Wow, how exciting!
That different angle comes off as them avoiding being comic book-y. By comic book-y I'm not saying I need aliens to show up, but for God's sake it's not too much to ask for Iron Fist to wear his classic costume and be more humorous. Everything just feels same-ish and that's just dour all around. Daredevil and Jones? Yeah it fits with them and where they went was right. Just because this is more street level and not as bright doesn't mean you altogether avoid elements that really make them unique in the source material and make them pop. And you can still do these things without betraying the darker tone. I think these things can allow these shows to grow, but it doesn't feel like they're growing. Defenders should have switched the status quo on all of of this. The Marvel films, despite their lighter tone, are very mindful of status quo changing. I appreciate them doing their own thing from the movies, but you can still do that and add in more fun stuff. Otherwise I'm afraid more shows in, it's still all gonna feel the same.
There's a reason Defenders was the lowest watched show and why Iron Fist and Luke Cage didn't take off. People are starting to feel the fatigue from doing the same things and these lower quality shows where a dour tone doesn't necessarily need to be there in the first place doesn't help.