Daredevil TV Show

If you've been reading any of my reviews on other superhero TV properties, you'll know I'm not a huge fan of them. I struggled for a whole year to get through the first season of Arrow. I am struggling to get through Agents of SHIELD just so I can give some kind of comparison because my god, while those shows are incredibly difficult to get through, Netflix comes in with some of the best television out there.

In the past, I think I've always liked the idea of Daredevil more than I actually like the execution of him in media. Even in the comic books, which I didn't read, he just looked kind of silly.

I mean a lawyer who is blind but has heightened senses and moonlights as a masked vigilante. Awesome. Red leather suit with horns on his mask and a name like Daredevil. Not so Awesome.

If you've read my review on the 2003 Daredevil, you'll know that the bar was set pretty low for a television show. Anything could have come out of this show and it probably would have been better than that god awful movie which I am now calling the male equivalent of Catwoman.

Still, I didn't really have high hopes for the Daredevil TV show. Like I said, I struggled through the first season of Arrow. I cannot stand Agents of SHIELD. I was coming to the conclusion that maybe I just don't like superheroes on television. Its not a bad conclusion, some stories are just better suited for the large screen. Its something that is bound to happen here and there.

When I heard that they were doing a series of shows on Netflix of lesser known heroes like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, (what I later figured out were going to culminate into the Defenders), I though, Meh, its just Marvel trying to get more presence on TV, a market that hasn't been good to begin with, but I would say that while I struggled through Arrow, at least I found it enjoyable... I really hate Agents of SHIELD.

Well... Daredevil really proves that wrong on so many levels.

Like I said, the concept of Daredevil is really interesting. Matt Murdock (played by Charlie Cox) is a lawyer starting his own firm with his friend from college, Foggy Nelson (played by Elden Henson). These two are out to help people. The little guys who are innocent and/or in need of attorneys to help them get proper justice.

Now Matt is blind. He was blinded when he was a child and an accident caused hazardous chemicals to burn his eyes. The show isn't totally clear whether or not the chemicals heightened his other senses, although that is what the comics say, but though he lost his sight, his other senses are incredibly heightened and he's able to do things even a person with sight couldn't do.

Along with being a lawyer, Matt moonlights the streets of Hell's Kitchen wearing a black mask and fighting crime as the vigilante the people of New York call the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

I'll say right here that I really, really like the black ninja-like costume of Daredevil in this season. It really looks like he just put on some underarmor and a mask and went off to go fight crime. He doesn't look like a superhero, he looks like a vigilante, two words that are very similar but have different connotations.

The other thing that I love about Daredevil is the way that they show that he is able to sense his surroundings and function better than most people who can see.

In the film, they had this weird Matrix-y vision going on which basically showed that Ben Affleck could see, just in blue.

I'll give the movie some kind of credit, it probably looked cool for the time and it was an interesting way of explaining the sensation of being blind but still being able to fight crime. 

In the television show, they do actually show what Matt sees. Its somewhat similar but instead of blue, they describe it as seeing the world on fire. 

Call it the same thing maybe, but the thing that separates this explanation from the 2003 movie is that they show this vision once. I don't even think they really needed to. I think they could have explained it and I would have thought it was awesome and actually a little bit sad. 

But more importantly, the show is good at showing Daredevil go about his business being blind, doing these crazy things, and yet never showing us what he sees. And at the same time, there's a sense of knowing how he's doing it. 

Its hard to explain but the fact that the television show didn't show as much makes Daredevil a fascinating hero and makes his abilities so much more different than any one else in the Marvel Universe, or any superhero in general. 

In general, the character of Matt Murdock is just done very, very well. The show utilizes the multiple

episodes of television to properly show his origin story over multiple episodes instead of showing it in one montage.

This allows for the origin story to relate back to what is happening in the main story and keeps the action going, developing character, and gives more of an experience.

In the film, Matt seemed to become a master of his newfound powers right away. It was so quick, there was no registration of the abilities, no development of them, honing them into becoming what they are in the main story. This is all done incredibly well in the film.

The next thing I want to talk about is the villain, but before I do that, I need to talk about the setting.

Yes the show takes place in Hells Kitchen, New York, like a lot of television shows, but the great thing about Daredevil is that it takes place in the Marvel Universe New York.

Part of the whole reason the conflict in the story is there is because it ties into the events of The Avengers.

Matt and Foggy get an office building to establish Nelson and Murdock at a great price because of "The incident", referring to the attack on New York in The Avengers.

The bad guys ridicule their henchmen because they got beat up by a guy in a mask. If he had an metal suit or a magic hammer, that'd be different. But its a guy in a black mask.

But most of all, the show's main villain utilizes the state of Hell's Kitchen, as a start of his expansion of his criminal empire.

You see when Daredevil was made, New York was a shithole. You read anything about New York prior to the late 90s, you know that it was just dirty, it was unsafe, it was dangerous. New York was just not a place you wanted to be. This is a perfect playground for a masked vigilante. And it makes sense too.

But now, post Guliani New York is a little bit more safer and while it would be cool, there's not as great of an explanation why New York is so dank and dark, like it was in the 2003 film.

But you see with the events of The Avengers, suddenly New York has seen damage. It may not be the dank dark place it once was, but Marvel has created an opportunity for criminals to profit off the events of The Avengers.

