Jen has to represent a client against Luke Jacobson, and in the process meets another lawyer that moonlights as a superhero.
Tropes:
- Achilles' Heel: Daredevil easily dodges all of She-Hulk's physical attacks during their fight, but he's knocked into a car and downed when hit with her Shockwave Clap, a move he can't evade and is more susceptible to due to his enhanced hearing.
- Air Quotes: Matt makes quotation marks with his fingers when explaining to Jen how his Super-Senses allow him to "see".
- Always Someone Better:
- Matt proves to be a much better lawyer than Jen in the trial, being able to easily rebut every single one of her statements in court and that's before he starts using his Super-Senses to win the case. Downplayed in that Jen's client is a complete idiot who ultimately ruins his own case.
- Zig-zagged in regards to Matt and Jen's superheroism. During their brief battle with each other, Matt is able to evade Jen several times due to his increased agility and acrobatic fighting style, but he's completely helpless to Jen's Shockwave Clap. Later, Matt shows what he's made of by fighting several of Leap-Frog's underlings in a hallway all by himself, but gets interrupted midway through when Jen smashes through the ceiling and knocks them out. And when it comes to the battle with Leap-Frog and his goons, the goons wisely avoid antagonizing She-Hulk while she tries to talk Leap-Frog into doing the right thing, leaving Matt to fight them by himself.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Jen, who can Hulk Out at will, has trouble believing Matt's hearing is sensitive enough to pick out the individual heartbeats of every mook in a building.
- Artistic License – Medicine: If Leap-Frog really sustained third-degree burns all over his lower legs as he claims, he would not be walking around as normal. Then again, it would not be out of character for him to just throw around such a claim because he thinks it sounds impressive.
- Bait-and-Switch: Daredevil faces off against Leap-Frog’s goons in a dark hallway and the situation is set up to be a repeat of The Oner hallway fights from his Netflix series. Then She-Hulk smashes through the ceiling and knocks everyone out.
- Battle Couple: They don't hook up until after the battle and calling them a couple would be a stretch, but Matt and Jen prove to be an effective team.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Matt doesn't want Jen on the rescue mission because she is basically a civilain. She hasn't done superhero training, hasn't done any super-heroing before now and has explictly stated that she doesn't want to be a superhero. That is valid. Also valid is that Jen's Hulk form has Super-Toughness, Super-Strength, and she did win her bout against him in this episode, so she can definitely handle combat with standard henchgoons.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: When trying to figure out whether Leap-Frog's underlings are henchmen or goons, Jennifer decides to call them "henchgoons" after Matt tries to explain the difference.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Several breaks during this episode, including Jen asking if the audience remembers Todd, commenting about her attraction to Matt as they prepare to fight the henchgoons in the Lilypad, wondering why this episode isn't yet over and what exciting twist could happen in the penultimate episode, and finally looking at the viewers with a My God, What Have I Done? expression.
- Brutal Honesty: Mallory's response to being asked what it's like to be a female lawyer.Mallory: Half the recognition, double the work, and you're constantly being asked what it's like to be a female lawyer.
- Bullying a Dragon: Slut-shaming She-Hulk and sticking around to be spotted when she can snap a man in two was not the brightest idea, though the one guy Jen catches gets away when Damage Control force her to drop him.
- Call-Back:
- During his argument against revealing Luke's client list, Matt mentions that the Sokovia Accords have been repealed and the restrictions on superheroics are no longer in effect.
- Matt also discusses superhero privacy when it comes to custom-making super suits in his argument, and mentions that people misusing someone else's super suit would be a bad look for the super involved and thus necessitates secrecy in that area, something he'd know all about as that actually happened to him.
- When chatting with Jennifer at a bar, Matt notes that he primarily works in Hell's Kitchen, New York.
- When Jen and Matt are chatting after their parking garage fight, a billboard for Rogers: The Musical can be seen in the background.
- In the first episode, Bruce warned Jen that "when people start seeing you as a monster, that never goes away." By the end of this episode, Jen's entirely justified but very public freak-out seems to have had that effect.
