Monday, April 25, 2016

Daredevil - Season 2 (2016)

"One batch, two batch, penny and dime, here I come"

Netflix and Marvel's Daredevil season 2 is the best superhero tv show of the 2015-16 season; this is a tall order, particularly for DC super fan (i.e., yours truly) to admit that it was better than Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. Daredevil's sophomore season gave us new characters that were translated perfectly from the comic book pages and also managed to top the highly-praised first season of the show.

The fighting choreography in Daredevil is on par with movie standards; there is one scene in particular in episode 3 that tops the hallway scene from last year. I was amazed by the execution of these scenes on a tv budget and schedule...

In addition to the visuals, the cast and stories were also done amazingly well. New characters in this season were the Punisher and Elektra. Jon Bernthal's Punisher was sympathetic, scary, and likeable at the same time. But I'm not sure if I rank his interpretation higher than Thomas Jane's version from the 2004 movie of the same name (and also the "Dirty Laundry" YouTube video). Frank Castle is a troubled character for sure, but I prefer a Punisher with a crystal clear agenda who calculates his every move. Bernthal's Punisher was confused at times (and dealt with amnesia) and also he was manipulated a couple of times (by both good and bad people). At one scene, he reminded me of Rorschach from Watchmen... But nitpicking aside, Punisher was almost perfect, and I am hopeful that he will iron out those little issues in future seasons (or maybe in his own show) and give us the best live-action Punisher... Even in his first appearance, he was the star of the show.

Speaking of stars, Elodie Yung shone brightly as Elektra. She would have been the perfect Talia Al-Ghul in a Batman movie (*).... I believe the new showrunners did justice to Frank Miller's creation, and I look forward to seeing more of her in the future. Considering Frank Miller's involvement, one cannot rule out the influence of Talia Al-Ghul in the inception of the character...

(*) Even though I had suppressed the memory of Dark Knight Rises and Marion Cotillard's terrible Talia, I couldn't help but compare the two...

As for returning characters, I have to say that I was not a fan of Foggy and Karen's storylines from the previous season. They had become relatively more interesting this season, particularly Foggy as he was integral to Punisher's storyline. Karen's investigative journalism on the other hand, was the weak-point of the show - people watch superhero shows to see superheroes in action, not follow an obsessive amateur who wants to become an investigative journalist. Although Deborah Ann Woll (the actress who plays Karen Page) is likeable enough to make that arc tolerable.

So to sum up, Daredevil, Punisher, Elektra, Stick and the Hand were true to the comics and were handled almost perfectly; the fight scenes, pacing, and visuals were great; but some side characters were boring, however, they didn't distract much from the good parts of the show. I simply cannot wait for season 3...
I'll give it 9.5/10.

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