Netflix & Marvel’s Iron Fist Recap Episode 9; The Mistress of All Agonies (Spoilers)

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We open to a serene nature scene on a sunny day, with lush green trees and birds chirping, and Harold Highlandering out of a lake. He looks around, understandably confused, with the ceremonial dagger Ward stabbed him with still sticking out of his gut. Apparently whatever the Hand did to bring him back from the dead is permanent, and when he realizes he can’t actually die, Harold smiles like he just won the lotto. Opening credits.

Danny and the girls are back in New York, holding Gao prisoner. Claire and Colleen are wary of having her here, and think they should take her to the police. Gao just smiles and continues to mindfuck everyone. Claire and Colleen stop him from punching Gao and tell him to stop worrying about whatever connection his dad may have had with the Hand and focus on what they’re dealing with NOW. Claire says if he can get her some sodium pentothal from Rand’s labs she can get him answers from Gao without torturing her.

Harold is stumbling around what appears to be Brooklyn like a giggling zombie, wandering into water streaming from a hydrant that kids were playing in, freaking out one of the kids’ mothers. She asks him what he’s doing and he babbles at her about his son. He wanders off. Joy is leaving Ward a message saying she looked into the penthouse building to find that Harold bought it, and demands answers. Danny finds Joy and she fills him in on the ousting. She says it’s his fault and he can’t even enter the building. She asks if Danny knows anything about the penthouse and knows he’s lying when he says no. He tells her to not go anywhere near it and that everything will be sorted out soon. Harold is wandering through a park, still babbling, and throws up mud in front of a hot dog stand, then wanders off again.

Claire gives Gao some water and tries to be polite to Gao. Gao mindfucks Claire, trying to get under her skin, talking about how everyone she cares about goes away, and how all she will find is pain, trying to get Claire to abandon Danny. even threatening her mother and smiling smugly when Claire almost hits her. Colleen tells Claire to take a breather and takes over watching Gao .

Danny breaks into the Rand lab to find the pentathol. The lab tech who analyzed the synthetic heroin for him catches him, but agrees to help him and lets him leave with the drug. Gao continues her smug mindfucking and tells Colleen things about her grandfather and her struggles to be respected as a woman and Colleen says Gao knows nothing about her grandfather and that she knows Gao’s MO is to pull these mindfucks to get people to do what she wants. Then Gao says something to her in Japanese. Colleen translate it and says Gao could have just looked it up. Gao tries to intimidate her and tell  her to run before the Hand arrives. Colleen doubles over in pain.

Harold stumbles across the Rand building, still babbling, He remembers his name and goes to a security panel, and somehow finds enough lucidity to remember the door code. He wanders through the mostly empty building, looking at portraits of him and Danny’s dad on the wall. He stares at himself for a moment, then continues wandering until he finds Ward’s office. He looks through the office and finds someone else’s name on the desk  Confused, he wonders where everyone is, and calls Kyle. Kyle comes to get him and tells him why Ward and Joy were ousted. Harold needs a drink.

A street food vendor is counting his till across from Rand when some random guy knocks him out. He looks at a copy of Forbes with Danny on the cover, (and Tony Stark mentioned on the top line above the logo), and makes a functional shuriken out of tinfoil that he whips into the wall above the unconscious street vendor’s head. Ward checks his voicemail and ignores Joy’s message as he arrives at the Penthouse. shocked to find Harold quite alive. Harold tells him a story about when Ward was born. He explains that he can die, but apparently can’t stay dead, and is fully lucid again. He asks Ward if he was really such a horrible father as to drive Ward to kill him. It appears he’s going to stab Ward but he drops the dagger and begs Ward to forgive him for being a shitty dad and says he loves him. Ward is understandably weirded out.

