What did the Punisher do with Daredevil? Where did Karen and Foggy’s client run off to? Will the D.A. actually smile?
Fat chance on that last one.
Which One Is “New York’s Finest”?: Daredevil and Punisher have a moonlight chat about the existential ins and outs of vigilantism. Surprise: Punisher’s a bit more okay with killing. After her colossal screw-up trying to trap Punisher, D.A. “One-Note” Diaz threatens to scapegoat Nelson & Murdock, which sets Karen on a subplot to dig up dirt on Diaz. Meanwhile, Foggy tracks down the Night Nurse, who has no idea where Matt is. Oh, he’s just in a building fighting an entire biker gang by himself for 7 minutes. Where else would be be?
1. One Bad Day From Being Me
From Vulture‘s review:
The agonizingly long scenes in which Daredevil and the Punisher debate their varying approaches to crime-fighting really get at the heart of what makes this season so dull. They more or less boil down to a philosophical debate that can be paraphrased thusly: “I have a lot of pain!” “Well I have a lot of pain, too!” “Yeah, well, I think you inflict too much pain on other people!” “Oh yeah, well, I don’t think you inflict enough pain on other people!” “Criminals need to get beaten up!” “No, they need to get killed!” And so on and so forth. When Frank snarls, “You’re one bad day away from being me” to Matt, it’s hard not to groan — I mean, haven’t we heard that exact same line in, like, 100 Batman stories?
It’s also succinctly summarized in Batman’s exchange with one of his imitators at the start of The Dark Knight, “What makes you different from us?”/”I”m not wearing hockey pants.”
Wait. That doesn’t apply here as much as I thought it would. Also, wow, Batman totally sidestepped that completely legitimate question. He’s better because he can afford more exotic padding? Screw you, Batman.
The point remains that the notion of a vigilante inspiring less scrupled imitators inevitability feels like familiar territory. However, it shouldn’t be waved away with a giant hankey reading “superhero fatigue!” You have to greet Daredevil’s treatment of the material, however familiar, on its own terms. While this particular thread might grow tiresome over time, here in the early goings of the season it’s plenty interesting.
Until his epic fight sequence at the end, Daredevil spends the entire episode atop a roof debating ethics with Punisher, Matt nicely using his lawyer skills to fish for information, find common ground between the two of them. What if the Punisher is right? The people Daredevil puts away keep getting put back on the streets. The client they were trying to protect actually killed people. He felt bad, sure, but he still did it. Come to the Dark Side, Matt.
2. The Night Nurse Returns
The Night Nurse is the Agent Coulson of Netflix’s Marvel universe, linking the shows together, slowly setting the stage for The Defenders. However, Daredevil‘s first season built her up and then completely abandoned her, making her Jessica Jones cameo all the more surprising.
As such, it’s encouraging to see her so early in Daredevil‘s second season, going through her own Sorkin-esque walk-and-talk except instead of descending down a spiral staircase or proudly walking down a hallway she’s nonchalantly pushing meds and sewing up wounds while carrying on a conversation with Foggy.
3. The Obvious Luke Cage Easter Egg
Wouldn’t you know it, there are already some spoilery reports about how the Night Nurse will have a large role in Luke Cage’s first season.
4. Lawyered! Again!
Seriously, Foggy’s kicking ass this season. He talked his way out of trouble in a biker bar, put D.A. Diaz in her place (though that sure backfired), and then talked down two gang members who were about to attack each other in the hospital in full view of witnesses and police officers. As he pointed out, no lawyer in the world could help them after that. Well, maybe Johnny Cochran, but he’s not around anymore.
5. The Fight Scene
How do you top the season 1’s legendary continuous shot hallway fight scene? You attach chains to Daredevil’s hands, thus turning him whip-wielding Castlevania protagonist. You have the fight continue from a hallway into a stairwell, sacrificing the continuous shot gimmick in the process. You follow him down those stairs and to the bottom floor where he takes on three dudes way bigger than him. Essentially, you turn the whole thing into a video game sequence, with villains emerging from doorways at just the right time for you to punch them, and the hero engages in a big boss battle at the end.
Is this one better than the last? That depends. There’s certainly more to this fight, and it’s a bigger technical accomplishment. However, it lacks the same level of surprise as the first season fight because now we’re expecting this kind of thing from Daredevil. Back then we had no idea it was coming.
On to the next episode!