Iron Fist S01E02 Recap

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SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.

This series continues to go in a direction that I didn’t expect. And honestly, I enjoyed this second episode a lot more than I did the first; whereas the first was bland and left me not feeling much of anything toward the story or its characters, I came out of this episode excited for more and actively engaged in Harold’s story – and by extension Danny’s – and Ward’s.

Danny is the main character, but I still don’t really care about him yet except for wanting him to definitively prove that he’s Danny. Which he did do in this episode (both Joy and Harold believe him now, as well as his psychiatrist), so there isn’t much for me to care about concerning him right now – besides seeing how his story ties into Harold’s.

The unexpected reversal in this episode, for me, was that Harold actually wants Danny alive. I thought that Harold may have been working for or with The Hand. However, the message they left on his window was clearly a threat. Now I think that The Hand is responsible for him faking his death and essentially imprisoning himself. Danny, because he is the Iron Fist – the only person who can defeat The Hand – is his means of escaping.

That’s the only reason he doesn’t want him dead. I’m sure if Danny was just Danny that Harold would have had him killed. He’s still a threat to the Meachums as Danny because he can take away the power and position they have as the persons running Rand Enterprises. That’s why Harold wants to lock him away but keep him close enough that he can be of use to him. He still can’t have him going public with his identity.

Maybe that’s why Ward was being such an ass and questioning his father about keeping Danny safe? His response to his father confirming that he is in fact Danny and asking him to be moved to a safe house confused me. I know he never really liked Danny, but his immediately jumping to the conclusion that his father wanted to have him killed and the fact that he was so cool about it was surprising to me. Like him or not, Danny was someone he grew up with so I would think he’d care. Plus, he seemed so much more upset about the fact that his father doesn’t want Danny killed. Like a child whining because he couldn’t get his way.

Perhaps that’s what it is; he wants Danny dead – very much so – and threw a small tantrum because that wasn’t happening. His reaction brought me back to my original idea that he will be the big bad this season. He can’t have his way because he has to obey and answer to his father. I suspect that sooner rather than later, he will go to The Hand (I’m pretty sure that if Harold is under threat from The Hand that Ward knows about it) and tell them what his father is up to and have them kill him so that he can be free to do as he pleases; namely and particularly kill Danny so that he can stay in control of Rand Enterprises.

Joy, I’m a little less skeptical about than I was at the end of the last episode. She did express some guilt for having poisoned Danny, she seemed to be elated to discover that it was really him and bothered by Ward’s continued refusal to acknowledge his return despite the evidence. She did what I wanted her to when she sent Danny the M&M’s; she listened to her gut and stopped allowing Ward to sway her otherwise.

I liked that Colleen refused to help Danny at first, instead of doing the typical thing of a character who barely interacted with the main character for ten minutes rushing to their aid. She and Danny barely had any kind of meaningful interaction, so her desire to help him there would have been unjustified. As far as she’d known based on her encounters with him, he was just some crazy homeless dude and being in a mental hospital was exactly what he needed. It made more sense that Ward’s hard push to bribe her would make her curious enough to speak to Danny.