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Iron Fist thoughts on Ward and his assistant in Season 2
I posted this over on Tumblr last night, but figured I'd also post it here.
”It’s been a bad day in a bad week.”
One of my favorite underrated scenes in season 2 is this one in 2x02 with Ward and his S2-era assistant, Katie.
She appears in only one scene and is briefly mentioned in another episode. And yet, I feel that for having such a tiny amount of screentime in the show, there’s a lot of presence packed into those few minutes of canon.
I feel like that scene with her and Ward is really significant for him (and both of them, really) because one of Ward’s big things this season is learning to be less self-absorbed, but for the most part this takes place through his relationships with various people who are important enough to him to make him break out of his patterns of (mis)behavior because he doesn’t want to lose them. But the thing about Katie is, she’s not that important in a close-personal-ties kind of way. She’s not his sibling or his lover or even a friend-of-family the way Misty is.
So that scene where he apologizes to her and walks back from his mistreatment of her is really meaningful in his character development. It’s the only time this season and maybe the only time ever that we see him going out of his way and making the conscious decision to intentionally not be a dick when he doesn’t have to. (I’m not saying he’s always a dick otherwise. Actually, season 1 Ward is usually fairly polite to people when he’s not otherwise angry/annoyed. I don’t think he goes out of his way to be a jerk to people – it’s just that he doesn’t care enough not to be, and in season 2, we don’t see much of his interaction with people outside his immediate circle of family and his NA group.)
But the thing about that scene with Katie is that he realizes what he’s doing – taking out his emotional upset/anger/pain with the Joy situation on her – and walks it back and apologizes, and then goes out of his way to let her know that he respects and values her opinion. And that’s important!
And the other thing I like about that scene is that she really seems to like him – which is especially significant later on, the other time in the season when she’s mentioned, in the episode where he gets drunk in the bar, because it’s Katie who figures out that something’s wrong and calls Bethany … which means Katie a) knows he’s a recovering addict, b) knows how to get in touch with his sponsor, and c) cares enough to do it even though he’s probably not going to like it and she could get in trouble for it.
Ward needs more people in his life that he’s friendly with on a casual basis. People who like him, and who he likes, without actually being extremely close or emotionally tangled up in the way he is with Joy or Danny or Bethany.
(… also, the fact that Ward’s assistant has a business degree and is clearly a full-fledged professional in her own right in season 2 makes me feel even worse for poor put-upon Megan in season 1, because presumably she was too, unless Rand was such a total clusterfuck at that point that their professional standards have come up by season 2. (Entirely possible.) Still, I hope Megan got a glowing recommendation and is currently having a very nice life somewhere that Ward is not.)
”It’s been a bad day in a bad week.”
One of my favorite underrated scenes in season 2 is this one in 2x02 with Ward and his S2-era assistant, Katie.
She appears in only one scene and is briefly mentioned in another episode. And yet, I feel that for having such a tiny amount of screentime in the show, there’s a lot of presence packed into those few minutes of canon.
I feel like that scene with her and Ward is really significant for him (and both of them, really) because one of Ward’s big things this season is learning to be less self-absorbed, but for the most part this takes place through his relationships with various people who are important enough to him to make him break out of his patterns of (mis)behavior because he doesn’t want to lose them. But the thing about Katie is, she’s not that important in a close-personal-ties kind of way. She’s not his sibling or his lover or even a friend-of-family the way Misty is.
So that scene where he apologizes to her and walks back from his mistreatment of her is really meaningful in his character development. It’s the only time this season and maybe the only time ever that we see him going out of his way and making the conscious decision to intentionally not be a dick when he doesn’t have to. (I’m not saying he’s always a dick otherwise. Actually, season 1 Ward is usually fairly polite to people when he’s not otherwise angry/annoyed. I don’t think he goes out of his way to be a jerk to people – it’s just that he doesn’t care enough not to be, and in season 2, we don’t see much of his interaction with people outside his immediate circle of family and his NA group.)
