Sorry for the delay, everyone! As you may recall, I wrote my review of episode eight while still in Costa Rica on vacation. I did make it back home, but also managed to go straight from that very relaxing trip to eight straight days of high-intensity work. And so, the reason I haven't gotten to my review of the finale until now has nothing to do with the quality of the finale, and more to do with the (poor) quality of my sleep. With that out of the way...
When the first full season reviews came out, written by those select few who got to see it ahead of us mere mortals, I did my best to stay away from them in order to protect myself from spoilers. However, I did see some comments that painted this first season as a long, if mostly enjoyable, preamble to season two, with a cliffhanger ending.
Having now watched it all, I can certainly see the reasoning behind this sentiment. And as far as the ending goes, it definitely sets the stage for what's coming while resolving very little of what has come before. Which is fine, I guess. After waiting over six years for more Daredevil, waiting ten more months (it's now early May, and rumor has it the next season will be out in March of next year) feels like nothing.
It is also the case, as we all know, that the first season of Daredevil: Born Again represents the amalgamation of two quite different visions which would very much explain why the current creative team has really only begun telling their story. And while the transition from episode one (a post-overhaul episode) to episode two (a pre-overhaul episode) was pretty seamless, I noted in my review of the previous episode that here at the end is where some of the stitches become noticeable. Episode nine continues the frenzied, albeit exciting pace of episode eight, as there's a lot of "stage-setting" for next season to get to.
I feel like I have quite a bit to say about the totality of season one, although that also seems like it should be its own separate post. And so, to (finally) get to the specifics of episode nine, I did very much enjoy what we got.
Wilson Fisk has his own "fuck it" moment when he concludes that while he really did try to be a good mayor, "opportunities present[ed] themselves," and so what are you going to do? Hence, the gloves come off in a big way. Not only does he make plans to have Matt Murdock – the guy who took a bullet for him! – murdered in his hospital bed, he then kills police commissioner Gallo in a most brutal fashion using his bare hands! He also manages to squeeze in cutting all electrical power to the city, and intimidating all of his political opponents into falling in line.
Matt, meanwhile, starts the episode by completely torching his relationship with Heather before escaping his hospital room. This takes us to an entertaining team-up with best frenemy Frank Castle in a scene which does actually tie up one loose end from earlier in the season when Cole North is revealed to be the one responsible for Hector Ayala's death. This reveal comes a little too easily for me, as it seems far from obvious that there would only a single dirty cop using that one brand of ammo with the Punisher logo on it.
Matt's day goes from bad to worse when his apartment is blown to pieces (though it provides great cover for someone who might want to pretend to be dead going forward).
Things start to turn around a bit when Karen shows up in her car and gets them off the street. There's some weird tension between the three of them when Frank gets to play host back in his charming dungeon that I'm sure will inspire its own sub-genre of fan fic. Frank eventually sets off to Red Hook to find himself in heaps of trouble (and in Fisk's own personal prison!), after Matt and Karen go chasing for clues about what exactly Foggy was up to.
And this is where I want to briefly touch on something that the creative team deserves major kudos for: When Matt asks Karen to "be his eyes," as in be in charge of their hunt for a set of documents they have in storage, this is a vanishingly rare acknowledgement of what should be an obvious state of affairs. He really can't do this kind of thing on his own. Even if we were to go the print reading by touch route of the comics, he'd be stuck in that storage room for two days.
That Matt would find himself in a situation where not being able to see in anything close to a traditional fashion might present an issue, or give him a reason to receive or ask for help with something, shouldn't be rare. It would realistically be something that happens several times a day. This is not difficult to figure for anyone capable of basic applied logic who is willing to read between the lines (I have a series of posts about this regarding the original show, and I will definitely write one for this season as well), but it's still rare for creators to willingly place Matt in a situation where he has to express this need, as opposed to narratively work around it or let it happen off-screen.
The scene above lines up well with the more mature version of Matt Murdock I feel we've been treated to with Daredevil: Born Again. The same thing goes for the scene where he and Karen – admittedly, much of this is Karen's doing – decide that retreat is the better option against an enemy that is simply too strong and powerful. It's better to be smart, to regroup, and play the long game. And this is where the episode and the season ends.
Is it satisfying? I don't think that's the right word, despite the general strength of the episode. This is the kind of ending meant to whet our appetites for more. And so it is perhaps best judged on the questions it leaves us with, and I have to admit that I'm very curious to learn more:
How much worse is life going to get in Fisk's inner circle? How do you start what appears to be a very low-tech resistance movement working out of a bar? What will Frank Castle do next? Who else will we find in Fisk's prison, and who else will be joining Matt's ranks? How long before Heather figures out what Fisk is capable of? What is really up with Buck (because I'm telling you, that man is having thoughts)? What will Dex do, and what else does he know? And the one that will continue to linger, could Foggy still be alive somewhere?
Hey, only ten more months before we learn more! And in the meantime, there's so much more to talk about. Stay tuned. 😉
I watched the show when it came out and didn’t ever rewatch it, but I recently read Chip Zdarsky’s run because I heard the new show is based on that run, specifically.
And I noticed something while reading this. The cop that was revealed to have taken Hector Ayala’s life was COLE NORTH!?
I hope that’s going to change. A cop with that same name was in the Zdarsky comic rub and he was very interesting, but if the show’s version of him really did kill Hector… Well, then he’s not much like his comic counterpart. Unless there’s information I’m missing, that is.
Anyway, nice analysis!
Thank for commenting!
I’d say none of the seasons have really been straight adaptions of anything from the comics. It’s more like they’re borrowing bits and pieces of various themes and storylines, and then doing something mostly original. Heather Glenn in the show has very little in common with Heather Glenn in the comics, and the same is true of Cole North. I don’t think we’re meant to think of him as the same character, it’s more like they just borrowed the name.