So if you were hoping to see how the last scene from last week’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law resolved, you’re sadly going to be disappointed. Instead, the finale titled Whose Show Is This? starts with a retro montage. It shows the origin story of Jennifer Walters but through a lens that harkens back to the original Hulk TV show. Meaning it’s grainy, silly and delightfully ridiculous. They treat it as mostly a dream sequence, though Maslany does stop the old school narrator from starting it back up later on.
As for what’s actually happening in the episode? Well, you know how Jennifer Walters used to do her cute breaking the 4th wall thing? Let’s just say Whose Show Is This? totally smashes the 4th wall asunder. It starts with Jennifer in a Damage Control cell for freaking out after being baited successfully by Intelligencia. Her life is in a downward spiral once more. She has to put on a power inhibitor permanently, loses her job and moves back in with her parents.
Nikki isn’t ready to leave Jen hanging, though she’s more than happy to keep her own job. In her free time she gets free dinner from Jen’s oversharing parents (she even gets a flirty college video of Jennifer dancing horribly with dreads like from Orphan Black) and also finds a way to unmask Intelligencia. She goes on their message boards once more and posts the video, getting invited to a big party. Only one problem – they expect her to be a dude, so Nikki begs Pug to go in her place.
Meanwhile let’s just say Jen isn’t ready to be living with her parents again. Sure, they’re darling and annoying, but she was just getting used to being a superpowered lawyer. She figures only Emil would understand where she’s coming from, and he did say that she could drop by whenever. So Jen heads over in the middle of the night, only to be greeted by none other than the Wrecker. He seems to truly be using his time at the Abomination’s retreat to better himself, and has grown fond of a chicken blood dosed tee that Saracen serves. When Jen asks to see Emil himself, he mentions he’s hosting a private party in the lodge.
Oh and about that private party? It’s an Intelligencia meeting. And yes, they’re all as douchey and horrible as you’d imagine. The best part is watching how bad Pug is at fitting in, and getting instructions from Nikki via earbud. It’s quickly revealed that Todd is none other than HulkKing himself, meaning he’s responsible for all the bad things that have recently happened to Jen.
She walks in, only to find Abomination fully transformed being a paid host for the losers. Then Todd uses the blood Josh stole from Jen to transform into the most dude bro-looking Hulk you’ve ever seen. The original Hulk smashes in, as does Titania, and suddenly Jennifer calls time out. She breaks through a panel on the Disney+ screen and jumps back down through another one to get to the lot at Marvel studios. And then things get really weird.
Jennifer as She-Hulk barges into the writers room for her show, and demands answers. Mainly why her show is getting such a formulaic and stupid ending. The writers say that it’s all according to K.E.V.I.N.’s will (the acronym will make sense momentarily) and that they’d die to protect him. Jen brushes off the threat, and meanders over to the office for the head honcho. Where she has to sign a NDA from Disney before the secretary triggers an alarm. Cue several guards trying in vain to stop her, as she effortlessly makes her way through the door, only to come face to face with the robotic K.E.V.I.N. AKA Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus. Nothing to do with the last name Feige, I’m sure.
The robot explains that its computational skills deliver perfect stories every time, so what if they’re a bit formulaic? Jennifer counters that her show is a legal drama, and so it doesn’t make sense to end in a giant fist fight. Furthermore, she would like for her powers not to be the villain, and could K.E.V.I.N. also throw in more sexy time with Matt Murdock, and how about those X-Men? It’s clear at this point Maslany is just having fun, and I’m pleased with her banter and the fact Disney even allowed this sort of crazy in the first place.
K.E.V.I.N. rewinds the clock, alters the settings, and throws Jennifer back into her show, warning her to never return to his office. Then Jennifer manages to get Todd arrested for his harassment and hacking her electronics, much to the chagrin of a Titania that was hoping to videotape her ripping him to pieces. Plus Emil goes back to jail for ignoring his inhibitors, but he does so willingly. Cue a big family dinner, Matt Murdock as Jen’s date, and Bruce suddenly returning with his son in tow, named Skaar. And yes, I am angry we didn’t get to see a World War Hulk before that last bit happened, but that’s not what matters.
What matters is that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law delivered a successfully entertaining and constantly surprising comedy. Sure, its focus on sexism may have been a bit too one note for my tastes, and I may have preferred shows like Ms. Marvel. But that doesn’t detract from the clever writing on display, peppered with some truly fantastic cameos. I’m not sure if this is the end of the series, but I hope it’s not the last we see of Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk. It wasn’t perfect, but it took risks and told a fun story. Sometimes that’s all we can ask for.
