She-Hulk Review: "A Normal Amount of Rage"

My anticipation for the premiere of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was so big, it could fill up SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California...twice. I had spent the last month getting caught up as much as possible on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (I actually made quite a dent; starting where I left off with Loki and actually finishing Moon Knight), but decided not to delay watching this series, I just couldn't.

The star of the series is Tatiana Maslany, who portrays the titular She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters, an Assistant District Attorney who is first shown rehearsing her closing statement--which is met with support from her best friend and paralegal Nikki, but draws criticism from arrogant colleague Todd. After a pep talk from Nikki, Jen breaks the fourth wall (something she'd do again in this episode, and may be a thing for the whole series) and mentions that she is a Hulk, leading to a flashback from a few months prior. While riding with her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo, back in the saddle; we last saw him in Shang-Chi), as well as discussing the theory that Steve Rogers (Captain America) was a lifelong virgin, the cousins are encountered by a a Sakaaran Class 8 courier craft, causing them to crash their car.

Jen and Bruce are wounded, and after Bruce's blood enters Jen's wound, Jen hulks out for the very first time at an instant. After running around in the woods, Jen wakes up at a dive bar, where she is under the care of a few young women before being hit on by a trio of clownish men, causing Jen to hulk out again. She's tackled quickly, and she wakes up in a hut in Mexico, which she later learns is a secret lab owned by Bruce, who is in his merged "Smart Hulk" form that we first saw in Avengers: Endgame.

Bruce offers to help Jen through her new life as a Hulk, which Jen wants to wash her hands of. Despite Bruce's statement that it would be a years-long journey, he quickly discovers that even after turning green, Jen is still Jen; there's no inside voice she has to wrestle with. So that problem is diverted, but Jen has to find a way to shift back to her normal form. This is followed by a montage of Bruce giving Jen tips, such as not buying a house with a ceiling under 10 feet, reinforcing her furniture, and "spandex is your best friend." In addition, as a Hulk, Jen can hold her liquor (and then some), but she is against becoming a superhero like her cousin, who says that it's all a Hulk can do.

Bruce informs Jen that she has to maintain her anger to keep from hulking out, but Jen states that she has plenty of experience holding her anger just because she's a woman, having to deal with sexist criticisms and being hit on constantly. It's at that point that we see that Jen can shift back and forth at will, but even so, she does not want to be in the superhero business, and claims that Bruce allowed his own life to be taken away. The argument becomes a Hulk vs Hulk brawl, which resulted in the destruction of Bruce's tiki bar! Don't worry, they built it back up.

So that's Jen's story, and she reveals that her family and Nikki know her secret, and the circle of trust ends there. Or so it did.

This brings me to the other main reason why I was excited for this series: the villainess Titania, played by Jameela Jamil. As Jen is about to make her closing argument, Titania crashed through the courtroom doors, leading to Jen, at Nikki's urgency, hulking out and easily taking down Titania before giving her closing argument. A mid-credits scene brings up the whole "Captain America virginity" debate, and Bruce revealed that Steve did lose his virginity back in 1943. Oh boy!

So Episode 1 was everything I expected it to be. I do love that the series has a comedic tone; it makes the show stand out above the other MCU episodic series. Tatiana Maslany and Mark Ruffalo played off each other very well, I was happy to see Ginger Gonzaga in this as Nikki; I've been a fan of hers for a while, she's amazing and funny. But again, Jameela Jamil as Titania--it was brief, but I drank in every second, and of course, we will see a lot more of her, as she serves as the overall villainess of the series.

Episode 1, "A Normal Amount of Rage," aired on August 18, 2022 on Disney+. Some more tidbits about the show; this is the last television series of Phase Four of the MCU, and it's nine episodes long; only WandaVision and the animated What If...? are nine episodes, the other series are six episodes long. The series was originally set to premiere on August 17, 2022, but it was pushed back a day, with the season finale set to air on October 13, 2022.

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Check out my review of Tatiana Maslany's performance in the film, Destroyer!