Netflix Retrospective: Iron Fist Season 1 episodes 5-6 - Under Leaf Pluck Lotus/Immortal Emerges through Cave

Under Leaf Pluck Locus

3 women walk along the street, all wheeling the same case, they split up and show their heroin, which is 100% better than all other heroin because of reasons I can’t be bothered to explain. After testing it on a junkie, one of their clients asks to make a big order, roll credits.

An assistant named Sandi tells Rand that this totally not illegal heroin (???) can be produced in mass quanities wherever the manufacturers, without the need to import. Danny vows to put a stop to it. Joy on the other hand is in the middle of a legal drama because if there’s one thing you want to see in a show called Iron Fist it’s legal drama. Apparantly there have been several cases of cancer within a 1 mile radius of a chemical plant. Joy argues that Rand followed legal guidelines and hence aren’t accountable.

Danny goes to Ward, telling him about the events of the previous episode and how he found out the drug was being shipped through the pier they just bought. Since now he sees connections to K’un L’un maybe it’d be better to start at the beginning rather than sounding like a mental patient, which I remind you, you were 3 episodes ago. Ward says he can’t help and Danny leaves the heroin sample he’d received from the triads behind for some reason.

So, Danny goes to his assistant and asks what she can do whilst secretly making an origami flower, how riveting… Joy and Ward meet up and head down the elevator. She tells him she felt horrible with the legal case, but Ward reassures her she’s doing the right thing. And it’s time for the stupid to start again, the mother woman from the legal case goes up to Danny and states explicitly that her son got cancer from the plant.

Here’s a problem, did he work at the plant? I’d argue no, because he’s a kid, or the only photo we see of him is him as a kid, so how do you connect the dots and affirmatively link his cancer to the Rand chemical plant? Joy’s right, they really don’t have a case. Danny tells her he’s sorry and promises to do what he can to help, right in front of some cameras. You see this is what happens when a public figure who owns the majority of a company doesn’t know what’s going on in said company, or have any idea how to run a business.

Colleen is training some-one at her dojo, it’s Claire Temple, following up on her arc from Luke Cage. Danny arrives, having ordered takeout for him and Colleen completely out of no-where because that isn’t at all creepy. Claire asks to join since otherwise this not-romantic at all candlelit flower tabled dinner would be uber-creepy.

Ward sees Danny’s approach to legal stuff. Get Hogarth on the phone now, she can deal with this sh*t, problem solved. But no, Hogarth’s not in this episode either. Ward tells them to put out a claim that Danny was coerced into admitting fault under false pretences, which is not entirely inaccurate if I’m honest. He’s also been at the company all of 5 minutes and shouldn’t be expected to know everything going on.

Stressed, Ward considers taking the heroin but ultimately takes another pill that he’s been taking, his father texts him telling him to ‘Do what Joy says,” implying he has a camera somewhere, Ward gives him the fingers. Despite Danny ordering for 2, the meal seems to serve 3 perfectly. He says his prayers and we find out he had a friend named Davos, they used to eat donkey together. Claire gets some insight to his origin off-screen. But to business, Claire leaves and Rand explains the situation to Colleen and asks her to watch his back. To convince he reveals he bought the building so he’s now her landlord. How very not creepy…

Ward talks to the board, and says they’re going to take the case to court. They will ultimately win, unless they have done something illegal in that chemical plant. But the board are concerned about the damage not settling would do to their reputation. Joy stands in his defence, which is actually charming. Colleen shows her proficiency with weapon and embarrasses Danny.

So, the stakeout Colleen gets shaky when she sees machine guns and admits she enjoyed hurting the people in the ring and that scares her. They close in on the shipments, somehow making no noise jumping between metal crates. They open them but they don’t see what they’re looking for, just equipment and boxes. Needing to see more clearly Danny gets in close, sneaking into the truck with the boxes. It’s closed up behind him. Colleen takes out the one guy left to steal his car and follow the truck.

There’s a door behind the boxes, Danny opens the door to find a guy, sitting there and watching TV, his name's Radovan and he’s a chemist. A guard attacks and for some reason this isn’t easy for Danny, and Radovan is stabbed during the fight. Danny gets him out and Colleen gets close enough for them both to jump. Radovan is a wanted man in several countries so simply taking him to a hospital isn’t an option.

