Geek TV

Daredevil is starting off as a tour de force for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first two episodes blew me away with the tone, the wonderfully realized the characters and the incredible action. The plot still hasn’t truly kicked into gear, yet but I have no issues with that until this point. Every episode thus far has been a standalone story that builds on a larger narrative. Episode 2 was the standout and episode 3 takes a step down but that’s understandable given the incredible quality of its predecessor.

This episode gets to introducing Ben Urich and setting his story into play. Urich is investigating stories everyone is telling him not to as the classic daring journalist. Though, what made Urich more than just a conventional investigative journalist was that the writers took time to create sympathy for the character. He’s not just a journalist or a plot device, Urich and is a person and I like that this show feels the need to make all their supporting characters more than just superficial devices. It also helps that Vondie Cutris Hall was cast perfectly for this role, like everyone else in this series.

This also marked the first time that Matt and Foggy go to court. This is what I love about Daredevil. You don’t need to see him as a vigilante to create an awesome story around him. Matt gets into costume for two brief sequence (brief but awesome), yet this episode still managed to captivate me. Matt has always been fantastic in court and Cox pulled off his talent excellently. Not to discredit Foggy (who is pretty much always overshadowed by Matt) who was also great in the court, with his quirky demeanour.

Their case revolved around a murder at a bowling alley that was an extremely brutal scene to watch. The violence of this show has made me gape at the screen in shock with its raw brutality. Daredevil is pushing the boundaries of the MCU in terms of graphic violence and it fits the tone perfectly. This is more of a crime-drama than a superhero story and scenes like these remind us of that.

And finally after two episodes of simply being a looming presence, we get to meet Wilson Fisk at the end of this episode. I can already tell that he is going to be an incredible character. D’Onofrio is imposing as the Kingpin and plays him with the perfect amount of gravitas. His introduction wasn’t about showing how powerful he is, it’s about showing how human he is. It was the perfect send-off for this episode, showing that the overall narrative is ready to pick up the pace and introducing what is likely to be a fantastic villain.

I’ve enjoyed every episode of Daredevil thus far and #3 is no exception. We get an episode revolving around a trial that demonstrated that this show can go beyond the man in the mask. It’s a crime-drama, first and a superhero show, second. That is what Daredevil has always been to me and I couldn’t be happier that this series is treating it that way. This show is special, and I can’t wait for the ongoing narrative to take center stage. If these rather standalone episode are this great, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like once the real story comes into play. 

Score: 8.4/10