She-Hulk Season Finale Review: Breaking down barriers

The season finale of She-Hulk starts out as a jumbled mess. However, like the titular character herself, the finale becomes a different type of monster.

Jennifer Walters has broken the 4th wall numerous times throughout the season. In the season finale, Jen uses this ability to rewrite the season finale. After Jen’s changes, the season finale is better, but still isn’t satisfying. If Jen had this ability to this extent all along, why didn’t she use it to get her job back at the DA’s office or to line up a higher caliber of men to date?

The season finale also abandons storylines that are never revisited. Josh disappears into the ether. Emil Blonsky serving as a sefl-help guru to the Intelligencia group as Abomination is amusing, but doesn’t explain why his inhibitor didn’t go off in a more frequent fashion.

The one area in which the season finale wholeheartedly succeeds is Jen finally accepting She-Hulk as a part of her identity.

Unfortunately, using a 4th wall break to demonstrate that the first ten minutes of your episode is terrible feels like a waste. The actual writers could have come up with a conflict that didn’t involve a physical confrontation. However, they decided to take a Moon Knight approach by not showing the actions Jen took to overcome Todd and Intelligencia. She confronts K.E.V.I.N., he agrees to her changes and Emil and Todd are arrested. The 4th wall break makes the conflict far too easy for Jen to overcome.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood out in the season finale. There may be some minor spoilers. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is available to stream on Disney Plus.

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Breaking the season finale

The opening homage to old Hulk tv series was terrific. The season finale wastes little time. Jen is arrested, fitted with an inhibitor and fired from GK&H. One really odd tonal moment was Nikki feeling sorry for Jen, while saying she’s staying with GK&H because she loves her job. I don’t have a problem with Nikki staying. Nikki didn’t need to say anything at all. Nikki drawing attention to staying felt more mean-spirited than comical.

Jen is forced to move back in with her parents. Nikki, Pug and to a lesser extent Mallory begin snooping around the Intelligencia group. Nikki posts a nasty comment and is invited to a party. Meanwhile, Jen decides she needs to get away for a bit. She decides to head to Blonsky’s compound.

Turns out the party is taking place at the compound. Abomination is the guest of honor. Jen is furious and Todd is revealed as the leader of the Intelligencia group. Todd immediately reveals a syringe with Jen’s DNA, injects himself and turns into a hulk. Titania breaks into the compound, in the same manner, she broke into the courtroom in the pilot. This was the tipoff that something was off and would be fixed by the 4th wall break. It was such an obvious callback. Finally, Bruce shows up as The Hulk and begins fighting Abomination.

Outside of Jen missing the ability to transform into She-Hulk, the opening 10 minutes is rough to get through.

Break the walls down

Jen proceeds to literally break into the tv screen via the Disney Plus app. She enters the Assembled tile for She-Hulk. Jen confronts the writers’ room and wants the finale changed. She demands to speak with the man in charge named K.E.V.I.N.

There are some clever exchanges between Jen and K.E.V.I.N. Jen asks about the X-Men debuting. K.E.V.I.N. asks Jen to stay in her regular form as the FX team has moved onto another project which is punctured by a sound cue from Black Panther. Unfortunately, Jen is easily able to convince K.E.V.I.N. to give her everything she wants, including Matt Murdock.

The sequence is pretty fun and clearly the best aspect of the finale. However, I wish we could have had some explanation of how Jen can break the 4th wall to this degree. Can she rewrite Tony’s death? Why couldn’t she use this ability earlier in the season?

It’s all about family

Once Jen’s back in the reality of the show, everything is wrapped up in a bow. Blonsky is arrested, but remorseful for breaking his tether. Todd is arrested. Jen gets her job back. Finally, Daredevil just pops back up after the action is over. Unfortunately, the process of these events isn’t shown, only the aftermath.

The season finale ends with a family barbecue scene that feels ripped out of The Fast and The Furious franchise. Jen being happy is fantastic. Bruce bringing his son to the barbecue is pretty sweet as well. The jokes are lame, but hopefully, Jen will make a trip to New York in the future. Bruce bringing his son to the barbecue is pretty sweet as well.

Instead of improving upon a common trope of churning through plot points in season finales, Jen’s rewrite just swaps out tropes. Having a family barbecue is just as vanilla of a story as the action-stuffed beginning.

Season finale final thoughts

What should be a full meal leaves me hungry for more. Unfortunately, this sentiment in the season finale echoes my thoughts on the season as a whole. Tatiana Maslany was terrific in every episode and the season finale is no exception.

I hope they tone down the 4th wall-breaking in the future. I loved the 4th wall breaking until this episode. Prior to the finale, these clever asides were fun navigation tools for the audience. Jen saying Wong is back or Daredevil is really doing it for her were awesome, small bits of insight into Jen’s world. Expanding the 4th wall breaking to this extent gives Jen the ability to impact the entire MCU.

If there’s a season two, hopefully, the writing is better. The cast and the premise are full of comedic and dramatic potential.