“The Defenders” takes a breather with a solid, character packed episode “Royal Dragon.” After battling the Hand, Matt, Jessica, Luke and Danny take shelter in a Chinese restaurant while they plan their next move. Jessica must decide if she’s going to go along with the fight against the Hand.
While not a lot technically happened in this episode, fans certainly got their fill of character interactions in the Netflix’s answer to the Shawarma post credits scene from “The Avengers.” The characters just sit there and talk for about the entire episode, sharing stories and getting to know each other, and after two and half episodes of all four characters separated from each other, it’s a glorious sight to behold.
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Not that every hero shares that opinion, though. Jessica, after about ten minutes or so, decides that self-resurrecting ninjas are just too weird for her and bails out. Instead, she goes to Raymond’s wife’s house to explain the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death. But surprise! The Hand is there to silence them and Jessica is thrust back into the fight.
Meanwhile, Stick, who hours ago, sliced his hand off with a sword, arrives at Royal Dragon to lay down the history of the Hand and the five “Fingers” who formed the organization. Alexandra and Bakuto are two of those Fingers, and the more I type this, the more ridiculous it sounds.
Speaking of Alexandra, she arrives as well to offer Danny a deal. Clearly, the Iron Fist is part of her master plan and she won’t take no for an answer. Driving the episode home, no pun intended, Elektra was ready to dice up the team, when Jessica ran her over with a stolen car, as the team prepares to fight as one once more.
“Royal Dragon” packed in a ton of character in a an episode that most other shows would’ve shied away from. But in a show with so many great characters, it was necessary to give everyone a simple break.
“The Defenders” is now streaming on Netflix.