- This is also a call-back to her speech on how she (usually) manages her anger:
I'm great at controlling my anger (...) because if I don't, I will get called emotional, or difficult, or might just literally get murdered.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: While She-Hulk is talking with Leap-Frog about the situation he's in, Daredevil chimes in with legal advice for them while beating the crap out of the latter's... henchgoons.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Daredevil demonstrates speed and agility that rivals Spider-Man, despite not having super-agility as a superpower. He was always fast, but not to the level seen in this show.
- Comically Missing the Point: Eugene refers to the Lilypad as his secret lair. When Matt and Jen arrive, it turns out to be a warehouse with "LILYPAD" in gigantic neon letters on the roof.Jen: Hmm. Subtle.
- Costume Evolution: Daredevil's suit gets a minor update, the most notable change being the yellow helmet, and extra padding the Netflix suit didn't have. It also now has yellow accents, plus the helmet and cowl are now combined into one rather than being two separate pieces.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Daredevil is predictably outclassed by She-Hulk, but his agility allows him to evade her attacks for a while and she has to resort to a Shockwave Clap to disable him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Jen goes to Luke to try and arrange an out of court settlement over Leap-Frog claiming he received faulty equipment (after she tried to get out of it due to the conflict of interest as he is her personal tailor). Luke's response is to tear apart the evening dress she commissioned, right in front of her no less, and to blacklist her as a client just for doing her job.
- Downer Ending: Intelligencia's stunt at the gala ends with Damage Control showing up to contain She-Hulk.
- Double Entendre: A particularly epic one when Jen breaks the fourth wall after Matt leaves her apartment.Jen: This episode already came to a very satisfying conclusion. (*smirks*) Trust me.
- Engineered Public Confession: Subverted. When Jen was exposed at the gala by Intelligencia, she had done nothing wrong and was actually a victim of at least three crimes by Josh: stealing her phone data, rape by deception, and filming her having sex without her consent. However, the goal was to get her angry enough to Hulk out in public, thus exposing her as a "monster," despite having a very human reaction to being publicly humiliated in such a manner.
- Epic Fail: Leap-Frog tries a Super Window Jump to escape Daredevil and She-Hulk but he ends up breaking his legs after landing on the floor and has to be put on a stretcher when the police come.
- Everyone Has Standards: After Luke says Jen saving him Makes Us Even, she asks if that means he'll make her gala dress. He agrees to it with no problem, even noting "I'm not a monster".
- Facepalm: After downing the first five goons and preparing to take on five more, Daredevil's heroics are cut short when She-Hulk smashes through the ceiling and knocks out the whole group at once. He just facepalms at her completely ignoring stealth.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: As far as Leapfrog sees it, he's a skilled Crimefighting with Cash Badass Normal Cowl in the vein of Batman, but in practice he's a Miles Gloriosus at best, and at worst, a spineless, pathetic, Compulsive Liar Upper-Class Twit with the moral integrity of wet tissue. What makes him particularly harmful though is he's also Obliviously Evil and Believes His Own Lies, so he thinks kidnapping Luke and hiring goons is morally OK because it'll aid his "heroics".
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: As viewers familiar with his previous MCU appearances know, Matt Murdock only defends people who are genuinely innocent of their charges.note So it's not much of a surprise when it turns out Leap-Frog's suit malfunction was a result of him ignoring Luke's instructions on what fuel to use for the jet boots.
- Foil: Matt is introduced in this episode as another superhero lawyer to contrast Jen, the heroine, in several ways:
- Their legal careers. Jen is one of the faces of a high-profile firm; Matt has his own practice and does mainly pro-bono work.
- Their approach to superheroics. Jen as She-Hulk prefers brute strength, while Matt as Daredevil prefers stealth and (admittedly somewhat brutal-looking) hand-to-hand combat, as well as utilising nunchucks.
- Their attitudes toward secret identities. Matt keeps his superheroing separate from his personal and work life and only a few know his identity, while Jen's identity as She-Hulk is public.
- A Fool for a Client: At first it looks as if Luke is going to try and represent himself against Jen and Eugene. Just as Jen is telling Eugene they'll probably win Matt walks in and reveals he's Luke's counsel, he was just running late.
