REVIEW -- Marvel's Daredevil - Season One

Marvel's Daredevil, or simply Daredevil, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Drew Goddard, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise, and is the first in a series of shows that will lead up to a Defenders crossover miniseries. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, DeKnight Prods. and Goddard Textiles, with Steven S. DeKnight serving as showrunner, and Goddard acting as consultant.

Cast:

Main

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson
Toby Leonard Moore as James Wesley
Vondie Curtis-Hall as Ben Urich
Bob Gunton as Leland Owlsley
Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple
Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk

Recurring

Geoffrey Cantor as Ellison
Judith Delgado as Elena Cardenas
Daryl Edwards as Carl Hoffman
Royce Johnson as Brett Mahoney
Adriane Lenox as Doris Urich
Peter McRobbie as Lantom
Rob Morgan as Turk Barrett
Nikolai Nikolaeff as Vladimir Ranskahov
Amy Rutberg as Marci Stahl
Peter Shinkoda as Nobu
Chris Tardio as Blake
Susan Varon as Josie
Wai Ching Ho as Gao
Tom Walker as Francis

Guest

Gideon Emery as Anatoly Ranskahov
Jasson Finney as Stone
Matt Gerald as Melvin Potter
Scott Glenn as Stick
John Patrick Hayden as "Battlin" Jack Murdock
Domenick Lombardozzi as Bill Fisk
Kevin Nagle as Roscoe Sweeney
Jack O'Connell as Silvio
Suzanne H. Smart as Shirley Benson
Phyllis Somerville as Marlene Vistain
Jonathan Walker as Randolph Cherryh

Pat Kiernan makes several cameo appearances as himself. Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance through an on set photograph.

Episode Overview: (Some Spoilers)

Into the Ring
Murdock's vigilante crime fighting and his new law practice find equally dangerous challenges in a murder case tied to a corporate crime syndicate.

Cut Man
Murdock makes a near fatal error while trying to save a kidnapped boy, and finds an unlikely ally when he needs saving himself.

Rabbit in a Snow Storm
Murdock and Foggy take on a mysterious wealthy client, but Murdock is convinced that there's more to the case than just the facts.

In the Blood
Two vicious Russian brothers working for Fisk strike back against Daredevil. Fisk moves to further consolidate his power in the criminal underworld.

World on Fire
Fisk moves forward with plans that threaten to rip Hell's Kitchen apart. Murdock and Foggy take on a case helping tenants victimized by a slumlord.

Condemned
Daredevil finds himself trapped in the fallout of Fisk's plan to take control of Hell's Kitchen. Ben Urich digs closer to the truth.

Stick
An important figure from Murdock's past reemerges seeking his help to battle a new enemy threatening Hell's Kitchen.

Shadows in the Glass
While Murdock, Foggy and Karen's mission becomes clearer, Fisk's world spins further out of control in his battle for Hell's Kitchen.

Speak of the Devil
When Fisk gains the upper hand, the goal to destroy him becomes even more difficult, while Daredevil faces his own demons.

Nelson v. Murdock
Murdock and Foggy's relationship is put to the ultimate test while a new enemy against Fisk emerges.

The Path of the Righteous
Fisk and Murdock wrestle with the consequences of their chosen paths, while Ben and Karen get closer to Fisk's true past.

The Ones We Leave Behind
Fisk seeks revenge while Karen is haunted by recent events. Daredevil makes a startling discovery about Fisk's financing.

Daredevil
In the season finale, a boxed-in Fisk and a desperate Murdock, Foggy and Karen are forced to play their end games.

The Verdict: 

(Whistles) Where to begin on this show?

First things first, you MUST have a Netflix account to watch this, unless you can "acquire" it via other means online but I won't be the one to disclose those methods there. I personally "borrowed" my older sister's Netflix account just to binge on this show on my days off from work this weekend. It runs at exactly 13 episodes for this premiere season with each episode running roughly around 50 minutes or more, tops. I personally found the first few episodes rather hard to binge on at first as there's a lot of small details you have to listen and watch for, so take your time to enjoy this even though I'm sure everyone is going to be talking about it until Avengers: Age of Ultron rolls out in May or Ant-Man in July.

Secondly, this is the most graphic and mature-content filled entity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Sure, Punisher: Warzone was more graphic that this in terms of violence, but that's still technically NOT canon to the current state of Marvel's cinematic universe.

