Episodes 3 and 4 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follow Jen Walter’s high-profile cases in the Superhuman Law Division of GLK&H as she deals with Emil Blonsky’s controversial parole hearing and Wong’s trial against Donny Blaze.
She-Hulk Season 1 Episode 3 Recap: The People vs. Emil Blonsky
Jen confronts Emil Blonsky about his televised prison break and worries about its ramifications on his parole. However, Blonsky surprisingly reveals that Sorcerer Supreme Benedict Wong is responsible for his prison break by forcefully extraditing him from his cell.
News channels across the state report Jen’s involvement in Blonsky’s parole, and Jen faces public backlash with people wary of her superhero status and legal qualifications. To Jen’s horror, She-Hulk rapidly becomes an online sensation, while Nikki feels Jen should take a stand to ward off unsavoury rumours.
Meanwhile, Jen’s ex-colleague from the DA’s office Dennis Bukowski is defrauded by an Asgardian shapeshifter impersonating Megan Thee Stallion and approaches GLK&H to build a case. Augustus “Pug” Pugliese takes on Dennis’ case.
Wong materializes into Jen’s office, admitting that he did extract Blonsky from the prison against his wishes as he needed a worthy opponent as part of his training to become Sorcerer Supreme. Upon Jen’s request, Wong agrees to attend Blonsky’s parole hearing as a witness and explain his extradition of the Abomination.
Blonsky’s parole hearing approaches and is covered extensively by the media. The parole board convenes in Blonsky’s prison cell to determine if he is suitable to return to society after serving his minimum sentence.
To Jen’s annoyance and frustration, Wong’s delay forces her to stall by asking Blonsky to issue a statement. Blonsky claims his sentence has successfully rehabilitated him and expresses his desire to own a plot of land on which he will stay and run a meditation retreat funded by his pen pals.
Jen calls on the prison counselor, librarian, and prison guard as witnesses and defendants to attest to Blonsky’s character development. Wong appears at the last second and explains the extenuating circumstances that compelled him to extract Blonsky, proving Blonsky’s remediation in his insistence on returning to the cell to complete his sentence. Wong departs from the scene before the board can convict him for facilitating a prisoner’s escape.
Parallelly, Bukowski’s hearing proceeds. The Asgardian shapeshifter Luna’s lawyer moves for dismissal of charges against her client, citing Luna’s diplomatic immunity as a cause. However, Luna’s diplomatic immunity does not apply outside Asgard, and Pug demands compensation for the financial and emotional trauma his client suffered due to Luna’s deception.
The judge finds it hard to believe that Dennis could be so gullible as to believe he was dating the real musical personality. Nevertheless, given the financial damages incurred, the judge grants the trial.
Pug enlists Jen’s help in the trial as a witness. Jen attests to Dennis’ character, calling him a “pathologically entitled”, self-absorbed, and chauvinistic man; Pug’s strategy successfully erases the judge’s doubts about Dennis’ gullibility. The judge awards full damages to Dennis for 175,000 dollars and sentences Luna to 60 days in prison for impersonating the judge.
Meanwhile, the parole board reconvenes and grants Blonsky’s release on parole. As a condition, Blonsky is prohibited from turning into the Abomination indefinitely and must perpetually wear an inhibitor as surety.
Realizing that the media will not stop fixating on She-Hulk, Jen agrees to an interview to help rectify her public image, addressing all kinds of questions, from her name and status to her diet and exercise regimen.
On her way home, a group of thugs armed with robbed Asgardian weapons ambushes Jen, but she easily wards off the attack with her superhuman strength. The crooks are revealed to have been sent by an unnamed boss in an attempt to take her blood.
In a ludicrous mid-credit scene, Jen signs the real Megan Thee Stallion as a client, and Holliway walks into the two dancing and twerking to Stallion’s music.
She-Hulk Episode 4: Is This Not Real Magic?
Local magician Donny Blaze attempts to inspire his meager audience with cheap parlor tricks. When the bored audience is unimpressed with his magic, he calls the volunteer Madisynn and uses his magic ring to open a portal onstage, successfully impressing his viewers.
In Kathmandu, Wong’s peaceful night of watching Sopranos is rudely interrupted when Madisynn crashes into his abode through a portal. Madisynn reveals that Blaze’s portal trick accidentally sent her to a different dimension from where she narrowly escaped, only to land at Wong’s.
