She-Hulk: Attorney at Law S01E05: Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans

© Disney+

‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ goes light in an episode that teases more interesting episodes to follow.
by Jeremy Fogelman

The fifth episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is called ‘Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans’ and really only has two specific slightly connected storylines. In the main storyline, we follow directly from the last episode where Jen is being sued by Titania who has trademarked the name “She-Hulk” and everything gets easily wrapped up with a little bit of a callback to the dating scenes from last episode.

It’s still weird to hear Jameela Jamil use an American accent instead of her real one, but it’s also just mainly annoying that she’s essentially barely utilized here except for a couple of great little lines and well-considered physical actions. Of course, although there is continuity in this show, the legal stuff is highly suspect -- which I suppose isn’t necessarily a problem given the comedic bent of this show, but a lot of times the timeline feels weirdly rushed. I mean how long has it been since the last episode? Since the first episode? It’s all intentionally vague.

There are some funny moments from Jen’s boss and her interactions with the clearly more capable lawyer Mallory Book (Renée Elise Goldsberry) who was shown briefly in episode two and obviously had to come back for a more substantial role. She’s doing another sort of “highly competent intimidating lady” figure similar to her character in Girls5Eva which is an interesting sort of type casting to be found in.

The ultimate little trick of Jen bringing back the few dates she had as She-Hulk to verify she’s used the name was a nice little idea, if again legally suspect. I did laugh at Nikki saying, “Jen, that’ll be embarrassing” -- the cliched ways the men spoke on the stand less so, despite them completely lying of course. The ultimate point seems to be from Mallory, that Jen shouldn’t have to settle for these four specific men and deserves better (hint hint).

© Disney+

This rapidfire legal battle leads into the other plotline, which is Nikki and Pug trying to track down a superhero clothier. They have a fun rapport, enough so that my complaints about Ginger Gonzaga being underused except for the “quirky POC best friend” role feels even more true now. One of the little standout moments was the set of the Avengers bootleg stuff, with cute knockoff designs in “Avongers” or “Avingers” designs (the details on the fake Avengers was fun).

They come across another sort of cliched character, the flamboyant and mean clothing designer Luke (Griffin Matthews), but the actor gives the material more depth than the writing really does. Ultimately this ends with a complete tease, where not only don’t we see her outfits, but then we see the newly designed helmet of Daredevil, who I guess is also using this exclusive costume designer.

It’s one of those “running in place” sorts of episodes, which only barely moves anything forward in terms of character or plot, but at least does spend time with some interesting side characters that have been given short shrift until now. I wouldn’t say that the episode is bad, per se, just not really as fun as the last one or really what I was hoping for this show. Hopefully the addition of Daredevil into the show will give it a new burst of energy -- and maybe more interesting fourth wall stuff, which really wasn’t there much this time around.