It didn’t take super sensitive hearing to pick up on my gripes that were steadily mounting as Daredevil season 2 started to move away from the more Punisher-led aspects of its plot to welcome duplicitous, ninja ex, Elektra, into the fold. However, what was even more frustrating is that all the stuff concerning Elodie Yung’s new take on the sai wielding character is actually really good and her entire arc seems to be a greatly exagerated look at when a controlling and toxic former lover arrives back on the scene to make life hell.
No, the real problem seemed to be that whereas the first season gave Matt Murdock a clearly defined path to climb on his quest to take out the Kingpin by taking out various aspects of his empire, once season 2 put the Punisher story on the back burner, the show seemed to lose its focus and we had no idea where the hell it was supposed to be going. However, with episode 7, it feels like Daredevil has finally realised that it should really be building to something and suddenly pulled its finger out in order to pick a direction and run with it.
Plus more Punisher can’t hurt either…
After staying out all night aiding Elektra with her rising issues with the Yakuza as the vigilante Daredevil, Matt is starting to neglect his daytime duties, which is a massive problem when you realise that his podunk law firm has managed to push its way into being the defence for criminal slaughtering ex-Marine, Frank Castle, for the trial of the century. Frank isn’t exactly making things easy either after choosing to plead not guilty in order to stick it to corrupt district attorney Reyes and try and bring her into the light; but he makes things even tougher when his refuses to go along with Nelson and Murdock’s ploy to use wartime PTSD in an insanity plea.
However, even though he misses the opening statement (which he was supposed to deliver), Matt’s relationship with Elektra continues to disrupt his work when she feels the need to start threatening vital witnesses who could speak out about the corruption even though it makes their testimony ultimately useless in the eyes of the law.
With Nelson & Murdock fracturing once again under the strain, Murdock comes clean about the fact that he’s fraternising with his psycho girlfriend from their college days in an attempt to stick it to the Japanese mafia. Realising that Matt is lying to him again, Foggy understandably explodes and the strain that both Elektra and Frank Castle is having on the little firm starts to effect even Murdock’s burgeoning relationship with Karen Page.
However, while on another one of his illegal excursions with Elektra, Murdock finally starts to unravel what the Yakusa is planning and it involves that tenement building that Fisk gave to Nobu back in season 1 – but why is there a bloody great hole that seems to have no bottom located inside?
It feels like Daredevil is on the verge of getting a sense of direction again after the last couple of episodes have kind of coasted on the appearance of Elektra to keep things moving even if you didn’t have a clue where it was moving to. However, with Semper Fidelis, the show is obviously making a tremendous to get a lot of those wobbling plates spinning again to achieve a more balanced story. However, what I didn’t expect was a long dormant plot thread to suddenly rear up to suddenly determine a final destination for the season to finally shoot for. Yup, all that stuff about the Yakuza, Nobu, that tenement building where Mrs Cardenas lived (and died) and probably all that stuff about an ancient super weapon named Black Sky has not reentered the chat and while it sounds like this is just more stuff likely to distract us from the Punisher, Daredevil manages to pull the best balancing act it’s managed in couple of episodes.
Everything actually manages to intertwine rather well, especially when it’s revealed that Elektra been trying to help out Matt’s case in he own indomitable way, but unfortunately the Elektra stuff is now gradually becoming the weak link of the show. Yes, the relationship stuff between Murdock and Natchios is still well acted and full of sexual tension, but this is the third straight episode on a row that sees the couple heading out in the dead of night, beating on Japanese mobsters and learning a little more about what’s actually going on and it’s now starting to get more than a little repetitive. While it legitimate shocks me to say that scenes of Charlie Cox (or his stunt double) flipping about in a full Daredevil costume have become a little passe, at least it’s finally come to some sort of point. On the other hand, the show really is struggling without a clear antagonist to give the rather nebulous villainy a face to actually focus on and I’m really starting to miss Vincent D’Onofrio’s superlative Kingpin, if for no other reason that the really managed to tie the metaphorical room together.
However, while the more overt superhero stuff is taking its sweet time to get to its point, the fact that the focus on Jon Benthal’s Punisher is starting to grow again provides the best dramatic moments found in the entire episode by far. Be it Frank utterly refusing to take a PTSD defence because he feels as if its disrespectful to his fellow soldier brothers, to the shock reveal that Elektra’s well meaning interference essentially scuppers Foggy best (and probably only) shot at getting a foothold in th
e trial, it’s probably the best courtroom stuff that the entire show has ever given us.
However, while it’s always a pleasure watching Bernthal growl his lines, especially coated in bruises while wearing orange prison threads, it’s the fragmenting of the trio of Nelson & Murdock that really works here which is weird considering that we’ve already seen it happen last season.
Even though the show’s been suggesting that Elektra and Castle’s influence will undoubtedly spread like poison through the relationships that Matt cherishes, it’s amusing that neither of them even has to be in the direct vicinity for the last straw to be had. Matt’s confession that Elektra is responsible for his recent tardiness provides a similar, raw and utterly justified outburst from Foggy to the one he had when he discovered his friend’s secret crime fighting identity and even though their bathroom confrontation isn’t as comprehensive as the moment from season 1, it still carries the necessary weight. However, as bad as things have gotten, Matt and Karen have never had a true falling out, until now, when a date soon turns sour after their conflicting views concerning Frank Castle’s methods suddenly sees them at loggerheads. Obviously Karen’s opinions are tempered by the fact that she’s actually murdered a man, but Matt obviously doesn’t know this and the negative influence of the two, violent, outside forces continue to work their dubious and respective whammies on our three leads.
While still not back up to full strength yet, it feels like Daredevil is now coming out of this short aimless phase in order to start tying everything back together and giving us an actual overarching plot to follow. It’s a good thing too because I prefer it whenever Daredevil isn’t flying blind… so to speak.
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