When Marvel first announced that “Iron Fist” would be joining Netflix’s growing slate of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) original television series with Scott Buck as showrunner, comic book fans and casual MCU viewers alike anticipated something pleasantly different than the typically dark, brooding character iterations already established. Indeed, audiences saw a show with an entirely different tone and feel than those of “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” and “Luke Cage,” but not in a good way; “Iron Fist” was ridiculed by both fans and critics for being tonally uneven, cloyingly gleeful, miscast, and poorly written and executed, particularly in its fight scenes. And when you talk about a series featuring non-stop kung-fu action, that’s not good.

Although Finn Jones in the titular role was generally criticized in season one, over the course of “The Defenders” and, briefly, “Luke Cage,” Jones, who only had two months to prepare for season one, has worked out some of the kinks in his interpretation of Danny Rand, the Living Weapon. The redundant jargon about K’un-Lun and the Hand in the first season is immediately replaced by impressive action and effective pacing in season two.

Read the rest of the review at The Playlist.