Daredevil 1-2
Saturday, April 11, 2015 at 11:00AM 
I fell in love with Daredevil as a young boy when Frank Miller, pre Dark Knight, took over the comic. It wasn't just the sexiness of a blind superhero (what?). Miller's run in the early 80s brought us famous characters like Bullseye and Elektra and Stick and a dangerous physical immediacy that other comics just didn't have. Naturally the Frank Miller run, plot-wise, was what the execrable 2003 movie tried to cover, jamming it all together with spectacularly disastrous and silly results. Marvel's first foray into Netflix territory gets so much right in its first few episodes that people need no longer fear The Man Without Fear but embrace him. Instead we need only fear, together whilst binge-watching, that Daredevil won't be able to keep this quality up for for its whole first season.
Herewith thoughts on the first two episodes...
1.1 "In the Ring"
Drew Goddard's series (he's billed as creator and writer) based on the Stan Lee and Bill Everett character who was first introduced in Marvel Comics in 1964, is confident and smart enough to ditch the origin story as kickoff. We're only there a moment for a super compressed flashback to the accident which blinded our hero. (It's smart to speed through this because it's silly. If all "hazardous chemical spills" and (gamma or other) radiation poisoning or what not gave people superpowers in real life everyone would be dousing themselves with the stuff!). The first episode isn't slow exactly but it is not unlike a law procedural. What sets the fanboy heart at ease is how skillful the mood and how sure the characterizations. This is the Matt & Foggy the fans love and this is their fictional Hell's Kitchen neighborhood from the comics (albeit with its own new origin story given "the incident" aka that final alien battle from The Avengers). The joy of the first episode isn't in what happens (it's all setup really) but in how easily it inhabits its dark, shadowy and violent world without getting caught up in self-importance or being bereft of humor, the usual pitfalls of the solemn superhero subgenre.
Synopsis: Nelson & Murdoch open their new law firm and hire their first client as secretary to pay off her defense after she's been framed for murder (and... well, it's all very complicated but vague and bodies pile up to explain it away as the chief badguy (unseen) realizes he lost this first battle. There are several minor badguys, all in collusion on real estate schemes in a neighborhood being rebuilt but it's hard to tell them apart yet.
Major Characters Introduced: Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), best friends and law partners, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) their secretary, and a bunch of bad guys, they still feel undifferentiated at this point.
Crimes:
Lying to Matt Murdoch (Don't do that Karen, HE KNOWS), Generally Shady Corporate Shenanigans, Murder, Attempted Murder, Framing an Innocent, Human Trafficking, Kidnapping, Illegal Gun Possession, Drug Dealing, Inappropriate Confessionals in Church (this one's on Murdock). In short: lots of crime!
Body Count: 3
Foxiest Moment:
Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Or Body Fat.
Best Cameo: Deborah Ann Woll side boob.
Episode MVP:
Production Designer Lorin Weeks and Cinematographer Matthew J Lloyd for embracing the gothic Catholicism and the tricky balance of so dark you can't see anything and pops of saturated color.
Best Moment:
Matt in the confessional talking about his father in the boxing ring "he let the devil out," Charlie Cox's dark eyes only catching the light from his tears.
Best Action Moment: This is difficult to describe but there's a superbly charged moment when Murdock in mask opens Karen's door, and after a beat of recognition that they're about to throwdown without holding back, Daredevil charges. He lets the devil out.
Best Shot:
And this Daredevil horizontal with face on the ground will be a recurring visual motif. He sure can take a beating!
Potention Trouble Spot for Series: Love of bad guys commiting crime montages and excessive flashbacks to Matt's father.
Grade: B but all the makings of future "A"s are there - first episodes always have to toss a lot of balls in the air
1.2 "Cut Man"
Our hero, badly beaten on the search for a kidnapped boy, lies bleeding to death in a dumpster in the opening scene. That's one way to jump right in to the story! He's stitched up by a kindly nurse. She's the first person to see the masked vigilante with his mask off. She's smart enough to realize he's blind, too, and since they spend nearly the whole episode together she realizes he has other gifts (super smell, super hearing, the ability to know things he shouldn't know... like if someone's lying or unsconcious versus dead). After torturing a fake evil cop, with this nurse's help no less (wth) he's off to rescue that little boy.
Characters Introduced: Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) a streetwise neighborhood nurse
Foxiest Moment: Claire's no nonsense observations and annoyance with "Mike's" refusal to give her any answers. All while he's lying their helpless, like a bird with a broken wing. Why are smart world-weary women and wounded heroic men both so sexy? Wait. Don't psycho-analyze me. I retract the question.
Crimes: Impersonating a Police Officer, Torture (this one's on Daredevil), Disturbing the Peace.
Body Count: 1 (but it's "Battling Jack Murdock" in flashback). *sniffle*
Best Cameo: Daredevil's costume. Well, not really but we do spend time with young Matt focusing on his father's red robe and there are dialogue hints as well. Earlier in the episode he confesses to Claire that his black outfit is a "work in progress" and talks about his dad's red hiding the blood.
Episode MVP: Charlie Cox, who is allowed more shadings in this episode as he tries to navigate an unexpected but hugely loaded situation with a stranger (that'd be Claire). Better yet, and people don't talk about this much with actors, but he's entirely believable in his physicality whether its acting broken ribs, the terrifying inability to breathe, steeling himself to take a punch, or struggling to keep his balance when his head is surely spinning and he's STILL fighting men off.
