First Things First
(WARNING: This article may contain mild spoilers for both seasons of Iron Fist, Luke Cage season two, and The Defenders.)
I recently had the pleasure of recording two podcast episodes about Iron Fist. The first one I recorded on Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio with the host, Jeremy Lesniak, and Jaredd Wilson of Martial Thoughts podcast. This one was a non-spoiler, thousand foot view of the show and its relationship to the martial arts. The other one I recorded with Jaredd Wilson, the host of Martial Thoughts podcast. This one was a spoilerific, deep dive into both seasons of the show. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I enjoyed recording them.
Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio- Ep. 349: Conversations on Iron Fist Season 2
Martial Thoughts- Ep. XCII “I Am The Immortal Podcast”
A Bit of Background
Before I get to Iron Fist, I should make something clear. I love it whenever I get to see any form of martial arts portrayed on the big or the small screen. This was true long before I became a martial artist myself. I couldn’t get enough of Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Segal when I was growing up. I even liked the American Ninja movies, even if I don’t remember them being that bad back then. The good, the bad, and the ugly, I watched it all.
Now I’m even more interested in seeing martial arts featured on-screen. I’m probably a bit more discerning now than the 10-year-old me had been back then. For example, I recently watched Mile 22 and agreed with Tristan Glover’s criticisms of the direction and editing of the action scenes. The hyper-fast editing and camera cuts were bad enough to take me out of the movie on a few occasions. (Hey Peter Berg, Iko Uwais doesn’t need your “help” looking fast on-screen!)
While we have always had martial arts in movies, we haven’t always had much in the way of t.v. shows. Recently we have gotten a spate of shows featuring martial arts in a major way. In addition to the aforementioned Iron Fist, we currently have Into The Badlands and Daredevil to name two big ones. Martial Arts on television is not something we get as consistently as we have in movies. With this “Golden-Age of television” we seem to be in, I am hoping we continue to get more high-quality martial arts shows.
The Season One Debacle
It’s no secret that season one of Iron Fist was not well received. Rightly so. Regardless of where the blame should rightly sit, the production was very rushed according to virtually every place, written or digital, that covered it. Minimal training time for the actors, a rushed production, and a script that could have used a few more coats of polish are just a couple of the major gripes you’ll find stated often.
There were some things they got right though. Jessica Henwick was wonderful as Colleen Wing. I truly loved the time in the dojo and the opposing hard and soft teaching styles they displayed. The sensei-student relationship between Bakuto and Colleen was well done too. In the end, season one’s redeeming elements were not enough to fully overcome its missteps.
The reception was widely negative. The first major failure for the brand that could-do-no-wrong. No different than that time when you thought you could take Sensei/Sifu on the sparring floor, or thought you had just thought of something your instructor wouldn’t know anything about. You and Marvel/Netflix looked very similar laying there on the floor wondering what just happened.
Then the Marvel/Netflix creative team did something that every martial artist should be able to recognize: Learn.
The Path to Redemption
Marvel/Netflix wasted little time working hard to redeem themselves and fix the Iron Fist problem they created. It started with The Defenders. Instead of trying to ignore the problems with Iron Fist season one, they owned them and went right at them narratively. If Iron Fist in season one was an orange/yellow belt, then he was maybe a mid-color-rank in The Defenders.
In The Defenders, Iron Fist was portrayed as the wide-eyed, but talented kid amongst the adults often throughout the series, with his hubris and naivete on full display many times. And he got put down, just as many. Sure, just like a mid-rank, he was able to get some good shots in, but he was consistently coming up short next to the others. Only then, at the end with Daredevil’s sacrifice, did they narratively force him to truly grow.
Daredevil choosing to trust Danny with keeping his city safe was a watershed moment. Danny had just witnessed what a real hero was, and the lengths they were willing to go to for something larger than themselves. This forced a narrative evolution for Iron Fist allowing him to be “changed” by the experience and continue the redemption plan.