Concerned by the late-night attack on Jen, her father visits her house to increase security. Jen explores the world of online dating with Nikki’s help.
Infuriated with Blaze’s misuse of magic, Wong approaches Jen with a request to strike a case against the phony magician. Wong reveals Blaze is a former student of the mystic arts, expelled after his ill-use of magic to summon three kegs and his former frat brother to the sacred Kamar-Taj.
Wong worries about Donny’s misuse of sacred teachings risking the material and astral planes and aspires to set a precedent that no unlicensed persons ever attempt to practice the mystic arts again.
However, when the case is tried in court, Judge Hanna is wary of Wong’s accusation of Blaze’s magic constituting “gross negligence”. Jen advises a reluctant Wong to call upon Madisynn as a witness to Blaze’s flippant use of magic. However, an inebriated Madisynn only harms their case by citing Blaze’s performance as “funny and spooky”.
Blaze’s lawyer insists that the proposition cannot copyright magic, and Blaze impresses the judge and court with his paltry magic tricks. The judge decides to review the motion in the coming weeks but allows Blaze to continue his livelihood as a magician in the interim.
After going on a botched date and receiving embarrassingly low matches, a desperate Jen creates a dating profile as She-Hulk. She receives overwhelming results, leading to a string of even worse dates with emasculated men constantly attempting to one-up her. She finally meets a pediatric oncologist – a perfect gentleman – enjoying a much-deserved date night.
As Donny struggles with impressing bored audiences, he recklessly uses real magic to conjure a bird out of thin air. However, the bird’s egg releases a murderous demonic creature, shocking Donny and the audience. Donny panics and opens a portal to dispose of the demon, but the portal opens on itself, releasing multiple demonic little monsters into the auditorium.
Pandemonium and chaos ensue, and Donny is forced to approach Wong for help. Dragging Jen from her date, the three fight off the demons as Wong repairs the demon portal and opens a new one to get the demons out of the auditorium. Jen uses the last monster to goad Donny into their terms of the cease-and-desist, after which she returns to her date.
The following morning, when Jen’s date notices Jen in her human form, he is shocked by her unassuming state and abruptly leaves, much to her disappointment. Meanwhile, the super-powered influencer Titania is cleared of all charges relating to her Metropolitan Courthouse incident and consequently sues Jen for misuse of her trademark of “She-Hulk”.
The mid-credits scene follows Wong and Madisynn watching Sopranos on his couch, absurdly bonding over alcoholic drinks as an unlikely friendship develops between the two.
She-Hulk Episode 3 and Episode 4 Review
Episodes 3 and 4 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law expand Jennifer Walters’ experience in the Superhuman Law Department as she takes on two unique cases dealing with supervillains and scorned magicians.
Episode 3 offers a hilarious representation of the internet’s boisterous reaction to every little news of interest in the world. She-Hulk develops the trademark mix of ludicrous humor amidst somber circumstances in these episodes as farcical comedy mixes with magic and action.
In a satiric meta-commentary, the media’s treatment of She-Hulk combined with the widespread backlash against female heroes in Jen’s world is symptomatic of the gendered and racist comments MCU faces in the real world for its powerful female heroes and characters. The show manages to satirize such comments, simultaneously acknowledging and dismissing such remarks as absurd ramblings of a digitalized world.
Jen’s breaking of the fourth wall develops into an endearing and unique recurring feature of the show, becoming a fun and intriguing way to connect the viewers more intimately with the fantasy world of superheroes.
Jen’s fourth-wall-breaking remarks become an intelligent strategy in intuitively voicing thoughts viewers are likely to develop as the show moves along. Jen addresses the audience’s anticipatory thirst for cameos, comparing their excitement at Wong’s appearance with “giving the show Twitter armor for a week”.
In a funny side addition, Wong is shown to have a LinkedIn profile, and Jen faces the horrors of online dating with the fictional “Matcher” app. Furthermore, Wong and Madisynn’s bonding over the popular crime drama Sopranos is a fun intertextual detail for fans of the cult show. Inclusion of tiny details such as these help in world-building, making the alternate universe of superheroes and supervillains more relatable and accessible to viewers.
Rating: 4/5
Episodes 3 and 4 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are now streaming on Disney+.
Read More: She-Hulk Episode 2 Recap & Review: Jen’s induction to superhuman law