We’re now comfortably in the cool down period that usually happens when a Daredevil season gets in sight of its big finale where it busies itself with shifting its status quo around to try and get everyone into their best possible position to milk that all-important drama. However, it’s a tactic that hasn’t always paid off with some of the Netflix Marvel shows suffering from some major pacing issues as the show takes its foot off the accelerator.
Well thankfully, Daredevil’s third season has managed to use its heightened senses to avoid this issue thus far, which has been especially impressive considering the season has been making sure that it’s supporting characters haven’t been drifting into the back ground. However, spending a bit more time in the spotlight is the utterly bamboozled Agent Nadeem who is now struggling with the knowledge that Wilson Fisk has been playing him and the FBI like a harp from Hell…
When it rains, it pours and right now Matt Murdock is getting pretty drenched by the neverending shit sandwich that life has been continually forcing down his throat. It’s bad enough that his last big attempt to bring down crime Kingpin Wislon Fisk saw him framed by mysterious assassin wearing a Daredevil suit and that all prior attempts have all come to nothing, but after his latest failure he also had to deal with the fact that his special senses managed to overhear that Sister Maggie is actually his mother.
A quick flashback drinks up up to speed when a young Maggie is swayed from taking her vows when she’s wooed by sweaty, scrappy boxer, Jack Murdock during a boxing match. Before you know it, little baby Matt is born, but due to a serious bout of undiagnosed post-partum depression, Maggie gives up her baby entirely into his father’s care and returns to the church, swearing everyone, including Father Lantom and Jack, to keep her secret. Matt is pissed at the decades of secrecy and leaves his lair to hole up at a local, run down gym where his demons continue to torment him about whether he needs to break his code and take a life to halt Fisk’s schemes.
Fisk, on the other hand is still going great guns and his ability to keep his underlings in line – especially the unwitting ones – is almost absolute. Take the hapless Agent Nadeem who’s attempt to finally blow the whistle on the wool Fisk has pulled over the FBI’s eyes backfires disastrously when he discovers that his superior and a whole clutch of fellow agents are just under the Kingpin’s murderous thumb as he is. Now with the threat of being framed for a colleague’s murder hanging over her head, Nadeem finds himself maneuvered into being a heavy of the Kingpin as he moves onto the next stage of his plan.
Trying to avoid a far worse fate is Karen Page, who realises that she better get the fuck out of dodge in the wake of the vicious back chat she recently gave the hulking crime lord. But while she races to disappear, Foggy finds that Fisk might have found a way to take out his attack too.
As the writers set about setting up the various separate pieces that will hopefully set up a barn storming finale, there’s an unavoidable feeling that season 3 is finally starting to come off the boil a little despite working to well to give everyone something plot relevant things to do. Karen realising that she’d better amscray sharpish after her suicidal shot at Fisk failed to goad him into incriminating himself by mashing her into a pulp in front of the feds, still makes sense in the theme of the story and elsewhere, it seems that the Kingpin has managed to out maneuver Foggy’s bid for DA too by pulling the trigger on something that incriminates his family for fraud that must have been set in motion ages ago. However, while the bulk of the episode seems to be a near-hour long pat on the back for Fisk’s admittedly impressive prep skills, the episode isn’t so much about the villain himself, but instead gives you a hint of what it’s like to be caught in his all-encompassing and incredibly suffocating web – so step right up Agent Nadeem, because it is time for you to finally understand how well and truly fucked you are.
The episode doesn’t really clue you into the full extent of the nightmare that the agent has wandered into until it’s time for him to realise it himself and the moment when his attempt to inform a member of the FBI’s Office Of Professional Responsibility suddenly ends with Nadeem boss suddenly pulling her piece and blowing the brains of his last hope all over a tarpaulin covered wall. It’s a shock moment akin to the stunning reveal of Dudley Smith on L.A. Confidential, where the final piece of the puzzle is revealed thanks to an out of the blue execution that comes from a bewildering source and this is just the beginning. Soon after, Nadeem is led to a meeting of other FBI agents that Fisk has all got massive dirt on and at the top of that list is Benjamin Poindexter, who now has fully drunk the Kingpin Cool Aid and is more than happy to continue to be his Daredevil suited lacky. As the conspiracy grows to reveal that Kingpin is planning to use the agents under his thrall to “arrest” local crimebosses in ordervto bring them under his control, we’re given a full tour of what it’s like finding out you’ve been played like a puppet by the shell-shocked look that never leaves the eyes of actor Jay Ali for the entirety of the episode – and it’s chilling.
Of course, someone who knows full well what that feels like is Matthew Murdock, but while he’s attempt to psyching himself up for some final showdown (he’s added Thai ropes bound around his fists to his black, face-breaking ensemble), the revelation about Sister Maggie is just the latest seismic happening to deliver a roundhouse blow to his already fragile mental state. After first having it out with Father Lantom, he leaves without even bothering confronting the woman who umis his mother to once again be haunted by imaginary visions of both his late father and the target of his mounting rage, Fisk. It seems that once again the show is pushing the whole “will Daredevil kill or not” thread as far as it goes – but while we’ve been here a couple of times before, a few, neat new things pop up to really drive things home.
The first is that it’s only just occured to me that with his friendless, bitter attitude and his habit of shuffling round in a green jacket and cap, Matt is starting to look worryingly like his mentor famously antisocial mentor, Stick, a man famously in favour of killing for the greater good. Also, with the addition of ropes wrapped around his fists, it seems Matt truly has put the iconic suit of the more heroic version of Daredevil behind him and with it any faith he previously had left – which is a bit rich when he literally has spent three entire seasons lying to practically everyone he’s ever met…
The show is still hanging in there with its impressive track record of keeping everything relevant and moving to the main plot, but I’m convinced the season has to take a breath at some point. However, while it certainly deserves it, I hope it can pull some air into its lungs without throwing off its swing.
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