I’ve devoured DAREDEVIL as quickly as I could while relishing it. I wanted it to be an intimate first encounter. DAREDEVIL has been a long standing comic love of mine. One, Dad appreciated it, because the art was by Wally Wood and as Dad pointed out, Matt Murdock was a redhead. Small detail, but one that I identified with. Sure, Wood didn’t have a long run, but he gave us the iconic red long johns. Then we moved on to Kirby and Romita, and Romita’s DAREDEVIL… just a delight. But Gene Colan kept me reading for a long time. The home collection stopped in 1976, but DAREDEVIL was one of the titles that I always have kept up with. I was reading monthly when a madman named Frank Miller hijacked my DAREDEVIL, summer 1982 – helluva time to be alive… DAREDEVIL with a Dirty Harry and gritted teeth… Matt Murdock meet Frank Miller… Also, his world darkened… it had a hero scowering urban decay to make a difference. It made love epic… mythic… DAREDEVIL has never quite been the same since. I mean, he brought the mutherfucking ninjas into DAREDEVIL and the OCTAGON geek was happy. Now I tend to read most of my DAREDEVIL digitally.
So, the countdown to Netflix’s DAREDEVIL has been… excruciating. I was gonna make an honest run at watching all the episodes beginning at 2am. I got through Episode 9. And, this evening, I’ve finished the final 4. At the end of the 13th Episode… It leaves you giddy for more.
Much of this season is about establishing the Hell’s Kitchen universe that DAREDEVIL is set in. To establishing Matt Murdock, his back story, his early roots in crime fighting as a man in a mask. They work to establish the insular family of Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson – his best friend and law partner & then Karen Page, their legal secretary and possible love interest. But as I said, these are the early days. The final episode is titled DAREDEVIL for a reason… it is when DAREDEVIL is fully introduced.
That said, this show is not only about DAREDEVIL, it’s about KINGPIN, Wilson Fisk. As conceived and performed by Vincent D’Onofrio… he plays Fisk with the power of Orson Welles. His orations, monologues about why he is the way he is… these psychotic soliloquies may have roots in Vincent Price’s tortured soul, but the prance of the Kingpin… The way he holds himself is as a very very dark selfmade Charles Foster Kane of Industry and Influence… but that is not the destiny of Wilson Fisk, he bows to none unless you can physically beat him into submission, go on… try it! D’Onofrio is a noble Monster of a man. There’s a part of me surprised we didn’t get a scene of Fisk watching HOUSE OF CARDS, just because… well, he’d like to see himself like Frank. Similarly, nothing gets in their ways. I love that much of Fisk’s motivation is about wooing a woman he loves, something that takes him off balance. He’s not yet the full beast he’ll become.
Yeah, suffice to say – I love Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk. He’s absolutely perfect. This KINGPIN is to be feared, respected and BEATEN INTO PRISON BY DAREDEVIL!!!
Heroes are only as great as their villains make them and D’Onofrio struts and flexes the unseen muscles just as he flexes his verbal ego trips. He’s everything a comic fan could hope for in actualizing Wilson Fisk. I’m giddy to see where this goes next, because the introduction of Wilson Fisk to Daredevil will forever alter the landscape. Where Fisk is now is at a contained boil, the release should be epic.
Where’s Matt Murdock and Company? Licking wounds, sobered by the experience, but feeling able to move forward… if only because they can’t imagine tomorrow being worse than the yesterdays they live during this season.
Matt and Foggy’s friendship and partnership will be on the line. Together they’ll meet and fall in love with Karen in their own ways, though nothing tangible yet. Nothing given action. I like that. I also love Matt’s relationship with Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple, who patches Charlie Cox’s Masked man. Their relationship is outstanding, in fact everybody is.
I love Foggy Nelson, always have. Character has had a slight weight problem, but he never really let it hold him back. He was the best friend and partner that Matt Murdock has always needed. Throughout the comic, you’ll get pissed at Foggy, but you’ll always love him. Or at least I always have because, well… Matt deserves to have a Foggy in his life. And Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page is seriously a femme fatale here… and this is very atmospheric and handsome show.
Lighting at night in Matt’s loft is really evocative, the action in the series feels brutal and punishing. There’s scenes that can evoke OLD BOY levels of ferocity, and Charlie’s DAREDEVIL is a demon possessed. He’s scary and he has to be. The tumor he’s trying to save his world of Hell’s Kitchen from is moments from taking over.
A friend of mine, Christopher Jones, said that it’s the BREAKING BAD of SUPERHERO series and I think it is early to say something like that. BREAKING BAD continually surpised and became increasingly brilliant as the seasons went on. I hope that is what we have for DAREDEVIL. Give me 8 seasons more now!
Give me more STICK! But mostly I can’t wait to see what Wilson throws at ol hornhead next! This is an adult and brutal DAREDEVIL, I love Matt’s Catholicism. I am quite eager to work my way through the future Marvel NETFLIX shows. This is seriously great stuff. Now, I think my Dad needs to see these! Giggle.
Is it the best first season of a Superhero show? I don’t know. FLASH makes me squeal like a Beatlemaniac. DAREDEVIL is just where I want him here at the end. He’s ready for more. We have hints of Elektra and him having a college era thing. But we know nothing. Daredevil has hit the front page and I have the distinct feeling this could be the beginning of something killer cool! Such a great beginning!
