I can't believe I didn't comment on Luke Cage when it came out! I watched it again in preparation for Iron Fist and was glad I did. It reminded me that Marvels Netflix shows can be damn good. I wish I could say the same about Iron Fist.
Iron Fist is a long time favorite of mine. From back in the days when Chris Claremont was writing the book and was full of fresh ideas, (Fun fact, Wolverines arch foe Sabertooth first appeared as an Iron Fist villain) through the Heroes for Hire years, his death, and eventual rebirth. I was really looking forward to the series and had high hopes given what had come before. I can't say I was completely disappointed by it, but I was let down. The story wanders around, trying to find a solid setting. The reasons for Danny Rand to come back to New York are basically homesickness (though he had spent more of his life in K'un Lun than out of it) and his reason to stay is that The Hand has apparently infiltrated his fathers company, and the Iron Fist is the enemy of The Hand. It feels tacked on, and it doesn't help that most Hand members in the show don't look like the ninja's from Daredevil. They look like street thugs and carry automatic weapons.
The fight scenes were mostly lackluster, in part because most of Iron Fists fights are in the dark (presumably to hide Finn Jones lack of fighting skills) The most impressive fights belonged to Jessica Henwicks Colleen Wing, a couple of underground cage matches, and a pair of sword duels. I was willing to give this a pass, until I watched the first episode of the second season of AMC's Into the Badlands, and watched two totally awesome fight scenes. Into the Badlands is more Iron Fist than Iron Fist!
And then there's the bad guys. Admittedly, Harold Meachum is a wonderfully manipulative "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!". And we get to see much more of Madame Gao, and her wicked machinations. But the showdown in the final episode is just so 80's cliched, right down to a rooftop confrontation and ending. I expected more, given both the source material, and what Marvel had done in the previous four series. And don't get me started on the "twist" in the story involving one of the main characters
I really wanted to like Iron Fist, but the best I can say is that, you'll want to watch it going into The Defenders, it probably has a number of plot points you'll need to see, and while it is a let down from previous series, it's not awful. It's just not as great as it should have been.