The Great Daredevil Season 2 Binge Is Here, and I’m Reviewing Every Episode. Head Here to Keep Up.
Which One Is “The Dark at the End of the Tunnel”?: The one where Clancy Brown turns out to be playing the normal Clancy Brown character, Elektra is actually worshiped by The Hand and our heroes and anti-heroes generally come to terms with their mentors or kill them in the process. Also, Karen and (the obviously not dead) Punisher’s friendship is over as is Matt and Foggy’s legal partnership.
1. Maybe the Problem Is Me – The Comic Book-ification of Daredevil Season 2
In my review of the season 2 premiere I said I’d never read a Daredevil, Elektra or Punisher comic book before. That’s not true anymore. After not knowing what to do with “The Dark at the End of the Tunnel”‘s reveal that Elektra is The Hand’s Black Sky, i.e., their “greatest living weapon,” I pulled up Marvel Unlimited to answer the obvious question: is that how it is in the comics? Prior to this season, all I knew of Elektra’s comic book history is (SPOILER ALERT FROM 1982) fans are still mad at Frank Miller for the way he killed her. I didn’t know he brought her back less than a year later.
This MU page:
That occupies maybe 4 pages of the story. The rest is about Elektra, and her back story in #190 isn’t quite the same as what we saw in “The Dark at the End of the Tunnel.” She did train with Stick, and he did reject her but for different reason. She then joined The Hand to gather inside intel she could use to win back Stick’s favor, but when she died The Hand decided to ressurect her to be their secret weapon.
In #190, the resurrection ceremony is interrupted by Daredevil and Stone, Stick’s former associate (because everyone knows sticks and stones may break people’s bones). The mere sight of Elektra’s corpse causes Dardevil to fall to his knees and openly weep over her body, hilariously annoying Stone since he could really use more help fighting off the Hand ninjas. However, Daredevil’s emotional display somehow purifies Elektra’s soul. In the end, Stone steals away with Elektra’s body and completes the resurrection process, bringing her back not as a Hand weapon but as his potential replacement.
This trip to the land of the comics didn’t really answer what I wanted to know about Elektra, but it did confirm a suspicion I’ve had for a while, specifically that if you’re someone who reads Daredevil comics The Hand showing up in season two must seem completely normal. It’s not a “Where in the world did this come from?” plot development but instead “Why did it take them so long to get to this?”. From the looks of it, The Hand and their supernatural abilities pop up in Daredevil comics quite frequently.
The real reason I sought this out is because by the end of “The Dark at the End of the Tunnel” I began to wonder if maybe there’s nothing wrong with Daredevil’s second season, as I’d argued in my last review. Maybe the problem is me. Maybe all of this gels together perfectly if you’re someone who actually knows their Daredevil, Elektra and Punisher comics. In that case, the season hasn’t been about expanding the show’s universe but instead ticking off familiar boxes for any live action adaptation of Elektra and Punisher. The trick for the producers is choosing what parts to adapt and what parts to create on their own, and the treat for the hardcore fans is getting to notice the difference. That’s certainly how the Arrow universe has worked from the get-go, delighting anyone who seriously knows their Batman and Green Arrow lore.
That’s not to suggest season 1 was completely independent of its source material. After all, what could be more comic book-like than a young kid tragically losing a parent, receiving a special power through a random accident and growing up to fight crime? Now in season 2 an international league of assassins are resurrecting soldiers, turning teens into science experiments and worshiping a woman who was stolen from them as a child and trained by a blind man but remains their greatest weapon in their war on…something.
It all tangentially relates to Hell’s Kitchen because, for whatever reason, The Hand is basing some of its operations in the neighborhood. However, it just doesn’t feel like it totally belongs on this show. At least Punisher’s war time conspiracy and battle against “Blacksmith” is ultimately a story of violence, drugs and corruption, dang near a Daredevil BINGO on anyone’s scorecard.
2. The Episode for all You Mentors Out There
From Daredevil #190: Turns out, Elektra trained with Stick in the comics too.
Clancy Brown honed Frank Castle into The Punisher. His thank you? A bullet through the head.
Stick trained Elektra and whisked her away to a life of luxury when his colleagues wished to kill her. His reward? She repeatedly tries to assassinate him.
Stick trained Matt and became his unintentional father figure. Third time’s a charm! Matt rewards Stick’s efforts by saving him from The Hand and Elektra.
Of course, there are extenuating circumstances. Clancy Brown tried to kill the Punisher first, and the same goes for Stick with Elektra. However, this was clearly an episode about our heroes reckoning with their makers, illuminating who they’ve become by fully revealing who made them. The scales obviously tipped toward Elektra since she received multiple flashbacks whereas Punisher simply exchanged sparse dialog with his former mentor before killing him.
Elektra and Frank’s respective resolutions to their paternal conflicts provided a potential closing argument to their arcs this season. Elektra finally understands who she really is and why she is so driven to kill, but she chooses to be better (or at least not to kill Stick and be co-opted by Hand). Punisher, meanwhile, will have no redemption. Clancy Brown’s conveniently stocked woodshed has officially provided Frank with the supplies and armor he needs to officially become the Punisher as we popularly picture him.
3. Aww. Stick Hugged Matt and Told Him He’s Proud of Him
4. Can’t Clancy Brown Play a Nice Guy for a Change?
A villain from Highlander to the present, with brief detours in-between
Because of his years of typecasting, I greet every Clancy Brown film or TV performance with a certain set of expectations, namely “So he’s the bad guy, huh.” It was refreshing when Sleepy Hollow actually made him the town’s upstanding sheriff (and then he got beheaded, but, still, totally nice guy). As such, it was more interesting to me on Daredevil to think of him as the helpful General he appeared to be even though on paper that wouldn’t seem like an overly interesting character. However, the moment Karen went to his house to land more quotes for her profile of Frank you knew he would turn into the standard Clancy Brown character and try to kill her. That’s not a criticism of performance or writing, more a reflection on the plot lines a show unintentionally telegraph through typecasting.
5. Please. No More Finger Torture.
You are one tough sonofabitch, Stick. I would have cracked before they ever even got that dang, um, stick near my first finger tip. I can’t be the only one who seriously winced during that torture scene.
Bonus: Clancy Brown says The Punisher used to do great impressions. Please, internet, put together a cartoon of John Bernthal’s Punisher as a stand-up comedian whose impressions all sound the same and terrify you down to your very core.
On to the season finale: “A Cold Day in Hell’s Kitchen”
