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A Normal Amount of Rage

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"A Normal Amount of Rage"
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law episode
Episode no.Episode 1
Directed byKat Coiro
Written byJessica Gao
Cinematography byFlorian Ballhaus
Editing by
Original release dateAugust 18, 2022 (2022-08-18)
Running time38 minutes
Cast
  • Steve Coulter as Holden Holliway
  • Drew Matthews as Dennis Bukowski
Episode chronology
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"A Normal Amount of Rage" is the first episode of the American television series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character She-Hulk. It follows Jennifer Walters, a lawyer who becomes She-Hulk after her blood is accidentally cross-contaminated with her cousin Bruce Banner's. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by head writer Jessica Gao and directed by Kat Coiro.

Tatiana Maslany stars as Walters, alongside Jameela Jamil, Ginger Gonzaga, and Mark Ruffalo (Banner). Gao was hired to write the episode and serve as head writer for the series by November 2019. Coiro joined the series by September 2020 to direct the majority of the series' episodes.

"A Normal Amount of Rage" was released on Disney+ on August 18, 2022. Critics enjoyed the chemistry between Maslany and Ruffalo, and were mostly positive to the episode's CGI.

Plot

During a road trip, lawyer Jennifer Walters and her cousin Bruce Banner are intercepted by a Sakaaran spaceship, and crash their car. Walters, while attempting to get Banner to safety, is contaminated by his blood, causing her to transform into a Hulk. Afterwards, Walters is taken to Banner's secret laboratory in Mexico, where he explains her special genetic condition, and offers to help her control her powers. Though she is able to effortlessly handle Banner's training regime, Walters expresses displeasure over the idea of becoming a superhero and abandoning her previous life. She attempts to leave but is stopped by Banner, and the two fight. Banner reluctantly accepts Walters' wish to return to her normal life, and bids her farewell. A few months later, Walters attends a court case, but is interrupted when a woman violently bursts into the courtroom. Walters carefully removes her shoes, transforms into She-Hulk, easily defeats the woman, and returns to normal to make her closing arguments.

Production

Development

In August 2019, Marvel Studios announced that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was being developed for the streaming service Disney+.[1][2] That November, Jessica Gao was hired to serve as the head writer.[3] In September 2020, Kat Coiro was hired to direct the first and final episodes plus four others, and to executive produce the series.[4][5] Executive producers include Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Brad Winderbaum, in addition to Coiro and Gao.[2] The first episode, titled "A Normal Amount of Rage",[6] was written by Gao,[7] and was released on Disney+ on August 18, 2022.[8]

Writing

Jennifer Walters' origin as She-Hulk is similar to her origin in the comics, in both cases caused by cousin Bruce Banner's blood. Marvel Studios did not want a mob hit to be used in her origin, as it had been in the comics. Gao also felt that Banner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) had been tortured by being the Hulk, and that he would not willingly choose to put that curse on someone else by deliberately giving her a blood transfusion. Gao wanted to get to the origin story quickly and not spend a whole episode "setting something up", so by having Walters being in a car accident with Banner and be accidentally contaminated by his blood, Gao felt that it took "a lot of the pressure off of the guilt that Bruce would feel having given this to Jennifer".[9] The car accident occurs due to the appearance of a Sakaaran spaceship looking for Banner. Coiro indicated that its appearance had narrative ties to She-Hulk, with a later episode further clarifying Banner's response, as well as future MCU projects.[10] Gao felt the scene with the woman helping Walters' in the bar bathroom following the car crash was the "single most important scene" to the episode, because it showed how a women's bathroom "is the most safe, protective, and supportive environment" and women are willing to help each other in there, even if they are depicted as "catty and bitchy" outside it. Gao noted the scene had almost been removed from the episode because "a lot of people didn’t understand it".[11]

[W]e underestimated, or at least I did, people’s familiarity with this character. Because I knew this character, inside and out, and she was always my favorite in the comics, I really took for granted that everybody would know who she was, how she got these powers, and her relationship to Bruce. I just took for granted that everybody would know this, but not a lot of people are familiar with her. People who watched it, test audiences, really wanted to know more about her. They were having trouble. It was the elephant in the room, and they couldn’t get past it.

