Daredevil S01 E13: Daredevil

We open this final episode of the first season of "Marvel's Daredevil" with the funeral of Ben Urich. His death last episode makes the bloody credits sequence all the more poignant. This was a shocking death as Ben is still alive and well in the comics. And if you don't cry when Karen meets Ben's wife, I just can't help you.

Later in this finale written and directed by Steven S. DeKnight, Fisk confronts Owlsley over recent events. He knows he was behind the poisoning. The Owl thinks he has leverage but Kingpin doesn't care, and throws him down an elevator shaft. I guess I was right about Owlsley's son quite possibly being the real Owl. And Fisk, wow, between Urich, Owlsley, and Vanessa, he's got quite a mommy complex.

On the positive side, it's good to see Charlie Cox and Elden Henson bringing that great chemistry they have back to Nelson and Murdock, and Deborah Ann Woll's Karen just completes that triangle. This works, I wish it didn't have to break before it works again. With most of the cops on the take, the FBI is brought into the equation, and in that way, the good guys win the way Matt wanted it - through the law. Even Senator Cherryh is brought in. Only Fisk remains, and thirty minutes in, they have him too.

It's nice that the good guys win, but where is the superhero action, and especially the kind of action that has highlighted this series from the beginning? DeKnight knows this kind of action even when he doesn't show it. One of the more intense fight scenes is shown only in the subtle reactions on the blood-spattered face of actor Daryl Edwards as crooked cop Hoffman. We see nothing, but we feel everything.

After Wilson Fisk, in custody, on his way to confinement, tells his two guards the story of The Good Samaritan, all hell breaks loose. Vincent D'Onofrio, channeling Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction, speculates on which character from the tale he is. He used to think he was The Good Samaritan, but now he feels he is the ill intent that befell the man. That's when the NYPD ambushes the FBI... and we find that the Kingpin owns people everywhere.

With a showdown approaching and armed men in the streets, Matt goes to retrieve his body armor finally from Melvin Potter. In payment, he promised to keep Melvin's Betsy safe from Fisk. I've a feeling this might not be a promise Matt can keep and we'll be seeing Gladiator in the future especially after getting a glimpse circular saw blueprints. Either way, finally, it's our hero as he's most recognizable.

I don't like the costume. After seeing the lycra outfit that is so flexible and easily movable in, this plated body armor looks bulky, fake, and distracting. I had trouble believing he could move well in it. I don't believe leather and metal can bend like that. And I would have liked some explanation of the billy club, what it does… and how he got so good with it. I know I'm the guy who always wants the superhero trappings, but here, after a dozen episodes in simpler more believable garb, I just don't buy it. I should like it, but I don't.

Fisk has an escape plan, and a countdown to a meetup with Vanessa where they'll leave the city together. I don't think Daredevil will let him get away that easily. The combat is intense, but I have to say I was distracted by the costume for much of it. Besides Fisk, there are happy endings all around yet no explanations of how the police force was cleaned up, if it was, or any of that mess. I guess we'll have to wait for season two, and perhaps Fisk's trial.

At this point all we really know about season two is that there is one, sometime in 2016, and that Elodie Yung will be playing Elektra, and Jon Bernthal, formerly of "The Walking Dead," will be playing the Punisher. As someone likes the Punisher even less than Daredevil, I don't care much about that last one. There have been rumors of Bullseye too, but I already saw that in the Ben Affleck film. Personally, if I get Gladiator and the Stilt-Man, as teased in this series, I'll be happy.

If the rest of these Netflix series are as good as "Daredevil," I will be very happy. I really really dug this. Highly recommended.

Daredevil S01 E12: The Ones We Leave Behind

Who is Karen Page? If I'm being honest, and I always am with you readers, I don't know. I can't say that I have ever read a comic book with her in it that has stood out. I mean I know who she is, but I don't know who she is, ya know?

Karen Page began life as a typical Stan Lee supporting cast player, the mutual romantic interest of both Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock. At this point in 1964, she was interchangeable with other Lee women like Pepper Potts, Betty Brant, and even Sue Storm to an extent. She didn't really become interesting until Matt told her he was Daredevil and they split up.

Disappearing for short periods of time, she bounced around the Marvel Universe as an actress, spending some time with Ghost Rider, but eventually returning to Daredevil. Her father was revealed to be the super-villain known as the original Death's-Head, so in the comics her background wasn't always squeaky clean. Later she starts working in porn, abusing drugs, and sells Daredevil's secret identity to the Kingpin. At the end of her downward spiral, she is murdered by Bullseye.

After the events of the last episode, killing James Wesley, it seems as though TV Karen might not have that pretty a past or future either. She tries to drink away the memory but is haunted by nightmares of the Kingpin, one particularly scary one in the pre-credits opening sequence. Her fear is compounded by both her drinking, and the fact that her law office is now just three people that don't talk to each other any more.

The plainclothes Matt parkour chase scene was impressive. And it leads to something even more impressive. The blind sweatshoppers making Madame Gao's heroin took their own eyes, because they have faith in something beyond this world. I had suspected that perhaps Gao might be from K'un L'un, a mystical land associated with the training of hero Iron Fist. And did Gao knock Daredevil across the room with the power of an iron fist? Da da dum.

