She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Episode One Review - 7 Ups & 3 Downs

There will be an entry later in the ‘Ups’ section of this article around Jen’s perspective as a woman in the world. Being constantly forced to keep her emotions in check and deal with toxic masculinity is something that will clearly drive the character throughout the show, and that is a good thing.

However, what isn’t a good thing is that that toxic masculinity came far too much from Bruce Banner in Mexico. When taking her through the steps of being a Hulk and testing her strength, he truly struggled with how well she was handling herself, and felt the need to prove that he was physically stronger than her.

He was jealous that she didn’t have her own ‘Other Guy’ to deal with, and took it out on her. He struggled to come to grips with being a Hulk, and he thought that she should have to too. He tried to tell her how to live her life and force her down the superhero road, even though it wasn’t what she wanted. This was all on top of the incessant condescending and mansplaining of being a Hulk.

Yes, he had done this before, but that didn’t mean that Jen’s journey was going to be exactly the same as his. She was her own person, and funnily enough, had a completely different experience. This wasn’t a great look or a great episode for Bruce, but what did go right?