Last but not least, forget EVERYTHING you know about Daredevil, if you seen that Daredevil (2003) film with Ben Affleck in it. This is a fresh reboot, much like how The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) was for Sony's Spider-Man franchise.

Storytelling 

This TV series is EXACTLY what Death Note was to anime's suspense/thriller genre for superhero genre. It's not limited to just Marvel Comics-based narratives either. If FOX and Warner Brothers were serious about a noteworthy Batman TV series instead whatever that mess Gotham is supposed to be, they would have taken a similar approach to this show. That goes double for Arrow. The worlds that those TV shows are trying to create within PG-13 environment needs room to stretch their legs out in a much more mature environment to show exactly how gritty and dark these corners of the world that these street-level heroes are dealing with.

Wilson Fisk (The man who will become the Kingpin) and Matt Murdock (Daredevil or as how he is referred to in this season, "The Devil of Hell's Kitchen") play a strategic game of cat and mouse throughout this premiere season of this show that is reminiscent of Death Note's dynamic between Light Yagami ("Kira") and L. I’m going to mention the parallels and similarities as I noticed them throughout this review and you’re welcome to weigh in with your own in the comments.

There's some flip-flopping in terms of the comparison on the Death Note's dynamics, such as Kingpin exposes himself like L to flush out Kira while both were able and affected by means outside of their own control on the chessboard, such as Karen Page killing Wesley. This event was reminiscent of the 4th Kira killing Light Yagami's girlfriend, Kiyomi Takada, without his permission nor instruction to do so that threw a monkey wrench into his plans and allowed Light to get caught.

Cinematography

Much like Agent Carter you can enjoy this without any other prior knowledge nor exposure to the MCU. It works wonderfully as its own standalone series.

I was glad that this is grittier take on this special corner of the MCU, but the violence and darker tone and themes may seem like a turn-off for some viewers. This is DEFINITELY not a kids' show nor one for those faint of heart. This is truly Marvel's darkest narrative to date and raises the bar in terms of what we should expect from the MCU on TV or rather namely on Netflix.

Hell's Kitchen is a corner of the MCU that should be handled delicately with care, much like the Cosmic Realm where the Guardians of the Galaxy exist. Daredevil sets the stage perfectly, allowing viewers to see the both sides of the coin of good and evil at play.

Daredevil's costume is an evolution throughout this season. Matt Murdock slowly adds padding, knee pads, sticks (from Stick himself) before finally upgrading to the traditional red costume from the comics.

Season One serves as origin stories for Daredevil/Matt Murdock, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, Karen Page, and Foggy Nelson as the series' main stays. Keep in mind that this series is the gateway point towards the Defenders being properly introduced into the MCU.

Episode Notes & Analysis:

Episode 1: "Into the Ring"

Formal introduction to the cast, namely Matt Murdock (Daredevil), Foggy Nelson, and Karen Page.

This premiere episode sets the tone for the series, but I really wasn’t sold on Karen Page’s actress at first. Her debut here was weak at best, but she managed to come into her own with the character as the series played out. Fortunately, Matt and Foggy’s relationship clicked right off the bat and that alone sold most of this episode for me in terms of entertainment. In terms of the vigilante, it seems that Matt Murdock hasn’t put much time nor thought into his crime fighting endeavors as he’s shown on this debut episode, wearing merely a bandana to mask his identity, T-shirt, gloves, and pants to take crime into his own hands.

Episode 2: "Cut Man"

Introduces Claire Temple/Night Nurse as doctor for the careless antics of Matt Murdock, occasional love interest this season

The end of episode sports one of the best fight sequences in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. It was filmed in all one-shot without any cuts nor edits outside of switches between actors and stuntmen off screen.

The MCU gets kudos for introducing a relatively VERY unknown character such as the Night Nurse into this continuity. This episode serves to display Matt Murdock’s physical and mental limitations. He’s only human but we get a better understanding of the scope of his powers and his current limitations on how he is tackling crime fighting. Of course, we’re given that Batman-esque lesson sense of right and wrong here and whether or not that Matt Murdock is willing to go as far as his enemies to bring justice. Matt isn’t willing to kill, but he has some extremes to his methods in his work – hinting at he possibly enjoys tormenting these criminals.

Episode 3: "Rabbit in a Snowstorm"

Karen Page drags Ben Urich into the drama to detail the dilemma in the news about United Allied's scandal. This is the episode where Karen’s actress began to her own at playing this character and seemed more comfortable at the role. At the same time, she’s not any less annoying than she already is.

