Review: Four episodes in, Marvel's 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' is too mundane for my taste

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Studio Synopsis: In Marvel Studios’ “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) — an attorney specializing in superhuman-oriented legal cases — must navigate the complicated life of a single, 30-something who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered Hulk. The nine-episode comedy series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination, and Benedict Wong as Wong, as well as Jameela Jamil, Josh Segarra, Ginger Gonzaga, Jon Bass and Renée Elise Goldsberry.

Review: I’ve only been shown the first four (of nine) episodes and I must admit that I’m a little befuddled by the (incomplete) experience. I’ll try to explain.

I managed to avoid the trailer and ignored most of the white-noise social commentary that followed it. I’m certainly no expert on the character, but I knew that I was in for a more meta experience where Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk would tear down the fourth wall and offer a running commentary. I knew that there would be some kind of blood transfusion involved and that would require Bruce Banner/Hulk to appear in some capacity. The series title, “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” suggested there would be courtroom scenes and that the tone was going to bend towards comedy.

I also knew that Tatiana Maslany was going to slay as Walters.

All these things are more or less true. I greatly prefer the comic origin story. A character asked to make a decision is always more interesting than something happening that is beyond the character’s control. I miss the moral dilemma.

I’ll always cheer the inclusion of Mark Ruffalo. I’m not in love with Smart Hulk. I prefer the split-personality version that is constantly at war with himself. Friendly neighborhood Hulk doesn’t capture my attention. That said, making him an over-protective mother is a better fit for the tone that head writer Jessica Gao is aiming for.

“She-Hulk” is closer to a traditional sitcom than it is to anything else Marvel has done. Yes, “WandaVision” used sitcom clichés as a frame. The story within was hardly traditional. “She-Hulk” feels more restrained or confined by genre tropes. For me, it’s too tied to courtroom scenes. And the courtroom is the equivalent of the political scenes in the Star Wars prequels. Interesting to a point, but there’s a reason why most people have no idea what C-SPAN is. I suppose Court TV does have its share of viewers. Particularly if the trial involves celebrities.

To be fair, Walters doesn’t want to be She-Hulk. She doesn’t want to be an Avenger. She wants to hold on to who she was and who she hoped to be. She wants to be a lawyer. She wants the mundane with a splash of romance to keep things interesting. Someday, she’s going to need to decide to either be She-Hulk or Jennifer Walters. That moment hasn’t come. It could come in this season, or somewhere down the road.

The silliness with Wong and (Benedict Wong) and the Abomination (Tim Roth) bits feel a bit forced. The Abomination’s insertion in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” didn’t entirely work for me neither. There are times when it felt like I was watching the silly (not quite parody) of the conversations Professor X and Magneto and the general themes in the X-Men comics.

I don’t know where we’re going. Typically, that’s something I enjoy. In this case, and this applies to the bulk of Phase Four of the MCU, it feels like a mess. Maybe it will all come together. I really hope it does.

Then again, maybe “She-Hulk” is serving an audience that I’m not a part of. What is important to the showrunner isn’t always going to be important to me. That’s okay. It’s good to be different.

At least we get to know if Captain America is a virgin. Maybe.