Joy Meachum spent the first season of Iron Fist at the mercy of other people, but in its final moments, it seems that she's planning on taking things into her own hands. Spoilers for the Iron Fist season finale ahead. The ending of Iron Fist shows her meeting with Davos and planning something major for the future: Joy Meachum is going to kill Danny Rand. At least, she plans to — with help from Davos and maybe Madame Gao, who was eavesdropping on their conversation and seemed very pleased. It may seem like a far cry from the beginning of the season when Joy was trying to convince her brother that this bearded stranger might be their lost childhood friend, but after all the changes in her life, she now wants the Iron Fist out of the way.
Over the course of somewhere between a few weeks and a couple of months, Joy Meachum has found a long-lost childhood friend, tried to help her brother battle a drug addiction, been fired from the company her father co-founded, was betrayed by her brother, found out her long-dead father was actually alive and can straight-up cheat death, got involved in an international conspiracy, found out her childhood friend has superpowers, and discovered that her company was a front for a massive heroin ring. It's no wonder she's willing to do anything to get her life back on track.
The way Joy sees it, her life was relatively normal before Danny Rand walked back into it. Although her brother, Ward, had been haunted by the living specter of their father for years, Joy knew nothing about Harold's resurrection and instead felt all the emotion of gaining her father back and losing him again in only a few days. In Joy's mind, all of her troubles start with Danny, so she believes they may end with him too.
Her co-conspirator in this case, Davos, is also drawn to killing Danny through personal means. Davos believes that Danny is misusing the power of the Iron Fist, and is mad at him for leaving K'un-Lun unprotected — and without saying goodbye. Madame Gao, who may also get involved, saw her successful heroin ring brought down by Danny. Although all three characters have reason enough to kill Danny, I hope Joy gets to take charge in future seasons, since so much of Season 1 showed her being pulled apart by the different men in her life and forced to follow the actions of others. Now, she can take her life into her own hands for a change — it's just a shame that she's planning to do so with murder.
While many of the conflicts that Danny faced in Season 1 were based around destiny and fighting crime, a potential second season could be energized by more personal conflicts. One of the most compelling parts of the first season were the complicated dynamics of the Meachum family, and now Danny is going to be facing off against two of the closest friends he has ever had. Whatever Iron Fist Season 2 may have in store, let's hope that Joy is front and center.