Colleen is resting in bed, likely from Gao’s poison. Claire preps a dosage of the pentothal for Gao. Gao boasts that Danny isn’t prepared for what he’s about to get. Danny says it can’t be scarier than a dragon in a cave. Gao says oh but it is. Claire administers the dose, and after a minute Gao is all wobbly. Danny asks his questions and Gao tells him that his mom introduced her to his dad, who refused to make a deal with the Hand, so she had him killed, and dealt with Harold instead. Then she passes out. OR DOES SHE? As Colleen collapses, Gao snaps back awake with her smug smile, bragging that they were fools to think pentathol would work on a woman who learned to survive interrogations in the 17th century. She says Colleen is as good as dead but she tells Danny to call someone who can help, probablyAkudo.

Throwing star guy is still whipping tinfoil shurikens at the wall over the street cook’s head, watching the Rand building. Ward meanwhile is demanding Harold just let him go. He wants nothing to do with Rand or the Hand or any of it. Harold lets him go to make him happy. He says he hopes Joy will be more forgiving. Ward says leave her out of it. Harold says he has a plan and tells Ward to just leave.

Gao continues to mindfuck our heroes as Colleen gets worse. The lights go out and the Hand is here to rescue Gao. Danny and Colleen fight them off, proving Gao’s prediction to be a tad overconfidant. Claire notes these guys are military, not ninja. Gao says she’ll give Claire safe passage if they take here back to her people.

Ward approaches the Triad boss asking him if he knows a way to deal with the hand. He tells Ward a story about a man who kept coming back from death, coming back worse each time. He tells Ward his only option is to run. Ward leaves and slaps a heroin patch on his wrist. Harold tells Kyle to wait a moment before he leaves for the day. He surprises him with multiple flavours of ice cream, and I’ll bet Kyle dies now. And I’m right, as Harold loses it on Kyle for complaining there was no vanilla. Yep, someone came back wrong. Covered in blood spatter, Harold talks to Kyle’s corpse, and when he regains lucidity he realizes what’s he’s done.

Ward leaves the Triad’s restaurant and walks right into the police. They’re going over his car having found drugs on the seat. He’s arrested and taken to the station, where the shrink who was treating Danny assesses Ward, who is insisting he’s been set up. And he starts babbling about HGarold manipulating his whole life, and seems to forget that the world thinks Harold is dead. The shrink tells Ward he’s a dual diagnosis patient, (addict with delusional paranoia), and can’t be released.

Joy returns to the penthouse seeking answers, and Harold sees her on the security cameras. He remotely opens the elevator as an invitation and leads her up to the penthouse floor. She gets to the penthouse itself and sees Harold, and she is… surprisingly not as shocked as one would expect. She’s actually taking it rather well. Harold hugs her and she looks utterly horrified as it finally hits her and she starts sobbing.

Gao continues to taunt them about Colleen dying. Danny says if Colleen dies, Gao dies. Akudo arrives and asks to be let in. Danny refuses until Gao drops her smug snake veneer and demands Akudo leave. Seeing Gao rattled is enough to convince Danny to let him in. Akudo tells Danny that as the Iron Fist he can save Colleen. Danny doesn’t understand and Gao is openly afraid. Akudo shows Danny how to use his Chi and the fist to remove the poison and Gao tells Danny he’s about to go down a path he can’t come back from. Danny ignores her and does as Akudo says and purges the poison from Colleen with his chi. As Colleen is cured, Danny passes out. Gao repeats what she told Colleen earlier, that a frog in the well cannot understand the sea, and people arrive to help Colleen and Akudo carry Danny and Gao to a waiting van. Akudo tells Claire she isn’t permitted where they’re going when she tries to come with, and Colleen promises Claire they’ll take care of Danny and everything will be alright. End of episode.

Only 4 episodes left folks! See you soon for number 10!

Penny is a now divorced intersexed disabled lesbian in BC Canada. She's been watching wrestling and reading comics since she was a kid, and knows her stuff. She lives with her pets and passes her free time writing, drawing, doing paid photoshop work (including logos done for Pulse's Own Mike Gojira), and is a part-time Queer model.