Best Moment:
The B-Plot. Foggy and Karen get wasted drunk together, the events of episode 1 still weighing on them. They end the night banging on Matt's apartment door (not realizing he's fighting for his life blocks away) spouting nonsense about fish markets and magic eels and waking a very grouchy old lady. A great bit of levity peppered throughout an otherwise violent, even scary episode.
Best Shot:
Best Action Moment: Given the relative minimalism of this episode's plot and time frame, it's a brilliant move to stage the entire climax in one continuous complicated shot (or faked but it feels the same!) and this thing goes on for five and a half minutes, no joke. We start following the criminals as they wander in and out of rooms in a creepy building where they're holding a young boy hostage behind the door, dead center of this shot. Before Murdock even arrives, we understand how many men he'll have to fight and how many rooms they'll come pouring out of. Birdman is our most contemporary reference to this kind of thing as the camera darts around the actors and reverses direction and what not but the content is more influenced by Oldboy's famous hammer sequence. It's beautifully choreographed by which I mean awkwardly performed. Rare is the action scene that feels this exhausting for everyone involved. With the final punch Daredevil not only knocks the villain out but he falls on his own ass (and slightly out of frame but for his flailing legs). It's funny and also weirdly moving.
This guy is human. And therefore quite a hero. The final beat of the scene is Murdock barely able to stand but empathetic and conscious enough to lift his mask to not scare the little boy which he'll then carry out of the building, awkwardly stepping over thugs along the way.
Runner Up: That moment where Claire watches in astonishment as a blind guy drops a fire extinguisher on the fake cop several floors away in the stairwell, is pretty choice, too.
Grade: B+/A- (but that last five minutes is 100% "A")
Should we post on the remainder of the season? Your comments will tell the story if y'all are binge-watching and therefore it'd be worth it. If you are watching, please keep the discussion to these two episodes.
Reader Comments (10)
Yes! Please write on the rest of the season. Not as good as Agent of Carter IMO, but still pretty darn good.
I loved episode 2. That action scene at the end WOW. And Dawson, unsurprisingly, is so very watchable, hope she gets lots of screen time going forward.
I once stood a foot from Charlie Cox for 30 seconds. It was a very pleasurable experience!
For sure cover the rest of the season. I have watched the entire thing and loved it. The first episode is a good pilot that makes the smart decision to not focus much on the origin story. While the show is called Daredevil the supporting characters in Karen and Foggy are just great additions and bring a lot of levity to the show. The final fight scene in the rain was great and the look of the show is so beautiful from the cinematography to the production design.
The second episode was truly a spectacular episode of television. The introduction of Night Nurse was so great and the scenes shared between her and Matt were wonderful. While I loved everything in the episode following Daredevil including his final scene for me the episode was made by the Karen and Foggy scenes. They are such charming characters and seeing their adventures at night put such a smile on my face.
While I loved parts of Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this show truly is Marvel television on the level of DC television in the form of The Flash.
"Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Or Body Fat."
Or Body Hair. A pity, as Charlie Cox is a furry delight.
I'm hooked. It's a very tight production all around, although I haven't entirely bought into this early '80s Hell Kitchen mood (both in the flashbacks and in present day) the way I immediately accepted Archer's inconsistent mid-'60s Manhattan motif.
Keep up the coverage!
Nat: Just finished the show. Won't spoil anything, but here are five guesses/wishes for next season:
1. Another Stick episode. Scott Glenn did a really good job, frankly, and if he's still around by the time they start filming Season 2, they should make another one.
2. Some done in one villains to cut down on fatty excess in the main plot. Certainly not many (let's say 3/13 episodes), but how about Stilt-Man, Death's Head and Nuke?
3. Leland Owlsley Jr. (Leland mentions a son in episode 12) as the spine villain.
4. Elektra OR Typhoid Mary. (Real talk: It's almost guaranteed that both of them won't show up in the same season and Elektra is more probable due to getting a nod in episode 10, but don't discount Mary Walker entirely.)
5. If Wilson Fisk escapes next season, have it be in Episode 26. It would really prove the viability of this show going forward if they let him be caged for an entire season instead of lazily having him escape in the first episode of next season.
Binged on it and finished in two days. Honestly like any series there's a couple episodes that lag a little, but I'm so glad we finally got a great villain besides Loki in the MCU. I really liked it overall, and am super excited to see how they do with Jessica Jones which will surely have some of the main themes but a different feel.
Hopefully if this is successful and if ABC decides not to do more Agent Carter, they bring it to Netflix because between this and AC and the good episodes of AOS, Marvel is building a good TV universe.
Also, I'm kinda disappointed that Rosario Dawson is playing the Night Nurse, because I've always thought she is so watchable and she could carry a bigger character.
Yeah after watching the whole thing it's almost criminal they didn't use Rosario more. She beats Deborah on talent, hotness and star power so it is wierd she gets so little screen time. Her career is just so bizzare. With that said she made the most of her screen time and worked great against Cox so here is hoping for more in season 2!
y'all are too far ahead.
Just started watching, Nathaniel. Please keep the recaps going, they're great to read after seeing the eps.
Just started on Daredevil. I'm usually the anti-superhero guy but this package intrigued me (and I'm not only talking about Charlie Cox).
EPISODE 2's LASTS FIVE MINUTES! Wow. That just sold me on the series for sure. I love the way you really feel the effort it takes Murdock to fight. All the clumsy falls, heavy breathing, etc., which make up for the basically ridiculous premise that this blind guy fights like the greatest ninja of all time.
Deborah Ann Woll is great...I never watched True Blood, so I wonder how this compares to her work on that show?