—Writer Jessica Gao on the reasoning why Jennifer Walters' origin moved from the eighth episode of the series to the first.[12]

When originally working on the series' scripts in the writers' room, the plot revolving around Walters' origin was in the fourth episode of the series. Gao wanted the series to start "in situ" so the audience could have a few episodes to get to know the character and her reluctance in her life after her accident, with the backstory in the fourth episode giving context to what was previously seen. However, as the series began production, this material was pushed to the eighth episode of the series, which was the result of "a lot of discussion". Finally, while in post-production, the Marvel Studios executives wanted to move Walters' origin to the first episode because they were finding from test screenings that the audience wanted to know more about the character sooner. Gao was resistant to this change because she had taken for granted that the average viewer would have been able to know and understand the character going into the series at a similar level as her. She ultimately was happy with the outcome, but wished she had been able to design the episode to accommodate the origin from the start.[12]

Walters repeatedly asking Banner if Steve Rogers was a virgin was originally meant to be the beginning of a "season-long runner" that was "constantly gnawing away" at her. Episodes later in the season would have shown her regularly searching the internet for insight, as well as "constantly pestering people in her life" about it.[13] Maslany loved that this was Walters' obsession because it allowed Walters to relate to the human side of Rogers.[14] Gao was surprised at Feige being open to discussing and answering that question,[13] and was "so happy and proud that we got to answer that question" since it had "been a discussion for years". The episode's mid-credits scene reveals the answer, with Banner stating that Rogers lost his virginity to a girl in 1943 while on the USO tour; this mid-credits was meant to be the final one for the season.[15] Ruffalo felt exploring this was one part of the series' larger look at "all the human stuff" of the MCU.[14]

Casting

The episode stars Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk, Jameela Jamil as Titania, Ginger Gonzaga as Nikki Ramos, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Smart Hulk.[16][17]: 31:41–32:05  Also starring are Steve Coulter as Holden Holliway and Drew Matthews as Dennis Bukowski.[17]: 33:23 [18]

Filming and visual effects

Filming occurred at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia,[19] with Coiro directing the episode,[4][5] and Florian Ballhaus serving as cinematographer.[20]: 1  Coiro said Ruffalo had to make an adjustment for his performance in the episode with the long sequences of dialogue, since he is used to having the Hulk "on the sidelines, or in an action sequence, or [with] only a couple pages of dialogue" in his past performances. Platforms had to be built on set for Ruffalo and Maslany to stand on in their motion-capture suits while performing the Hulk and She-Hulk scenes.[21]

Visual effects for the episode were created by Wētā FX, Digital Domain, Wylie Co, Cantina Creative, Stereo D, Capital T, Keep Me Posted, and Lightstage.[17]: 34:31–34:47 [22]

Music

The following songs were featured in the episode: "Money On It" by Together Pangea, "Next Thing You Know" by Robin & The Rocks, "Asleep in the Clouds" by Wenda Williamson, "I Want to Be With You" by George Simms, "Fast (Motion)" by Saweetie, "Porro Bonito" by Orquesta Ritmo De Sabanas, "Cumbia Caletera" by Tito Nunez y su Orquesta, "Licked and Live on Ludlow" by Deep East Music, "Who's That Girl?" by Eve, and "Banaito Y Perfumao" by Fernando Cavazos.[23]

Marketing

A QR code was included in the episode that allowed viewers to access a free digital copy of She-Hulk's debut issue, Savage She-Hulk (1980) #1.[24] After the episode's release, Marvel announced merchandise inspired by the episode as part of its weekly "Marvel Must Haves" promotion for each episode of the series, including a She-Hulk Marvel Legends figure, along with apparel, and accessories, and Funko Pops of Walters, Ramos, and Hulk.[25]

