Daredevil episode 8 “Shadows in the Glass”

*spoilers ahead*

This episode is the story of Wilson Fisk. A story that reminds us that the strong, ruthless, influential man, is just that – a man. It is easy to forget that in the light of the many aw-inspiring things he has done in the previous episodes. This one leads us back to his childhood and tells the story of his convictions. A mere child, Fisk too lost his dad, but in this case, he was killed by Wilson himself while he was assaulting his mother. The events of this episode(or rather the flashbacks) prove that Fisk’s heart is in the right place. He too suffered a lot, growing up in fear under the shadow of his oppressive father, who was always disappointed in him. It tells us about his obsession with and fear of the painting “Rabbit in a Snowstorm”. It shows us how truly broken Fisk actually is, but despite everything he is willing to stand up and fight for what he believes in. I had always admired Fisk due to his mental prowess, but after this episode, I might actually like him.

Fisk spends an awful lot of time and energy in the previous episodes trying to keep his identity a secret. His belief that his work can only be done from the shadows, makes him hesitant of the spotlight. However, when confronted with difficult odds – Madam Gao’s threats and Nobu’s unhappiness – he is willing to change his entire plan of action so that his city can be saved. With Vanessa’s help, he becomes ready to embrace the spotlight. He now sees himself as he is rather than the scared little boy who killed his father.

Which brings me to Vanessa. In earlier episodes, she was only as important as the plot needed Fisk to be gentle. It was through her that we got to see a different side of Fisk. In this one however, she drove the plot. We had already seen her as a strong, fearless woman who had started to accept Wilson the way he was. This episode proves that she totally and completely belied in him and is vision; and even though she did not know exact details of his plan, she still provided him encouragement. She is important for Wilson, since he has never had anyone believe in him blindly. Though it does make me wonder about what kind of trauma someone would have to go through to be able to see Fisk’s violence as necessary. Had it not been for Vanessa, Fisk would probably have continued spiraling out of control. Vanessa helped him regain his footing when everything was going against him.

This was rather unfortunate for our heroes. At a time when they were just starting to comprehend Fisk’s personality and take some action against him, Fisk changed the game. The immense focus on secrecy led to Murdock believing that Fisk was afraid of the light. So they decided to bring him to the city’s attention, hoping that the people’s reaction would “drag him through the mud”. But Fisk holding a press conference changed that. It changed the dynamics of the situation leaving Murdock with absolutely nothing.

This episode was the best yet, which is surprising because it was the antagonist’s story. It had no real action from the ‘man in the mask’, and Murdock wasn’t featured too prominently either. But it did offer insights into Fisk’s mind. It showed a broken man trying to do everything he can to make his vision come true. It had all the elements of a great episode – suspense, drama, betrayal, disappointment. And these came together to form a comprehensive masterpiece.

Daredevil Episode 7 “Stick”

*spoilers ahead*

Compared to the events of the last two episodes, not much happens in this one – which makes sense, because life can’t be exciting all the time, even if you’re Murdock. However, this episode did cast some important insight into Murdock’s training, though it did not tell us why he became “The man in the black mask”.

A figure from Matt’s past is introduced in this episode – Stick. We see that he was the one who taught Matt to fight and cope with blindness after his father’s death. Stick is a shade darker than Murdock, and is a reflection of how Matt would have been, had things gone differently. As a boy, Matt saw Stick as a fatherly figure, and to the single minded Stick. This was unacceptable since he saw relationships and feelings as a hindrance to their work, and so he left Matt, when he expressed his emotions for Stick. stick might not have been completely col hearted as seen at the end, but he was focused and cared for nothing other than the mission. It is a reflection of how different Matt would have been had Stick not left. Maybe he would have no qualms about killing, as long as it got the job done.

Another storyline that took a new turn was Ben and Karen’s. Karen decides to let Foggy help them expose Union Allied after he saves her from the musclemen. I was surprised to see that Ben was trying to make connections between Union Allied and the explosions. The show has not, till this episode shown us any of Ben’s snooping around, and it seems too far fetched of a conclusion to come on his own. It would be interesting to see Ben actually do some digging and find out important information from his sources.

Overall, the episode was not too over-the-top with a fun fight sequence between Murdock and Stick. Foggy is progressively becoming one of my favorite secondary characters, which probably means he’s going to get heartbroken or killed. Given the two scenarios I prefer the former. There are also unanswered questions about Nobu, and how a weapon called Black Sky could be transported in a small boy. I would be disappointed if there is magic involved, since then there would have to be “good” magical people too, but it wouldn’t be surprising. In a show where the fights are the main sense of action, involving magic would be cheating.

