As a part of the Marvel Netflix series, this movie became suggested to me by Netflix. Although hesitant at first due to heavily critical reviews, I decided to give it a chance and watched it over this recent Christmas break. And even though it had its issues, I still found the show entertaining and believed that the show — in particular the second season — deserved a watch.

The first season started off with Danny Rand (Finn Jones) entering New York for the first time following a plane crash that killed his parents and left him for dead. However, he became rescued by a group of monks from the mystical city of K’un Lun, and earned a weapon called the Iron Fist after he fought and slayed a dragon. He earned this right after he faced many of his peers, including his friend at the temple Davos (Sacha Dhawan). Despite orders to remain at the city, Danny left for New York to help restore what his family left behind in their death.

When he arrives, he found his family business, Rand, taken over by his childhood friends Ward Meachum (Tom Pelphrey) and Joy Meachum (Jessica Stroup). Despite a harsh reception, Danny eventually inherited his father’s rights to the company thanks to help from his new friend-turned-girlfriend Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), his lawyer, Jeri Hogarth (Carrie Anne-Moss), a longtime friend of his father. Danny learns that the evil organization, the Hand, was responsible for his parents’ death, in particular Harold Meachum, the father of Ward and Joy (David Wenham). As Harold manipulated events so that he could gain control of Rand while he remained an abusive father to Ward, Danny worked together with Colleen and Ward to take down Harold, which led to Ward killing Harold as a way to prevent his scheme and to stand up after years of abuse.

In the second season, Danny struggles with his own purpose as the holder of the Iron Fist, as Davos and a vengeful Joy — who despised Danny and Ward for preventing her from knowledge of Harold’s existence — colluded to take away his power. Despite Colleen and Ward attempting to help Danny stop Davos from becoming astray with power, Davos eventually stole the Iron Fist from Danny with help from Mary Walker (Alice Eve), a former army soldier hired by Joy with multi-personality disorder. As Danny struggled with his quest to stop Davos and get back the Iron Fist, he realized that he lacked purpose as he only fought for the power of the weapon and not for the people he cared about.

As Danny realized this, he decided that Colleen should become the person who held the power as she knew her own purpose, while he did not. Despite Colleen refusing at first, she eventually accepted and defeated Davos in a personal battle. The series ended with the characters each pursuing their own paths — Colleen with defending the city, Danny with his history as he goes on a journey to find the supplier who helped Davos, Joy with the repercussions of hiring Mary, and Ward with his own purpose and identity in his life as he joined Danny.

Overall, despite some flaws, this show definitely improved from the first season to the second. The show was rushed, and I believe that Danny’s arc deserved more TV time, especially his journey towards earning the first. However, what really stood out to me and redeemed the show in my opinion was Tom’s acting ability as Ward Meachum, as he made Ward stand out each season and truly made Ward the best aspect of the show. Although Danny was the main character, the way how Ward was portrayed by Tom really made him stand out over Danny, despite Finn Jones also putting in a solid effort as Danny Rand. As this show is currently streaming on Disney Plus, I would recommend this series to anyone, however I will also say to not be discouraged, as the second season comes out as a vast improvement despite a somewhat lackluster first season.