‘Marvel’s The Defenders’ Recap Season 1, Episode 4: Scenes From a Chinese Restaurant

Listen, we’ve all gone to awkward happy hours with new coworkers, uncomfortably trying to find common ground with strangers you just happen to sit next to in an office. The Defenders’ fourth episode felt a bit like that scenario but if Nancy from HR had a light-up fist and the night was, you know, actually enjoyable. While relatively low on action—especially compared to the wall-busting shenanigans that closed episode three—”Red Dragon” (The Defenders Episode 4) was a showcase of rapidly delivered character interaction, a super-powered meet-cute between comic-book heroes come to life. I know that the chances of a bottle episode during an eight-part event series are slim. But Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Charlie Cox, and even Finn Jones are such charming actors, and at this point all so attuned to the little quirks of their characters, that I found myself wishing we’d just stay around the dinner for the full 50 minutes.

Of course, real life eventually intervenes to ruin all mai fun. Jessica splits, overwhelmed by talk of mystical cities and evil ninja cults. Alexandra arrives soon after, with Elektra—looking like a much less gangly Kylo Ren–in tow. But before that, it was fascinating to watch the dynamics being set up within this unstable alliance. Matt Murdock as a stern older brother figure next to Danny Rand. Luke’s well-earned distrust of lawyers, much less one claiming to be both blind and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. The still-simmering romantic flame between Jessica and Luke, which, if Netflix decides to stick closely to comic book canon, leads to marriage. And, assumedly, heartbreak for Claire Temple, if not worse.

But sweet Christmas, really the only thing I want to discuss is the burgeoning best bro-ship between a bulletproof black man from Harlem and a curly-haired white billionaire who hates wearing shoes. Elektra Natchios was brought back from literal death, and that’s still not as miraculous a turnaround compared to how much better the character of Danny Rand comes off here than in his solo series. He has gone from gratingly self-serious to something closer to a puppy dog that also knows kung-fu. His constant, straight-faced mysticism works better when it comes off as earnest, not preachy. This works particularly well across from Luke, who acts as the unyielding brick wall for Danny to throw his K’un Lun branded bouncy ball against.

And yes, there’s a bit of the Dana Scully Effect in play here; the man with bulletproof skin and super-strength is really going to call out something as unbelievable? But the show is deftly making it clear that Luke isn’t rolling his eyes so much at what Danny is saying, but the fortune cookie-ass way he’s saying it.

Not so for Jessica, who is one-thousand-percent rolling her eyes not only at Danny, but pretty much every word that leaves another person’s mouth over the course of this episode. “These names are killing me,” she sighs, after Stick explains he was once part of a counter-Hand sect called The Chaste.

In a lot of ways—and so much of it comes down to how talented Ritter is—Jessica’s presence here is necessary as a stand-in for the audience. Because in addition to a round of introductions, “Royal Dragon” was a heavy exposition dump. We learned that Alexandra is one of the original Five Fingers of The Hand, along with Madame Gao, “White Hat” African warlord Sowande, unbuttered white bread boring Bakuto from Iron Fist, and the mysterious, bear-butchering Murakami. Much like in the case of Rick James and Charlie Murphy, these five fingers don’t come together often, but when they do it results in utter devastation. Chernobyl? Pompeii? All The Five Fingers, come to enact a culling, and New York City is next on their list.

Funny enough, for as much as we learned I still feel like we actually know nothing. So far, The Defenders’ biggest issue is cryptic speech in situations where characters do not need to be speaking cryptically. Scott Glenn is a poker-faced delight, and Stick calling Danny a “thundering dumbass” will live on in my heart until my final days, but it wouldn’t kill the eternal adversary of The Hand to offer up one, specific detail of the danger Alexandra poses. We know it is Big, and Scary, and these four strangers are the Only Ones who can stop it. I don’t blame Jessica for leaving in the slightest; she’s being asked to shoulder so much on so little reasoning. Stick basically walked in and told these four to build an Ikea armoire without the manual.

Jessica’s eventual return, however, is where the decision to make The Defenders an eight-part event, as opposed to Netflix’s standard 13-episode season, shines for the first time. Each of the previous Marvel series have, in one way or another, suffered from a mid-season bloat, where five miles of story is clearly being stretched over a ten-mile road. Luke Cage hit it the second Mahershala Ali’s Cottonmouth drew his last breath. Iron Fist ran into it when Danny got strapped to a hospital bed in episode two. The point is, in a longer running season Jessica would have likely weighed her decision for an episode or two, a decision everything from the trailer, to promotional photos, to the name of the damn show could tell you would be reversed eventually.

Here, there’s no time for extended contemplation. She’s gone, she’s back, and a van gets launched through a restaurant window. That’s the beauty of The Defenders at its midpoint; each episode offers the same thrill of a single quick, cheap comic book issue. There’s a time and place for extended inner turmoil, the introspective soul-searching, and the drawn-out digging into the human psyche. But sometimes you just want a colorful, kickass splash page. Sometimes the thrill of an image like this episode’s closing moment—Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist standing united shoulder-to-shoulder—is the entire point.

Vinnie Mancuso writes about TV for a living, somehow, for Decider, The A.V. Club, Collider, and the Observer. You can also find his pop culture opinions on Twitter (@VinnieMancuso1) or being shouted out a Jersey City window between 4 and 6 a.m.

Stream Marvel's The Defenders on Netflix