And before I talk about that particular criminal, that is good integration.

I don't need Samuel L Jackson chewing Coulson out to know that Agents of SHIELD is connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I don't need pointless cameos and in jokes to know that these universes are connected. I may not be the brightest person in the world, but I'm not dumb.

I can gather that Daredevil is going around in a New York that was attacked by aliens just by a quick mention. Even the line about an Iron suit or a magical hammer may have been a little much for me, if it wasn't so quick and they didn't make a big deal out of it.

Those references are cool and all but it doesn't make a television show, or movie good. This is what I'm figuring out by going back and watching the Phase 1 of Marvel's films. Iron Man 2 was not good. It doesn't matter how much screen time Samuel L Jackson has talking about the Avengers, it doesn't matter how many Captain America shields Coulson shows up with, that movie was not good.

These things are fun nods, sure, but when they take a moment out of the movie to point out, here's that easter egg we put in here for you, its a sign of a bad film. Same with TV shows. Agents of SHIELD did not have a good start and throwing in Sam Jackson at the end did not help it at all.

Daredevil knows how to be subtle with its hints at a larger universe, and they don't take away from the story which is centered on Daredevil, not the Avengers.

But let's finally get to one of the best parts of the TV show, the villain, Wilson Fisk.

Wilson Fisk (played by Vincent D'nofrio) or The Kingpin (though he's never called that) is the best villain Marvel has ever produced.

Yes, he is better than Loki.

Now I know its different, Daredevil had 13 episodes to develop this character, the story arc allows for full episodes to be dedicated to this one character.

But god damn, Wilson Fisk is hands down the best villain created to be shown on screen by Marvel studios.

You may think, how? He's a crime boss who wants to run New York through his crime enterprise. How is that a compelling villain. But just the way this performance is executed makes this character more than anyone expected.

Wilson Fisk has two sides to him. One is the dark, just down right evil, Kingpin who beat the shit out of a guy, threw him in the way of a car door, then decapitated him with said car door. But then you have Wilson Fisk the person. The man child. The socially inept character who really just wants to make Hells Kitchen a better place in his own twisted way of thinking. The Wilson Fisk who creates the love story of the series. There is an actual relationship between him and Vanessa Marianna (played by Ayelet Zurer).

But its this combination of such an evil, but really conflicted character, that ties together perfectly with this man who puts on a black mask and fights crime.

This Daredevil has the disadvantage that other superheroes in the Marvel Universe in that he is not accepted. He is not praised as a hero. Going back to what I said of the difference between a vigilante and a superhero, Daredevil is definitely a vigilante.

Somehow the conflict of that vigilante justice that lays within Matt, and the trauma of Wilson Fisk, just make these two brilliant adversaries. They're not really polar opposites, but just the way the show does it makes these two's conflict even greater. I love the way one affects the other and neither one can keep going while the other one is there. This culminates in 13 episodes that are probably my favorite Netflix original content I've seen. Its just down right good.

The minute I was done with these 13 episodes, I wanted more. The characters are so good, not just Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. Everyone shines in this show. I got so excited when the show was renewed for a second season. While its not the same, this show got me excited for AKA Jessica Jones and made me read up on that more.

Suddenly, I was not longer sighing at the hours going into making TV shows when they could be making more movies, I wanted more Daredevil.

And that feud between Marvel and DC, well Marvel just got the upper hand when it comes to TV now.

If they put as much effort into Jessica Jones and the other Marvel series coming out on Netflix, I am incredibly happy.

And it just points to the fact that Marvel still reigns supreme.

I have faith in DC that they can show their strength when Batman V Superman comes along, but damn they have a long ways to go. There is no comparison between Daredevil and Arrow, or The Flash, or whatever DC has cooking over at the fucking CW. The quality of entertainment on Netflix and what them and Marvel are creating, blows anything DC has right now out of the water.

Does that mean that DC is doomed to fail? No. I think they can learn from Marvel and make just as create products. They just have to stay away from the crap and make new original stuff.

Anyway, the overall take away from this is that if you have Netflix and haven't watched Daredevil, go watch it. Its great.

The only complaint I have of the show is the red costume.

I really don't like it. The great thing about the show is how gritty and real it is. When Daredevil is injured or gets punched, you actually feel like he is in pain. Also, his costume, the black one, like I said, looks like something I could put together and go out and fight crime. The show in many ways looks like Marvel's attempt at a Dark Knight feel to their properties. And because its so realistic, he at multiple points says that he needs something a little bit more practical, a little bit more able to stop blades and stuff.

So when he shows up in this red costume with horns, I just kind of came out of it for a little bit. By this point I loved the show so it didn't take too much away from it, but I just thought it looked a little silly.

I really hope by the second season they trim it down a little bit, do it in a way that doesn't look so clunky, or silly. But I just don't like this version of the armor.

Everything else though, phenomenal. One of the best TV experiences I've had in a long time.

But what did you think of the first season of Daredevil. Does it make you excited for more Marvel/ Netflix shows? Did you like it? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on more movie (and some TV) news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Here's a video explaining some of the good stories from the Daredevil comic. Its pretty easy to understand for people who don't know comics that well, (Me) and I like the guy who does these videos. Enjoy!