‘She-Hulk’ Episode 9 — Jennifer Walters vs. K.E.V.I.N.

“There are certain things that are supposed to happen in a Super Hero story."

Jennifer Walters, Esquire. Lawyer. Millennial. Searching for a way to balance her career and her personal life. Then an accidental dose of gamma-radiated blood alters her body chemistry. And now, when Jennifer Walters grows angry our outraged a startling metamorphosis occurs. The creature is driven by rage. And pursued by online trolls. She is provoked into a rampage that has landed her in prison. And now she is seen only for the raging spirit that dwells within her.

Jen is startled awake. It was just a dream. But her reality is actually a nightmare because she’s now in a Damage Control prison. Nikki, Pug, and Mallory calmly approach her, explaining that none of them have been able to contact Bruce (and, Pug adds, he was super calm doing it considering he was calling The Hulk). But that’s not the most pressing matter at the moment. Jen has a plan: They need to identify who from Intelligencia hacked her because they need to be prosecuted.

Mallory can’t help but point out that they need to deal with Jen first — she was baited, and she took the bait. “I was angry!” Jen yells back, clearly angry. And unfortunately, all of the witnesses at the gala saw an out-of-control Hulk. The one thing Mallory does have is a plea deal, but it comes at a hefty price.

For starters, an inhibitor is put on Jen and she is not allowed to turn into She-Hulk. She’s released from the Damage Control facility only to be let go from GLK&H. Watching the news at home, all the coverage is focused on Jen, and startled, she finds a gaggle of news crew outside her apartment. As her parents remind her, if it gets to be too much, the option for her to move back home is always on the table. And unfortunately, Jen takes it. She clears out her apartment and moves back into her childhood room, which also happens to house her mom’s workout equipment (and she works out every day at 7 am).

Even though Mallory wasn’t too keen on tracking down Intelligencia and the man at the top, HulkKing, Jen and Nikki decide to press on. They’ve created a posterboard of all sorts of leads, but so far all they’ve found dead ends. At least Nikki is looking on the bright side: Intelligencia is made up of dumb dudes, and eventually one of them is going to slip up. Like, Dennis Bukowski, who has made his way to the news to talk about his “prior relationship” with Jen. Gross.

Pause to stop for snacks from Jen’s mom, Elaine, who comes in with sandwiches and cookies and Nikki happily indulges. Elaine also has a video Nikki might want to see, of Jen dancing around in her pajamas while at college

Later, Jen sulks back into her room, with her mom calling downstairs that she’s thinking about moving some bookcases and could use Girl Hulk’s help. Jen yells back that it’s She-Hulk, or she was She-Hulk, but not anymore. Lamenting to us, Jen muses “I know is what I said I wanted but this doesn’t feel right. This isn’t even a reluctant Super Hero story. I’m just getting screwed over.”

She tries texting Bruce again, but the message isn’t delivered. What about talking to Emil? He might understand and Summer Twilights might be a good place to escape to for a few days. “I’m not running from my problems. It’s a mental health break,” Jen declares.

Arriving at Summer Twilights, Jen is greeted by Wrecker who sets her up in a guest room. Later offering her some tea, Wrecker mentions that Jen will probably have a lot to talk about in group tomorrow. But Jen doesn’t really want to go to group, she just wants to talk to Emil. Where is he, anyway?

Nikki, meanwhile, is on her own little journey. She uploads the embarrassing video of Jen dancing in college to Intelligencia, and like clockwork, HulkKing reaches out to her. There’s a private meeting tonight and Nikki should come. Only one problem: they think a bro is coming, not Nikki. Hey Pug, are you busy?

Pug isn’t so sure this plan is going to work, but Nikki is on top of it. She’s puts a headphone in Pug’s ear, and she’s going to be there talking to him all night. Also, it’s important that Pug blend in and should refer to all women as “females.” Once inside, Pug meanders around with the rest of the bros, who complain about the fact that now there’s a She-Hulk AND a Lady Thor? Come on. With a little push from Nikki, Pug enters the conversation, simply stating, “Females, am I right?”

This gets, ugh, Todd’s attention. Todd welcomes Pug into their world and starts going on a rampage about how She-Hulk wouldn’t even have her powers without the Hulk, so why do all the dudes have to act like she earned it? The way Todd sees, it, super powers should go to the person best suited for the job. Via the headphone, Nikki instructs Pug to mention that Jen got things through nepotism, and Todd is into it. But how did Todd get into all of this in the first place?

That’s when Todd reveals his dastardly plan: he created Intelligencia. He’s HulkKing. Addressing the room now, Todd is so proud that they showed everyone that She-Hulk is a monster, and they’re just getting started! (He does a weird little jumpy kick on stage to show his excitement.) Also, there’s a surprise guest here, the Abomination! Emil enters to cheer and claps in full Abomination mode — and don’t forget, he promised not to do this anymore.

Unfortunately, this is the exact moment Jen enters the room. She gazes up at Emil, shocked to see him transformed into Abomination. Also, Todd is shocked to see Jen. She doesn’t have time to unpack whatever’s happening with Todd right now, scolding Emil that he promised not to do this anymore.

That’s when Nikki bursts into the room, too, to inform Jen that they’ve got to get out of there. Todd created Intelligencia and he’s HulkKing! Revealing more about his plan, Todd informs Jen that he hired Josh to seduce Jen and steal her blood so they could synthesize it. Now, Todd’s going to become a Hulk, too.

Is too much happening? Yes. Jen is bewildered. Not at Todd, but at the show. “This can’t possibly be where this season was going,” She says, absolutely flabbergasted.

But, no time to dwell on that, as Titania bursts through the side of the building. And if that’s not enough, Bruce jumps in out of nowhere.

