Iron Fist 1x07 Review: All Your Company Are Belong to Us

​“Felling Tree with Roots”
Written by Ian Stokes
Directed by Farren Blackburn
 
The Story
Harold gets dragged out of his weird glass coffin bed thing for a Hand shakedown. They’re not happy Harold didn’t tell them about the Iron Fist, and he’s playing dumb. He’s about to get some fingers chopped off when Danny shows up, giving lie to all his denials. They fight the two guys. Harold kills them both with the knife that was going to take his fingers. Harold doesn’t want Danny messing with Gao, and Harold chops off his own pinky to disguise what they’ve done from her. He’ll get rid of the bodies. Correction: he’ll get Ward to get rid of the bodies. Joy isn’t happy with Ward, and she desperately wants him to tell her what’s going on with him. He can’t. Colleen stitches Danny up. Wait, where’s Claire? Oh, she’s getting Sabina to safety. Fine. They have drinks, and Danny reminisces. Second Davos namedrop. Wonder when he’s showing up. Colleen likes his stories. He sort of explains what the Iron Fist is. She wants him to stay, and she repeats that with a hand hold and longing. They kiss, and then more. I’ve seen people criticize this bit as him breaking his vow of chastity, but I just assumed that was only for the duration of his training, so whatever. Still might’ve been nice for them to take it slower.
 
Ward arrives at the penthouse to find Harold bashing the teeth out of the two dead guys with a hammer to make them impossible to identify. Ward doesn’t appreciate being assigned to dump bodies. He’s planning to bail after doing it. Joy presents Danny with a statement he needs to make at a meeting to undo the damage he did. Gao strides right into Rand in the middle of Joy’s dressing down of him. She’s there because she works there, or at least controls parts of it. Danny wants answers from her. She’d like him for an ally, and she knows about Claire and Colleen. She has a Rand key card. He follows her to her floor. That’s where she’s running the heroin operation from. Joy wants Ward to get help, and it’s really sweet. He agrees. Danny listens to Gao’s heroin production plans and is furious. But there’s still a chance to save the chemist. He subdues and questions the distribution lady. Colleen gets a visit from Bakudo, her sensei. He instructs her to stick with Danny, and they seem to have a very positive rapport. Megan helps Danny get a shirt that isn’t mussed up, but the files Danny asked for consist of just one name badge. Danny doesn’t read the statement. Instead, he decides they’re shutting down the Staten Island plant until they’re sure it’s not causing cancer. And he already gave Karen an exclusive about it!
 
Danny wants to go rescue the chemist. Harold wants him to go straight for Gao. It’s Darryl’s last day at the dojo before he starts an “elite training program.” Wonder what that’s about. Danny comes to get Colleen to help him rescue the chemist. Ward is on his way to wherever he’s going when he gets a call that his card was declined. His funds have been depleted. No escape for you! Danny and Colleen recruit those Chinese Mafia guys to help them attack the Hand. They’re on Gao’s hit list anyway. The board has kicked Danny, Joy, and Ward out. Danny and Colleen get to the Chemist, but he’s in bad shape, and he already told Gao what she wanted to know. He dies. Gao is in the same city in China where he and his parents were heading when their plane went down. Ward flips out at Harold about his funds. Apparently those were company funds, and Ward is an embezzler. Harold hid that from the company, but he’s not going to let him skip away with it all in his pocket. After a few minutes of awfulness from Harold, Ward stabs him repeatedly until he dies, then dumps his body where he dumped the goons.
 
Okay, 7 was much better than 6. Good. How weird is it that I like episodes with corporate Hand intrigue over the tournament episode? The fighting has to feel urgent to be interesting, but the tournament was carried out at such a sedate pace, and we couldn’t see the frightened hostage until the very end, so the stakes weren’t evident. But this is supposed to be about 7. It definitely gets props for that final twist, and for Danny/Colleen adorableness. Gao’s comfortable presence at Rand is incredibly sinister. The team-up with the Chinese Mafia guys was awesome, and now there’s Bakudo, an unknown quantity who we’re inclined to trust because Colleen is so happy to see him and it’s impossible not to like someone she smiles at.
 
Things I Liked

• “My whole body feels like a bruise.” Heh. Danny? Meet Frank before you say that.
• Danny and Colleen are such cuties. Probably the least angsty ship in Marvel Netflix.
• Gao’s sinister offer/threat to Danny.
• Sibling hug!
• Oooh. Punisher easter egg. “The Dogs of Hell will be using Rand trucks to deliver to the South.” Yeah, they won’t make it far.
• Bakudo’s subtle Hand coloring. Dark jacket, red shirt.
• Danny’s conversation with Megan. I like her, and I like that he cares what she thinks about Rand.
• Danny did an interview with Karen!
• I think Ward actually did hurt Harold’s feelings telling him the last happy day of his life was when Harold died.
• The twist of Ward stabbing Harold

 
Things I Didn’t

• Harold’s “I’m protecting you” act. He sounds so phony.
• Harold with the hammer. Horrific.
• Gao’s floor is the 13th. If they were going for numerical symbolism, it should’ve been a number with a 4 in it. 4 is the unlucky number in Asian cultures.
• Danny’s interview with Karen was offscreen. Boo.
• “Honestly, Ward, couldn’t you have just gotten a mistress?”
• “You’re my creation. You belong to me.” Gross.
• What happens when one gets forced out of a board? Do they buy out your shares and cut you loose? Do they just take away your say over what the company does, but you still hang on like a leech, not actually contributing?
• No Claire. Boo.

 
The Characters
Maybe Danny decided he didn’t need to bother with corporate stuff if he was fighting the Hand, but now it’s clear that the Hand IS part of the corporate stuff, so he better not burn those bridg—oops. Might be too late for that. It also looks like he doesn’t have a problem with killing when it’s necessary, it just hasn’t been necessary for him to personally do it yet.
 
Joy continues to quietly waffle between being a company woman and being moral. It’s starting to get boring. Also, hers is the arc least connected to the Hand arc, which doesn’t help her feel like an important character.
 
So far, Harold has been a very good antagonist without being a villain. Probably the least sympathetic hostage I’ve ever seen.
 
And I think Ward has just hit bottom! Except he was fairly chipper after committing patricide, so maybe not.
 
Colleen just found out that Danny is the sworn enemy of her own organization, and she’s sleeping with him now? I know she was already interested in him, but does she think it’ll be easier to get him on her side if he’s already her boyfriend? Or is that not even a factor because she believes her part of the Hand has nothing to do with Gao’s part?
 
Overall Rating
4.5/5