Madame Gao makes one last appearance, to confer with The Owl, sans translator. As it turns out, it was the two of them who poisoned the Kingpin's benefit, trying to pull his attention away from Vanessa and back on business. I liked my Wesley theory better. Gao says she is going home to reflect on the situation. Owlsley asks if home is China, but she replies, not for the first time in the series either, that her home is a considerable distance further. My bet is on the otherdimensional K'un L'un. I'm sure we'll find out for sure when Iron Fist gets his Netflix turn.

An interesting tidbit came out of a talk between Urich and Daredevil. The heroin marked with the sign of the Steel Serpent, that we know from the comics as such, is actually called 'Steel Serpent.' More Iron Fist links.

Just as we had been punked in the opening of this episode with Fisk showing up in Karen's apartment, only to be revealed as a dream, it actually does happen to Ben at the end of the episode. Determined to print the entire story of Wilson Fisk in the Bulletin, they fired him. Still unharried, he decides to blog it online when he gets home. As he starts to type, Fisk is there.

What follows is a conversation worthy of Quentin Tarantino, and then the most brutal of the Kingpin's kills. It's true, we have seen him lose his cool serious more than few times, but this is entirely a whole new level. Do not mess with Wilson's mother.

Next: finally, Daredevil...

Daredevil S01 E08: Shadows in the Glass

After a brief interlude with Stick and the seeming world of powers last time, episode eight welcomes us back to reality with the Kingpin. In a beautifully crafted sequence written by executive producer Steven S. DeKnight and directed by Stephen Surjik, the latter known for his work on "Burn Notice" and "Person of Interest," we watch Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk in his morning routine. He awakens to the painting purchased in "Rabbit in a Snowstorm," makes breakfast, gets dressed, but still sees himself as an abused child in the mirror. No dialogue, but wonderfully shot, and so telling of his character, without a word spoken. I'll say it again. Beautiful.

We are introduced to young Wilson Fisk's New York via a wonderful sound-sculpture by the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar." I felt the time and the place. We meet the boy's family and see how he lived. Fisk's father, a failed politician, is played by "The Wire" veteran Domenick Lombardozzi, and there is another mention of Don Rigoletto, the Mafia boss who was replaced as a power broker by the Kingpin. In the comics, young Fisk was his bodyguard and eventually killed him. At some point in this series, someone, I forget who, remarks that Rigoletto retired, in pieces. The flashbacks to Fisk's past are a rich tapestry of old New York, and a tribute to DeKnight's filmmaking skills.

In the present as Matt is brought into Foggy and Karen fight against Union, Fisk is having difficulty controlling Nobu and The Hand. If we're all being honest here, since he started romancing Vanessa, Fisk has been having trouble keeping all of his legion of doom under control. This is a weak alliance at best, only held together by a strong leader. James Wesley wonders why Fisk even needs the Japanese after last episode. The casualness between Fisk and Wesley here is warm, unexpected, and disconcerting. What is their real relationship? Is it more than business?

The villains are on the move in this secret origin of the Kingpin episode. Madame Gao comes to Fisk with a warning about keeping control. The villains are restless, but who is she? Just a guess, but could she be some Iron Fist adversary that will carry to his series later next year? As long as we're speculating about the villains, I'm going to throw this out there. Perhaps Bob Gunton's Leland Owlsley is not the Owl as I have suggested. He keeps talking about his son, also named Leland. If he keeps acting the way he's acting, perhaps old Leland won't make it out of this alive, and young Leland returns for revenge, as The Owl.

Speaking of villains, we run across one (or one and a half) classic Daredevil foes from the hero's rogues gallery. Henching for Fisk, Melvin Potter has also created body armor for his boss, but as he fights Daredevil we get to see his wonderful workshop that includes not only the Gladiator armor, but the Stilt-Man suit as well. Comics fans know that Potter is the villain called Gladiator, a particularly nasty baddie with circular saw blades on his wrists, but in his civilian identity, a mild and special soul. I am psyched, hoping to see both of these villains before the series is out.

Like Skylar Gaertner as young Matt in the last episode, Cole Jenson as young Wilson Fisk is an amazing actor. He is the embodiment and verbalization of everything Vincent D'Onofrio demonstrates with gesture, facial expression, and silence. Truly a case of an inner child, and that is what the actor's portrayal has been all about. And now we know what the painting is all about. The wall of punishment, and we see what happened to Daddy Fisk. It's not pretty, it's not happy, but maybe, it's just. Now we'll have to see the rest of the story, how momma's boy became violent man-child.

There is an interesting parallel struck between the childhoods of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. Both men have violent fathers who have lasting effects on them as adults, but it's the way the violence is channeled and the lessons taught and learned that separate them. Still, in many ways, at least on the surface and in the big picture, they are the same. They both think they want to save the city, they both think they have to do it to redeem something their fathers failed at, and they are both very violent men.

Back in the present, Vanessa comes and is his support, his inspiration and his motivation. She becomes the mother to D'Onofrio's childlike Kingpin, and guides him to do what he needs to do - reveal himself, and go public... before Daredevil does. Our hero goes to Ben Urich too late. Yes, he's made an ally, but he's far too late. Daredevil has hit his own wall.

