Daredevil - Season Two

Hell's Kitchen has calmed, but it's not out of the fire yet. When an unknown vigilante begins to take the fight to the streets in a big and bloody way, Matt Murdock must don the mask of Daredevil to stop him before innocent people end up in the crossfire. A battle of full measure versus half, a conflict of morality and justice, Daredevil vs The Punisher.

 

Daredevil is Christmas come early in 2016, along with Batman v Superman, and Deadpool in February. Though I was a bit - just a bit - let down with the first episode, particularly the opening. Daredevil season one had such a strong, powerful opening with that beautiful monologue Charlie Cox/Matt gave in confession, with the action sequence at the docks following after. It was amazing and I was blown away when I first saw it. I didn't have that feeling with the opening scene of season two. I watched it and felt like, "meh, yeah, okay, they wanna open the season with Daredevil in action." It felt a bit typical to me, and while it certainly wasn't terrible, it wasn't as good as season one's opening was for me. But, seeing DD in action was probably an appropriate way to begin the season, I mean it makes sense.

 

Fear the redeemer. #Daredevil pic.twitter.com/0MBeEGTyBg— Daredevil (@Daredevil) March 20, 2016

 

 

Even with the scene in the bar with the Irish mob-guys and that monologue that one dude gave, it felt a bit "eh," in comparison to dialogue from the first season. Different showrunners were brought on this season, so I understood that changes like this were likely to happen. I wasn't too surprised.

 

This of course all started to change once it got to episode 3, at least that's when I felt a shift in the dialogue. Charlie is just as good as he was last season, and Jon Bernthal as the Punisher/Frank Castle was fucking incredible. I love that they had a physical altercation in the first episode and it ended with Frank shooting Matt, and Matt tumbling over the edge of the roof. Awesome.

 

What was even better was seeing that Daredevil and Frank on that roof was going to last (basically) throughout the entirety of that third episode. It was great to see that they plucked images and word-for-word dialogue from that very classic Punisher/Daredevil story in the comics. Seeing the two argue their differing ideologies was really enjoyable.

 

I did not think they were actually going to try and outdo the hallway fight in episode two of season one. They certainly outdid it, even if it was a bit more elaborate and absurd. But it was fun as hell. Bernthal's speech towards the tail-end of episode, his monologue about his daughter and family and coming home from war, was so amazing. That scene made me feel like I was watching the first season again. You get to really see the nuances in Jon's performance and he completely owned this role and inhabited this character.

 

You hit them and they get back up. I hit them and they stay down. #Daredevilhttps://t.co/sqSts7s8N8— Netflix Asia (@NetflixAsia) February 22, 2016

 

 

A different element was introduced into the show as soon as Elektra showed up at the end of episode 4 - with the Yakuza and the Hand. Honestly, I was able to better understand Frank's arc/his court case/family death coverup than I was the arc with the Yakuza/Hand. Like...okay, Elektra is the black sky. Some "weapon" or symbol that the Hand believes is important. I kind of don't get why they needed to drain blood and connect it to that gigantic coffin-thing. I thought somebody was in there, turns out there wasn't. I like that Nobu was brought back.

 

Elodie herself as Elektra did a fine job, however I was much more taken with Bernthal's Punisher. I wasn't blown away with the Elektra story. Her looks, physicality, that's all fine, I don't have a problem with how she looks or her accent. I would have liked if they had given her a bit more red with her final costume but whatever. I was also upset with Daredevil's costume when I was first seeing images from season 2 online. Seeing it in action on the show, it's fine, and certainly better than the last. His helmet/cowl/face mask was definitely better than the last one. A much richer shade of red, which I appreciate.

 

Speaking of Daredevil and his gear, he finally got his baton in the final episode. That sucks, because we'll have to wait a whole 'nother year before we can see him using it like crazy. I hate when they introduce shit like this in the last episode.

 

 

I don't understand it, I don't...well, actually, no, I understand the notion of wanting to tease. Sometimes, I just fucking hate it. We didn't get to see Daredevil in his costume until the final episode, and within like the last 10 minutes of that episode. Did the same thing here and I am just so tired of it. The minute Frank breaks out of prison in this season, that would have been the perfect opportunity to me to have him don the costume and persona. Then he could be the Punisher for the rest of the season, that would have been cool.