But the thing about that scene with Katie is that he realizes what he’s doing – taking out his emotional upset/anger/pain with the Joy situation on her – and walks it back and apologizes, and then goes out of his way to let her know that he respects and values her opinion. And that’s important!
And the other thing I like about that scene is that she really seems to like him – which is especially significant later on, the other time in the season when she’s mentioned, in the episode where he gets drunk in the bar, because it’s Katie who figures out that something’s wrong and calls Bethany … which means Katie a) knows he’s a recovering addict, b) knows how to get in touch with his sponsor, and c) cares enough to do it even though he’s probably not going to like it and she could get in trouble for it.
Ward needs more people in his life that he’s friendly with on a casual basis. People who like him, and who he likes, without actually being extremely close or emotionally tangled up in the way he is with Joy or Danny or Bethany.
(… also, the fact that Ward’s assistant has a business degree and is clearly a full-fledged professional in her own right in season 2 makes me feel even worse for poor put-upon Megan in season 1, because presumably she was too, unless Rand was such a total clusterfuck at that point that their professional standards have come up by season 2. (Entirely possible.) Still, I hope Megan got a glowing recommendation and is currently having a very nice life somewhere that Ward is not.)
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This is honestly the first thing I've heard about this series that makes me want to see it, if it gives this kind of understated attention to its characters.
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What else?
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It's a show that's very much about families, where (outside of one romance, which I also really enjoyed and manages to avoid nearly all of the toxic traps that TV het romance can fall into) most of the most pivotal relationships are between siblings, or between parents and children. This show is full of what I can only describe as the sibling version of UST - people desperately wanting to connect with their siblings, and trying to, and angsting about not having their feelings returned.
There's also a lot more of ... I don't know how to describe this ... people being adults about their emotions than I was expecting, especially in the second season. They talk about their feelings! And try to learn healthy coping mechanisms! The hero accidentally gets in a compromising position with a female antagonist and he and his girlfriend talk about it LIKE ADULTS. She worries about him going out vigilante-ing at night and they discuss it and come to an arrangement. The characters fuck up in their interpersonal relationships and then try to learn how to do better and not fuck up again.
This show is emotionally smart, in a way I was not expecting AT ALL. And don't get me wrong, some of the writing is completely OTT, and some of it is ridiculous, and some of it is laughably bad. But you can also see how much of the criticism they took on board and improved in the second season, without losing its commitment to gonzo batshittery in any way. I still regret not getting to find out what they would have done with a third season.
Because so many people bounce off the first season, I ended up writing a So you want to watch Iron Fist? post with suggested secondary jumping-on points if you bounce off the first couple episodes as hard as some people do, and a list of further enticements/content warnings.
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Thank you! Your comment in itself was a very cogent pitch: emotional intelligence, important relationships that are not strictly het romance, and continually (believably, interestingly) evolving characters are all things I am interested in seeing. I am sorry there was no third season. Shows where characters are actually capable of growth should not just be chopped off.
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I hope you continue to enjoy, and also hope you feel better soon!
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The combination actually reminds me a lot of The Wolf Man (1941), which I just saw for the first time last week: the plotting and even first principles are occasionally from Mars, but all the people are real people and the emotional resonances are in real and right places and it winds up feeling both idtastic and complexly touching. And then sometimes ninja fights just happen.
Danny is such an unusual protagonist for this type of show - I really love how gregarious and people-oriented he is, as opposed to the more brooding and mainpainy superhero types
Yes! And when he takes a turn for the dark and brooding at the end of the first season, it is explicitly a sign of how badly he's doing and how hard he needs to course-correct: "Danny, some shit you just can't punch!"
- and Colleen is great,
I love her as a character on her own terms—especially that in the same way Danny is not defined by manpain, Collleen's turn as an antihero in the first season does not cancel her general no-bullshit charge-in paladin tendencies—and they also have a romance I actively root for, which again is not always the case.
and "three-piece human dumpster fire" is the BEST description of Ward (whose actor is also really good, I think; he's got the nuance that it takes to pull off a character like that in a sympathetic way).
