She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Please note: This review is based solely on the first episode, which my wife and I watched without the kids, as we were a bit concerned about the potential sexual content of the show, as seen in the trailer and referenced in other reviews. Also, please be aware that SPOILERS FOLLOW. The good news is that there are only three brief scenes with any sexual content in the first episode: - Early on, Jennifer Walters, who is to become the She-Hulk, has a conversation with her cousin, Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk) in which she expounds her theory that Captain America died a virgin. Fortunately, this discussion never gets explicit, and only consists of vague innuendo along the lines of (paraphrasing), "I'm just saying that he was drafted at a young age, and then spent the rest of his life fighting supervillains. When would he have had time to...?" If a child asks what she's referring to, one could simply reply "She's saying he never had a girlfriend." or "He never kissed anyone." or something like that. - three men outside a roadhouse take an unwanted interest in the main character and approach her in a somewhat threatening manner while making catcalls of the "Hey, sweetheart, are you alone?" variety. Before the scene can get any further than vague innuendo that will most likely go over the heads of most kids, She-Hulk basically knocks them out. Plus, the three 'hoodlums' don't even look all that threatening, as they're awfully clean-cut and racially diverse for a trio of 'tough guys'. One gets the sense that the filmmakers are intentionally pulling their punches in this brief scene. - Finally, there is a very brief post-credits scene in which Jennifer Walters and her cousin The Hulk discuss Captain America's virginity in more explicit terms. When The Hulk suggests that there had, in fact, been an intimate encounter in Captain America's WWII days, Walters then comes right out and uses the word "virgin" and begins to say the F-word, but it's cut off ("Fu---") This last scene definitely crossed the line for my wife and me as to what we would let our kids watch. However, it's also super easy to avoid, as it comes after the credits and is a quick gag that has no bearing on the plot whatsoever. Just stop the playback before the end of the first group of end credits, and your kids will never be the wiser. Other elements of possible concern in the first episode: The Hulk shows off his homemade bar to his cousin, explaining that their sped-up metabolism allows them to drink vast quantities of alcohol without getting sick. This is followed by a scene of them doing just that, followed by Walters complaining of a massive hangover the next morning. Tons of comic book style fighting, mostly consisting of an extended fist fight between the two Hulk cousins. There are some other fight scenes. Loads of people getting punched and sent smashing into furniture and walls. No blood, with the key exception of a car crash in which Banner's blood drips into a wound on Walters' arm. (A key part of her origin story here.) There were probably a whole bunch of mild curse words throughout the episode, but since that sort of thing is not a big concern in our household, they didn't really register on me, except for the aforementioned not-mild partial F-bomb at the end, which would definitely have been a deal breaker, except, as I mentioned, it's trivial to avoid. Other than that, I found the show to be just as entertaining as I remember the "Sensational She-Hulk" comics of the John Byrne era being. Bottom line: we will probably let our fairly mature 11 year old daughter watch the first episode (but not the coda), but will definitely not allow our 8 year old daughter to watch it (in her case more for the violence than anything else). Again, please keep in mind that all of my observations here refer solely to the first episode. Based on the trailer, I have a suspicion the sexual content of the series will ramp up in future episodes. As a result, I think my wife and I will preview all episodes before letting our oldest watch.

The first episode has a strong plot, and the character interactions are mostly engaging. However, some of the flaws of the first episode include cringey, unfunny jokes as well as choppy pacing. And from the first episode alone, this show is better than Ms. Marvel. Despite this, one thing that Ms. Marvel does right that She-Hulk does not is respecting characters WITHOUT digging at those who may be different. For example, Ms. Marvel covers a lot on culture and religion without belittling other cultures and religion. Meanwhile, She-Hulk’s pilot episode has a “women are better than men, and as a result, should belittle and talk down to men” vibe. Speaking as a WOC myself, I’m all for strong female leads, and I think more of them should exist on screen. I support diversity all the way, and I hate it whenever people use the term “woke” for anything with POC. However, Jennifer keeps mentioning how she’s better than the Hulk and has to continually remind Bruce that she’s a woman. She shouldn’t automatically be better BECAUSE she’s a woman. She should be a fleshed out character WHILE being a woman. I hope she learns to be humble throughout the course of the series, because if she’s going to constantly bring up the fact that she’s a woman, then I don’t think this show’s worth it. It’ll make her an unlikable character in the long run. That’s my main issue with the first episode. If the writers really wanted to create a strong female character with a passion for law, they should’ve looked at Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. She doesn’t think she’s better because she’s a female, doesn’t dig at men for their gender, and doesn’t have a defensive attitude.