Netflix - What are you watching / Have watched master thread

[Prediction? Pain.]

As far as the Marvel shows, I loved Daredevil season 1 and I watched half of Jessica Jones and just didn't get into it. I might break down and binge finish it. I liked Luke Cage and Iron Fist comics when I was young so I would like to see how they did them. Anyone have an opinion on the Defenders? So far it has the worst ratings of the rest but I know a lot of people didn't enjoy Iron Fist.

I never read any of the comics behind Netflix's Marvel shows, but here's my take:

I think that Daredevil's second season, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage are all worth checking out, though each stumbled in different ways. The hellbent secrecy and day-to-day actions of the main dude in Daredevil were fine in Season 1, but became hammy and disjointed in Season 2. (Huzzah for the arrival of the Punisher, though.) The berserker ex-special ops character in Jessica Jones was just plain dumb, and, like you, I struggled on the back half of the show. (I stopped watching altogether with two episodes left and had to come back almost a year later to cap it off.) And Luke Cage flopped around a bit once the main villain came into focus later in the season.

That said, if you liked the first season of Daredevil, you'll dig the second season as well. I didn't like it quite as much as the first, but it's still solid. Jessica Jones ends well enough, I guess, and you should probably finish it since you've already invested the time on the front end. And Luke Cage is solid and worth a look. After Daredevil, I think I like it the best of Netflix's Marvel shows.

Iron Fist . . . . Yeah, it's not so good. I honestly think that it starts off well enough. The premise is no less interesting to me than that of the other Marvel shows on Netflix, and the first couple or three episodes progress well enough. The acting seemed about on par with what you'd expect, though one or two of the American accents are grating. (What's the deal with all the Brits in these shows cast as Americans? And if they're the best fit for the roles, why not just make them be damn British?) The fighting is fine. And one of the female leads -- the Iron Fist's eventual love interest and fellow kung fu savant -- is not only solid in her role but is also fairly easy on the eyes. (She was one of the "Sand Snakes" in Game of Thrones, if that gives you any idea.)

But the show starts to derail as you reach the mid-point of the season, and eventually it just falls off the tracks. In fact, a couple of times later on, it has some laughably bad moments. The story and writing had pitfalls to be sure, but for me one of the main culprits was the lead character's flip from "chill warrior monk struggling to control his understandably strong desire for revenge" to "surly adolescent whiner with a poor temper and total lack of self control." Not only was it totally out of character for the dude we met early in the show (he was supposed to have been raised for 15 years by mystical monks, after all), but it was annoying as hell and piss-poorly acted.

Even still, if only because you enjoyed the comics, I think it'd be worth giving Iron Fist a causal whirl sometime, knowing that it may eventually flame out. If nothing else, you'll need to watch it if you're going to watch the Defenders.

And speaking of the Defenders, I'd put its quality on the middle of the Netflix-Marvel spectrum. Better than Iron Fist and maybe, taken as a whole, Jessica Jones, but not as good as Luke Cage or Daredevil.

If you end up watching Iron Fist and Luke Cage (and the Defenders, I guess), I'm interested to hear your perspective since you're a fan of the comics.