There’s not argument whatsoever concerning the approach that Netflix’s Daredevil show us taking to reintroducing old horn head to the masses in a way that’s (kind of) introduced him into the realms of the MCU. However, if I have to offer one, niggling thing about the show so far is that while the crime-ridden plot of Matt Murdock desperately trying to find an entry point to crack the Kingpin’s criminal enterprise and the introduction of the arch villain himself as a somewhat contradictive monster has been pretty gripping, I feel the show has kind of forgotten to build upon the most important relationship our hero has.
Now, let’s not kid ourselves. When it comes to relationships, I’m not talking about the fact that Mr. Murdock is something of a man slut (a fact already made concrete about the amount of questionable relationships he’s racked up in the comics), no, what I’m talking about is the fact that the show has barely had Matt and his eternal buddy, Foggy Nelson, in the same scene unless they’re questioning a client or appearing in court. With more and more characters entering the show by the minute and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin clamouring to the top of the pile by being a fascinating creature, will there be time for some good old bromance? Don’t count on it, because things are about to blow…
As a result of a truly devastating rage fit by crime boss Wilson Fisk, one of his crime fraternity is now missing a head after the hulking Kingpin removed it with the help of a car door and to say that his compatriots aren’t happy is something of an understatement. By while Leyland frets with well placed barbs, Nobu grumbles in Japanese and Madame Gao looks fairly put out, Wilson assures them that the Russians were slated to be cut loose soon anyway and manages to divert the anger of his victim’s brother, Vladimir, away from him by implicating the black suited vigilante in the grotesque murder.
Meanwhile, while forces are moving and massing against him, Matt feels the need to put the moves on Claire whom he had recently saved from the mob and stashed her for safety in his apartment (told you he was a player), but as his mission to find a weak spot in the Kingpin’s criminal conspiracy continues, he manages to stumble upon two incredibly crooked cops who flat out execute a Russian mobster in custody when he volunteers to give them Fisk’s name. However, now that he’s targeting cops (even crooked ones), Claire starts to worry that Matt is getting too much like the men he’s trying to stop and realises that dating a vigilante is a bad idea.
Speaking of dating, while Foggy and Karen grow ever closer when the former has to visit his old firm and his ex to fight a slumlord case, Fisk makes another attempt at wooing Vanessa despite her knowing that he’s something of a big deal in crime. However, as the scale of Wilson’s plan finally becomes clear, Murdock makes a desperate play to target a weak spot in the Kingpin’s ranks – Vladimir.
It might seem weird that I had a little rant about Foggy Nelson of all people, considering that we have D’Onofrio’s Kingpin to gush over and various brutal set pieces that give it an edge over the more squeaky clean areas of the MCU, but when you consider that each and every character except him has some connection the the major goings on that occur in the series, you can’t help but feel that Elden Henson is getting something of a short shrift. However, while the fifth episode still weirdly keeps him separate from his double act, at least Foggy had plenty to do while Charlie Cox is running around getting beat up. In fact, the scenes where he gets to legally spa with his ex-girlfriend or roll up his sleeves to help an elderly lady get the water running in her dilapidated apartment gives us some much needed light in a show constantly obsessed with the dark.
While the first few episodes managed to gradually introduce us to the incredibly complex double world of Matt Murdock, the same now seems to be happening with Wilson Fisk as we learn more about his methods and goals the more we sound with him. Most fascinating is the relationship he has with his fellow contemporaries which is far more symbiotic that Fisk simply calling the shots as he has to negotiate getting what he wants with a clutch of crime bosses that all seem to be equally as dangerous as he is (the deeply unsettling Madame Gao, I’m looking at you). However, that hasn’t stopped Wilson taking another crack at Vanessa and the second dinner they share proves to be extremely telling about both of them. It seems Fisk’s criminal escapades all stem from a desire to rebuild Hell’s Kitchen due to some hitherto unreleased past trauma, but the only way he can see he can do it is to tear it to pieces. On the other hand, the dinner proves to give a fascinating insight in Vanessa who seemingly finds her time with a deeply dangerous, yet vunerable man utterly intoxicating like she’s gradually selling her soul. Once Fisk’s and Gao’s plan finally kicks in and numerous buildings are blown up all around town, the deal is done and Vanessa seems all in to stand by the side of this truly monstrous being.
Of course, as usual, in the middle of all this is Matt as he starts to really learn about the scale of Fisk’s operation thanks to the fact that the Kingpin’s influence is so great, he has the ability to have the detectives in his employ have the balls to shoot an informant dead while actually in the police precinct. But now he realises that he’s probably going to have to start pounding on certain boys in blue as well as gun totting mobsters, Claire worries that he maybe crossing a line he won’t be able to step back over. It’s a shame, because up until then, the episode gives a few more jigsaw pieces about Matt’s powers and its notably diffrent from the blue, sonar powers that visualised Murdock’s abilities back in the 2003. Here we have all of Matt’s senses coming together to make a golden image of Rosario Dawson’s face that provides the “world of fire” of the title (or at least it does until shit starts blowing up at the end of the episode) and it’s a nice change from keeping it a rare, striking thing rather than having to keep cutting to Murdock’s trippy shadow vision so we focus fully on Matt himself as he brawls for his life without having to constantly have his abstract POV shoved into our faces.
Five episodes down and there’s a feeling that Daredevil could maybe pick up the pace a bit when it comes to bring Matt and Wilson a bit closer together, but with an ending that could literally be called explosive, it seems that we may be getting exactly that sooner rather than later – but here’s hoping we can still also squeeze in some more Matt/Foggy stuff before things get too crazy.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 
One comment