- Force and Finesse: Daredevil uses his agility and martial arts skills to outfight his foes, while She-Hulk relies on sheer brute strength.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: Todd for Wakanda. He purchases a (stolen) Wakandan spear, did a semester in Wakanda, and does the Wakandan salute.
- Foreshadowing: When Eugene is describing his incident, he says his suit caught on fire despite being "inflammable to 900 degrees." "Inflammable", despite the in- prefix, is actually a synonym for "flammable", foreshadowing how Eugene completely disregarded Luke's instructions and warnings, making the lawsuit frivolous.
- Geeky Turn-On: Jen is impressed by Matt’s legal skills.
- Hallway Fight: Matt fights his way through Leap-Frog's goons in one of the dim hallways of the Lilypad. As the last five of the goons run at him weapons drawn, Jen smashes through the ceiling and knocks them out at once.
- Hollywood Law: Matt Murdock makes his highly-anticipated guest appearance and faces off against Jen in court. This ignores the fact that in the United States, law licenses are state-level. Every state and territory has its own bar exam that an attorney must pass in order to practice law there, and there is no mention that the New York-based Matt is licensed to practice in California (and the two states don't have recipricocity). It's possible to be admitted temporarily so they can work on a particular case (called pro hac vice) but that isn't mentioned here, and regardless it seems odd that he'd do this going from New York out of the blue (while representing the plaintiff in a civil case when he's a criminal defense attorney too).
- Hypocritical Humor: Last episode, Jen blew up at the residents of Blonsky’s camp for destroying her beater of a car…which makes it that much funnier when she chucks a brand-new luxury car at Daredevil with all the hesitance of a kid throwing a water balloon.
- Idiot Ball: You'd think a seasoned lawyer like Jen would have checked if Eugene tampered with his jet boots before confronting Luke Jacobson, a flawless supersuit designer she has personal experience with, about supposedly defective equipment. She just takes him at his word that the equipment didn't function as advertised and tries to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. When Luke responds with Disproportionate Retribution to the accusation, she's mad enough to take him to court without doing her due diligence, leading to Matt tearing apart her case.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Leap-Frog tells Jen the Lily Pad is his "famous secret lair". It even has a ten-foot tall neon sign on the roof that says "LILY PAD".
- Insane Troll Logic:
- Among the things Intellgiencia do is claiming Jen "stole" Hulk's powers.
- Their Slut-Shaming move also counts when you consider the romance montage with Josh showed they went on multiple dates prior to their hook up, and Jen clearly cared a lot about him, so calling her a "slut" for sleeping with him, unfair as it is regardless, isn't even accurate to what they're showing.
- Insanity Defense: During the fight in the Lilypad, Jen tells Leap-Frog that if he stops fighting now, he might still be able to try a temporary insanity defense in court to explain his kidnapping of Luke, though Matt suggests trying to claim he kidnapped Luke in a bout of undiagnosed PTSD instead.
- Insistent Terminology: Jen ponders whether or not there's a difference between a henchman and a goon, with Matt saying "goon" is appropriate for Leap-Frog’s men because they're only in it for the money, whereas henchmen actually believe in their boss's ideology. Jen splits the difference and calls them "henchgoons".
- Instant Emergency Response: She-Hulk smashes a television display and busts through a wall after one of the perps, a series of actions that charitably could not have been more than a few minutes apart at most. Damage Control is waiting outside the gala before the latter has even happened. It's not out of the question that the Intelligencia called them just to get Jen in trouble, but the episode doesn't suggest that.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: One of the mooks complains about Eugene wanting to call him a "baby frog". The other is confused, because he thought Eugene wanted to call them "Tadpoles". The first immediately points out that the two are the same thing and berates his colleague for not knowing that, before he gets hit in the face by Daredevil's billy club.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When She-Hulk busts through a wall to confront Eugene, she uses one hand to lift and throw an arcade cabinet so the mooks will think twice before attacking her. To their credit, all but one of them is smart enough to completely ignore her from then on, though they still consider Daredevil fair game.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Daredevil and She-Hulk fight briefly because Daredevil is trying to apprehend Eugene for kidnapping Luke, and She-Hulk thinks he's attacking her client because she doesn't know the situation.