Ranking Up with Luke Cage
The next calculated step along the path to redemption for Iron Fist came in the second season of Luke Cage in episode 10. At this point in the season, Luke was in a very angry and unsettled place emotionally. When Danny comes into the picture, we get to see how much the events of The Defenders changed him. Danny was presented as being in a place of peace emotionally and spiritually with himself. The back-and-forth between the two was one of the best highlights of the season and blatantly teased Heroes For Hire (the popular comic book series that they appear in).
I have to give Marvel/Netflix and Luke Cage’s showrunner, Cheo Hodarki Coker, serious praise with how they used Iron Fist to present a yin-to-the-yang of Luke Cage, and simultaneously revamped Iron Fist’s image in the process. This was something that could’ve backfired significantly, but they pulled it off beautifully.
I likened Iron Fist at this point to someone who just recently got their black belt. They have been able to exhale the breath they didn’t even know they were holding in. The pressure is finally off. That sense of accomplishment and achievement is still there. However, the new black belt hasn’t yet thought about the next fundamental question: Where do I go from here?
The Realization That The Journey Is Just Beginning
As season two opens, we find Danny struggling with the weight of Daredevil’s dying wish, trying to keep the peace on the streets. Additionally, Danny is struggling with what it even means to be “The Iron Fist” and the responsibility of the power he possesses. He even questions whether he wants the power when presented with the chance to take the power of the Iron Fist back.
Marvel/Netflix, the creative team, and the cast deserve a lot of credit with the improved quality of the second season. Season two of Iron Fist brought us a drastically improved Danny Rand, script, showrunner, and 3 fewer episodes. In addition, every other character has a valid and engaging story arc this time around in a drastic improvement over season one.
For me, I saw plenty of parallels with Danny’s season two character struggles and a martial artist whose black-belt-honeymoon has ended. Did I really earn this? What do I do now? Why am I continuing? Is it worth it? Do I want this responsibility? These are the kinds of questions a black belt who is continuing on the journey may ask themselves at one point or another.
So What’s The Issue?
This leads to my main issue with the show Iron Fist: It got canceled. To be perfectly clear, I know that it was most likely canceled because Disney is about to become a competitor to Netflix. Luke Cage season 3 was also canceled not long after Iron Fist season 3 was. As of this writing, it was just announced that Daredevil season 4 will be canceled as well. I think it is reasonable to assume we will hear the same announcements after the third season of Jessica Jones and the second season of The Punisher.
As a fan, it irks me that Iron Fist got canceled just as it was about to move forward from the redemption plan that they started after season one’s poor reception. Now we will likely never get to see how all of that hard-won respect and appreciation for Iron Fist could’ve paid off in the next season and beyond.
I get it. It’s all politics and competition. Disney doesn’t want to keep giving a competitor to their new streaming service any ammunition. Also, it has been widely reported that the interest and viewership numbers were dropping off significantly after each show’s first season. If the numbers had not dropped off, would Netflix have been so quick to cancel these shows? I doubt it.
How Can We Change This?
We can’t. Specifically, we can’t change the cancellations that have already happened. However, we can change things going forward. How you may ask? Watch. Tell your friends, family, other students at the dojo/studio/academy. Even more importantly, share the heck out of it on social media.
For starters, here are links to articles about two upcoming shows that will absolutely need our support:
Who cares if you practice BJJ and the show is about Kung Fu. It’s about martial arts. Martial artists make up such a small percentage of the overall population that we should be banding together and supporting anything that shines a positive light on the martial arts as a whole. Drop the petty tribalism because if a show about Kung Fu or Shotokan Karate can be proven to be a critical and financial success, then maybe some producer will try to get a show about BJJ or Capoeria off the ground.
We don’t often get martial arts represented well on the small screen. There is a reason. We are part of the reason we don’t. Let’s become a big part of the reason we will get more going forward.
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Great article. I too am angry they cancelled Iron fist and I don’t care what they say, there’s no way Dare Devil had low ratings. It was the best of all of them.