I think it’s obvious that Ward just took the heroin and he’s giggling like an idiot then talking about his father to joy who doesn’t realise his involvement, he goes back to sleep again. Joy is understandably worried. Claire is summoned to do her thing, she is quite literally a miracle worker. He reveals that the Hand has his daughter, and Claire goes into a fit, having seen first-hand what the Hand are capable of. It’s quite amusing how she remarks that she can’t escape meeting people like him. She tell him that he can’t defeat the Hand alone and she’s right but we’ll get to that another time. Colleen now for some reason decides she wants in.

Madame Gao discovers the van that was broken, the guard Iron Fist fought tells her what happened before she kills him

OK, after a boring opening, this episode does up the ante and give the series a sense of purpose, Danny is still irritating though.

Rating 6.5/10

Immortal Emerges through Cave

That’s a martial arts move?

As Danny meditates and hears one his masters’ speeches, several people throughout the city are given a message that ‘The Time has come’ roll credits. Joy convinces Ward to ditch all his pills and I have no idea what they are for or anything really, we’ll find out later maybe. She’s hired a crisis management team over this lawsuit and requires Danny at a meeting today.

Ward confronts Danny and now I have questions about what exactly Danny was told. He’s got 6 warehouses to check for Radovan’s daughter and Ward elects to go with him, so they can be back for the meeting at 4. Danny must’ve passed his driving test remarkably quickly. Anyway, apparently Claire’s fix is not a full one, if they don’t get him to a hospital, he’s a dead man, but if they get to him to the hospital before his daughter’s safe, they’re both dead.

In warehouse 4, Danny finds the truck he broke out of, inside is the head of the guy he fought, with an invitation inside his mouth. Ward is less than pleased to see this. He takes the invitation back to Claire and Collen. It’s a challenge, if he wins they do what he wants, *cough*right*cough* Claire says they need to call the police. Literally the last episode she said you needed Super-powers to go after the Hand.

Ward is now on the verge of a mental breakdown, noticing the blood stain on his shirt which he got from… His pills were taken away. Thankfully we’re spared most of the crisis management session. Everyone seems to not want Danny to confront the Hand for no reason. I guess they care about now or whatever.

After having another episode, they realise they have to take Radovan to a hospital. Danny arrives for his challenge. If he wins, he takes the girl, and the Hand stops using his company, if he loses, he must vow never to touch the Hand again. Madame Gao relays the terms and Danny agrees to them. He has 2 particularly chatty opponents, speaking of chatty, the match keeps getting interrupted by the master. He defeats them, one of them dragging himself out of the arena but he’s not done yet.

Meanwhile, Claire speaks to some old friends in hospital. Danny’s taken to an attic with torn sheets everywhere so we can look at our next fighter, a girl with a spider tattooed on her back, she tries to be seductive and manages to drug him with spider-venom. She keeps kicking his ass until the master shows up again and he overcomes her, the Hand have on more for him to face.

Meanwhile Ward is zoning out, seeing the head and worrying Joy. Ward rushes out, he calls his doctor to get some more pills but ultimately get nowhere. He drives to a pharmacist, shuts his hand in a car door as it turns out he’s been taking painkillers, but the pharmacist won’t give it to him easily and soon he’s really on edge, Joy picks him up having somehow followed him. Claire’s spider-sense goes off and she realises the Hand have recaptured Radovan, they try and pursue but the Hand set up a decoy and he’s already gone.

Danny faces his final opponent, a Japanese psychopath, is he actually gonna summon his iron fist this time? He has a thing for blades and they’re in a room full of them. Even this fight is interrupted by the babbling of the master whose name I don’t care about. Finally, Danny uses the Iron Fist but just as he’s about to finish him off, Gao has the girl at knife point, and tells him to withdraw. Apparently if he withdraws it’s dishonourable but doesn’t count as a defeat… ok… He withdraws, but gets what he wants in rescuing the girl. Gao reveals she knew Wendell Rand but escapes using her telekinesis trick before Danny can find out more.

This episode does a good job ramping up the tension, I just found the master annoying more than I did insightful to Danny’s character

Rating 7/10