Realism. That’s pretty much the main difference that exists between the fanciful, colourful world of the MCU and its darker, grittier companion world on Netflix. While I’m obviously claiming that each of the Defenders and their respective worlds are legitimate flesh and blood world where physics rules with an iron fist (pun not intended), the difference between Spider-Man zipping round the New York of the MCU and Daredevil prowling Hell’s Kitchen couldn’t be any clearer – but sometimes I wish they could blend their rules a little.
Sometimes, when things get maybe a bit too jokey, I tend to think that a dose of grit would do some of the more uneven entries a world of good – but alternatively, when it comes to the super abilities and look of the Netflix bunch, I often think that some of that big screen razzmatazz could really beef up that comic book feel. There’s many examples I could name, from the use of Luke Cage’s powers to the lack of comic accurate costumes for the likes of Iron Fist or Bullseye, but a main issue I have lies with none other than Billy Russo – aka. Jigsaw.
While the jury may be out concerning the validity of Billy Russo’s mental issues – so’s Billy himself. Yup, after being some orderlies silly after a fit of rage, the former marine is lose on the streets of New York while he’s trying desperately to lash his broken thoughts together. While the suspicious Agent Madani has been adamant that Russo’s been lying about his post-coma amnesia, it really does seem that Billy’s brain is just as jacked as his scarred face, which means that he essentially has nowhere to go after not being able to recall anything about his life after his time in the military.
However, that hasn’t stopped Madani calling in the big guns as she’s yanked Frank Castle out of his current adventure trying to protect young “Rachel” from her mystery pursuers and flown him to New York to see if he could figure out where Russo’s gone to ground. Of course, Frank’s solution is to finish the job and put his former friend down like a dog; but as Madani wants to do things by the book, he has to settle for meeting up with old friend, Curtis and trying to ween more information out of Rachel considering her recent issues.
However, breakthroughs are made. Curtis convinces Frank that Russo truly is as messed up as he’s been claiming, Rachel finally discovers Frank other, crime fighting identity and she finally opens up about her ordeal and even confesses that her real name is actually Amy. However, with his memory backfiring like a clapped out car, Russo decides to settle some old scores when he visits the man who abused him and other orphans as a child and acts in brutal, and understandable fashion. With nowhere else to turn, a blood soaked Billy has just one place left to turn – his disturbingly understanding doctor, Dumont.
Before we tackle anything else found in this episode, we have to broach the subject of Billy’s big reveal now that he’s on the loose with his face exposed for all to see – and I have to say I’m actually pretty disappointed. OK, maybe expecting Ben Barnes to be slathered in extensive prosthetics that make his face look like one of Ed Gein’s lamp shades may have expecting too much – especially considering that Dominic West already did it Punisher: War Zone – but I just can’t help but feel disappointment. I understand that expecting comic accuracy in a show that’s more down to earth is a bit much (after all, I don’t mind that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin isn’t 6 foot 7 and doesn’t clock in at 450 pounds of hidden muscle), but I just don’t think his scars are extreme enough to warrant his behavior. Again, I realise that the term “Jigsaw” is now referring more to his jumbled memories – but come on, where’s the run in that? Sometimes you just want a villain with a fucked-up face to be a villain with a fucked-up face. Thankfully, while his visage probably could be improved with a shit load of concealer, Russo gets something of a pseudo origin episode that marks him out as both a threat and a victim which makes for some pretty decent character work. Maybe it isn’t as fully engrossing when Daredevil turned the same attention to Kingpin and Bullseye, but it’s more than enough to stop Russo just being a standard, black and white basket case and ot even proves to be a timely reminder that Castle’s style of crime fighting doesn’t always yield the expected results.
But while Frank is chastised for going off book and letting Russo live (kill ’em or don’t Frank, but don’t actively try and put them into a vegetative state out of spite), the shift of Episode 4 back into other threads from season 1 finds us in some rather awkward narrative territory. The problem is that fully bringing back in last season’s cast means that some of the newer plot points now has to wait their turn despite having three full installments to set it up. That means any hard work the show has put in to build John Pilgrim up as a serious villain now takes an immediate back seat to the Billy Russo show which I don’t think is particularly fair.
Still, at least we’re making more headway with Rachel – I mean Amy. Not only have we found out her real name and found that she’s suffering some hefty PTSD from her experiences, but we discover that she was part of a group of con artists working out of Chicago who was hired to take photos of a funeral. We still have no idea what photos they could have possibly taken to lead to her colleagues getting slaughtered while she was out getting tacos, but we now have a lead for Frank to pursue lest he ends up once again laying low for a third of the season.
However, while it throws off the John Pilgrim stuff, I have to say it’s actually nice to see both Curtis Hoyle and Brett Mahoney again, especially as the later has forged something of a thorny relationship with Agent Madani (she accidently shoots him in the damn chest at one point – thank God for bullet proof vests, eh?). But this really is Ben Barnes’ episode and he does enough with it to convincingly take his character from the smug, preening lothario, to a mentally damaged, potential time bomb even if he’s objectively still pretty good looking. Obviously – because this is a Netflix Marvel show – Russo’s transformation from confused “victim” to full blown, mad dog villain will undoubtedly be a slow burn, especially now that his psychiatrist seems to be on the verge of going a bit Harley Quinn on us (and by that I mean fawning over her patient, not dressing in spandex and wearing a Jester hat).
While springing parallel plot lines on us has had mixed results within the Netflix/Marvel universe with the Punisher himself faring fairly badly when Elektra showed up in Daredevil season 2, fingers are crossed that it’s ends up being more along the lines of the revitalising Lewis Wilson plotline in The Punisher’s first season. What will undoubtedly help will be if the scriptwriters can prevent the Jigsaw plot from going to pieces…
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 