 

The People vs. Frank Castle, that three-episode arc with Matt and Foggy in court was great. We didn't get this much lawyer-work from Nelson & Murdock in the first season. And working Castle's case was the perfect excuse to put them into the courtroom. Seeing Frank explode the way that he did, just before the bailiff's took him away as he was screaming bloody murder, was sheer gold. Also, another interesting dynamic this season was to pair Frank up with Karen. Her nosiness intrigues him, as she broke into his house and is able to relate certain memories to him.

 

Karen was written as a stronger character this season which I really appreciated. She took it upon herself to take care of that bartender from the first episode who was a witness to the Irish gang being shot up in that bar. Even though that was a very stupid thing to do, she likely escaped with her head still attached. I like that she became more of an investigative journalist and has even been given a job at the Bugle, it looks like...wait...is it the Bugle? Or something else? Bulliten? I can't remember right now, I'm an idiot. Anyway, I like that she has things to deal with outside of Matt. They started dating this season...

 

And that ended about as nicely as it could have. Matt is an idiot, has been since the first season, with all of his lying. Karen even calls him on it early on this season. "You do know that I'm blind, right?," Matt asks and Karen replies, "Yeah, well you know I'm not an idiot." Yeah, Matt. She's not an idiot. Stop treating her like she is and stop treating Foggy that way as well. That was one thing that got on my nerves. Matt's assholeishness in thie second season. It was palpable.

 

 

Foggy and Matt yet again came to a brick-wall in their friendship over him being Daredevil and I was hoping that wouldn't happen. Because they're just essentially arguing about the same things they were last season, only with new threats in the city and new reasons for Matt to choose to lie. Matt really just should have started coming clean a whole lot more this second season, especially when he started "dating" Karen. He has a real arrogance about what he thinks is best for his friends and what they need to know and don't need to know. I see it as an unlikable quality and I'm glad he has it, he's more interesting this way.

 

I'm glad Karen and Foggy told him off when he needed to be told off. He's always going on about "stay safe," "I don't want you getting hurt," "Let me come with you," and Karen finally just says "No, Matt, I'm not yours to protect" or something like that. To which I shouted YASSSS in my head. Like Matt is really clueless to how much of an asshole he is to his friends. I hope that begins to change in the third season, I would like for him to just at least acknowledge it and admit it.

 

"Karen, why didn't you call me?"

 

Matt. Are you serious? You're unreliable, dude, you know this, stop acting surprised.

 

 

And I haven't even gotten to Wilson Fisk yet...I was reading a rumor that suggested Vincent D'Onofrio would be returning, someone spotting him on set and saying he would be in prison. And sure enough they were right! An amazing moment seeing Punisher and Kingpin stand face-to-face, it was awesome. I'm so glad the writers/producers decided to keep him around for this season, and actually give him something that will be feeding into the third season. Kingpin will be there, they're going to adapt "Born Again," even if it's just a loose adaptation. It's happening.

 

I'm happy to see that Fisk finally got his name (Kingpin) while in prison. It always bummed me out that they never really gave him that title in the first season.

 

The Punisher definitely needs his own series after seeing him in this second season. Random - it also makes me think about the possibility of these Netflix characters showing up in one of Sony's Spider-Man films. If they won't show up in a Marvel Studios film, maybe they'll appear in a Spider-Man film. Also, I keep thinking that the Sony/Marvel contract included Sony the freedom to use some of Marvel's smaller characters, but not their bigger ones? If this is true, I wonder if the Netflix characters are considered big. Maybe tonally it wouldn't work, but I'd love to see them try it. Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Punisher...all on-screen together...probably won't happen. But a reference sure would be nice.

 

Mahoney! He got a promotion this season, which was pretty awesome. I also noticed a lot of black actors this season, and PoC in general. This whole season was definitely needed. I hate having to wait until 2017 for the third season. Sigh. But, anyway...good shit. smj12.com/daredevil-season-two/

Done