After the mediocre performance of the Ben Affleck led Daredevil, Marvel entertainment was looking to find another way to introduce audiences to the character. Once Disney came in and bought up most of the characters, people were unsure if the character would ever get another chance to come to life. But to most people's surprise, Marvel announced that they would be creating 5 new shows for Netflix, 4 based off separate characters and 1 that would bring all these characters together in a group. Those characters ended up being Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. These 4 will eventually team up to be known as "The Defenders" a sort of street version of The Avengers. Daredevil was the first of these series and it made a huge debut on Netflix. People could not stop talking about it and for good reason. It did not have the restrictions the movies and Marvel's only show on TV at the time Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. No, this show felt like something that you would find on HBO or Showtime. It was dark, violent and at times a little heavy. It caught a lot of people off guard and I believe that's what led to its success and the clamoring for a second season. Well only a year later, we got our wish.
Daredevil focuses on Matt Murdock (played by Charlie Cox) who is a blind lawyer who runs a firm Hell's Kitchen, New York with his associates Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. What most people don't know is that during the night Matt takes justice into his own hands as the vigilante known as Daredevil. The first season focused on Matt and his firm trying bringing down the powerful criminal Wilson Fisk a.k.a Kingpin (played by Vincent D'Onfrio). It was a solid first season with great performances and gripping story.
Season 2 sees Matt and his friends dealing with the debut of 2 new characters, both with major significance in the Marvel world. The first of these characters we encounter is Frank Castle, better known as "The Punisher". Castle is an ex-military soldier who comes home from war only to have his wife and kids get murdered by the mafia and is now a ruthless vigilante who hunts down and kills criminals with military precision. He is eventually caught and is put on trial with Murdock's firm being Castle's attorneys and the public split on whether Frank is a hero or a threat. As the show goes on we learn more about Frank and what may have caused his families death. Jon Bernthal does a magnificent job bringing Frank Castle to life. He has the menacing presence of the character and the range to go from compassionate to unhinged in seconds. It's a show stealing performance to say the least.
The next new character is Elektra, Matt's old girlfriend. Her story ark takes up much of the season as Matt is torn between helping her with her quest to find out more about a secret society known as "The Hand" and his firm with the Castle case and for the most part it works fine but it does drag the season down a little. We already have the drama with Castle and now to add Elektra and her drama to the already busy story we have going on with our three main heroes and it reaches a point to where you think stories have been thrown aside. I talked about it a lot in my Batman V. Superman review and while both have that problem, Daredevil pulls it off better. In Batman V. Superman it felt like each scene was that, a scene. We'd see Batman do Batman things and then cut to Superman and his drama. But I've already went into detail about that so why does it work here? Well for one, it's a show, stories can be stretched out farther and secondly the show gives us enough time with each story. It can get overwhelming at times but each story does get its time in the spotlight. I still do not like it when superhero movies have to throw everything at us but the show's pacing gives us the audience enough time to take everything in.
While the show does get bogged down by its many storylines, ultimately Daredevil season 2 builds off of what made its first season great. Hypnotizing action scenes, deep and interesting characters and heavy drama. If your a comic book fan or love the superhero genre, defiantly give this show a watch. And for those who have finished the second season and are looking for other shows to fill the void I recommend Arrow or Jessica Jones. Both carry that same type of tone and feel with Arrow having the more vigilante feel and Jones as a psycho-thriller noir story.
Grade: A
Coming Attractions:The Jungle Book and possibly another think piece.
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