1) It Had A High Bar To Reach
Perhaps the real reason that critics have been so hard on Iron Fist is because the Marvel Netflix shows that have come before it have been so strong. Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones aren’t quite perfect series, but they are some of the smartest, most thrilling, well-written comic book TV shows ever. Compared to them, Iron Fist might fall a little short, but compared to the rest of the long history of superheroes on television, it’s still pretty high up.
In fact, many of the flaws that Iron Fist is being lambasted for – a slow start, the series running out of steam by the end, forced romances and conflicts – can all be accused at the others shows as well. The format of these efforts could easily be trimmed down to ten episodes, for sure. However, the important aspects of Iron Fist are not grabbing people as much as its predecessors, which means that critics are honing in on issues that it only inherited and didn’t create.
If you’ve for some reason avoided Iron Fist due to the negative reviews (you human sheep, you), we’d recommend that you give it a go and judge it on your own terms. As we’ve made plain, the show might not be the next Daredevil, but just because it doesn’t match that high watermark of quality doesn’t mean it’s a complete write-off.