As Todd lunges as Jen, Abomination scoops her out of the way. All Bruce sees is that Abomination has Jen, so those two start battling it out. Elsewhere Titania is just flinging Intelligencia bros around the room.

“This is a mess. None of these storylines make any sense. Is this working for you?” Jen asks, needing to know our opinion.

Clearly, the show isn’t working for someone — but don’t adjust your television screens! Now on the Marvel Disney+ landing page, Jen starts yelling through the title card for Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk. After smashing through that, she peers at the different tiles before landing on Marvel Studios’ Assembled. That’ll do. She swings into that show.

Congratulations, Jen. You’ve broken the fourth wall and welcome to the real world. She marches out of a soundstage on The Walt Disney Studios lot and crosses across the campus before ducking into the She-Hulk production offices. Inside, she finds a bunch of She-Hulk writers who are utterly shocked to see her standing there.

“What the hell, you guys,” She asks them. “What kind of stupid finale is this?”

According to the writers, this is a twist for the show! “There are certain things that are supposed to happen in a Super Hero story,” one of writers tells Jen. She’s not buying it. Why can’t we do things differently?

Well, this is the story that Kevin wants. Ok, so be it. Jen wants to talk to Kevin. The writers erupt into laughter. No one talks to Kevin. Kevin’s value is immeasurable. The writers would murder to protect Kevin.

Jen’s not buying it. She’s going to go talk to Kevin.

Marching into the Marvel Studios office, Jen is greeted by a friendly receptionist who first makes her sign a very long, extensive Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Then the receptionist calls security on her anyway, so why did she have to sign?? Well, everyone’s gotta sign the NDA.

The Marvel Studios security offers are no match for She-Hulk, as she easily picks them off one by one passing through the hallways on her way to have a little chat with Kevin.

Finally arriving at his closed-off space, Jen finds a room full of monitors as the Marvel Studios fanfare blares in the background. What are we watching here, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Black Panther…Jen’s bewildered.

That’s when Kevin drops from the ceiling. Sorry— K.E.V.I.N. It stands for Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus. Obviously. What, were you expecting a man?

Turns out, K.E.V.I.N.’s the one who has been making all the behind-the-scenes decisions and he’ll answer all her questions. But first, she has to change back into her regular self, off camera, because the special effects team has already moved into another project (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in theaters on November 11, 2022 — get tickets now!).

K.E.V.I.N. starts gloating about how he’s the most advanced entertainment algorithm in the world and because of this he can produce near perfect products — some are better than others, but he leaves that debate up to the internet. And just because Jen showed up here doesn’t mean she can start giving K.E.V.I.N. input.

But, this is Jen’s show! Considering she’s a lawyer, and She-Hulk is a lawyer show, she would like to give K.E.V.I.N. her closing argument, and it’s solid: The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for its big spectacles, but it’s often said that Marvel movies all end the same way (K.E.V.I.N. needs to know, who is saying that??). Why did K.E.V.I.N. need to throw in so many plot lines and this weird blood thing going on with Todd? What if we don’t do that? Jen was excited her story was all about learning how to live as both Jen and She-Hulk, but things started falling apart as soon as she stared getting a solid grip on that. K.E.V.I.N., willing to hear her out, wants to know what she has in mind for the She-Hulk finale.

For starters, get Hulk Todd out of there. The powers aren’t the villain, Todd is! And Bruce? Why did he need to swoop in at the last second? K.E.V.I.N. tries to explain that Bruce was going to show up and explain what he was doing on Sa— nah, never mind. Save it for the movie. As for Abomination, Jen just wants him to hold himself accountable. And also this big climax should be during the day. One last thing, Jen would like to see Daredevil again. Oh wait, one more thing, what’s with all the daddy issues in the MCU? Last thing, promise, when are we getting the X-Men?

K.E.V.I.N. can’t answer any of that. While Jen’s going on about everyone’s daddy issues, he recalibrates his programming so Jen won’t be able to tinker with the show again. With that, he shoos her back to the episode already in progress. See you on big screen, K.E.V.I.N.? TBD.

Now back in her show, she’s got the resolution she was hoping for all along. Jen marches to Todd, and while everyone else thinks they’re getting ready for a battle, Jen has other fighting words: “I’ll see you in court.”

On cue, Daredevil arrives ready to help. Jen’s taken care of everything already, but it’s super great to see him! She’s got to deal with Emil now, who is going back to prison for ten years for violating his parole. All’s well that ends well, huh?

At a very happy backyard barbeque, Jen sits with her family and Matt around a picnic table. Jen’s dad Morris can’t help but quiz Matt about his practice back in Hell’s Kitchen, which quickly leads to talking about how expensive it is to raise children in Los Angeles. DAD.

It also can’t be a family cookout without Bruce, who shows up to explain where he’s been and what’s going on. He’d like to clear up some confusion as to what happened while he was on Sakaar. Everyone, meet his son, Skaar

Later, heading into trial and once again reinstated as a lawyer, Jen — as She-Hulk — heads to court. Before she makes it up the steps she’s stopped by a reporter, asking if she’s got a message for Todd.

“The message we’re sending is that if you attack, harm, or harass innocent people, I’m coming for you.” When asked if she means in the courtroom or as a Super Hero, Jen pauses a second before answering, “Both.”

The difficult diva of law herself!

THE FUN TAG:
Emil hangs out in his Damage Control prison, his things neatly packed. A portal appears with Wong, apologizing that he’s late. He got sucked into another TV show, didn’t he?

“We’re really in the era of peak TV,” he offers up, before assisting Emil through the other side to Karma Taj. Is it a shared fridge policy and what’s the Wi-Fi situation?