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I really wanted another episode available at launch, too. Pilots are always sort of wonky creatures that can introduce a story and characters but not really the typical episode structure, and that seems to be truer than ever with these established-franchise streaming ventures -- Remember how Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn't even share any scenes together in their own first episode?

Anyway, whether in a second installment or as a bigger role in this one, I would have loved to get more of the 'Attorney at Law' today along with our dose of 'She-Hulk.' But maybe that's just because I'm still mourning the recent departure of Better Call Saul from our lives.

(Say it with me now: "Lawyer show!")

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Also got the Infinity War lead-in. So far the show was just ok, which a lot of premiere's sort of have to suffer through to set everything up. But I'll watch Tatiana in anything as she is a pure joy to see perform. A few notes:

- Who is making Hulk custom vintage tee shirts? The Nirvana one raised so many questions, especially since I think Hulk admitted to once attempting to end his own life before. Odd choice there.

- I don't see how in any way being able to drink forever and not get drunk but still get hangovers is a perk. This seems like all the worst parts about drinking, and expensive to boot.

- Gonna need to see Bruce's binder about why Jessica's hair changes when she Hulk's out. Distracting more than the shoddy CGI.

- I kind of hope Cheetos acts as an unofficial co-lead for the entire run as its appearances here were so egregious.

- Kind of a dick move taking the Jeep and leaving Bruce on the island...seems like he was only there to help her and probably had shit to do (Hello World War Hulk tease with the Sakaarian ship!)

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I also would have liked to have seen a second episode to get an idea of what the show looks like when it is letting its actual premise play out, but I didn't mind leading things off with an origin episode. If anything I'm relieved it was only one episode. If this were a Netflix show we'd have had nine episodes of Jennifer and Bruce on a road trip and then the car crash to close out episode ten.

While I'm sure that they could have just dove right into "she's a hulk, she's a lawyer, hulk-lawyer lawyer-hulk" with little issue, just jumping in would have left questions (how did she get hulkified? Why doesn't she have a second personality that takes over) which were probably better answered up front. She-Hulk's origins aren't as widely known as Spider-Man's, so they'd have to dive into it eventually. Doing the Mexico stuff as, say, episode seven would have felt perfunctory and out of place, especially considering there wasn't a shocking reveal that could have been hinted at and then played out in full as a late season flashback. Plus, this way you get Mark Ruffalo right up front and get all that fun interplay between the two of them.

But overall, fun episode! Maslany is winning in the role, the CGI overall wasn't as bad as I feared, the moment of Bruce reminiscing about Tony was very nice, and the joke in the end credit scene was so funny my laughter woke up my baby.

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I got Infinity War too.

Re: Trauma, I feel like the show they want to make doesn't really have room for that trauma, which makes it even more confusing to go through the whole origin story rather than just starting years down the line after she's at least had some time to process if not done any actual processing.

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I agree that the Smart Hulk CGI looks a lot better than the She-Hulk CGI because, as you point out, DUH, but I like that they seem to be doing a lot more of just Tatiana Maslany in green make-up, which looks pretty good and allows her to act.

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Was it just me or did the crash scene evoke the pilot of the 1977 series?

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Yes on the Infinity War thing. And it’ll be hard to tell till the whole thing airs, but the Gao interview about the Mexico stuff originally being later in the season, but rearranged in post... i mean, it kinda works here to get it out of the way. I do think audience would be fine if she started already as a Hulk and getting hints as to how... on the other hand, it isn’t a big reveal or secret, so seeing how she got it later in the season might’ve felt odd.

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The only thing making me come back for episode 2 is the mid-credits scene. If the show can find a way to do that kind of humor, I'm in. The rest of the episode was meh--there didn't seem to be a lot of stakes for her which was weird and just made it bland. I would've been fine with half of the island stuff and moving onto the lawyer show which seems a lot more interesting.

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Anyone else hoping this Sikarian thing that's clearly going to be a season-long subplot/mystery means we might see the Grandmaster again? Trying to get Hulk back, but now there's two for him to kidnap... If this show's going for weird humor, by god would Jeff Goldblum fit in.

Despite this first episode I'm kind of hopeful we might actually get some Law & Order: MCU. I love legal dramas and this world raises so many questions about liability, rights, etc.

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All I could think about watching She Hulk was Better Call Saul. Jen became She Hulk without really giving the choice a thought during her closing statement after spending the episode telling us/Bruce she did not want to be a hero and detract from her legal career.

I thought about if this show was Better call Saul her transformation in the closing statement would have been an entire season arc. I know this show is not Saul but it is difficult to orient my brain around what type of show this is trying to be and take it seriously when the character motivations and choices are abrupt and I do not have the information to synthesize the why behind the decision.

I agree with your synthesis Myles. Thank you

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We got “infinity war” too.

It was better than the previews IMHO. I hope they don’t lean into the “single hulk lady is a large green Cathy-character basically” vibe they put out in the early promos. That didn’t sit right with me but I admit I am punchy when it comes to the MCU and the opportunity for feminist reckoning. I’ll save your followers my Black Widow rant.

Keith liked it, I’m “meh” bordering on cautious optimism. Looking forward to the next episode nonetheless.

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The flashback/framing structure added precisely nothing. I suppose at least they didn't have it start in the courtroom and flashback just after Titania entered. Should have just done everything linearly.

It did suggest Infinity War for me as well, is that the most prominent hulk persona struggle in the full MCU? D+'s suggestion algorithm doesn't seem that sophisticated as it's always suggesting things I've recently watched.

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I almost didn’t watch this show because I saw some lackluster reviews, but I figured I could take a half hour to at least try episode 1. Well ... I really liked it! I didn’t know Mark Ruffalo was going to be in it but that was a nice surprise. I am also happy to see Jameela Jamil in it, as I really enjoyed her in The Good Place. I thought the origin story was good but I wasn’t able to judge the legal aspect. The problem is I probably want it to be as good as The Good Wife in terms of a legal procedural and I am unsure we’ll get that. I really love the case of the week format and maybe She Hulk will do that. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But this first episode was pleasing enough that I will be back for the second episode.

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