REVIEW: Daredevil Season 1
By now, everyone should have seen the supremely impressive hit Netflix/Marvel series Daredevil. If you haven't, you're probably just procrastinating. No, really, there shouldn't be another reason why you haven't seen it yet.
Daredevil is good, plain and simple. If you're one of those casual readers, you deserve to know that off the bat. It's Marvel's first television depiction of a superhero from literal rags to beating the crap out of criminals in his city. Granted Daredevil is one of those heroes that require more grit than CGI, so the actual use of him was never the problem. What was the problem was showing the rough and sometimes eye-averting action as expected of a blind man fighting crime. Being on Netflix, the show doesn't shy away from...well, anything. The language is harsher, the beatings are longer, and we now have a creative way of using a car door as a weapon. Coming from the same world of gods with magic hammers and a human/alien race of people with superpowers, it's a nice change of pace to see some old-fashioned fist fights from the more-or-less average folk. Daredevil's a man for the much-aggravated superhero city of New York, and the great appeal of him is the just plain physical action. And there's a lot to choose from in Daredevil. There's the bloody rain fight in the first episode, the ninja showdown over two episodes, even the one-take beat-down in the hallway of the second episode which seems to be a Marvel thing now being used in both Agents of SHIELD and Age of Ultron. The fact that the season finale was punctuated by a showdown between Daredevil and Kingpin should be a good standard for how Daredevil treats its fight scenes. Actually, it needs to be a standard for how Marvel should treat all its fight scenes at this point.
That's not to say the show's only good for action, though sometimes that's enough. The characters manage to avoid that brief period of "okay, now I hate you" that usually happens in the other shows. Sure they make poor decisions occasionally (I still don't forgive Karen for going back to her apartment as a wanted victim), but overall they're balance with decent qualities and realistic behavior. Matt goes on the street with only a rag on his face, but he's fighting crime. Karen goes back for the flashdrive, but she's the one who shoots Kingpin's right-hand guy. Foggy and Matt fight, but... I don't know, there was no easy way to go around this plot of finding out your best friend is a superhero. Sounds like a self-help book. Also, congratulations to Daredevil for being the first Marvel series to have a clear-cut villain from beginning to end. Despite knowing upfront about Kingpin's role, Wilson Fisk still had a sense of intimidation and interest to his character. It's nice to know that a guy doesn't have take over or destroy the world to be a good bad guy. All he has to do is beat the crap out of people who disagree with him. And kill Ben Urich. I'll admit, that made me upset.
Overall, Daredevil is probably the least Marvel Marvel project recently. Not only is it fascinatingly violent, it also has only very passing allusions to the universe. The New York setting obviously pays tribute to the devastation brought after The Avengers, but it's still a mostly grounded world. I'm still a little disappointed in the lack of hinting for Jessica Jones or really any of the other projects, but I guess I can settle for this small Iron Fist reference. One the other hand, Daredevil works well focusing on the Daredevil continuity. Almost every character has some comic counterpart, and even the evolution of the costume has some background. At the very least, it proves that the show cares about the material. Making it interesting just happens to be another perk, another much-appreciated perk that needs to be replicated in other projects.
Speaking of the costume, I have to say I somehow ended up liking and hating both versions at the same time. Of course, I side-eyed the black ninja outfit whether or not it was from the comics. Then I saw the final costume. At least the black one looked real. Granted, once we get to the finale, the classic red actually works in action. Don't get me wrong, the look still needs some work, but I appreciated the comment that it had padding for fights, though I still wonder if it's harder to hear in that thing. Isn't the point of his ability to hear better?
Daredevil's still good. That will never change. It has characters to care about, action that lives up to its potential, and...that's all it really needs at this point. It's looking to be the Iron Man of the Netflix universe with the rest of the Defenders showing up eventually, so I still have high expectations for a second season. Even if it suffers later on, I can still watch the hallway fight over and over again. That's always a winner.
