‘She-Hulk’ Episode 2 Review — ‘Superhuman Law’ Brings Old MCU Villain Back into the Fold
While I loved the premiere episode of She-Hulk, I was also glad they got the superhero origin story out of the way early. I loved all of the traditional Marvel superhero beats, but I was equally excited to see what an MCU law sitcom would look like. Superhuman Law doesn’t give us all the courtroom drama yet, but it sets us on the way.
Tatiana Maslany is still super likeable and funny as Jennifer Walters is rocked by the fallout of last episode’s trial. The good news is that the public seems to universally love She-Hulk, even if her career has suffered as a result of the revelation. We are also introduced to the Walters family, who assume that Jennifer is a superhero now and are proud of her for it, but don’t seem to know how to address bad news appropriately.
Perhaps the most intriguing element of the episode is the return of Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky — who was shown in several trailers and TV spots — as Jennifer is forced to deal with a ghost of Hulk’s past. Tim Roth is pretty funny playing Blonsky as an enlightened and spiritual man, yet it seems he is going to give Jennifer plenty of trouble as she prepares to represent him.
All in all, Superhuman Law is a solid episode of She-Hulk, and in this reviewer’s opinion, is proving to be a funnier sitcom than WandaVision (Marvel’s previous superhero sitcom). The episode ends on a fun cliffhanger, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how Jennifer deals with Emil’s case next week. Hopefully, we’ll get some proper courtroom drama and comedy!
Spoilers ahead for She-Hulk episode 2
So, the big consequence of last week’s final scene is that Jennifer Walters has essentially been blacklisted from every law firm in Los Angeles. She gets fired from her role as assistant district attorney, since it is deemed that the jury likes her too much to remain impartial after she saved their lives. Jennifer soon discovers that no other law firm will hire her, deeming her to be too much of a distraction.
I should note that Maslany is hilarious when her boss asks her to transform back into her human form; it’s perfectly understandable that someone would be intimidated talking to a Hulk, but I assume this interaction is an allegory for men being intimidated by powerful women, as we are reminded that her metabolism differs in her human and Hulk forms. While she can handle her drink as She-Hulk, she instantly gets hammered when reversing back into her human form. Maslany makes for a hilarious drunk as she talks to her boss.
Eventually, Jennifer is approached by the head of the law firm she was opposing in the previous episode. They want to hire her as the head of their new superhuman law division, and though her boss seems like a bit of an asshole, she accepts the position. Jennifer’s delighted until she finds out the reason she was hired is because of her new She-Hulk identity. Her new employers wanted “She-Hulk” instead of Jennifer Walters.
Jennifer has to wrestle with the revelation that she wasn’t hired for her intelligence or competence (though presumably, they wouldn’t have hired her if she was a bad lawyer), but for other factors about her appearance instead, something I imagine a lot of people will relate to.
If that wasn’t bad enough, she then discovers the first case she must take on is representing Emil Blonsky to negotiate his parole. The former commando has been kept in a high-security prison cell ever since he attacked Hulk and laid waste to Harlem as Abomination back in 2010 during the events of The Incredible Hulk. Jennifer balks at this assignment, pointing out that Bruce Banner is her cousin, but her new employer doesn’t seem to be bothered by this conflict of interest.
She meets Blonsky to hear him out, and believes his story that he’s a changed man. She’s still reluctant to take the case until she speaks to Bruce, who hilariously has already forgiven Blonsky after his old foe sent him a haiku apologizing for trying to kill him. Bruce is also travelling on the alien ship that caused last week’s car accident, so presumably we’ll find out why Sakaar needs him in a future film or TV series.
Of course, anyone who remembers The Incredible Hulk will spot that Blonsky’s sob story doesn’t quite match up with what happened in that film. Yes, the government did give him a version of the super soldier serum so that he could equal the Hulk in terms of strength, but he conveniently leaves out the fact that he repeatedly asked General Ross for it — his conflict with Bruce definitely felt a lot more personal than he claims it was here.
Jennifer then discovers at the end of the episode that Blonsky has seemingly escaped from prison in his Abomination form, as he is spotted fighting in Xu Xialing’s fighting pits with Wong. That tells us that She-Hulk is set just before or alongside the events of Shang-Chi, but we’re still no closer to understanding exactly what they’re doing there.
Clearly, we’ll find out why Wong is training with him next week, but it’s interesting that he did so without the government’s approval. Wong is a stickler for rules when it comes to sorcery, so I’m intrigued to learn why he felt comfortable breaking the law to bring Abomination halfway across the world.
I also wanted to mention the Walters family in greater detail. While we’ve seen this kind of family dynamic on TV before, it was funny watching them struggle to tiptoe around the fact that Jennifer lost her job. If that wasn’t bad enough, they immediately pivot to congratulating her cousin Ched’s promotion as manager of a Best Buy, which has to be one of the most tone-deaf things you can do in that situation. Her mother then follows that up by telling her about a new man that she’s found for her, revealing that she even gave the stranger her number. At least her father made the effort to check that she was okay.
Ched is comically unlikeable and seems to be the only person in the world who isn’t bothered by Jennifer’s new powers. It seems he feels insecure that Jennifer has been historically more successful than him, and he even feels the need to point that “I could’ve done that” when Jennifer uses her She-Hulk form to mount a TV to the wall for her dad (in the post-credits scene). Either way, I’ll be happy if we don’t see Ched again.
I thought we would see more of Titania this week, after her abrupt introduction in the premiere’s final scene, but she was relegated to being name-dropped in a news report this week and that was it. Hopefully, soon we’ll get to see more of her story as well as some of the promised courtroom drama scenes.
Josh is a huge a fan of Star Wars, superheroes and video games. He spends most of his time wondering who would win in a fight between Boba Fett and Star Lord.
