‘She-Hulk’ Episode 8 Review — ‘Ribbit and Rip It’ Delivers on Teases While Keeping Things Balanced
The penultimate episode of She-Hulk season 1 finally introduces Daredevil without forgetting about Jen’s personal arc and the self-contained episodic fun.
Fan expectations were through the roof for this one, and oh boy, did it deliver. Besides the delightful, proper introduction of Matt Murdock / Daredevil into the MCU after a brief cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, episode 8’s script smartly mixes together further character development for Jen, a hilarious dunce-of-the-week plot, and a perfect setup for next week’s finale. Ribbit and Rip It was directed by Kat Coiro and written by Marvel Comics’ Cody Ziglar.
Spoilers ahead…
The episode starts with another long-awaited (really) vigilante reveal: that of Leap-Frog aka Eugene Patilio, who’s easily the goofiest, saddest C-tier Marvel character we’ve seen in this show so far (and there’ve been quite a few). After failing to stop two small-time criminals from stealing a TV, he shouts his crappy catchphrase (the episode’s title) before flying away Iron Man style for like three seconds before his jet boots malfunction and he crashes, injuring his legs. Cut to: She-Hulk trying to figure out how to help such a doofus. Sadly, he happens to be the son of a rich client of GLK&H, so there’s no avoiding this case for Jen. Also, he blames Luke Jacobson for the incident as the designer made the suit. Of course, this is a shitty situation for Jen, who was just about to receive a shiny dress for the upcoming gala that most viewers had already forgotten about.
First of all, I want to applaud how seamlessly all the plot threads were tied together in this episode. At this point, I was half-expecting Luke to reappear only for one brief scene related to Jen’s dress, and Daredevil would surely show up strictly as a vigilante who’s after someone who happened to have wronged She-Hulk. Well, I’m glad I was wrong. Leap-Frog’s stupid problem works as both the start of a new court case and the perfect opportunity to bring back Luke in an organic way. Predictably, he’s a very petty designer, turning his back on Jen despite quickly winning the case after none other than Matt Murdock (making a grand entrance) shuts down Eugene Patilio’s claims. In Jen’s defense, it was a tough nut to crack after Mr. Patilio himself admitted he misused the boots. We also learn about the Sokovia Accords not being valid anymore, which bodes well for superpowered individuals in the MCU.
As for Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, it’s great to see him again under a new light. It’s clear the writers and the director behind the episode wanted to make him (in and out of the suit) more “comic-booky” and lighthearted, but at the same time it was great to see plenty of leftover DNA from Netflix’s version of the character (including an on-the-nose bit with his theme song!) and even the Ben Affleck iteration. I also feel like not a single line of dialogue was wasted here, with his defense of Luke working as a perfect commentary on his own experience as Daredevil as it gets into the secret and public lives of many heroes. That same energy is maintained in the scene where he has a drink with Jen after the court session — it’s a very playful exchange between the two lawyers, with Jen almost instantly developing a crush on him. As we’ve already seen before in the show, this week’s guest star also provided some lessons for Jen, who’s now more than ever ready to embrace both herself and the She-Hulk persona.
Before we get into the action-y part of the episode, I must briefly mention the appearance of Todd Phelps once again, one of the dumb guys She-Hulk met on Tinder early in the season. It was supposed to be an impromptu business meeting with her as a lawyer, but he just starts talking about acquiring a Wakandan war spear to impress Jen, who couldn’t care less. This dude keeps trying to flirt with her after he’s been turned down at least twice before, and this scene felt so random to the overall episode that I feel he might partially be behind the main menace of the season, which will be unveiled next week. He’s quite dumb and no mastermind for sure, but I could totally see him being part of the online misogynistic group that is determined to destroy her life because she doesn’t fit traditional female standards. You know, some men develop that mindset after/while being repeatedly turned down by women who reject creepy advances, so this clicks together. Or maybe it was just a random bit to put some time in between two Matt Murdock-centric scenes.
The action kicks off when Eugene calls Jen for help as he’s being chased by Daredevil. Why? Because he’s kidnapped Mr. Jacobson after losing the case (you know, he has money to burn). After a brief throwdown with She-Hulk — which she easily wins — Matt’s unmasked (I love how She-Hulk picks him up like a kitten) and tells Jen everything he knows and how his powers work, which may be a bit too much to handle at once for Jen. Unsurprisingly, this reveal also makes him more attractive to her. Back to the action sequence, two big things I’d like to point out: 1) She-Hulk doesn’t care much about collateral destruction as she devastates a parking garage and several cars. Is she paying for all that since she isn’t protecting her identity? That felt weird as nothing that happened there warranted such a response. 2) Daredevil’s acrobatics are back! He’ll certainly make a perfect ally of Spider-Man in the future.
What follows is a bigger (albeit contained) action sequence where we see Daredevil taking the stealthier approach — not really though, as he just smacks a hallway’s worth of goons in a clear homage to his previous show — and Jen simply doing “Hulk smash!” as soon as she gets the opportunity. They’re a fun couple (bear with me) to watch in and out of the superhero suits. Of course, things don’t end well for Leap-Frog, who tries to jump through the nearest window in a cool way in order to escape and falls to the ground — cut to him being carried into an ambulance. There’s some playful use of lighting in this section of the episode too; director Kat Coiro put some green and red on She-Hulk and Daredevil respectively to set the mood on the rooftop, and the hallway bit has a cool blue tint going on as well.
Thankfully, the sexual (and also romantic, I think) tension between Jen and Matt is resolved in this episode. While Matt offers her a coffee date at some point in the future, she’s like “and why don’t you just come over to my house right now?” and succeeds. After sleeping with two different nice guys, this opportunity was too good to pass up. Somehow, I hadn’t actually considered this possibility, but Matt truly feels like a perfect match for her, since he knows for real who hard it is to balance a dual, super-powered life. If a restored relationship with Karen Page or Elektra isn’t in the cards for his show, I feel like this would be a lovely relationship to follow and expand on — Tatiana Maslany and Charlie Cox’s chemistry in this episode was off the charts, and their bond felt really natural and sincere.
One would think the episode ends on this happy note before the storm explodes next week, but actually — as our main character points out — there was a downer ending ahead for us! As she’s receiving the “Female Lawyer of the Year Award” alongside several other woman (shoutout to Mallory’s sharp words here), the screen behind them is hacked by the anonymous online group that extracted information from her phone through Josh in episode 7. We knew this confrontation was coming in the season finale for sure, but it was still heartbreaking to see Jen’s personal life exposed in front of everyone. Quite understandably, she truly “hulks out” for the first time in a fit of rage and almost kills one of the infiltrated hackers before she’s stopped by Damage Control (who apparently were nearby because of her presence at the gala).
Besides taking the fight to the mysterious organization, will we get a “the lawyer has to defend themselves” episode? The series has certainly toyed with that idea quite a bit, so it’d be an exquisite payoff to that side of the season. Also, we’re now officially taking bets regarding the identity of the mastermind behind all this. I agree with Miguel that it has to be Tim Blake Nelson’s The Leader for a variety of reasons, but anything could happen.
Come back next week for our final She-Hulk review and closing thoughts!
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
