The sixth episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, titled “Just Jen,” slightly redeems itself compared to last week’s episode, but the program still has a long way to go. With little development on Jen’s character, repetitive action scenes, and more low-hanging feminist manifestos, the episode doesn’t do much to advance the plot until the final few minutes.
This week, Jennifer Walters, played by Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, Parks and Recreation), gets invited to her childhood friend’s wedding as a bridesmaid. Jen is slightly confused about the whole ordeal since they haven’t been in contact for quite awhile, but she just decides that it must be due to the fact that she’s Lulu’s childhood best friend.
Jen initially shows up to the wedding as She-Hulk, which is just weird. If Jen Walters is invited, why show up as your alter ego, especially when it’s at someone’s wedding, of all places. It feels like the equivalent of wearing white to a wedding when you aren’t the bride, or proposing to someone at someone else’s function. All in all, it felt like there was a lack of social cues and wherewithal there. Understandably, Lulu requests that Jen please remain “just Jen” for the rest of the wedding festivities.
Of course, the wedding events stray far from what Jen has in mind. When asked about how her life is, she talks about her major career and a prominent law firm, but all of the women at the wedding look past that and only focus on the fact that Jen doesn’t have a significant other of sorts, saying they’re “so sorry” and that she’s bound to “find someone soon.” In addition to this dig, Jen is the bridesmaid forced to do menial tasks such as cleaning and picking up, and the groomsman that she walks down the aisle with is Lulu’s geriatric dog.
While some of these scenes were entertaining, this constant undertone of “forced feminism” and the constant reminders that Jen is nothing compared to She-Hulk are just getting far too repetitive. The past few episodes have all been about how Jen feels inferior to her superhero self; the writers need to come up with something new. They keep teasing the idea that Jen is being hunted by a mysterious group of people for her special Hulk blood, but the writers need to act on that now and stop dancing around it. Jen has had no noticeable character development in the past two to three weeks.
Aside from this bridesmaid plot point, Jen’s influencer enemy, Titania, played by Jameela Jamil (The Good Place) shows up for revenge, where she and Jen have a major showdown and Jen is redeemed in the eyes of the wedding party. Sure, this is all fun and games, but it’s nothing new – just a classic MCU action scene in a public setting where people can ogle at what’s going down.
Once again, “Just Jen” was disappointing, but not as disappointing as last week’s feature. Here’s to hoping that things will pick up again with She-Hulk in the coming weeks.
Rating: 6.5/10.0