Sue me. I have a hard time relating to secondary female characters in stories like this when they are established or introduced as damsels in distress.

Matt/DD (Daredevil) uses client to reveal that he's working for Fisk, who was behind the scandal.

Episode 4: "In the Blood"

The Russians kidnap and torture Claire for information on the vigilante.

Meanwhile, Fisk becomes smitten with Vanessa Marianna. I’m sure people who have grown up watching Spider-Man: The Animated Series on Fox Kids should remember Vanessa making a minor appearance on that cartoon during Kingpin’s war with Silvermane. Here, she plays the same role. Vanessa is clearly established as Fisk’s sole weakness and she represents a vulnerability in his upcoming power struggle to control the criminal underworld in Hell’s Kitchen.  Vanessa reminds me of Kiyomi Takada, adding to the parallels to the Death Note anime, from how she is drawn to Fisk and how she causes him to lose his calm and collected demeanor and act recklessly, such as when Fisk kills Anatoly after he is embarrassed in front of her.

Episode 5: "World on Fire"

Fisk covers up Anatoly's death and blames it on the vigilante to his allies; all part of a ruse to rile up Vladimir enough to make him careless. Fisk then uses the cops to kill one of the Russians while Gao's workers destroys his forces in a suicide attack. Vladimir survives as him and DD are surrounded by the police as this episode comes to a close.

This episode shows Fisk’s resourcefulness and keen intellect at play as he moves his pawns across the chess board throughout this episode flawlessly with precise precision.

Episode 6: "Condemned"

Daredevil uses Claire's help to stabilize and treat Vladimir as police surround their location.

As the police loom closer, DD and Fisk speak for the first time via radio - Fisk surprisingly respects what DD is trying to do for the city. This encounter is very reminiscent of Light (Kira) and L's first encounter as Fisk outwits his opponent by framing the attack on other officers on him to the media. Remember L did the same thing to Kira after openly goading him into an attack in a public setting with an audience.

Vladimir grants DD information on Fisk's accountant, Leland Owlsley, before granting DD a window to escape - dying on his own terms instead of by Fisk's.

Episode 7: "Stick"

This episode serves as the official debut of DD/Matt's mentor and trainer, Stick, portrayed by Scott Glenn (Sucker Punch, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy).

Stick recruits DD to assist him in dealing with Black Sky, an alleged weapon developed by Nobu’s men. Stick kills Black Sky, who is revealed to be a child, while DD is busy with Nobu's men. Later, an outraged DD defeats Stick in his apartment but leaves DD the iconic stick weapons.

This was one of my favorite episode for a lot of reasons. One for the flashbacks and seeing Stick and Matt’s relationship being established. I’m glad they didn’t go the whole “Karate Kid” route with Matt’s training with Stick as that would have been clichéd enough. Another is for the fact that this is an action-heavy episode, whereas the bulk of this series up to this point has been a lot of dialogue.

As for who was Stick answering to in the ending moments of this episode, I personally think that Stick was answering to Master Izo while the Chaste order will be introduced either in Season Two or in Iron Fist whenever that character confronts the Steel Serpent that Madame Gao is clearly working for given the emblem she wears. Again - this is purely speculation there.

Episode 8: "Shadows in the Glass"

Foggy and Karen plot to take down Fisk and they introduce Matt to Ben Urich. Matt urges them to beat Fisk by legal means, knowing the true extent of what Fisk is capable of after experiencing it first-hand during his ordeal with Vladimir.

Fisk's history is revealed in a violent flashback where Fisk kills his own father for his abuse to him and his mother. This is a VERY graphic and violent scene, folks. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. From this scene alone, I can see why Marvel Studios went with showing this series exclusively on Netflix as most cable networks would have censored the hell out of it.

Fisk’s mother hides the body to protect her son.

Vanessa urges Fisk to go public and doing so allows the media sees him as a hero. Once again, we can draw comparisons to Death Note. This moment is reminiscent of Light's exposure in Death Note as Kira, as a polar opposite of that event to protect his identity. The world sees Fisk as hero so he's protected from villain image, whereas in Death Note, Light exposes his identity to the world as it’s “savior” as Kira but never shows his face in public.

Episode 9: "Speak the Devil"

Daredevil finds himself facing against Nobu in a fight to death, thanks to more of Fisk’s clever manipulation. DD barely survives the ordeal and Fisk steps in to finish the job. DD barely escapes and collapses at home in front of Foggy.