Hah. Thanks. (He is. I'd never seen the actor before, but he has the crucial quality for a character of this type, which is the willingness not to look good. It doesn't make him not sympathetic: it makes him real.)
I hope you continue to enjoy, and also hope you feel better soon!
Thank you! In point of fact, I spent most of today on the couch watching the rest of Season 1. I am now into Season 2 and literally just hit the "not an asshole boss" exchange, which is where we came in. I'm already sorry there's no Season 3 to move on to. People have conversations on this show. It's so refreshing.
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Yeah, totally! Another friend in fandom once described a different show like that as "plot-stupid but emotionally smart." I especially like your point about the emotional resonances falling in the right places; the characters react like people, even when what they're reacting to is utterly bonkers and makes no sense.
Also, I think one of the things that sold me on this show is that the characters all had arcs and aspects to their storylines that I didn't expect: the darkness in Colleen, the brightness in Danny, the sympathetic side of Ward. Colleen and Ward got way more development than I expected they would as side characters; they both get their own complete arcs and have their own lives apart from the protagonist.
And then sometimes ninja fights just happen.
Hahahaaa.
Also, as a different friend said recently: "Nothing can prepare you for Evil Undead Dad."
I'm already sorry there's no Season 3 to move on to. People have conversations on this show. It's so refreshing.
I know! Still bummed about the cancellation. I would have loved to see what they'd do with a third season. I really love how much of this show is about making connections to other people and nurturing those connections. That being said, I'm pretty happy with the place where it left off; I've watched shows with planned endings that didn't end as satisfyingly (for me) as this show's accidental ending does.
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The respective conclusions of Colleen in New York and Danny and Ward in Hokkaido are fantastic. (Spin-off movie! Either! Both!) I am sorry the thread with Colleen's mother could never be picked up; that was some Avatar-level parental mystery by the end.
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It occurred to me afterwards that the entire two seasons is basically Colleen's origin story as the Iron Fist, and while I didn't feel that Danny was sidelined, she's the one who gets all the classic "hero" beats in the final episode (defeating the main antagonist while Danny talks down the secondary antagonist Mary; the hero-pose in the fight; the slow motion walkaway from the love interest).
And the final imagery/wrap-up with both sets of protagonists is just so good, the kind of conclusion that leaves it wide open for The Further Adventures Of, while also feeling like a reasonably satisfying wrap-up (for the most part) of their respective character arcs.
So yeah, I loved that. One of the things softening the blow of the cancellation is that I can't really imagine an ending that I would have liked more, as much as I wanted to see the show's various mysteries and arcs fully resolved. (There is so much still to deal with - Colleen's mom! Ward being a dad! Whatever the hell is going on with those glowing chi-guns at the end! Joy's overall arc is something she's clearly still in the middle of - I liked her much better as a character in season 2 than season 1, and I loved that she basically gets what amounts to a redemption arc at the end of the season that involves her doing the right thing but not being nice at all; she's still an asshole, but one who crossed her own moral event horizon and then started pulling herself back from it and trying to fix what she broke.)
But despite the ache of what might have been, it's just such a satisfying place to leave it, with Danny and Ward off finding themselves and Colleen coming into her own as the city's protector, and those great final images of Colleen with her glowing sword, and Danny and Ward as wandering adventurers pulling off magic gun heists(!!). This show was far from perfect, but it was so much better than I thought it was going to be.
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It's a good icon! I loved the earlier reveal that the dragon's heart is different colors for different people; I really loved that for Colleen it's that stainless ghost-white.
It occurred to me afterwards that the entire two seasons is basically Colleen's origin story as the Iron Fist
And it's seeded as far back as the first season, with the question of whether Danny really is committed to being the Iron Fist or whether the Iron Fist was just something to be after he stopped being able to be "Danny Rand"; he's believably ambivalent about the responsibilities and tangled up in the power in ways that make it both a logical and a self-protective decision for him to step back from the role. For Colleen, it just feels like the natural next step.
