She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is peak uncanny valley, but it works

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law knows exactly what you were thinking when you first watched it, and it appreciates all the feedback. While She-Hulk's frequent jaunts into the valley feel like a sign of the less than ideal conditions its visual effects were produced under, the show as a whole is a refreshing spin on the small screen.

After multiple Phases of hero origin series like Daredevil and Moon Knight, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law switches things up by dropping you into the deep end of the life of a paralegal. She-Hulk's Jen is an exceedingly talented but pathologically sheepish lawyer whose entire world is upended by a freak accident that leaves her with a set of superpowers very similar to her hulking cousin Bruce Banner's.

Image: Marvel Studios

The circumstances of how Jen wakes up are different in the comics than they are in the movie. Enough of the source material's beats are present to make it clear that She-Hulk is aware of its own absurdity. She-Hulk isn't a superhero show and she's always in complete control because she's always in the same place.

This isn't true and She-Hulk's first few episodes are a comedy about what happens to an ordinary person who suddenly becomes an "enhanced individual" in the MCU. She-Hulk presents her reluctance about becoming a known super quantity as something crucial to understanding who she is, rather than simply framing her as a brooding hero who has to self-actualize before taking a codename and putting on a costume. The courtroom is where she likes to fight and where she knows they can use their legal prowess to change lives in ways that no one else could. Jen is not interested in being a superhero even though her own show expects her to be one.

Managing people's ideas about who and what she is that gives her the most trouble is more than any of the big-name heroes or villains. Even if she is dealing with her sexist colleagues or her well-intentioned cousin, most people in her life don't trust her ability to make smart decisions. Even though that double standard pisses Jen off, it is once she starts using it to her advantage that She-Hulk really gets going.

Image: Marvel Studios

Though She-Hulk's definitely Jen's Ally McBeal-inspired "lawyer show," it's also one of the more pointed attempts at tying together disparate parts of its multiverse to remind you that many of these characters from different movies and series It makes sense that Wong would call on She-Hulk for delicate matters requiring an understanding of mortal laws if he were the Earth's sitting Supreme.

Like Wong, Abomination comes back to remind viewers of the last big movie he was in and to help She-Hulk get into the details of the universe it is set in as only an aggressively nerd and horny legal comedy could. Though the star power of She-Hulk's guest stars varies from week to week, with each of their subplots, the show finds different ways to make the MCU feel like a more lived-in place. Jen does what she does to act as a force of justice in the world, and She-Hulk leads with the idea that people like her are exactly what the public needs in times of crisis.

When She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is firmly in comedy mode, it feels like it is in a good place. The series sometimes seizes up a bit when She-Hulk tries to shift gears.

Image: Marvel Studios

There is a sense of panic in a number of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's more technically complex scenes featuringJen in her massive, curiously proportioned Hulk form that bears much more resemblance to Maslany than Smart Hulk does. The amount of work that went into creating a She-Hulk model is more convincing than you might think. It is impossible to ignore how675316753167531s of the character in motion tend to be, particularly when the show draws attention to her mane of luxurious but often67531s of the character

Since She-Hulk is able to pull off the visuals for characters who aren't new to the MCU, it stands to reason that she's going to get a better look in the future. It is odd to see She-Hulk falling face-first into the valley on her own television show, even if that is the case. The audio mixing on She-Hulk and Smart Hulk is more cartoonish than the characters are likely to be.

When they are all working in concert, the show can get by relying on its irreverent sense of humor and ability to laugh at itself. It is almost certain that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will go down as one of the Phases when it is released.

The premiere of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will be on August 18.