Daredevil - Final Thoughts on Season 1

Previously on Daredevil. It felt lonely reviewing each of the first seven episodes since there wasn't much discussion here. Presumably those of you who were interested have now finished this series so here are much quicker thoughts on the last half of the season as well as some overall takeaways and dreams for Season 2. 

1.8 "Shadows in the Glass"
We might safely call this episode "Daredevil Origins: Kingpin" but it is admirable how deeply invested the show wants you to be in its characters, even the villains. We begin with a shoutout to "Rabbit in a Snowstorm" and we spend the entire pre-title prologue in the silent company of Wilson Fisk who sees his younger damned self in the mirror. That's before we segueway into his backstory but structurally it's a very smart episode as we see Vanessa disrupting his routines... but in a way that's good for him. Daredevil decides to trust Ben Ulrich but Fisk throws them all for a loop when he comes out publicly as the city's secret philanthropist. B+

final episodes and hopes for season 2 after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Daredevil 5-7

Previously: Episodes 1 and 2 and 3 and 4...

In the next three episodes the tension really escalates as Fisk starts taking down his own accomplices and Matthew's life gets far more crowded with thorny alliances.

Great moments in set decoration. Check that anonymity pledge behind Daredevil's altar ego Matthew Murdock

1.5 "World on Fire"
An extremely busy and successful episode: Claire & Murdock get closer holed up in his apartment and then suddenly further apart. Fisk & Vanessa get closer on a second date. Daredevil realizes he's been framed for last episode's beheading. Nelson & Murdoch get a client asking them to fight their slum lord and Fisk moves against the Russians with things-go-boom devastation. 

Major Characters Introduced: Elena Cardenes (Judith Delgado) the client in question. Marci Stahl (Ami Rutberg) Foggy's ex and a rival lawyer.
Crimes: Suicide Bombings, Mass Murder, Accidental Murder, Slum Lord Intimidation and Neglect, Police Brutality
Body Count: 5 blind Asians? 100 or so Russians? Guessing.
Cameo: Fun shout-out to superhero tropes: 'are you one of those billionaire playboys I've heard about' 
More... 

Click to read more ...

Daredevil 3-4

Daredevil bum never splits Murdock suits... even while leaping wildly up fireescapesThe secret reason that it's healthy to write about Netflix shows: it slows down the binge-watching. The side-effects of binge-watching are unpleasant if too little discussed. Side effects include but are not limited too: Lack of productivity, lethargy, weight gain, glazed eyeballs, reduced moviegoing (VERY BAD), and a dichotomous relationship to impatience -- refusal to wait a week to see what happens each hour paired with the willingness to tolerate a lot of padding in your drama wherein you sit for 12 hours for anything to actually happen.

Not that things don't happen on Daredevil. I speak more of Bloodline which is good but kind of a slog, really. Like True Blood (curiously not a Netflix show) one gets the sense that the season's story is much much shorter than the time it's taking to tell it. Curiously the best episodes of Daredevil (#2 & #6) thus far seem to be the ones that get stuck and confined in one place wherein the things that happen, however few of them there may be, actually do feel as if they matter. 

1.3 "Rabbit in a Snowstorm"
The third episode begins with a innocuously familiar image, a bowling ball, that quickly turns into a murder weapon in the show's grisliest episode thus far. Thankfully most of the actual carnage is offscreen so those with Game of Thrones aversions (I know we are few and far between) can rest assured if not easy that they'll probably be able to stomach this series. Nelson & Murdock are hired by Fisk (unbeknownst to them...sort of) to defend the murderer.  In the B plot Karen is asked to sign a gag order by her former company which makes her even more curious about their wicked ways. More...

Click to read more ...

Daredevil 1-2

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...

Click to read more ...

In the Link Room

A very quick roundup to begin a Netflixy day (Daredevil anyone). Speaking of... Hi, Sissy!

Sissy Spacek photographed by Christian McDonald

Interview Todd Field (In the Bedroom) interviews Sissy Spacek on Bloodline etc...
NPR talks to Brad Bird on Tomorrowland. And yes, he is finally working on Incredibles 2 (very early writing stages) for which we will eschew our normal eye rolls at animated sequel news and instead cheer wildly.
Tracking Board Logans Run remake still a slight possibility. This time with female lead?
i09 posits that Practical Magic w/ Bullock & Kidman as witch sisters is a perfect movie 
Antagony & Ecstasy film criticism for a good cause: Tim takes on the daunting task of reviewing Vertigo aka "the greatest movie ever made" as part of his cancer charity drive -- he's raised over $2000 already!
Vanity Fair on Ryan Gosling as a director
Pajiba says "eff it... reboot everything" including Cybill. Hee!
Pajiba should you grow a Mad Men moustache? A handy guide 

Today's Watch ICYMI
It gives a whole new meaning to "instant watch"