So, Jen reenters the show after getting K.E.V.I.N. And as much as seeing a Marvel third act swing for the fences is exciting, it would be nice if it actually just delivered a character-centric climax instead of having the character deliver a monologue about delivering a character-centric climax. By sending Jen to the real world, the writers leave the world they’ve built behind in favor of some punchlines. And here, the show has pushed so hard against its boundaries that it sacrifices its own story for it. But there’s a difference between fourth-wall breaking and meta commentary that pushes the bounds of a story and commentary that makes it inert. “But isn’t that what the show is trying to do? I mean, Jen literally left her reality.” you might say. On another level, this is Terminal Dan Harmonization: a level of comedic meta commentary that breaks the reality of the show that it’s in. On one level, this is a clever, and extremely literal commentary on the hyper-corporate nature of Marvel Studios’s storytelling. (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus) actually tells the stories we’ve been consuming for all these years. See, Kevin Feige isn’t the mastermind behind Marvel’s formula. Then the dial gets turned up to a point of meta that I’d like to deem Terminal Dan Harmonization. It’s a lot, but it’s a charming enough writing decision. Rather than bend the knee to the Marvel formula, Jen literally leaves her show through the Disney+ dashboard, jumps into a behind the scenes special to enter the real world, and goes to confront the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law writers’ room then Kevin Feige himself.
Of course, the main event of the episode is not a giant brawl but rather the single most out-there fourth-wall break that we’ve seen thus far (or maybe ever). It’s not an unbelievable climax but it is insane to see the show trying to tie up every single thread in one fell swoop. Titania bursts through a wall, Abomination tries to protect Jen, then Hulk literally falls out of the sky and starts fighting Abomination. Todd injects himself with Jen’s blood, becoming a Hulk himself. After that, Jen shows up and things start to get messy – really messy. It’s not exactly shocking, but it does land well. Despite me writing “OF COURSE Abomination is HulkKing,” in my notes, Todd is revealed to be our mysterious villain and the creator of the Intelligencia (Abomination is just a guest motivational speaker). As soon as Pug walks into the event, the “Today is Today” poster in the background acts as an effective red herring. At the same time, Nikki has scored an invite to an Intelligencia meeting and she recruits Pug as her proxy because only men are attending.
It’s clear that the show is building toward something when Jen heads up to Emil Blonsky’s retreat center. It’s there’s no investment in Jen, just that nothing around her has been quite rich enough for us to feel a real connection to all of that. Instead, a sequence staged like it’s informed by a deep emotional investment in Jen’s world falls a bit flat. And her family has been too peripheral, if charming and sweet, for her moving in with them to evoke all that much. We’ve spent so little time seeing GLK&H as anything but a nuisance for Jen so her leaving isn’t exactly heart-wrenching. It’s all very sad on its face but unfortunately doesn’t manage to land on any real emotional level. She loses her job, moves back in with her parents, and generally mopes around. After her (justified) She-Hulk meltdown last week, Jen is thrown into Blonsky’s old cell and has to don a power-inhibiting ankle monitor to avoid criminal charges. “Whose Show Is This?” opens in a perfectly enjoyable, if incredibly predictable and formulaic manner. Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ coverage of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law! There’s a whole lot to unpack in this finale so let’s waste no time in jumping into it.
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