I have a confession to make: I remember very little about season one of Daredevil. I don't know how quick that season jolted out of my memory, but it definitely was gone by November when I was considering my top ten dramas of the year. I ended up writing about 20 shows and Daredevil didn't even get a mention. Its Netflix counterpart, Jessica Jones, got a mention because I remembered it, although I couldn't honestly tell you which show was better because - again - I didn't remember the first season of Daredevil at all.
The second season is less a cohesive season and more a series of mini-arcs. For example, the first four episodes are about the Punisher, the next four are about Elektra, the rest about The Hand and Black Sky. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's the basic framework of the season. I don't remember a lot about the first season, but I do know that the entire season was pretty focused on Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock.
It's hard to make Charlie Cox unlikable. He's an effortlessly charismatic performer. With that said, I felt like Matt Murdock was pretty unlikable for most of this season. Probably due to my fatigue at superheroes in general, I just find his moralizing tiring. When you watch a superhero who has a code of not killing, one of the things you just have to accept is that they "know" how not to kill someone when they are literally bashing their skulls and kicking their ass. That's not to mention the probable long-term brain damage more than a few of the guys he fights are facing going forward. You just kind of have to put that part out of your brain or it will drive you nuts.
Still though man... he basically spends this whole season telling both the Punisher and Elektra not to kill and it's just not really a debate I'm interested in at all. There's just certain moments where it stretches credulity. There are scenes where both characters' lives are threatened by multiple people and instead of fighting the bad guys, Daredevil decides it is better to make sure the one helping him doesn't kill the bad guys. It defuses the tension because the bad guys are so incompetent that they can't even beat two superheroes who are fighting each other.
Speaking of the Punisher and Elektra, both characters are unqualified successes. Jon Berthal surprised the hell out of me with his portrayal - Shane on Walking Dead should not go on his acting resume though I don't think that was his fault. Elodie Yung as Elektra is captivating whose chemistry with Cox allows for their mutual attraction and backstory to be believable. (That said, I had a major problem with one of their last scenes of the season of which I will not talk about because most of you haven't finished.)
The binge-nature of watching Daredevil comes at a curse at times. The Matt-Karen romance suffers from this. When a new episode airs every week and not all at once, it's not that atypical for a TV relationship to only last three episodes. But here it's jarring how quickly they break up. Plus, the show ended it in the worst way. Karen has been shown to be a reasonable, thoughtful woman. She walks in on Matt with a woman in his bed, but there was also an old blind man there and I feel like that's going to raise some questions. Matt wasn't even in a compromising position. But she assumes the worst, because the plot needed it to happen and that romance felt like filler and pointless.
While I was never a huge fan of Matt's constant sermonizing to the Punisher about how he shouldn't kill, it at least kind of worked in a way where I imagine I'm on a lonely island with that opinion. But it came off worse when he did the same to Elektra. It was like a rehash of his conversations with the Punisher except this time it's a man telling a woman he knows what's best for her.
If there was a rule that there can never be too many ninjas, Daredevil breaks that rule and then breaks it again. It just lowered the stakes when he and Elektra could fight 10 ninjas at once. Then they did again the next episode. Then they did it again. And again. And about two more times. And about five times in the last episode. So many ninjas.
Another curse of the binge-watch? Holy crap did Black Sky make absolutely no sense to me. What is Black Sky? Why is important? Why does it matter? What power do you hold? The purposeful mystery of the Black Sky unfortunately was too much. You need to answer some questions. We need to know why it's a big deal. Why were they trying to kill Elektra before, but then later in the season, they started not trying to kill her even though both times they presumably knew she was the Black Sky? If she can just tell The Hand what to do, why doesn't she just become Black Sky and make them good? Seriously I don't get it! And Stick is so well-acted by Scott Glenn, that nobody notices how much a mess his character motivations are. He wants her to make Daredevil kill for some reason, but then he wants to kill her because she's Black Sky but he's known that all his life, except later he doesn't want to kill her even though nothing has changed.
I'm being more negative on this review than I am on the season, but just bare with me for a little more negativity. Foggy: he's another character where I feel like I'm supposed to be on his side, but he just comes across as so smug and superior. Also I feel like the show wants me to think he's some fantastic lawyer, but here's the evidence this season: one decent opening statement and making Samantha Reyes look foolish on multiple occasions. But Reyes does nothing smart at all this season and seems dumb so that latter part isn't really an accomplishment. Also, I don't think Karen is a very good writer (lol at her getting a writing job for a reputable newspaper with presumably no degree, no experience and no material), although her investigative skills are great.
On to the bright sides of this season, there are a few fights that live up to the hallway fight of season one. The staircase fight and the prison"fight" both shine and if you've seen both, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. In fact, those fights are so good and so well-filmed, that the fights in the last climactic episode come as a bit of a letdown.
Also, and I've mentioned this already, but pretty much everyone seems perfectly cast. Whatever my problems with this season, none of it is due to the actors. I've already praised Cox, Bernthal, and Yung, but it's easy to forget how good Deborah Ann Woll is in this. She doesn't have a showy part or get to kick ass like the others, but she consistently kills with her performance. Also Vincent D'Onorfio comes in, dominates his scenes, and makes you wish he was in more episodes. Maybe season 3?
Anyway, I feel like I'm just going to have to accept that these superhero series are going to have plot holes, questionable character decisions to further the plot, and things that make no damn sense if you think about it for too long. With the exception of characters making decisions that seem out of character, I'm willing to accept most of these things. Daredevil's second season is ultimately guilty of being too ambition. It juggled 1) the central hero's moral conflict with killing due to his Catholic faith 2) two vigilantes who have no qualms with killing 3) an ancient, evil cult ninja organization 4) a conspiracy by the DA against the murder of Frank Castle's family (a good example of how dumb Reyes is) and 5) a law firm that is for people who have nowhere else to turn. That's too much.
Grade (Man I have even less idea of what to grade this than normal so don't be mad at the grade): B
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