Reception

Audience viewership

The viewer tracking application Samba TV reported that the premiere was watched by an estimated 1.5 million households in the United States in the first four days of release,[26] which was up from the 775,000 households who watched the premiere of Ms. Marvel. The episode over-indexed with Gen-Z millennials, Black, and Hispanic households.[27]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 88% approval rating with an average rating of 7.20/10, based on 105 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "The jury's still out on where the rest of the season will lead, but as an opening argument, this table-setting installment of She-Hulk is plenty of fun".[28]

Amelia Emberwing at IGN gave the first episode an 8 out of 10, giving praise to Maslany and her "exceptional chemistry" with Ruffalo. Emberwing enjoyed that the episode gave "big answers" in regards to Banner and Smart Hulk in the MCU and that all the call outs to the wider MCU never felt "shoehorned". She believed as well that the CGI of the episode had improved after similar shots featured in the series' trailers were criticized. Finally, Emberwing stated that the episode "captures the female experience maybe even more than previous woman-fronted MCU entries... [being] the first series that feels unabashedly and contemporarily female".[29] Collider's Arezou Amin gave "A Normal Amount of Rage" an "A–", saying the episode "brings a much-needed dose of levity to the Marvel TV landscape". Amin called the origin story "a refreshing, fast-paced upgrade" from what has been seen in the MCU previously, and was surprised that it occurred so quickly. She called the episode's visual effects its "weak spot", though they were "far from the worst", and was frustrated that the series had to rely on CGI faces to help convey emotions, but noted Maslany and Ruffalo were able to convey those through their vocal performances.[30]

Caroline Framke of Variety, in her review for the first four episodes, called it "bold" to begin the series with an episode "that looks nothing like the ones to come afterward", but felt it was necessary to better understand Walters and how she was a contrast with Banner. Framke enjoyed Maslany and Ruffalo's chemistry and felt the CGI was improved from the trailers. Regarding Hulk and She-Hulk fighting, Framke said Coriro "does her best to avoid Marvel’s traditionally muddy battles by making this one feel more elastic".[31] Writing for The A.V. Club, Jenna Scherer gave the episode a "B+", feeling Walters was "a little thinly written so far, [but] Maslany’s charm makes us immediately fall in love with her". Scherer was not completely on board with the CGI design, noting She-Hulk was big but does not look "particularly strong" compared to Hulk, adding "[e]ven a show explicitly about the ways women are denied power can't escape feminine body stereotypes".[16] Kirsten Howard for Den of Geek gave the episode 2.5 out of 4, and said it was "a competent introduction to the character of Jennifer Walters", praising Maslany and called the CGI "mostly fine" with a few moments that "look a bit dodgy".[6]

Petrana Radulovic from Polygon felt the answer to Rogers' virginity was "lacking" given the MCU "is largely devoid of sex and romance" believing the joke felt "like it's making fun of fans who are invested in his romantic relationships". She continued that some fans would prefer "an emotional connection between characters, a history built up between them, tension and feelings and sparks" rather than have the MCU "continue to undermine most genuine relationships with snarky jokes and punctuate moments of emotional resonance with silly quips".[32]

