Of all the MCU Netflix series, Iron Fist had the shakiest start with its first season receiving a 19% approval rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes when it premiered last year. Now, with new showrunner Raven Metzner at the helm, the early critical consensus praises the latest season for its increased emphasis on action and tighter pacing while addressing that there are still glaring flaws in the story and performances. The second season currently has a 60% score on Rotten Tomatoes as reviews continue to trickle in.
Ahead of the season premiere on Friday, September 7, here are the first wave of advance reviews for Iron Fist Season 2:
Kevin Melrose, CBR: “The leaner second season of Iron Fist largely learns from the mistakes of the first, with vastly improved fight sequences, flashbacks that serve the main narrative, and clearly defined primary antagonists. And yet, at times during the six episodes provided for review, it doesn’t feel so much like the second season of Iron Fist as it does the first season of Steel Serpent or Daughters of the Dragon, with Danny Rand as a supporting player.”
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Kevin Yeoman, Screen Rant: “Consistent issues plaguing Marvel’s Netflix shows aside, Iron Fist season 2 is still an improvement over Season 1. The improvements are superficial for the most part, but do help point the series in the right direction. But the series needs much more than a simple retooling. Improved fight scenes might make for a solid marketing angle, but, glowing fist or not, Iron Fist can’t quite land its punches when it comes to crafting a compelling storyline.”
Merrill Barr, Forbes: “There are notable things worth pointing out about Season 2 of Iron Fist. It’s much better paced and way easier to watch. But coming back from what was a truly lackluster first season was going to take far more than a few kung-fu classes. It was going to take a complete overhaul of the series and it’s hard to say if that was ever going to be possible.”
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Mike Cecchini, Den of Geek: “Iron Fist Season 2 is a massive improvement in virtually every way that matters. A new showrunner (Sleepy Hollow‘s Raven Metzner), a new fight coordinator, and Danny Rand’s evolution over the course of The Defenders and a fun episode of Luke Cage’s second season, all help tremendously, along with better villains, a more focused story, and a willingness to put the show’s supporting cast to better use.”
Andrew Husband, Uproxx: “The good news is, the second season of Iron Fist is a massive improvement over the first 13 episodes that Marvel and Netflix gifted (or cursed) audiences with ahead of 2017’s crossover miniseries, The Defenders. The bad news is, simply saying that ‘the second season of Iron Fist is a massive improvement’ is nowhere near the same thing as saying ‘Iron Fist Season 2 is a good show.’ Because that would be a lie, and lying is bad.”
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Samantha Nelson, The Verge: “Iron Fist remains the weakest of the Netflix MCU portfolio, but its creators are trying to improve a bad situation by acknowledging their Season 1 problems and modeling their story after better shows to the degree they can without entirely losing their much-maligned title character. Burdened by an unlikeable protagonist and problematic concept, the show may never be able to achieve greatness.”
Charlie Moss, Polygon: “After watching the first six episodes, I’ll admit, Iron Fist season two left me hungry for more. Though still a slow burn, this season actually moves along a bit quicker than last season’s trudgefest. And there are only 10 episodes this time, compared with 13 in season one, which should help speed things along.”
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Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine: “That is one of Iron Fist‘s most pronounced shortcomings when compared to Daredevil‘s wry Matt Murdock, the super-snarky Jessica Jones and the oft-amused Luke Cage. Given how talk-talk-talky these series can be (and are), short of a fight scene, we rely on injections of humor to break up the verbosity. Iron Fist offers precious few such diversions.”
Arriving September 7 on Netflix, Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 2 stars Finn Jones as Danny Rand, Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing, Sacha Dhawan as Davos, Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum, Jessica Stroup as Joy Meachum, Simone Missick as Misty Knight, and Alice Eve as Mary Walker.