I loved seasons 1 and 2 of Daredevil, but I mainly loved it due to how grounded it felt. For the most part, there were no super powers except a bit from the bad guys, but that felt more like the paranormal and the occult. The Hand seemed more like R'as al Ghul and the League of Shadows in Batman.
I only watched 1 episode of Jessica Jones, none of Luke Cage, and I caught one of the later episodes of Iron Fist when I was at a friend's house. I wasn't really interested in those shows, because the characters were so strong in terms of super powers. I prefer the toned down blind man with heightened senses theme of Daredevil.
I also refused to watch Iron Fist, because it's basically yet another White person playing what could have been an Asian character (Marvel does a lot of that).
Luckily, Iron Fist wasn't in episode 1 enough to annoy me too much. The episode as a whole was ok, but I still prefer the Daredevil characters over Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Jessica Jones is a bit better in this opening episode.
The strongest addition in terms of acting is definitely Sigourney Weaver. Not much is revealed about her in this opening episode, but you can tell she's a bad ass. I do look forward to finding out more about her character.
In the last 5-10 minutes of the episode, the show starts to build up to what looks like a big, epic cliffhanger. But then they cut it off right before they even give a hint of what's going on in terms of what the team is going up against this season.
Overall, I give this episode a 7/10. I might've bumped it up to 8/10 if it had a better cliffhanger, but it didn't. I do intend to keep watching.
You really should give Jessica Jones a try. In some ways it's got a more realistic feel than Daredevil, despite her power.
And while I consider Iron Fist the weakest of the Netflix Marvel shows, Danny Rand isn't that strong in terms of super powers. He's got the fist, but as far as I can tell he can only use it for limited amounts of time. Otherwise, he's just a martial artist.
I already watched 15 minute spoiler recaps for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist on YouTube before watching the Defenders. I didn't see anything to make me a big fan of any of these characters, but Jessica Jones was good in Defenders. Luke Cage was ok as well.
I still can't stand Finn Jones as Iron Fist. He has the charisma of a slimy used car salesman, and his acting is about on par with one as well, IMO.
Defenders still did not make me a fan of Finn Jones' Iron Fist, but, luckily, he was probably in the show less than the other three members of the Defenders.
What I also didn't like about Defenders is how they tried to make it more lighthearted and like the Netflix Avengers. I'm burned out on super hero teams in general. Daredevil was at his best when he was just your friendly, neighborhood Daredevil fighting Wilson Fisk, the Punisher, and the Hand.
That said, Defenders is worth watching. I feel like it didn't have the heart of the Daredevil seasons, but I still thought it was ok and worth a watch. I'm glad it's over for now, and we can get back to the Punisher in his separate show and Daredevil season 3.
The Defenders finale also was just ok, IMO. Overall, I give the show a 7.8/10.