Joy's overall arc is something she's clearly still in the middle of
Yeah, Joy and Mary/Walker were the characters most left unresolved by the cancellation and I'm sorry, because I liked where both of them were going. I was surprised and impressed by Mary/Walker overall, especially considering the show's handling of mental health as a field otherwise. I can't speak to her resemblance to real-life DID, but she avoided most of the fictional stereotypes I know about, and I really enjoyed that although we meet the sweet artist first, the violent black-ops mercenary is (a) the original personality or at least close enough for government work (b) the stable one who has their life together and doesn't flake in the middle of a job (c) and just wants somewhere to be quiet; I assume the third, Sokovian-prison-busting personality would have been explored in future seasons. I don't think I ship her and Joy, but I would have been interested in the further development of their relationship, since it was the kind of morally ambiguous on both sides that female characters don't often get.
and Danny and Ward as wandering adventurers pulling off magic gun heists(!!).
It is an absolutely splendid fragment of kung-fu western. "More sake!" "More water!"
(Even before then, I was tremendously endeared by Ward on the runway telling Danny not to walk past him without a fight, because while Ward with a gun is good backup, Ward hand-to-hand canonically gets the floor mopped with him. Danny has to be training him some as they travel. I'm sure it's fraught at first for all the obvious reasons, but I am also sure they work it out.)
This show was far from perfect, but it was so much better than I thought it was going to be.
I went into it hoping it would be a fun thing to stare at; in lieu of further seasons, I'm reading most of your fic now. I hope you don't mind.
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Yes! It's perfectly suited to her, as the golden sun-glow suits Danny's sunny personality.
And it's seeded as far back as the first season, with the question of whether Danny really is committed to being the Iron Fist or whether the Iron Fist was just something to be after he stopped being able to be "Danny Rand"; he's believably ambivalent about the responsibilities and tangled up in the power in ways that make it both a logical and a self-protective decision for him to step back from the role. For Colleen, it just feels like the natural next step.
Agreed! It works so well with both of their arcs, especially since looking back on Colleen's season 1 arc, the entire thing with learning to deal with her anger and disillusionment is also very Classic Action Hero Arc in its execution (a type of hero arc that is typically reserved for male characters, too).
I have no idea if they actually planned this from the beginning (as the magic 8 ball would say, "signs point to no" is my guess) but it works so well; it makes the entire two-season arc of the show click into place, in a way that just having Danny get the Iron Fist back wouldn't have.
I was surprised and impressed by Mary/Walker overall, especially considering the show's handling of mental health as a field otherwise.
I know!! When it became clear what was going on with her, my first reaction was "Oh no, we're doing THIS, are we?!" ... but then I ended up really enjoying her as a character. The actress is great and I ended up very "sold" by the way they handled her (though as you said, I have no idea how it does or doesn't resemble real-life DID).
I also really enjoy how this show allows so many of its female characters to be violent and unpleasant and morally ambiguous without being condemned by the narrative for it. The Triad gangster's wife is another great character along those lines, as well as a couple of the female villains from the first season, but I think the gangster's widow, whose name I can't currently remember (Mrs. Yang?) really struck me because of the particular kind of political power she wields and her antagonistic-but-respectful dynamic with Colleen by the end, that sort of ambiguous-frenemies thing that again is something you don't get with female characters all that often. The show doesn't revolve around Danny at the expense of the other characters; you can easily imagine Colleen having a fully developed vigilante-hero existence back in New York without him, with her own network of allies and enemies apart from the connections she has through Danny.
It is an absolutely splendid fragment of kung-fu western. "More sake!" "More water!"
Yes! I loved it; I also loved how many little character notes they managed to pack into that one short scene, from Ward still being on the wagon, to his confidence that Danny is going to back him up ("You mess with me, you'll have to deal with him"), which is something he's never really had in his life prior to Danny becoming a major part of it, and speaks tellingly of the adventures they've presumably been having in the meantime, that he's got that rock-solid confidence in Danny to have his back.
