By Sam Rillstone
The latest Marvel Studios show on Disney+ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follows Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) as a lawyer who becomes a Hulk following an accident with her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). She then begins specialising in superhuman law as She-Hulk while trying to navigate her life as both Jen and a Hulk.
Tatiana Maslany as Jen is delightful, immensely expressive, and charming. She brings a light matter-of-factness to the character. The way Jen and She-Hulk co exist is compelling. How She-Hulk is more adored than Jen, it's very much a juxtaposition to how Hulk and Bruce are viewed.
The ropey CGI is intermittent and changes scene by scene in quality sometimes. But also visual effects artists are working damn hard in rough conditions sometimes so they've done well with what they got.
The show is largely presented as a comedy, and it's pretty decent, some stuff is hit and miss but on the whole, it's fun and definitely gets better as the season progresses.
Though there's been a lot of criticism about the amount of characters who have become comedic as a part of this series, many having previously not been funny. Firstly, the She-Hulk comics are comedy stories and second, Marvel comics as a whole are quippy and fun mixed with action.
That's always been their appeal. Not to say the biggest competitor DC isn't quippy but it's certainly a trademark of Marvel. So it's not out of the ordinary that they would be funny. Also, Tony Stark quipped his way through 10 years of movies and nobody said anything.
One of the big parts of She-Hulk's character is that she breaks the fourth wall to address us the audience. I thought these were done really well and added a lot of value and humour to the show, with one great one about the change in actor of Hulk from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo.
The show also isn't afraid to be on the nose about the treatment of females in the workplace or the wider world, which is also good because those things happen and need commenting on.
This might be my favourite of the Marvel Disney+ shows so far. Albeit She-Hulk is one of my favourite characters so I went in with excitement but I'm so happy with what they chose to do with Jen and her story.
I'm super excited for where the character goes next and I never thought I'd say this but also excited for the future of the Hulk. What this show did well was elevate other characters like Daredevil and Hulk himself, while also giving service to the main character of Jen.