This episode serves as a grim reminder to Matt Murdock, which much like his father, he has mental and physical limits. It also brings up the question of whether or not will Matt fall victim of dying in defending his own honor – much like Nobu and his own father – or will he prevail in this fight defending justice?

 

Episode 10: "Nelson vs. Murdock"

Foggy knows Matt's secret as the vigilante and leaves the firm to think things out on his own terms. About ten episodes into the series and we’re just now being treated to the origins of Matt and Foggy’s friendship. While I thought it was a little too early to be exposing Matt’s secret identity to Foggy, it works for the sake of this series’ narrative, so I won’t complain about that.

Karen tricks Ben Urich into meeting Fisk's mom to get information on his past. In terms of pacing, this scene seems so random and out there until we’re treated to the missing piece of the puzzle. Karen continues to snoop into business that doesn’t involve her. That girl loves playing with fire, huh? To say that she dragged Ben into this was a bit much as she could have gathered this information on her own and relayed it back to him.

Vanessa becomes a victim to damage Fisk emotionally to throw him off his game. Clearly this is another comparison to Death Note where Light’s sister was kidnapped or when Kiyomi Takada was kidnapped by a deranged Mello.

Episode 11: "Path of the Righteous"

DD orders the engineer who made Fisk's armor to make a suit of body armor for him. Matt Murdock doesn’t have the resources to develop a high-tech suit of armor or even afford proper protection, so it was cool to see the origin story of the “proper” Daredevil costume told throughout this season.

After Karen and Ben wrap up their history lesson from Fisk's mother about his past, Wesley confronts Karen to blackmail her, but in her despair, she kills Wesley and flees the scene. Wesley’s recklessness abandon to act on his own to serve his “boss” (Fisk) is a direct parallel to Teru Mikami in Death Note, whose own reckless behavior caused Light to be caught at the end of Death Note’s 24 episode run. Ironic that Fisk and Light’s paths mirror each other yet again here.

Episode 12: "The Ones We Leave Behind"

Fisk kills Ben Urich while Karen began to drink heavily to cope with killing Wesley.

The death of Ben Urich shocked me for two reasons: 1) the only token black guy on this show other than Turk Barrett got killed off 2) Urich could have had some crossover appeal to the next few Netflix shows set in Hell’s Kitchen and for the MCU as a whole as they never did dwell on the media aspect (look at the background of Urich’s office and read the names of the articles plastered on his wall) of these heroes’ reception in this world until now. I’m surprised they went this route for the character as he could have had some strong lasting appeal. In the end, he did help motivate the trio towards coming back together as a single unit and adding more to Fisk’s villainous resume.

Karen’s drinking is shades of her drug-addiction habits from the comics. I don’t see her revealing Wesley’s death to Matt and Foggy anytime soon as that guilt will cause her to regret to drugs to cope in the follow-up seasons.  

DD ended Gao's drug smuggling operation but she left the city. I personally doubt that we’ve seen the end of Madame Gao. Like I mentioned in “Stick”, I think we’ll see her again in the Iron Fist TV series next as part of the Steel Serpent clan.

Episode 13: "Daredevil"

Owlsley and Gao reveal that they were against Fisk all along, much like Thanos' own children (Nebula and Gamora) in Guardians of the Galaxy. They wanted to use Fisk’s own weakness against him. One could say this is similar to Near and Mello coming together against Kira/Light towards the finale of Death Note, but that’s a bit of a stretch. In the end, Owlsley was killed by an angered Fisk. (Shrugs) Whatever. He was like a D-tier Marvel villain anyway. I wasn’t really looking forward to him coming back in any shape or form as no version of that character was never interesting to me anyway. Owlsley served his purpose here.

Fisk was arrested after Hoffman's testimony but escapes, foreshadowing his future as the Kingpin with so many allies on his side to help him in his time of need. DD confronts Fisk in his new costume and avenges (see what I did there?) Ben's death. Vanessa leaves the city per Fisk's orders (a la Kiyomi following Light’s specific orders in Death Note during her kidnapping).

The episode ends with the gang coming back together but Karen still doesn't tell Matt and Foggy that she killed Wesley and was indirectly responsible for Ben Urich’s demise.

After Fisk’s arrest, the media officially names the vigilante “Daredevil” as the episode closes.