After several Phases series filled with origin heroes like Daredevil and Moon Knight gradually teasing how their honorees became super, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law changes things up by immediately throwing you into the deep end of Jennifer Walters’ (Tatiana Maslany) life with little warning. Like her comic book counterpart, She-Hulk’s Jen is a highly talented but pathologically sheepish lawyer whose entire world is turned upside down by a horrific accident that leaves her with a series of superpowers very similar to her larger cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Rafalo). Smart Hulk and She-Hulk meditate together on an island. Image: Marvel Studios The exact circumstances of how the MCU’s Jen—typically a mousy, easily creased woman Maslany underplays—wakes up super-strong, more than a foot taller, and a striking shade of green are somewhat different than how she plays in comics. But enough of the source material beats are present to make it clear that She-Hulk is well aware of her absurdity, and the show wants you to engage with her jokes about herself. Almost from the moment Jennifer is introduced, she’s already broken the fourth wall to insist that She-Hulk isn’t exactly a superhero show, and that nothing in her life should change even with Hulk’s new powers, because she has always in total control. This, of course, couldn’t be further from the truth, and the early episodes of She-Hulk are very much a comic study of what happens to an ordinary person who suddenly becomes an “enhanced person” in the MCU. But instead of simply framing Jennifer as yet another self-destructive hero who needs to self-actualize before getting a code name and donning a suit, She-Hulk presents her reluctance to be known as a super quantity as something crucial to figuring out who she is. Hulk powers or not, Jennifer prefers to fight in the courtroom alongside her paralegal Nikki Ramos (Ginger Gonzaga), where she knows they can use their legal prowess to change lives in ways none of the Avengers could never. More importantly, though, Jen isn’t really interested in becoming a superhero, even though the entire world and her own TV show expect her to be. More than any of the major heroes or villains Jen crosses paths with in a professional capacity, it’s managing people’s ideas of who and what she is that gives her the most trouble during She-Hulk’s first season. Whether it’s dealing with her sexist coworkers or her well-meaning cousin, almost no one in Jennifer’s life really trusts her ability to make smart decisions. But that’s not exactly the case when she’s in She-Hulk form, and while this double standard understandably infuriates Jen, once she starts using it to her advantage, She-Hulk really starts to pick up. Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, the Abomination. Image: Marvel Studios While She-Hulk’s “lawyer show” is certainly inspired by Jen’s Ally McBeal, it’s also one of Marvel’s more purposeful attempts to bring together disparate parts of its multiverse to remind you that many of these characters from different movies and series somehow know each other. . As the sitting Wizard of Earth, it makes sense that Wong (Benedict Wong) can call on She-Hulk for sensitive matters that require an understanding of mortal laws, and his presence in Attorney at Law adds a strong sense of timeliness to the series. Like Wong, Tim Roth’s Abomination returns here both to remind viewers of the last major Marvel film he was in and to help She-Hulk delve into the nitty-gritty of the universe she’s set in, like just an aggressively nerdy and rather horny legal comedy could. Although the star power of She-Hulk’s guest stars varies from week to week with each of their subplots, the show finds different ways to make the MCU feel like a more alive place that countless people just recently wished . back into existence. As silly as many of her cases and clients are, Jen does what she can to act as a force for justice in the world, and She-Hulk leads with the idea that people like her are exactly what the audience needs in periods of crisis. When She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is firmly in comedy and plays on the influence of John Byrne and Dan Slott’s comics, or hammers home an important idea about the importance of rehabilitation over incarceration, the show feels like it’s in very good point. But in moments when She-Hulk is trying to shift gears, the series occasionally lags a bit, almost as if it remembers how much it’s trying to do and panicked. Image: Marvel Studios The same tumultuous sense of panic similarly emerges in a series of more technically complex She-Hulk: Attorney at Law scenes with Jen in the huge, weird form of the Hulk that looks a lot more like Maslany than Ruffalo’s Smart Hulk. There’s no denying the incredible amount of work that went into creating a She-Hulk model that’s more convincing than not. But it’s also impossible to ignore how incredible the character’s motion shots tend to be, especially when the show draws attention to her mane with her luxurious but often distracting hair reminiscent of how the Inhumans handled Medusa. Given how much more consistently She-Hulk can pull off visuals for characters like Smart Hulk and the Abomination who aren’t so new to the MCU, it makes sense that Marvel intends to improve their take on She-Hulk as she continues to appear in more projects. Even if that’s the case, though, it’s still weird to see She-Hulk repeatedly fall headfirst into the uncanny valley on her own TV show, when Marvel should have known the dangers of building an entire series around one CGI character whose voice would have to be dubbed during post-production. Surprisingly, the audio mixing on both She-Hulk and Smart Hulk even further overcomes the characters’ tendency to read (visually speaking) more cartoonish than Marvel probably intended. Individually, none of She-Hulk’s flaws prevent her from being watchable, and when they all work together, the show is able to thrive by relying on her irreverent sense of humor and ability to laugh at itself. While Jen may need a new game plan if and when she makes the jump to Marvel movies, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s approach to the bruiser works quite well for the small screen and is almost certain to become one of the Most Inspirational entries of Phase 4. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law also stars Jameela Jamil and opens on August 18.