References

  1. ^ Couch, Aaron (August 23, 2019). "Marvel Unveils 3 New Disney+ Shows Including 'She-Hulk' and 'Moon Knight'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; August 24, 2019 suggested (help)
  2. ^ a b Parker, Ryan (May 17, 2022). "'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' Drops First Disney+ Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  3. ^ Kit, Borys (November 8, 2019). "Marvel's 'She-Hulk' Finds Its Head Writer With 'Rick and Morty' Scribe (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Kroll, Justin (September 15, 2020). "Marvel's 'She-Hulk' Series at Disney Plus Lands Kat Coiro As Director And EP". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Villei, Matt (May 17, 2022). "'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law': How Many Episodes Are There in the New Disney+ Marvel Series?". Collider. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Howard, Kirsten (August 18, 2022). "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 1 Review – A Normal Amount of Rage". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  7. ^ "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2021-2022)". Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  8. ^ Otterson, Joe (August 3, 2022). "'She-Hulk' Pushes Back Premiere Date at Disney+ as 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 31 Sets Debut". Variety. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  9. ^ Lussier, Germain (August 16, 2022). "Why She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Tweaked the Character's Origin Story". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  10. ^ O'Connell, Sean (August 18, 2022). "She-Hulk Director Teases The Importance Of That (Spoiler) That's Part Of Jen's Origin Story". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  11. ^ Lussier, Germain (August 12, 2022). "Why a Bathroom Scene Is So Important to Marvel's She-Hulk". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on August 14, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Radish, Christina (August 23, 2022). "'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' Showrunner Jessica Gao on the Pilot and Sex Positivity". Collider. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Vary, Adam B. (August 16, 2022). "'She-Hulk' Head Writer on Reshaping the Pilot, Cutting CGI, and Steve Rogers' Virginity". Variety. Archived from the original on August 16, 2022. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  14. ^ a b Bucksbaum, Sydney (August 18, 2022). "Mark Ruffalo didn't warn Chris Evans about She-Hulk revealing Captain America's virginity status". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  15. ^ Mitovitch, Matt Webb (August 18, 2022). "She-Hulk Scene Solves Mystery of Captain America's Virginity — and the Answer 'Absolutely Is Canon'". TVLine. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Scherer, Jenna (August 18, 2022). "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law gets off to a fun, self-aware start". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  17. ^ a b c Gao, Jessica (August 18, 2022). "A Normal Amount of Rage". She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Season 1. Episode 1. Disney+. End credits begin at 30:28.
  18. ^ Miller, Leon (August 18, 2022). "She-Hulk Brings A Pivotal, Non-Superpowered 'Villain' to the MCU". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  19. ^ Paz, Maggie Dela (April 13, 2021). "Disney+'s She-Hulk Series Has Begun Filming in Atlanta". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  20. ^ "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Production Brief" (PDF). Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution. August 8, 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  21. ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (August 13, 2022). "She-Hulk Director: The Opening Episode Is 'Huge' in a Way That Was a First for MCU Vet Mark Ruffalo". TVLine. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  22. ^ Frei, Vincent (August 12, 2022). "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law". Art of VFX. Archived from the original on August 4, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  23. ^ Paige, Rachel (August 18, 2022). "'She-Hulk': Every Song From the Disney+ Series". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  24. ^ Polo, Susanna (August 18, 2022). "She-Hulk has the best Easter eggs: free comics". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  25. ^ Paige, Rachel (August 19, 2022). "Shop Marvel Must Haves: 'She-Hulk' Episode 1". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  26. ^ @samba_tv (August 24, 2022). "📺 @disneyplus delivered hulk-sized viewership with the premiere of its latest @Marvel program @SheHulkOfficial, with 1.5 million U.S. households streaming in its first four days available" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022 – via Twitter.
  27. ^ Freitag, Lee (August 24, 2022). "She-Hulk Is a Bonafide MCU Hit, Doubling Ms. Marvel's Audience". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  28. ^ "A Normal Amount of Rage". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  29. ^ Emberwing, Amelia (August 17, 2022). "She-Hulk: Series Premiere Review". IGN. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  30. ^ Amin, Arezou (August 18, 2022). "'She-Hulk: Attorney At Law' Episode 1 Gives Jen Walters Her Short, Sweet Origin Story | Review". Collider. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  31. ^ Framke, Caroline (August 17, 2022). "'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' Gives Tatiana Maslany a Deserving, Yet Dated Comedic Showcase: TV Review". Variety. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  32. ^ Radulovic, Petrana (August 18, 2022). "She-Hulk digs into Steve Rogers' sex life, but it doesn't penetrate deep enough". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
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