*Spoilers Ahead*
When Daredevil first appeared on Netflix it attracted a large amount of praise for how it felt so different from everything else Marvel had done up to this point. It was a street-level crime show that happened to feature a man with powers. It also had a brilliant knack for setting up killer action sequences. The finale, however, doesn’t offer any stellar action scenes and rushes it’s season to a conclusion. The shows pace has always been a bit slow which is what really makes this episode feel like it’s going from 25 to 60 in about a minute.
The episode starts out with the funeral of Ben Urich and has to quickly give time for Karen to feel responsible for Ben’s death before she is forgiven, in a matter of seconds basically, by Ben’s widow. Thankfully, the show does try to keep the constant pain Karen feels, both from Ben’s death and the murder of Wesley, on our minds when she’s around.
Elsewhere, Matt is finally able to reconcile with Foggy and the trio at Nelson & Murdock quickly go back to work on taking down Wilson Fisk. The scene between Matt and Foggy is one of the few scenes in the episode that doesn’t feel like it’s frantically pushing us towards a conclusion and the law firm’s reformation was always bound to happen. Charlie Cox and Elden Henson make the scene work and feel like a truthful repairing of a friendship.
Fisk isn’t doing himself any favors when he confronts Leland Owlsley about money being taken out of his accounts. The argument eventually leads to the reveal that Owlsley and Madame Gao worked together to poison Vanessa and in a fit of rage Fisk murders Owlsley, While I felt that the murder of Urich at the end of the last episode was sort of necessary to fully mark Fisk as a villain Owlsley’s death is wholly useless. We already know Fisk is a fearsome figure so, yet again, showing him murder somebody adds nothing new to our perception of the character and instead kills off a fun villain.
Before Owlsley dies he also reveals that he’s been keeping the corrupt cop Hoffman at a safe house as blackmail and this cop ends up leading directly into Fisk’s downfall. I have more than a few problems with one cop who had dirt on Fisk being the whole thing that brings down his empire but the main one is that it simply feels anti-climatic after all that’s happened. The show forgoes it’s crime elements to quickly finish all of it’s story and what for?
For the superhero stuff, naturally. I don’t have a huge problem with the end of the show feeling a bit more super-heroic, as Fisk gets taken in and eventually breaks out of an armored truck with the help of a few men. My main issue is that so much of what made me enjoy this series was this it didn’t feel like the conventional superhero show. Yes, Matt Murdock is a guy with superpowers but he takes a major beating in almost every fight he’s in, he isn’t Captain America or Iron Man so the climatic final moments of the season shouldn’t feel like the end of a standard Marvel movie.
The final fight between Kingpin and Daredevil is fun, like most fights at the end of a Marvel moive, but like many of those fights it feels lackluster, especially in comparison to this show’s fight scenes. There are bits of the fight that I really enjoy, Fisk hurling Daredevil into the side of a dumpster, the final blow Daredevil hits on Fisk but overall that fight feels bland compared to what we’ve been given before.
With Fisk imprisoned, Daredevil is finally regarded as the hero that he is and the crew at Nelson & Murdock are back together attempting to bring in clients. It’s a fitting end and while I’ve been mostly down on this finale I enjoy where it leaves most of it’s characters.
Overall, this first season of Daredevil has been a great look into how Marvel handles the “dark and gritty” feel. I think Drew Goddard’s abrupt departure and Steven DeKnight’s placement had some odd effects on the season but ultimately there was much more good than bad in this first season and while DeKnight won’t be back I’m hoping for even more greatness in season two.
Season 1: 8.5/10
Bits ‘n Pieces
- I’m hoping the show doesn’t plan on keeping Karen unaware of Matt’s identity for too long because I’m already feeling bad for her now that both Foggy and Matt are lying directly to her face.
- At the end Foggy mentions Fisk still needing to go to trial so I’m hoping that means we’ll get to see a little of that next season.
- I was impressed with the entire cast’s work on this season but Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio especially tore the house down.
- Vanessa flees the city after Kingpin’s fight with Daredevil so we can expect her back eventually as well.
- Predictions for Season 2: The Hand, Bullseye, Elektra, and, hopefully, way more Stick.
If you’d like to give me feedback or just chat about Daredevil you can email me at theSuperAlbino@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter @JesseSwanson