Coming late to the Daredevil verse on Netflix meant cramming all of season one into a mind numbing binge and then following up with season two. Each of these offerings had some things in common: Darkness, violence and gore. Score a big win for the streaming service that bought us the other “darker and edgier” character from Marvel, Jessica Jones.
Binge watching two whole seasons was a little overwhelming but worth it in the end, sore eyes and all.
Show creator Drew Goddard (If the name sounds familiar it should. This guy cut his teeth on Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and then moved to Angel before leaving that verse and getting back with Joss for The Cabin in the Woods; which he also directed.) brings us a Matt Murdock who has less to do with radiation and more to do with special training.
This Daredevil is more Frank Miller and less Stan Lee; edgier and taught everything he knows from a mysterious Zatôichi type figure called “Stick.” This hero is less super and more prone to wear his battle scars on his face and hands as well as getting pretty f***ed up in the process of protecting “his city.”
Season two of Daredevil brings a lot of things full circle and while doing so drenches the screen in enough blood to make Takeshi Miike pay attention. While there are not buckets of claret splashing about there is enough hacking of limbs, cutting of throats and slashing of bodies to guarantee a good arterial spray on a regular basis.
Foggy (Elden Henson) is still along for the ride, although a character from Jessica Jones’ verse arrives to offer the whinging partner of Murdoch a job. In all honesty it would be nice to see him take the job. Matt’s partner has continually bleated about his displeasure at Murdoch’s vigilantism for so long it would be nice to have a break.
Considering that Murdoch’s hunter for justice does not kill anyone, it is hard to work out exactly what Foggy’s whole problem is.
In terms of body count season two is on par, if not a tad higher, with season one. Although with the Punisher (aka Frank Castle who is played spectacularly by Jon Bernthal), Elektra (Elodie Yung) and Stick (veteran character actor Scott Glenn) running around and dispatching ninja’s at a rapid rate it could easily bypass the first season’s body bag collection.
There are a number of twists and turns that, once again, are much more in tune with Frank Millar’s vision of the blind vigilante. There is the “re-emergence” of Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) as a player in the Hell’s Kitchen control stakes and what appears to be an undead faction of fanatical Yakuza…
In the romance department Murdoch loses a couple of admirers only to regain his “true love” Elektra. Speaking of Matt’s deadly love interest, kudos are in order for Elodie Yung, the actress has made the character interesting, real and more than a match for Cox’s Murdoch.
Canadian actor Peter Shinkoda plays Nobu in the second season and his character is the major antagonist that Murdoch has to face.
Overall it would not hurt to watch the entire season in one, or two sittings. Although the time factor may make it difficult. Whichever way one choses to watch this brilliantly dark version of Daredevil it must be done.
If for no other reason than to see Bernthal kill it as the Punisher. This is not to imply that the rest of the cast are shirking, far from it, but The Walking Dead alumni was the perfect choice for this role and should not be missed.
Netflix are doing an excellent job presenting the darker side of Marvel. TVLine reported back in January the streaming site was woking on a Punisher spin-off. Jessica Jones has been approved for another outing, Luke Cage is premiering in September this year and rumor has it that more Marvel’s “edgier” characters are being brought to Netflix as well.
Daredevil season two is now streaming on Netflix. Come join the darkness.
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