- Lighter and Softer: The Daredevil outfit having a revamped color-scheme - bringing it in line with his original comic appearance - is mirrored by Matt Murdock's personality being less overtly angsty and self-serious, especially around Jen, with whom he shows a propensity for Snark-to-Snark Combat; whilst the tonal shift is not fully out of character for him, the darker and edgier tone of his character and the Daredevil series itself is occasionally undercut for humour, whilst still showing him as a highly competent vigilante, even against She-Hulk's superior strength.
- Living Lie Detector: Played for laughs. Eugene admits to using jet fuel in his boots and then immediately retracts it when he realizes that he just torpedoed his own case. Matt says he's lying, naturally being able to tell through sound, and the judge lampshades that everyone in the room knows that.
- Malevolent Masked Men: When Intelligencia hacks the gala's screen, the organization's representatives are wearing masks to conceal their identities.
- Medal of Dishonor: The SCLA Female Lawyer of the Year ends up feeling like a participation trophy for being a female lawyer rather than a high ranking honor, which Mallory Book herself lampshades.
- Mooks: Leap-Frog has some mooks working for him, and they are discussed by Jen and Matt right before the two heroes storm the warehouse. Matt distinguishes between "henchmen" (who believe in the cause) and "goons" (who are Punch-Clock Villains that are Only in It for the Money). He calls the bad guys goons while Jen calls them henchgoons.
- Musical Nod: When Matt confesses to Jen that he's Daredevil, a few soft notes of John Paesano's Daredevil (2015) theme plays.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She-Hulk's face screams this trope when she looks at us in the episode's final minutes. This happens after she punches the gala screen in front of the audience and attacks one of the perpetrators.
- My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Matt, of course, can pick up on Jen's attraction to him, and doesn't hesitate to tease her about her racing heart rate.
- Mythology Gag:
- Matt's new suit as a splash of yellow to it, much like his comic counterpart's starting outfit.
- Nikki sticks makeup brushes between her fingers giving her makeshift claws similar to Wolverine.
- When speculating why the episode hasn't ended yet, Jen wonders if they're going to reveal the existence of a Red Hulk (Thunderbolt Ross himself in the comics), or if she'll end up getting fridged — with She-Hulk having died and been resurrected numerous times.
- Matt reveals that the Sokovia Accords were repealed. In the comics, Daredevil was on Captain America's side, who was against the Super-Human Registration Act. It's also a nod to how Charlie Cox had expressed interest in becoming part of the cast for Civil War, only for then-current legal issues to get in the way of that.
- Matt and Jen know each other for about a day before they end up in bed together. This tracks with both characters' reputations in the comics, where both are infamous for having a long list of romantic conquests and frequently dating other heroes.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: Matt tells Jenn he's Daredevil. The famous theme music from his show plays... and gets cut off immediately when Jenn doesn't recognize him.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Leap-Frog kidnapping Luke gave Jen the opportunity to repair her relationship with him, getting him to agree to be her designer again.
- The Nose Knows: During court proceedings, Matt sniffs the air as Eugene holds up the broken Leap-Frog suit, and he asks Eugene what kind of fuel was used in the boots. Eugene having used jet fuel against Luke's instructions is what gets the case dismissed immediately.
- No-Sell: One of Eugene's goons tries to hit She-Hulk with a bat.She-Hulk: It's sad that you thought that would work.
- Nothing Personal: Matt buys Jen a drink after he beats her at the trial. Jen doesn't take it personally either, since all he did was out Leap-Frog for being an even bigger idiot than she already knew.
- Obfuscating Disability: Played with. After discovering who Daredevil is, Jennifer asks if he's pretending to be blind as "that's really problematic." Matt quickly assures her he is blind and is able to "see" thanks to his enhanced hearing.
