SHE-HULK EPISODE 8 REVIEW

 

Froggy-man, Froggy-man, does whatever a froggy can.

            Okay, let’s just get this out of the way: fans, rejoice! The moment you’ve all been waiting for is here! Yes, it’s the MCU debut of…LEAP-FROG!

The 'Devil, you say?

            No, no, I’m just kidding. Well, I mean, Leap-Frog does appear in the episode, but this is also the episode that finally features Daredevil (Charlie Cox). Now, I have to remind everyone: the Netflix Daredevil was rated TV-MA. She-Hulk is not. So don’t expect all the bone-crunching, bloody stuff you’re used to getting with the character. HOWEVER! That doesn’t diminish his awesomness in the episode. He’s got some slick moves, takes down a ton of guys on his own, and shows Cox hasn’t missed a step since Daredevil stopped filming. I don’t know if this is fully indicative of the MCU Daredevil going forward or if it’s just distilled through the lens of the show like Wong was, but if it is I’m here for it.  

Team-up!

            That said, this episode was just…wow. Keeping in mind we still have one episode to go, I’d call this the best episode of the series thus far. Shulkie gets to meet Matt Murdock when Eugene Patillio, aka Leap-Frog (Brandon Stanley), retains her firm to sue the designer of his costume after he’s injured when it malfunctions. Interestingly, the MCU chose to combine Leap-Frog’s character. In the comics, Leap-Frog was actually Eugene’s father; an engineer who turned to costume villainy when life kept dealing him bad cards (although mentioned as a prominent client of GLK&H, it’s not revealed if the elder Patillio ever donned the costume himself). Humiliated by his father’s past, Eugene decided to take the Leap-Frog suit and become the superhero Frog-Man. The MCU Eugene was reimagined as a spoiled rich kid who wanted to be a hero so badly that he ended up becoming the villain. But, like the comics, he remained as much of a joke as anyone frog-themed not named Throg deserves to be.

Shulkie is in a bit of a pickle.

            Now as fun as all that and as awesome as having Daredevil back on screen was, the real meat of the episode happened in the last five minutes. There isn’t much I can say without delving into spoilers, but I will say that The Intelligencia makes their move at the most inopportune time and manages to cause Jen some serious damage. I’m looking forward to the finale to see how things finally all connect together and we learn what the show has been building towards.