Eizouken

1) Instead of rushing the miniseries out, the shows should’ve at least had an extra year or two to flesh the heroes and villains out.

2) Daredevil season 1 remains the same. Season 2 is only about the Punisher. Season 3 is only about Elektra Natchios. So, the original season 2 is now split in half.

3) Jessica Jones season 1 remains the same. Season 2 is about a season-long investigation that puts her in the crosshairs of Murakami, one of the Hand’s leaders.

4) Luke Cage season 1 is focused only on Cornell Stokes/Cottonmouth (so get rid of the mid-season death). Season 2 introduces Willis Stryker/Diamondback, who is revealed to be an agent of Sowande, one of the Hand’s leaders.

5) Iron Fist season 1 is only about Danny Rand and his feud with the Meachums. Season 2 is more about Colleen Wing and her feud with Bakuto and the Hand.

After all that, THEN we go into the Defenders. With this set-up, we don’t have to waste episodes on Luke and Jessica having to learn about the Hand. We could just go straight into the team being brought together. Also, we don’t have to wait for the Defenders miniseries to have them meet. A few ways this could be done:

* Luke and Danny can meet in their respective season 2s of their shows

* Jessica Jones can have a one-off meeting with Daredevil in one of their shows. And vice versa.

* Matt can have a run-in with Luke during his feud with Frank Castle. He can also run into Danny during the Elektra arc.

(1) Murakami

With the bear scene, I was simultaneously scared of and attracted to him.

Also, I love how he spoke his tongue throughout the show.

(2) Madam Gao

Want to hate her but still feel a grudging sense of admiration for her.

There is a small line of morality between badass and bitch and Madam Gao crossed that one, long long time ago.

(3) Sowande

Man was captured and tied to chair yet still went on a power trip remembering the last war with Chaste. Gotta admire the confidence and of course the style - great hat, buddy.

(4) Bakuto

Would have a higher ranking, if he was who he was instead of pretending to be nice and cares about people and all that. Also, obsession with Colleen makes him creepy too.

(5) Alexandria

Yep, they really wrote leader with the least personality. I mean manipulating people for her gain, having sophisticated taste doesn't make her any different from other psychopathic immortality seeking buddy of hers. Who is she? What makes her different?

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Defenders/comments/ci5k3q/hd_the_defenders_poster/

Summary

Set a few months after the events of the second season of Daredevil, and a month after the events of Iron Fist, the vigilantes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist team up in New York City to fight a common enemy: The Hand.

Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4230076/

Thoughts

You know what I do not get? Why did The Defenders not do as well as the other Netflix Marvel TV shows? Even my sister had problem with finishing The Defenders. Apart from the first episode, I genuinely enjoyed the entire show and despite being busy with work, I binged it all in two days.

If you want action, there is plenty of action. If you want mystery, there is mystery. If you want acceptable conversation, nothing worthy of eyes-rolling, the script is pretty good. If you want comedy, you will laugh at certain parts of the show. If you want your heartstrings pulled, the finale will do it. If you want romance, surprisingly, there is romance too. So, I still cannot comprehend why The Defenders did not do as well as I expect it to do.

Plot

Yes, I do like this show, I enjoyed most of it, and I understand that this is the “final” stand against The Hand. Unfortunately, I do believe they rushed into creating The Defenders. Before The Defenders, we already meet Madame Gao in Daredevil and Iron Fist, as well as Bakuto in Iron Fist. Yet The Hand consists of three other people, couldn’t they have introduced Alexandra, Sowande and Murakami before creating The Defenders? I seriously could not connect to the fact that they are part of the powerful group, The Hand, because everything I know about them is through talk. Where are the acts, you understand? Hell, we even got more background information about Elektra than Alexandra herself.

The storyline for The Defenders was good but if I cannot find that connection with the characters, I cannot fully enjoy the entire experience of watching the show. People might not understand where I’m coming from with this and there really is no other way I can explain it. Which is why I get it if I am alone on this.

Cast (characters, character development and cast’s acting, etc.)

I plan to keep this section short because with only eight episodes, I do not know how much I can talk about the cast. As I already mentioned about The Hand, I think there is no need more mention about them. You already know how I felt about all that.

Elektra Natchios, on the other hand, I need to. Why, girl, why? If you remember everything including how much you love Matt, you should remember why you lost your life the first time round. I love you for slaughtering Alexandra and bossing the rest of The Hand around but immortality or not, there is no reason for you to become the bad guy just for dragons’ remains. Although, we must all admit, Élodie Yung did a marvellous job portraying a brain-washed/villainous Elektra.

As for our deloved Defenders... Matt Murdock was pretty much absent in the show. And Daredevil, well, when has he ever disappointed? The same goes with Jessica Jones. I love that woman and I am so very happy the show gave her enough credit for that woman. I mean, she singlehandedly saved Danny Rand’s life. And, I don’t know about Luke Cage...will that man die if he falls from a great height?

Talking about Luke. His character surprised me in The Defenders. I was neutral towards his character and back when I watched Luke Cage Season 1, I was bored out of my mind. Yet, Luke in The Defenders was quite interesting to watch. Sadly, the one character that did not reach my expectations was Danny. Seriously, what happened Mr. Rand? You are the Immortal Iron Fist yet your other three comrades did better fighting the bad guys. Even the other women did better than Danny. Colleen Wing killed Bakuto for real this time. Misty Knight lost half an arm to save Colleen. And Claire Temple, she’s everything. Which brings me back to Danny, what the hell happened to you?

Conclusion

I am a strong believer that The Defenders would have been an excellent show. They already have a wonderful cast. I just think maybe the show came out faster than they should have. A similar mistake the DCEU made with their movies.

There is no point in hoping for more of The Defenders now but if they do decide to bring back the show (and cast, obviously), I am all for it.