Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 9 of She-Hulk.
After a hectic first season ofShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the finale, “Whose Show is This?” bucked Marvel tradition and chose not to give us the typical final showdown between villain and hero. Jen Walters (Tatiana Maslany) took the metaphorical high road instead, and while we can respect her choice to fight her haters in the courtroom, it would have been cathartic for audiences to see her land a few punches first.
Jen has had a pretty rough go of it throughout the series, as herself and as She-Hulk, which is not unusual for a Marvel production, where no one’s life is ever rainbows and daisies. What was unusual is how Jen repeatedly chose to deal with it, with calm determination. When she got a gamma blood infusion in an accident caused by a Sakaaran spaceship in the first few minutes ofEpisode 1, “A Normal Amount of Rage,“she took it in stride and carried on with her life. When in the very next episode she got fired for saving lives, she hit the pavement and started looking for work.
In Episode 4, “Is This Not Real Magic?,” Jen was forced to create aShe-Hulk dating profilewhen nobody showed an interest in Jen. The men she went on dates with ran the gamut from boring, douche-y, testosterone-fueled, and creepy to the nth degree. When she finally found someone she liked, he did the boink-and-dash, and she simply shrugged it off and kept on truckin'. This was directly followed by the news that her semi-nemesis Titania (Jameela Jamil) had trademarked the name She-Hulk, a name Jen herself didn’t even like but had to defend her rights to use in court. She did, of course, even willingly allowing her parade of terrible dates into evidence to win the case. Episode 6 was another humiliation-fest for our leading lady when shewent stag to a wedding. She was used and abused by the bride and sucker punched by Titania. She did throw a couple of punches in this instance, but never got out of control, even when provoked. This is where she met the secretly evil Josh (Trevor Salter) who unbeknownst to her was being paid to seduce her and steal her blood — which all came out after the most patronizing awards event in history where she and every other nominee were named “winners.”
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Intelligencia Is a Creepy but Familiar Type of MCU Villain
Intelligencia, the community of She-Hulk-hating men and their leader Todd (Jon Bass) — who copied Jen’s phone, had her filmed without her permission and then showed that video in public — are unusual villains for the MCU. They are, however, eerily familiar to women (and men) everywhere. Many people have had this kind of poisonous vitriol spewed at them online and in person. The thingsIntelligencia memberssay in their meeting? A lot of women have heard this a hundred times before, and have been forced to smile through it or ignore it because they don’t want to be calledemotionaland/or they don’t have the physical strength to defend themselves. But Jen does, and even though she got immediately locked up by the Department of Damage Control, it was nice to see her get angry. She is, after all, a Hulk. This should have been the set-up to Jen’s final hero moment where she got back up and kicked some ass (looking at you, Todd and Josh), but it was not to be.
Jen’s story is a relatable one (if you ignore the superpowers), and many women have experienced at least some, if not many, aspects of her painful journey. In fact, throughoutShe-Hulk’s run, the show went out of its way to show audiences that Jen is just like us, telling afemale-centric storythat shows the world how it can often be, which is an important part of creating a world with true equality. However, for those who have lived these stories, watching them play out on screen can be disappointing, and endlessly frustrating.
The problem with telling a realistic female story is that it is often more than a little bleak. For those of us living in the real world, it would have been nice if we could have seen Jen do something we sometimes wish we could do ourselves — get in a couple of shots (maybe some below the belt) before she rose above it all. If Jen was a real person, not a fictionalized character, it would be easy to support her choice to prosecute instead of physically punish, but as a fictional character and one of the few female superheroes available to audiences, it is frustrating that we don’t get to see her let loose and fuck some shit up.
Jen Is Robbed of Any Real Victory Over Her Enemies
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the show chose to be innovative with its choices for the finale, and, while entertaining, the meta moment where She-Hulk breaks intoMarvel Studio: Assembledto confrontK.E.V.I.N.takes up a lot of the half-hour episode that could have been used to more completely tie up her storyline. Jen even undoes part of the episode where Todd doesn’t get powers, and Bruce (Mark Ruffalo) doesn’t save the day, but the audience doesn’t get to witness any of the new version, only the aftermath. We are robbed of any real kind of victory, and Jen just moves on to the next battle against a seeminglynever-ending barrage of misogyny.
There was a point inEpisode 3, “The People vs. Emil Blonsky"when Jen was attacked by a group of men, known as the Wrecking Crew who accused her of strutting around and showing off her powers. Jen had a moment of fear before she remembered she had superpowers, Hulked out, and kicked their asses. It was invigorating to watch She-Hulk defend and protect herself and flex her muscles, instead of relying on her intellect — plus it allowed a particular demographic of the audience a chance to fantasize about a world in which they don’t have to be afraid of walking alone in the dark. Unfortunately, moments like this were few and far between, and completely lacking in the final episode.
In real life, the Todds of the world get away with this kind of thing all the damn time. As for the rest of the Intelligencia members, who were implicit in the hacking of private data, hate speech, and death threats, we are left without any information about what became of them. They may be a part of the lawsuit Jen is pursuing, or they may have slipped through the cracks and are still out in the world continuing their vendettas against women. While Todd did get arrested, a guy like that with the full weight of GLK&H behind him and infinite resources, chances are he could be back at home being a scumbag in a matter of days.
In Episode 1, whenJen mentioned that she is always angrybecause anger and fear are the “baseline of any woman just existing,” she wasn’t wrong — and we really needed a cathartic moment from a badass, strong, smart, capable woman in her own finale. What else are superheroes for, if not to make us feel better about ourselves and the world — even if only for a moment?
The first season ofShe-Hulk: Attorney at Lawis available to stream on Disney+.
