Marvel’s The Defenders season 1 episode 4 recap and review: Royal Dragon

Defenders, meet the other Defenders. It’s time to sit down and get to know each other. And figure out what they’re up against.

This is the episode we’ve been waiting for–all of the Defenders in one place!

Not-So-Short Summary

The Defenders hide in a nearby Chinese restaurant after hours, and every part of this is wonderful. We get to see everyone’s personalities clash — Danny against Luke, Jessica against everyone, and Matt trying to back out of the whole thing because he can’t do this. Well, he can, he’s just trying to choose not to.

Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in “Marvel’s The Defenders,” photo credit Netflix

It’s a great scene, everyone bouncing off each other, lobbing jabs and trying to figure out who knows what and who fits into the picture where.

Over dinner, Danny can’t wrap his head around how Matt is Daredevil. “You’re blind,” he points out. He then says that they have a chance to fight against the Hand and win if they do it together.

Before they can go any further, Stick arrives and announces himself as the guy who’s going to help them save New York.

All those catastrophes around the world throughout history? Like Pompeii? All the Hand. And these four people who can’t get along for more than three minutes are the only thing keeping New York on solid ground.

It’s too much for Jessica, she can’t buy into it, and leaves. She goes back to look at her research from the hall of records, only to find a lot of the same signature with different names throughout the years.

So some history on the Hand and K’un-Lun: back when this all started, there were five defectors who didn’t want to use their chi to heal, but to be immortal. The elders saw it as an aberration, and they were banished forever. They became the five fingers of the Hand.

Alexandra has been there since the beginning. Madame Gao, Sowande, Bakuto, and Murakami are the others. They all went back to their respective countries and began to accumulate power.

Scott Glenn as Stick in “Marvel’s The Defenders,” photo credit Netflix.

Stick also warns Matt not to try to be swayed by Elektra. It’s not her. They erased the old her. Don’t fall for it! (Get used to yelling that at the screen a lot…)

Alexandra shows up at the Chinese restaurant to hash things out between them all. She tries to persuade Danny to come with her and what she’s willing to do for him. It’s very funny with her calm persuasion and Stick in the background lobbing things like, “You leave with her and I’ll kill you myself.”

There’s about to be a showdown with Elektra when Jessica Jones throws a car through the front of the building and knocks her down to rejoin the team.

“Who missed me?” she asks.

Badass Moment of the Episode

Nothing really in this episode. Let’s go with Jessica throwing that car through the front of the building to stop Elektra for a hot second.

Marvel’s The Defenders, photo credit Netflix

Best One-Liner

“Am I the only one left who doesn’t know karate?!” Jessica exclaims.

I enjoyed that Matt called Danny out for acting like a kid. He’s definitely much less annoying in this series than in his own, but he’s still acting very much like a kid. I get it — he was gone for how many years? He missed out on his childhood and normal society. It’s natural that he’s so immature.

Though I will say I enjoy Danny just easily throwing his money around to get what they want. He’s the only one of them outside of Matt who has a steady income…or a big as heck savings account.

This is a very condensed episode. There’s not a lot of action until the very end, and while there’s some scenes scattered throughout with Alexandra and Elektra, they don’t really matter in the bigger picture.

Next: The Defenders makeup designer Sarit Klein on palettes, heroes, and beard design

Who’s ready for the showdown next episode?