Daredevil episode 6 “Condemned”

*spoilers ahead*

The last episode ended with Murdock getting caught by the police. I was looking forward to see what he would do in the situation, since he could not let the police know his identity, but at the same time, being the “good guy”, he couldn’t hurt them either. His reaction would have given the character a lighter or darker shade of grey, depending on what he chose to do. It would also solidify his morals for himself, if not for the audience. But the fact that the cops were Fisk’s men give Murdock an easy way out and spared him the moral dilemma.

But apart from that, it also showed just how influential Fisk really was. The whole episode itself was shocking since it established the extent of Fisk’s influence. In the last episode we saw that him take out the entire Russian operation through his wit (and some help). Before that, we saw him kill Vladimir’s brother with his car’s door. This episode added another dimension to Fisk’s already formidable persona. Not only is he clever, ruthless, strong, and brutal, he’s also very influential. He is practically running the “city” with the police and media in his extremely deep pockets, and no one knows about him.

This was also a very important episode for Murdock. He had interpreted Fisk as the “head of the snake”, not realizing that the “snake” in question is not just the criminal world, but the rest of the city too. Murdock finally realizes what he is dealing with. Earlier he was just grasping straws and trying to make sense out of the meagre information that he had. “You really don’t know anything, do you?” Vladimir had said, and it was true. We see a new side to Murdock, a frustrated one, as he desperately tries to escape the abandoned warehouse and struggles comprehend the extent of Fisk’s reach. He realizes that the law was already with Fisk, and there was no justice to be found through the usual channels. (Unless of course he catches Fisk, is able to prove his involvement, gets a trial, a clean judge and an impenetrable prison). But I also expect him to try nonetheless.

Murdock’s talks with Vladimir help establish him as an actual person, rather that just a bad man who is needed for information. Vladimir’s past, Fisk’s betrayal and Vladimir’s “This is not how I die” was probably the most surprising thing in the episode.He gives Murdock useful information on Fisk, and helps him escape, but he also tries to make sure that Murdock understands that the law will not punish Fisk. He is instrumental in establishing just how dangerous Fisk can be.

Daredevil Episode 5

*spoilers*

Well played, Fisk. Well played. Blame it on the mask

Another great episode! I think I’ve got my new favorite show now. The episode had it’s own share of ups and downs that came together to make something good. There was the next morning with Claire, the kiss and their amazing chemistry. At one point Clare says “are you one of those billionaire vigilantes I keep hearing about?” and it was Marvel’s marvelous taunt to DC’s Batman, Arrow etc. In a previous episode, Wesley mentioned “a suit of iron, a magical hammer” in a passing reference to the Russians. It’s small things like this that make Marvel great. They acknowledge the presence of a whole universe and still somehow not manage to break the 4th wall barrier too much.(Technically, since the Marvel universe is the same, should we be expecting crossovers?)

Aand Fisk! I didn’t address him earlier but he certainly needs to be. He was introduced in episode 3 “Rabbit in a Snowstorm” and in the next episode, we saw him to be a romantic, and yet very brutal. In this episode, we got to hear his side of things, how he wants to fix the city, but to do that he first needs to destroy it (Malcom Merlin, anyone?). It is evident that he thinks he’s doing the right thing. And that he’s powerful. It is eerie to see that kind of power and yet the gentle kindness in the same person. It makes him feel formidable. And it is important to note that he is very smart. He has a very sharp mind behind the tough/ gentle exterior. Blaming Vladimir’s brother’s murder on the mask, and then asking Gao for help in terminating the Russians mob was genius. When they said that there would be war, I assumed it would be 5 factions. But bringing everyone together against the Russians – that was brilliant. I love shows with a powerful antagonist, it makes the protagonist’s struggles all the more real.

Another thing I love about this show is that none of the characters assume to be a fixed shade. They all lie in grey areas, some darker than others. Murdock’s a guy trying to keep his city safe, and yet he enjoys the killings. Fisk is the evil mastermind, but he hates killing people. Claire is normal-ish, yet broken. Karen is working with the reporter, and hiding it from both Foggy and Murdock. If there is one person who can be classified as all good, it would probably be Foggy. And I’m not sure what to make of Natasha. She also has a back story to her, to be able to be so calm around Fisk.

So, by the end of the episode the Russian mob is down, Vladimir is close to dead, the masked man is about to be apprehended by the police and Karen and Foggy were caught in close vicinity of the explosions.

Some thoughts

• Murdock should not be alive, seeing how close he was to the explosion.
• Why is Murdock the vigilante anyway? I see that he wants to save his city, but why? And how did he get those killer moves. I guess there is a batman type origin story to follow, but I’m 5 episodes in, and there is no mention of his motivation or his skills. He did lay out a helpful picture of how he sees things, so, I guess it’s something.

Daredevil Episode 2 “Cut Man”

*spoilers ahead*

I don’t know where to start. This was an amazing episode! I’m not sure if I can ask for better. It was 60 min of a rollercoaster of emotions that can only result from something this good. There was suspense and pain, laughter and tragedy, all together, mixed in a cocktail of emotions.

