We’re finally in the home stretch, and things are about to get insane. Welcome to the season finale of ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ episode 9, ‘Whose show is this?’
The episode begins with a parody of the opening credits of the 1970’s ‘The Incredible Hulk’ series, with Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) now playing the Bill Bixby role and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner by her side.
But it’s all a dream, and Jen wakes up in custody, in Emil Blonsky’s (Tim Roth) old cell, with her friends visiting her. She asks if they got ahold of her cousin, but Bruce is not returning his calls.
Jen mentions targeting the people who went after her, but Mallory (Renee Elise Goldsberry) stop her and explains they need to discuss her case. They tell her that no charges will be filed, but she needs to wear an inhibitor and can no longer be She-Hulk. She takes the news well but isn’t happy about it.
Jen packs her stuff up at work, after being let go from the job, with Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga) and Pug (Josh Segarra) helping her walk out. At home, the news is all about her, including the reporters outside her home. Her parents offer for her to move back in, and she has no choice but to take it. The reporters chase her to her family’s home, where her father (Mark Linn-Baker) goes after them with a water hose.
Later that day, Nikki meets Jen to go over the Intellegencia website. Jen is planning to do this legally, but Nikki wants to do it by any means necessary, while Jen’s mother (Tess Malis Kincaid) embarrasses her with a video of her dancing as a teenager. We then see Dennis (Drew Matthews), Jen’s old coworker, on a talk show spreading lies about Jennifer and She-Hulk.
As she lays in bed, Jen asks the audience if we really wanted this sad story? The 1970’s ‘The Incredible Hulk’ narrator from earlier begins again, and she quickly asks him to stop. She tries to text Bruce but gets no reply. Same for Emil but decides to take up his earlier offer to stay at the retreat. “I’m not running from my problems, it’s a mental health break,” she says.
Back at the office, Nikki uploads Jen’s old dancing video to get the attention of HulkKing, which works. She gets a meeting with him, and ropes Pug into helping her. Jen arrives at Emil’s retreat, as we cut to the other two pulling up to the meeting.
Nikki sends Pug undercover into the meeting, and he walks up on a group of men talking about how She-Hulk and Lady Thor (Natalie Portman) don’t deserve their powers, and that they do instead because they are men. Classy!
Pug is then spotted by Todd (Jon Bass), who is happy to see him there, thinking he’s one of them. Todd explains that Jen didn’t earn her powers. He then reveals that he is actually HulkKing,
Todd calls everyone together and congratulates them on a job well done. We then cut to Jen with Wrecker (Nick Gomez), and she asks where Emil is. He mentions he’s at the lodge, and we move back to Todd introducing Emil to the group as their guest speaker. Pug looking absolutely confused.
It turns out Todd hired Emil to be the life coach of Intellegencia, with Blonsky not knowing the group’s true intentions. Jen opens the door, revealing the entire group including Todd watching Emil give his speech.
At the same time, Nikki breaks into the lodge while Pug reveals to Jen that Todd is HulkKing and that he stole her blood to make himself a Hulk. As Todd injects himself, Jen turns to the audience to ask, “This isn’t going to work, right? “As it indeed does starts to work. Jen then questions where this finale is going.
Then, Titania also comes in through a wall, with Smart Hulk dropping down from the ceiling a moment later as a Hulked-out Todd calls for the men to attack Jen. But all her cousin sees is the Abomination grabbing her, really to save her, but misunderstanding orders him to drop her. It’s very clear Emil doesn’t want to fight him.
Jen, off to the side, comments how none of these storylines make any sense. She looks to the camera, and asks us, “Is this working for you?” As the screen cuts to the Disney+ Marvel select screen, an absolutely insane fourth-wall break begins. Jen asks what we’re doing and breaks her inhibitor, then breaking into the menu.
As if this can’t get any crazier, she crashes into the “real world,” wandering the Disney lot in Burbank and breaking into the ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ production room. Meeting the writers, she questions them “what kind of stupid finale is this?” They defend that it’s a great twist.
They say that it’s a thing in all superhero films and tell her she must talk to Kevin. She-Hulk asserts that she’s going to talk to him. Yes, that Kevin! (Which is an obvious reference to President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige). The front desk man at Marvel Studios pulls the emergency button, after making her sign an NDA, and Jen takes out the guards trying to stop her.
She enters Kevin’s office and sees the entirety of her universe (all the past Marvel Studios productions) played out on a big screen. A robot descends from the ceiling wearing a baseball cap, calling itself K.E.V.I.N (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus), and asks if she was expecting a real man? He says that he will answer her questions, but only if she turns back to normal Jen off screen because they don’t have the budget to see her transform again.
K.E.V.I.N explains he makes near perfect products, but that the internet sometimes says otherwise. Jen asks why her show is the way it is and offers to give her closing arguments on why her final episode should be different. She goes into a huge speech about how all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and TV shows end the same.
She says the ending detracts from her story, and that her stakes are more important. The machine asks what ending she would want, and Jen offers that Todd doesn’t get her powers, because her blood isn’t the bad guy, he is! She also wants to remove Bruce from the finale, but K.E.V.I.N claims he was there to reveal what he was doing in space and introduce someone … but Jen says, “Save it for the movie.”
Jen also wants Emil to be held accountable for his actions, the finale to be in daylight, and to see Daredevil (Charlie Cox) again, quipping; “A woman has needs.” She even questions the daddy issues in the MCU and asks where the X-Men are!
After K.E.V.I.N complains that she ruined the finale he designed, Jen mentions that she did what Hulks do, smash! “Bruce smashes buildings, and I smash forth-walls and bad endings, and sometimes Matt Murdock!”
Back at Emil’s retreat, She-Hulk angrily threatens Todd, but then surprisingly transforms back to normal telling him, “I’ll see you in court, babe”
Then, out of nowhere, Daredevil drops in, telling Jen he’s there to help. She explains how he missed everything, but that she’s happy to see him. Leaving him there, Jen walks over to explain to Emil that he’s going back to prison for violating parole, to which he agrees, and holds himself accountable.
We then cut to Jen and Matt Murdock with her family, having a fantastic time. Her parents are surprised to hear that even though he is a lawyer, he doesn’t make a lot of money working in Hell’s Kitchen, and then even bring up the idea of grandkids. Jen tries to save Matt from the conversation when Bruce suddenly shows up. He talks about being away on Sakaar, and then introduces his son, Skaar (Wil Deusner)!
In the final scene, it’s revealed Jen is cleared of her conviction, and she explains that if people come after her, she will go after them as a superhero and in court, ending the season. However, the end-credit scene reveals Wong (Benedict Wong) breaking Blonsky out of prison to go live in Kamar-Taj.
This last episode absolutely solidified ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ as a must watch for me among the Disney+ Marvel library. It’s honestly been a long time since a season finale has really pulled the whole show together for me, and the team behind Jen’s story really killed it.
The humor was well placed, the silly references to other properties, and even K.E.V.I.N and the reveal of Bruce Banner’s son were great little winks to the community behind this giant universe. And let’s not forget how Charlie Cox’s Daredevil was utilized as not just a guest, but a fantastic side character to Jennifer.
Honestly, it’s going to be tough for Marvel to top what they did with ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,’ but I cannot wait to see what they do with ‘Secret Invasion,’ which will obviously be much different.
Thanks for being a part of the ride!
