car. This show doesn’t seem to care how characters get from one place to another, only that they eventually end up at the next empty set-piece.

Vinnie Mancuso writes about TV for a living, somehow, for Decider, The A.V. Club, Collider, and the Observer. You can also find his pop culture opinions on Twitter (@VinnieMancuso1) or being shouted out a Jersey City window between 4 and 6 a.m.

Watch The Defenders Episode 7 ("Fish In The Jailhouse") on Netflix