8) Ward Meachum
One of the drawbacks of Iron Fist is the emphasis on the corporate struggles of the Meachum siblings, as they occupy the murky moral ground of being profit-driven businessmen. Their subplot might be more palatable if the Meachums were actually interesting to watch, but they’re unfortunately not. We’ll get onto Joy in a moment, but first let’s take a look at Ward.
On a positive note, we can say that Tom Pelphrey is hugely irritating as Ward Meachum, which means that he’s doing his job very well as the character is clearly intended to be that way. However, that doesn’t mean we enjoy watching him. In the first few episodes, he’s presented as almost cartoonishly evil – ruining a Monopoly game as a kid and ordering his thugs around to kill Danny as an adult.
Later on, some shade is added to him as it’s revealed that he’s completely under the thumb of his father Harold, and is actually uncomfortable with what he does, leading him to develop a drug problem. Still, it’s hard to feel much for the guy.