Remember when you were a child and your mom said, “No dessert until you finished everything on your plate.” So you grudging ate all that was on your plate even the stuff you absolutely hated because you wanted the dessert. Well, Netflix’s The Defenders is the dessert, but first we have to make it through this last piece of the dinner called Iron Fist.

The reviews would have you believe that Iron Fist is horrible. It is not. It is…different and that sadly makes it unremarkable when compared to the previous MCU offerings of Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.

Iron Fist tells the story of Danny Rand (Finn Jones) who returns to New York City, after being presumed dead for 15 years to reclaim his family fortune and company. When a threat emerges, Danny must choose between his family’s legacy and his duties as the mythical Iron Fist. And that in short is the problem with this series when compared to the other prelude The Defenders series.

Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Matt Murdock (Daredevil) are middle class people struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis and coping with their unwanted super powers. Danny Rand is a privileged billionaire Buddhist warrior monk and martial arts expert. Iron Fist struggles to show you the viewer how relatable he is to the others. But it unintentionally shows you how slow-witted he is compared to the others. Danny Rand is an emotional 10 year old in a world of adults.

There are lots of character crossovers from the other series that try to connect Iron Fist to the remaining Defenders (but it’s not enough):

– Jeri Hogarth (Jessica Jones) acts as Danny Rand’s lawyer as he seeks to reestablish his identity and take back what is his.

– Claire Temple (the Night Nurse from Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage) is a student of Colleen Wing’s dojo.

– Madame Gao (Daredevil) is one of the drug lord “big bads.”

Look, Iron Fist isn’t bad, but it is the worse of the four series in storytelling. It was four episodes too long and it fails to clearly setup any reason for Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage to come together against a common enemy. However, this series had to be completed so that we could get to see The Defenders which comes to Netflix later this year. In short, Iron Fist was a series worth tolerating to get to the series worth watching. At least, I hope it will be.