- Oh, Crap!: Nikki and Jen when seeing the contents of her phone splashed on the monitor at the gala; Jen even moreso seconds later when she realizes Josh filmed them having sex; and Mallory when she realizes Jen is about to snap.
- One for the Money; One for the Art: In-Universe. Matt admits that, outside of being his tailor, Matt is representing Luke because he's willing to pay him enough to keep the lights on in his firm, which usually covers pro bono cases.
- Pedestrian Crushes Car: She-Hulk arrives to save Eugene by jumping directly in front of his car. He manages to brake enough to not total it slamming into her, but she still leaves a sizable dent in the bumper from the impact.
- Poor Communication Kills: Because Leap-Frog never mentioned that he didn’t follow Luke’s instructions and put jet fuel in his boots, he almost makes Luke stop making outfits for Jen.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Todd did a semester in Wakanda and does the Wakandan salute, much to Jen's discomfort.
- Rage Breaking Point: Josh having secretly recorded Jen and him having sex proves the last straw for Jen, and she smashes the screen before nearly killing one of the guys responsible.
- Read the Freaking Manual: Eugene sues Luke because his jet boots set a supposedly inflammable suit on fire. Matt wins the case when it's revealed that he used jet fuel, which goes far beyond the 900 degree threshold that Luke promised and which Luke specifically warned him against using.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Nikki hops into view in Jen's living room holding makeup brushes and says "shwoop" as she strikes a Wolverine pose.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Eugene is apparently such a fan of this that he uses his Catchphrase for it.
- When in a losing fight with two nighttime robbers, he uses it right as he flees on his jet boots which is what results in his injury that he sues Luke over.
- Later, when Jen and Daredevil come after him for kidnapping Luke, Eugene tries to flee through a window when he realizes his goons are outmatched. Unfortunately for him, he's not on the ground floor. Cut to him being wheeled away on a stretcher.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Jen and Matt stumble into her apartment while making out. The camera then pans up to discarded weapons and clothing on the floor until a view of their feet standing closely together. The next shot is of him walking out of her apartment while she enters the kitchen, satisfied.
- Shockwave Clap: During the Let's You and Him Fight with She-Hulk and Daredevil, She-Hulk ends the fight a powerful clap that sends Daredevil flying into a parked car and leaves him disoriented.
- Shout-Out:
- In the background of the Lilypad, some goons can be seen working on a Frog Signal.
- The Lilypad has several arcade cabinets, among them Frogger.
- Nikki pops into Jen's living room and strikes a couple of Wolverine's familiar poses while clenching makeup brushes in her knuckles like claws.
- The masks and vocal effect of the Intelligencia henchmen bring to mind Diktor van Doomcock of Overlord DVD.
- Slut-Shaming: The Intelligencia uses data from Jen's phone (where she'd looked up pictures of Steve Rogers' butt) and a recording Josh made of them sleeping together to do this. They even call her a slut in their voiceover. It seems that this was deliberately invoked just to make her go into a Hulk rage.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Leap-Frog talks himself up as a serious crimefighter but, in actuality, is a danger to himself and only got as far as he did thanks to his father's money.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Jen and Matt engage in quite a bit of good-natured ribbing with each other.
- Spoiled by the Format: Discussed In-Universe during a fourth-wall break. Jen notes that the current episode feels resolved but clearly isn't over yet and that the next episode is the finale. She reasons there will be a "big twist" in the remaining few minutes of the episode.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Jen's professional relationship with Luke is repaired, she finally has at least the beginning of a relationship with someone who won't freak out on her (since Matt is also a superhero), she fully embraces being She-Hulk on the red carpet at a gala event, and is one of the co-winners of a prestigious legal award. Then the Intelligencia use the stolen contents of her phone and a secret recording of her having sex to deride her as a slut, causing Jen to snap and cause a not insignificant amount of destruction while terrifying virtually everyone in attendance.
- Super Window Jump: Leap-Frog leaps out a window of the Lilypad to make his exit away from Daredevil and She-Hulk. Offscreen cracks and screams are heard, and the next scene has him being wheeled away on a stretcher.
