The eighth and second to last episode of season one of She Hulk: Attorney at Law, titled “Ribbit and Rip It,” creates a great tension for the season’s finale and brings a lot of plot twists along with it. Not only does Jen Walters, played by Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, Parks and Recreation), finally find some sort of chance at love, but she also enters a struggle between controlling herself and unleashing She Hulk, creating some interesting controversies.
The episode starts with Eugene Patillo, played by Brandon Stanley (Richard Jewell, Naomi), a.k.a. Leapfrog, who is a stupid hero and later, an even more idiotic villain. Eugene’s dad happens to be one of GLK&H’s “biggest clients,” meaning Jen is forced to placate him when he wants to sue over damages to his beloved super suit.
Unfortunately, this brings Jen into a world of a conflict of interest with her tailor, Luke, played by Griffin Matthews (The Flight Attendant, Weeds), who is easily affected by the insults towards his skillset. He refuses to design Jen’s dress for the gala where she’s nominated for “Female Lawyer of the Year.” Luke goes on to call Jen a “greasy old buffalo” (weird).
Moving onto the court scene, Luke is represented by the one and only Matt Murdock, played by Charlie Cox (Daredevil, The Theory of Everything). The show’s legal escapades provide insight to some of the occurrences in the Marvel universe. Jen wants Luke’s client list to prove previous costumes have also been defective, which leads to an argument about a hero’s agency and privacy; it’s an interesting argument, considering that the two lawyers are both superheroes: one with a secret identity and one not.
The case falls apart when Eugene ends up making an absolute fool of himself – he did not follow Luke’s instructions and put jet fuel in his rocket boots. This ends up in a major legal loss for Jen.
Later that night, Matt buys Jen a drink at a bar, where some sexual tension brews and Matt says she should use her Hulk powers to do good. Alas, before anything exciting can happen, duty calls for both Matt and Jen.
Just when Jen is ready to go to bed, Eugene calls her freaking out, saying that She-Hulk has to go save him from Daredevil. Weirdly enough, Eugene tells his lawyer where he’s hiding his abductee, so Jen and Matt make their way to the Lilypad. They finally free Luke as Eugene makes a haphazard escape – Maslany and Cox make a great duo as a pairing, as do Jen and Matt as they finally hook up (!)
As the episode comes to what should be a satisfying close, things go off kilter in a fast and furious manner once Intelligencia hacks the ceremony, claiming Jen doesn’t “deserve” to be a Hulk because she’s a “slut” (more feminist commentary here, but not as forced as it normally is). Intelligencia proceeds to project a non-consensual sex tape between she and Josh on the screen.
For the first time this season, Jen majorly Hulks out, smashing the ceremony’s screen and losing any semblance of humanity as she traverses the streets on her rampage.
Like much of the episodes, it’s a little too blatant when covering the “struggles of the female experience.” Jen is publicly humiliated, other people tell her to not freak out, etc. Sadly, all the people who were willing to use Jen and reward her for controlling herself are just as likely to turn their backs on her now that she’s become a “threat.” None of this is subtle, so it’s a little hard to pull off in a tasteful way. All of that being said, these occurrences do set up for an intriguing season finale.
Rating: 7.0/10.0