The last episode ended with Murdock going to save a small boy from the Russians. This one starts 2 days later with Murdock in a dustbin, bleeding to death. My eyes would have popped out if they could. He was rescued by the Claire who is a nurse at the hospital. And the way the episode progressed, I think she might be a possible love interest. But that’s not what is interesting about Claire. I like Claire. A LOT. She’s practical, with the right kind of reactions. She does what you would if you found a bleeding person in the garbage (apart from calling the police, of course). She orders Santino (the guy who actually found Murdock) stay quiet about Matt; she tries to help him because she’s a nurse, but doesn’t stop him when he initially decides to leave. You could see that she wants him out of her hair, but doesn’t want him to die. She asks the right questions, and is flustered when she doesn’t get a reasonable response. And she convinces Matt to tell her his story (at least a part of it), and even gives him pointers on how to torture the fake cop. She doesn’t believe him when he’s lying on her couch telling her he can fight (would you?). A lot of Murdock’s powers, like exceptional hearing and smell, are also cleared up for the audience through Claire. Claire has the right amount of fear, frustration, curiosity and wit for a vibrant character. She’s not all accepting, like Arrow’s Felicity, or unfazed like the Flash’s Iris. She is just a person caught in an unfortunate situation. ( I would be so mad if she turned out to be evil or something).

Which now leads me to Murdock. He can take a beating. I think the who purpose of this episode, apart from introducing Claire, was probably to establish Murdock’s pain tolerance. He is beaten by the Russian, bled out, and still find the energy to stand when the fake cop arrives. He has difficulty walking, but can torture the Russian, no problem. And after, when he’s still weak and tired, he takes out a whole gang while rescuing the kidnapped boy. It’s insanely absurd and yet daring. My only complain was the fact that he saved the boy and got out alive. At least, we got to see him weak and in a fight ( which was amazing, btw).

We see Matt’s father in the flashbacks, and it is clear that he is far from perfect. But it puts Matt into context. In a heartbreaking scene we see Jack Murdock dead, but not before he his son could hear the world cheer for him. It is shown that Jack often profited from loosing and that he needed the money desperately. He also knew what the consequence of winning his final math would be. This shows how much he loved his son, and desperately wanted to be respected for his sake. Was the respect really worth his life, is the actual question.

An finally, I take back what I said about Foggy not being enough to get me back to the show. He is adorable, funny and awkward. And together with Karen, he’s definitely cute. I understand that they were probably in there as comic relief for the episode, but I enjoyed them every bit as much as I did the rest. Karen hasn’t moved on from the trauma, and I’m glad that she hasn’t. Very often,on tv and movie, the people involved in traumatic situations tend to get over them fairly quickly. It underscores the importance of such a situation.

All in all, I loved the second episode and look forward to more surprises and great acting ahead.

Daredevil Episode 1 “Into the ring”

*Spoilers Ahead*

I went into the show without ever having read the comics, so it was disorienting how extremely dark the episode was. But I guess, this was also what I liked about it. From what I could tell from the first episode, Daredevil is the story of a vigilante/lawyer, who is also blind, and always gets the pretty girl.

The episode starts with telling the audience, how Matt Murdock became blind, and showed him to be a courageous young man. The next scene has Murdock in a confession room. It took me a while to connect the two people as the same person. The fact that the scared boy, who just lost his sight grows to be the confident, ruthless man who came in for confession, shows just how much Murdock went through. We see Murdock’s bad-ass fighting style when he saves a bunch of girls from human trafficking. The way Murdock fought the trafficker was pretty amazing, and it was only during certain times in the fight that I realized he was blind. To me he could have been a perfectly normal, well trained man had I not noticed the mask over his eyes. It was little things like this that made me want to know more about his origin story.

Charlie Cox too did an amazing job playing Matt. It didn’t feel like Matt and the vigilante were two different persons, which happens very often while playing superheroes . It was easy for me to believe that Matt could be a lawyer by day and a vigilante by night. He was human, not indestructible – which is another anomaly for the superhero world. While fighting Rance, we see that Murdock is just a human fighting another equally well trained human. Matt,wins because of superhuman his hearing, but just barely. He recognizes he’s human. Another thing I really liked about the episode was that flashbacks didn’t take me away from the present action. They were necessary for it.  Murdock’s origin story didn’t take the focus away from present day, at least in this episode. It felt natural to see the him remember his father’s words when he was down during the fight in the street.

The episode also did a great job of establishing “Matt and Foggy” as a team. But they’re not the reason I would return to the show. What truly makes me want to go to the next episode is the vivid description of the underworld. The rebuilding of Hell’s Kitchen, the Asian drug mafia, the Russian Killers and most importantly, Kingpin, who sounds formidable.