I was tremendously endeared by Ward on the runway telling Danny not to walk past him without a fight, because while Ward with a gun is good backup, Ward hand-to-hand canonically gets the floor mopped with him.
Hahaha, I know. It's so sweet and also so ... Ward, honey, I appreciate that you don't want to let the last remaining person you really care about who is still talking to you walk out of your life, but if he actually takes you up on that offer, he is going to flatten you. (With an extra heart-stab because it's very Ward to make a joke about how his dad used to beat the shit out of him. Good lord.)
Danny has to be training him some as they travel. I'm sure it's fraught at first for all the obvious reasons, but I am also sure they work it out.
I would have dearly LOVED to see this onscreen.
in lieu of further seasons, I'm reading most of your fic now. I hope you don't mind.
Not at all, I'm thoroughly delighted you're reading it! I hope you continue to enjoy it. ♥ (Just saw your comment on the cactus fic. LOL.)
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And Davos, that cinder-red as rage. I would have been interested to see what became of him in future seasons, too: he's not dead and Danny still thinks of him as family, however damaged and dangerous. I don't know if he could ever become an ally outside of absolute necessity, but the show gave him sympathetic reasons, just terrible solutions. The abusive parenting angle made me think the writers paralleled him somewhat with Ward.
The one-off character I really wish we'd seen more of was Zhou Cheng, the sardonic Drunken Fist master whom Danny pummeled bloody in Anzhou, mid-Season 1. He was confirmed as not in a good way but not dead, which in comic book metaphysics means someone can reappear just easily as if they were confirmed dead. I suppose with the collapse of the Hand he'd have had to find a new job, but.
I have no idea if they actually planned this from the beginning (as the magic 8 ball would say, "signs point to no" is my guess) but it works so well; it makes the entire two-season arc of the show click into place, in a way that just having Danny get the Iron Fist back wouldn't have.
It looks like it's mostly different writers, which supports the seat-of-the-pants theory, but if so they weren't just shoehorning: they were picking up on elements maybe intended for different ends, but channeling perfectly toward this one.
but I think the gangster's widow, whose name I can't currently remember (Mrs. Yang?) really struck me because of the particular kind of political power she wields and her antagonistic-but-respectful dynamic with Colleen by the end, that sort of ambiguous-frenemies thing that again is something you don't get with female characters all that often.
Yes! It is Mrs. Yang; she's a great character and I loved everything you mention about her plot, including that after the crisis is over she doesn't relinquish power. By the end of it she's admitting openly that her husband is dead and she's still running the Hatchets. I expect her never to give it up, until she's assassinated herself or successfully makes peace and retires.
The show doesn't revolve around Danny at the expense of the other characters; you can easily imagine Colleen having a fully developed vigilante-hero existence back in New York without him, with her own network of allies and enemies apart from the connections she has through Danny.
Very much so. She's got some of that by the second season already with Sam and the community center. And even the people they met while they were a couple weren't tied just to Danny—she has her own friendships with Claire and Misty, another aspect of this show I really enjoyed. It could have been so dude-heavy with Harold, Bakuto, and Davos as major antagonists along with Madame Gao, and it's just not.
Does Colleen interact much with Jeri beyond the bit at the end of the first season when they've been framed by Harold? I feel the two of them would really get along.
(With an extra heart-stab because it's very Ward to make a joke about how his dad used to beat the shit out of him. Good lord.)
It is very Ward. I'm pretty sure that despite his oft-demonstrated ability to insult people just by opening his mouth and saying the first thing that enters it, most of his jokes (with people he trusts enough not to lead with asshole) are at his own expense; it feels like his style of defense mechanism.
I would have dearly LOVED to see this onscreen.
I won't stop you from writing it.
Not at all, I'm thoroughly delighted you're reading it! I hope you continue to enjoy it.
I am! I try to remember to leave kudos.