She Hulk Episode 4 Review, Marvel Cinematic Universe

Episode Starts

The most confusing thing Hollywood has ever done is take nice and objective looking people and try to make us believe there is something wrong with them. They are overworked - in an unusual way, with no ill effects on their health - or they are clumsy or simply undesirable. It's a She-Hulk Thing : The lawyer has flirted with Jen Walters (Tatiana Maslany) in the past, but it's Episode 4, "Isn't That Real Magic?" from director Kat Coiro and writer Melissa Hunter, finally really gets there. 

 Unlike previous weeks, this mostly feels like a regular legal comedy episode, with story A, B, and C all neatly woven together and for the most part completely contained within this episode. Yes, Wong (Benedict Wong) is back and seeks Jen's help again, but the ties to the greater MCU end here, and "Isn't this the real magic?" feel like getting back into lightweight shape. 

Jennifer 

This episode finds Jen more recovered from last week's encounter with the Wrecking Crew and looking to move on. With Emil Blonsky's (Tim Roth) case settled, it seems that Wong's workload is fairly light until he wants to take a wizard - a Kamar-Taj student he expelled by the name of Donny Blaze (Rhys Coiro) - to court. For abusing the Mystic Arts. Blaze opened portals to other dimensions during his infrequent appearances, one of which involved Madisynn (Patty Guggenheim), an unsuspecting party girl who was later released into Wong's control by a talking goat. That's not too bad in itself, but the fact that Madis ruined Wong's TV night when she accidentally spoiled The Sopranos? unforgivable. 

 Donny The case against Blaze is simple enough, and it's a sign that when the final battle against the demons that cross into our world involves a scene, the focus is on Jen, not the interdimensional consequences of opening the portal. and not even the climax of the episode. That honor, on the other hand, goes to Jen's personal life. 

 Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga) After learning that Jen created an online dating profile, she tries to help her best friend out by swiping on every man, claiming that once the matches come in, the real filtering begins. Which begs the question: if everyone is playing the “numbers game” as Nikki calls it, how effective is this system really? Not much, as it turns out, when Jen goes on a date with a careless "entrepreneur" (ah, dating in your 30s). Nikki suggests that Jen try to create a She-Hulk profile instead, but Jen rightly says that she's done playing She-Hulk at work and wants to be herself in her dating life. 

This brings me back to my first point. I can't fathom a world where a woman who looks like Maslani, with the education, caring nature, and sharp sense of humor expected of me, is expected to be somehow undesirable. Three drops of blood cut the surface turning a woman into a green giant, I will believe. But this? My disbelief doesn't stretch that far. 

Nikki's suggestion clearly has some truth to it, as Jen caves and creates a She-Hulk dating profile. The numbers start to work in her favor, and Jen goes on a series of dates that go from bad to worse to suddenly too good to be true. The last of these, a pediatric oncologist (Michelle Curiel), is sweet, a good listener, and even patient enough to wait for Jenny in her apartment when Wong leaves to help put the visiting demons back where they belong. 

 No matter how good a night they have together, the hot doctor can't get out of her apartment fast enough when he runs into normal Jen in the morning. Somehow this rejection feels darker than half the life-or-death situations the MCU throws at the screen. 

 Wong and Madisynn, an unlikely friendship that gives us all hope. When she arrives in the courtroom to help Jen stop Donny Blaze, she reacts to the "Wongers" with such excitement that it's obvious she's attached to the angry wizard. When the two head out for frozen yogurt after court adjourns, and later during a post-credits scene where he visits the Kamar-Taj for a night of TV (presumably because he's continuing to spoil The Sopranos, This Is Us ), the feelings are clearly mutual.