Thursday, August 18, 2022

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, “A Normal Amount of Rage”, Review!

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law starts off with comedy and brings in the superhero side!  The first episode clocks in at 38 minutes so basically it is a sitcom.  It is currently streaming on Disney+.  The introduction of the character was in Savage She-Hulk #1 (1979) by Stan Lee and John Buscema.  Sensational She-Hulk #1 (1989) by John Byrne had Jennifer Walters face bizarre characters from the Marvel Universe, brought in humor with superhero action, and break the Fourth Wall with readers.  It was really She-Hulk #1 (2004) by Dan Slott and Juan Bobillio that formed the current version with her firm working on superhuman law with goofy super threats.  It begins with a closeup of Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), deputy district attorney, speaking about power.  Maslany is known for her multpile roles in the sci fi series, Orphan Black, also the crime drama, Destroyer (2018), and was in the lawyer mini-series, Perry Mason (2020).  Jen is a fun character, Maslany brings the charm, she has worked hard to become an attorney, turned into a superhero, and has to balance both lives.  

She is given encouragement from her best friend and paralegal, Nikki Ramos (Ginger Gonzaga).  The actress was in episodes of the comedy, Kenan, the Jim Carey drama/comedy, Kidding, and the show about stand up comedians, i’m dying up here.  She chastizes attorney, Dennis Bukowski played by Drew Matthews who has criticized her practice closing statement.  They send away Dennis. Nikki praises her speech, but says she should finish with the “savage Jen Walters look.”  Jen looks up with a frustrated expression that Nikki says is perfect.  It seems like the savage term references the original comic book title!  Nikki confides to Jennfier that if the statement doesn’t work that she could “Hulk out.”  She is walked out by Jen who reenters her office to tell the viewers that she’s a Hulk!  The aside is less a comic moment, but more Jennifer bringing the audience up to date.   

This goes back to “A Few Months Ago”, she is driving with her cousin Bruce, as in Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo).  The Adam Project featured Ruffalo, he voiced the Hulk in episodes of What If…?, and played recently Bruce Banner (in hologram form) in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).  Bruce has updated her on what he has on his Avenger activities and also shows her the Gamma Suppression Device on his wrist that helps his arm to heal and keeps him in human state.  The Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Endgame (2019) damaged his arm.  He notices her invention, Cheetos and chopsticks, so there is no Cheetos fingers!  Jen returns to her theory on the dating history of Steve Rogers.  Their discussion continues when a ringed starship drops to the road in front of them!  The car swerves off the road and starts to go into a roll spilling Cheetos!  


Jennifer is able to get out the car, but slices her arm on a piece of metal.  She goes to check on Bruce who is restrained by his seat belt and wedges open the door.  Jennifer drags her cousin out and his blood drops into her wound!  Green veins appear on her wrists.  Then, we see her reflection in the car door as she gives a Hulk roar.  The comics origin had Jennifer shot and Bruce was forced to give her a blood transfusion to save her life.  On the ground, Bruce also roars turning green.  She runs and then everything turns black.  Jennifer wakes up in human form at night and finds the Ideal Sports Bar.  She sneaks in the back way to the women’s washroom to clean up.  Four women appear, they are shocked, so they give her shoes, a pink coat, and try to clean her up.  She just needs a phone which they give her and then waiting outside, three men start catcalling her.  Jennifer’s eyes flare green and then she roars at them which has them screaming!  



Jennifer wakes up in an unknown place, her shirt is splattered with green and red, hinting at the different Hulk colors?  She takes a black Led Zepplin t-shirt, finds she is in a tropical place, and sees a battered Ultron helmet.  Jennfier heads down steps to hear loud Spanish music.  It is leads to a massive lab which has her cousin now as Smart Hulk.  He spent his time there to integrate both halves into Smart Hulk.  Jennifer asks about the spaceship and Bruce identifies it as a Sakaaran Class-Eight Courier Craft from the planet he was on in Thor: Ragnarok (2017).  He explains that they are unique being able to synthesize the Gamma Radiation.  Bruce used her blood to heal his arm and then places the samples into a unit that vaporizes the blood with lasers. He says there is no going back to her old life.  Jen seems weak so we find that her cousin has made her pancakes.  He brings his record of his growth as the Hulk and also tells her it will take fifteen years to master.  


In a testing room, Jen hasBruce to test her emotional threshold.  She suggests a Pixar movie, very funny!  The testing doesn’t go well and Bruce realizes that she breaks the room and has kept her Jennifer Walters’ identity.  Jen wonders about when she transforms back to human and thinks it is when she is unconscious, sleeping.  Bruce warns about the possible death and destruction from being a Hulk.  Jen agrees to the training.  I like both Hulks leaping, they land, and Jen has the caveman pose and voice saying, “Men!  Men!”, too funny!  Bruce is acting out of concern for Jen and thinks of her as a superhero, but Jen just wants to go back to her life as a lawyer.  They have bottles of drink at a bar that Bruce built with Tony.  Later, Jen says she can control her anger, which she does when she’s cat called (not all the time) and mansplained, she Hulks out and shifts back.  Jennifer is about to drive away in a jeep, but they get into a super Hulk fight.  Jen has summed up everything, she is about to give her closing statement, when the wall shatters by Titania (Jameela Jamil)!  The actress is known for playing Tahani Al-Jamil in The Good Place and voiced Wonder Woman in this year's DC League of Super-Pets.  Very funny end credit scene!  She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is a lawyer sitcom with the perfect balance of comedy!    

      

Five Cheetos Chopsticks out of Five! 


#SheHulk, #AttorneyAtLaw, #ANormalAmountOfRage, #TatianaMaslany, #MarkRuffalo, #GingerGonzaga, #JameelaJamil, #DrewMatthews 

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