‘She-Hulk’ Star Renée Elise Goldsberry on Mallory & Jen’s Friendship Status

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Season 1, Episode 5, “Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans.”]

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law took on Jennifer Walters’ (Tatiana Maslany) biggest battle yet in the fifth installment, “Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans.”

While the super-powered lawyer had to fight for her moniker in court, she had to relinquish control to colleague Mallory Book (Renée Elise Goldsberry) for help in winning. The problem? The fellow Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway (GLK&H) attorney isn’t Jen’s biggest fan.

Although the show never delves too deep into Mallory’s simmering disdain for the lead character, it’s implied that bitterness comes from a career angle. After all, Jennifer was invited to head GLK&H’s superhuman law division, beating Mallory who could have received a potential in-house promotion.

(Credit: Disney+/Marvel Studios)

But there could be more to it than that. “I have the benefit of a lot of research already done on Mallory Book and this entire world,” Goldsberry muses. “It’s one of the joys of being in the Marvel Universe is that so many blanks are filled in for me. So yeah, even though we haven’t yet seen much of it in She-Hulk [yet,] we definitely know that there’s animosity there.”

While Jen was ready to try and build a bond with her coworker, Mallory seemed to flinch at the term friends when Jen suggested that they finally were. Still, there’s hope for something resembling friendship to blossom, according to Goldsberry.

“These are two women who are both powerful and they have a tremendous amount in common, I think, more than having won that case. And so I think all women, you know, as colleagues will commiserate and that doesn’t necessarily mean that all is forgiven and they are friends,” the actress says, but adds, “I think there’s hope.”

(Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Disney+/Marvel Studios)

Mallory certainly has more respect for her coworker after Jen shamelessly paraded her dating app matches in court to prove she’d been using the She-Hulk moniker before super influencer Titania (Jameela Jamil) trademarked it. “I think there’s something about how much you’re gonna put on the line to win. I think Mallory feels both impressed and surprised that she was willing to humiliate herself like that. I think she also feels empathy for the struggle,” Goldsberry shares.

“I don’t know that she would’ve been aware before that moment that [Jen] was anything, but fast-tracked because she’s a superhero,” the actress continues. “And I think at that moment she becomes acutely aware of some of the more personal challenges that she might face. And as a woman, Mallory empathizes.”

Part of Mallory’s harshness towards Jen was the complaint that the lawyer dress better, which is a difficult challenge when Jen is so small and She-Hulk is towering tall. Thankfully, paralegal and bestie Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga) and colleague Augustus “Pug” Pugliese (Josh Segarra) have her back.

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The episode saw the surprisingly dynamic duo seek out a consultation with the guy in superhero fashion, Griffin Matthews (Luke Jacobson). By the episode’s end, Jen was trying on new threads that are almost certain to wow, once viewers finally get a chance to see them.

In the meantime, we can’t help but wonder, will we see more from Nikki and Pug before the season’s through? “Absolutely, we could expect some more,” Segarra tells TV Insider. “We were cracking jokes all day. I love Ginger, that’s my homie,” the actor adds of working with Gonzaga.

“It’s fun to see relationships come to life,” Segarra muses. “All of a sudden you’re just playing around and cracking jokes, and then you see it come to life on the screen. I love seeing Pug and ‘Slick Nik.’ We’ll see what other antics they can get into.”

Stay tuned to see what’s next for Mallory, Pug, Nikki, Jen, and more as She-Hulk continues on Disney+.

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