She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Episode 4 Review

Article by Kieran Burt.

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law episode four is an improvement on the prior episode, as it fits what an audience member would expect with a superhero law show. It manages to cover a lot of ground between its superhero action and court room action, and even manages to have time for She-Hulk’s (and possibly Wong’s?) dating life. 

The first scene introduces a new legal problem for Jen, and arguably the worst character in the MCU. Madisynn. Think of the typical cliche of a popular high school girl, with an annoying accent, and then dial that up until the dial is broken. If she appeared for a single scene, that would have been fine, but she continuously pops up, even in the tag at the end of the episode. The tag itself is quite short, only her and Wong talking about their favourite alcoholic drinks. 

The legalistic problem at hand however is worthwhile. A former student of the mystic arts is using his skills as cheap tricks in his magic show, sending volunteers through dangerous realms. Wong catches wind of this, and sues him. This is a classic legal problem, but applied to a more outlandish situation, exactly the sorts of problems She-Hulk should be tackling. Also, more Wong is a prospect anyone can get on board with. 

Fourth wall breaking is still a feature of the episode, and it still doesn’t work. Both at the beginning and at the end, Jen references the structure of the show or the fact that Wong is more popular than she is, and it’s highly distracting. The end line is particularly annoying, as it shows that She-Hulk doesn’t understand rising tension for the middle episodes, which given her knowledge of show making so far clashes with the idea that she knows she is in a TV show. 

Wong and his interactions with the non-magic world continue to be funny, with him realising his arguments won’t stand up in a court of law, even though he is trying to protect the very fabric of reality too. It would be great to send people who threaten our world into other dimensions but, unfortunately, that’s legally impractical. And, even in the superhero world, even spoilers for a favourite show remain at large.

A balance exists in this show that doesn’t in the first three episodes, and that’s knowing when to deliver some action, and when to pull away for court drama. There is certainly a lot of legal jargon in this episode, but it’s quickly made clear what this means so it’s still accessible. Hopefully future episodes hold to this balance. 

A third aspect that is woven into this is Jen’s dating life. Unfair for her, being She-Hulk doesn’t make things any easier when meeting quality suitors, just people looking for a Hulk smash. This sequence does include a rare fourth wall break that does work, where Jen gets no matches, and She-Hulk gets a huge amount, and She-Hulk comments on this. The montage itself is quite funny, and demonstrates the dregs of online dating. 

Unfortunately for Jen, her date is briefly interrupted by demons, as is typical in the MCU. However, she and Wong quickly dispatch them without an issue, and manage to convince the person Wong is suing to accept a cease and desist. It’s quite a funny scene, with She-Hulk raging that her date was interrupted. 

She-Hulk does eventually get back to her date, though finds out in the morning the person she matched with isn’t the caring listener that she thought. Instead, it turns out he only cared about the Hulk itself, and quickly leaves when Jen shows herself. To compound Jen’s problems, she gets served with a trademark notice, and as mentioned earlier she complains that the episode ends with a downer. Initially it seems as though this suit might be based on a real life dispute, though it doesn’t seem that way. 

This episode is a bigger improvement over the past three episodes, managing to strike a great balance between action, courtroom drama, and feminine prowess. The humor has also improved in the show, though unfortunately the fourth wall breaking still doesn’t quite land.