- Super Zeroes: Leap-Frog has literally none of the skills or intelligence to be a halfway competent superhero. And when he kidnaps Luke, it's shown that he has none of the morals as well.
- Take That!: In the midst of a good-natured argument, Matt mentions that Jennifer caused unnecessary damage to the property and she retorts that it looked like he would take half an hour with any random mook that came along. This is almost a fourth wall break in itself because in his series, despite being explicitly stated as one of the best fighters/martial artists in the world, he takes a LONG time with any henchman that appears, having his physical, mental capacities and fighting skills reduced drastically and suddenly in the middle of the action, just to improve the drama.
- Taught by Television: Matt covers for his own legal knowledge, which could risk giving away his secret identity, by saying that he watches a lot of legal dramas.
- Tempting Fate:
- Court is in session, and Luke Jacobson appears to be representing himself, prompting Jen to say to Eugene that this will be an easy win. Matt walks in, revealing he's representing Luke, and Jen loses the case a couple of minutes later when Eugene proves he's more idiotic than Jen thought.
- With five minutes left in the episode, Jen lampshades that it feels like it should be over after the action and night with Daredevil. She-Hulk still has to show up for the gala, where Intelligencia publicly slut-shames her.
- Three-Point Landing: Daredevil does this after climbing down and jumping out of the parking lot to catch up to Leap-Frog's car.
- Title Drop: "Ribbit and rip it" is Leap-Frog's Catchphrase.
- Too Dumb to Live: Eugene uses jet fuel for his costume's boot rockets against Luke's explicit instructions. He's lucky he "only" got third-degree burns on his legs. He also jumps out a window later, which predictably breaks his legs.
- Took a Level in Badass: Matt was always an impressive gymnast, but in 10 years of superheroics he has become nearly superhuman in this regard. He is also even faster than before, dodging damn near every attack thrown his way, and his hallway fight is entirely one-sided this time. Also, continuing the trend from Spider-Man, his legal acumen has significantly improved.
- Took a Level in Cheerfulness: In the years since his show, Matt has become much less outwardly angsty and much more of a wisecracker.
- Touché: In their back-and-forth, Jen accuses Matt of not properly making his intentions known when she arrived, and he counters that she likewise immediately attacked him. She points out that a guy wearing devil horns doesn't exactly signal "good guy", and he concedes that it's a fair point.
- Unreliable Narrator: Lying and misleading appear to be Eugene's default, but when recapping his injuries, he explains how he was fighting some huge guys (actually just two regular looking dudes about his own size), claimed they were clearly afraid of him (they were baffled by him and easily beat the crap out of him), and talked up how well he was doing (he only landed one hit on them, a fairly ineffective light kick on their toes).
- Unusual Euphemism: "Why are we still here? Believe me, this episode already came to a very satisfying conclusion."
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Matt ends up doing a walk of shame in his Daredevil outfit. Jenn's elderly neighbor doesn't even spare him a glance.
- Upper-Class Twit: Leap-Frog is just a spoiled rich kid who got it in his head to start vigilanting as an Animal-Themed Superbeing. He puts jet-fuel in his rocket boots against the inventor's instructions, putting him and everyone else through a frivolous lawsuit that gets thrown out immediately, and then kidnaps Luke to force him to be his own personal tailor and gadget guy. He only manages to get as far as he does because he pays a bunch of henchgoons to do the heavy lifting.
- Walk of Shame: Nikki actually uses the expression when referring to Daredevil having to walk out of Jen's in his superhero suit and carrying the boots in his hands, making it obvious how he spent the night.
- Weak, but Skilled: Daredevil dances around She-Hulk when they fight, being too fast for her to get a hit on. He is only beaten when she uses a Shockwave Clap, which he not only can't dodge but is especially vulnerable to.
- Women Prefer Strong Men: While watching Daredevil kick goon ass, She-Hulk states that the sight is "really doing it for me".
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: After the attack by Intelligencia at the Gala, Jen proves that she can be as true to this trope as her cousin. She Hulk breaks the screen with a rage she hasn't shown since Episode One, reduced to snarling, then breaks down the wall of a theatre and threatens to kill a member who was filming her.