So many folks, following along with me as I review these episodes one at a time as I watch them, have pointed out "Stick" as their favorite of the bunch. I am going to have to buck the majority. "Shadows in the Glass," more the Kingpin's secret origin, is my favorite so far.

Daredevil S01 E06: Condemned

We begin this episode on the far end of our first real cliffhanger, Daredevil at the scene of the crime and surrounded by the police. It's a superhero staple, especially in the early days of a superhero, and it is also a turning point. From this moment on, once the police become involved, the as-yet-unnamed Daredevil goes from urban legend to real live masked vigilante.

In another of Philip Silvera's wonderful fight sequences, Daredevil takes down several armed cops, wait for it, while handcuffed. Daredevil fight scenes make the viewer cheer, fist pump, and root for the hero. No matter how brutal, they are creative, original, and usually works of cinematic art. And in most cases the hero comes out on top, making one like them more. This is what is needed in superhero television (I'm looking at you, Arrow) and comics more, not misery after misery, but triumph, even if it's a small triumph.

As Daredevil escapes with beaten and wounded Russian boss Vladimir, the Kingpin has blown up all of the Russians' bases of operations, and we start to learn just how much of the police are in Fisk's pocket. Daredevil struggles to keep Vladimir alive so he can get him to tell him where to find Fisk, while the police hunt them both. So this is a bit trickier than the initial hero vs. cops scenario I originally described. The villain owns the cops.

Vondie Curtis-Hall as Ben Urich emerges as the one voice of reason and responsibility in the whole city in flames scenario. He knows there a connection here, we see him trying to put the pieces together, ironically with a deck of cards on a bulletin board - one giant house of cards. There's a nice touch with the corrupt police not just subtly threatening the reporter but pointing out the TV news crew as the meteor to his dinosaurs. He stands strong though, and even the Kingpin seems to know Urich can't be bought. Urich is the one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.

Cornered in an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by police, as the city burns around them, Daredevil tries to coerce a confession from Vladimir. I laughed out loud when the Russian namedropped Leslie Shumway, Al Capone's accountant, but he's right. That's how you get the big guy, you get the money man. Unfortunately, once that is out in the open, no names from Vladimir of course, all hell breaks loose.

The first encounter between Daredevil and the Kingpin, neither man using their traditional comic book names, yet, if at all, is via police radio, with a very James Bond-ian vibe. It's been done before, but it's still done well here. The villain offers a deal, the hero doesn't take it, and eats the consequences. Shots are fired, a bullet meant for Urich hits one of Fisk's cops, and as corrupt S.W.A.T. enters the warehouse, footage is leaked to the TV news that links the masked vigilante to not only the Russian mob, but also the shootings, and the explosions.

It looks like dark days for Daredevil, but there is one ray of sunshine. Vladimir finally gives him what he wants. Before he makes his last stand with S.W.A.T. So Daredevil can get away, he finally gives the masked vigilante a name - Leland Owlsley.

Daredevil S01 E05: World on Fire

We open on Matt moving Claire into his apartment. Moving is a tricky word as she has nothing. With the close of the last episode, Matt finally broke down the wall of blindness and confided in her, and now things between Daredevil and Night Nurse are a bit different. Downtime equals romance, and to paraphrase what someone wise once said about Captain Kirk and the ladies, ain't Matt something?

Claire asks Matt how he sees, and he complies, or tries. She asks him what he sees, and after some thought, answers with the title of this episode, "a world on fire." However true, appropriate, or literal and prophetic that may be, it signals a new beginning for the hero. Attached, no matter how casually, he no longer has nothing to lose. Matt has to be careful, or the world soon will be on fire.

Vincent D'Onofrio is emerging slowly but prominently in his role as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. We got a taste of his brutality last episode, as well as his management skills. His manipulation of the Russians and eventual destruction of what was left is demonstrative, and when confronted by the rest of his underlings finally, it's a lesson learned.

My first encounter with the Kingpin was not just as a Spider-Man foe, but as one wildly animated by Ralph Bakshi in the 1967 cartoon series. This intimidating well dressed fat man crime boss was frighteningly brought to life with the same psychedelic acid-induced animation with which Bakshi brought us Infinata and Dimension 5, borrowed from "Rocket Robin Hood." It was positively terrifying.

When I next encountered the Kingpin, it was in the telemovie "Trial of the Incredible Hulk," an odd pilot/spin-off for Daredevil as played by Rex Smith. Folks who've complained about the Ben Affleck Daredevil, and the first Netflix costume need to see this relic. Played by John Rhys-Davies of Raiders of the Lost Ark and "Sliders," this was a less than satisfactory Kingpin.

After that I began to see the character in comics, cartoons, and role-playing games more. Up until that time, other than Avengers, or an occasional Defenders, I didn't read many Marvel Comics so he escaped my notice. I was always puzzled however why he became a Daredevil enemy rather than Spider-Man who he had originally opposed. I mean didn't Daredevil already have a manipulative crime boss type villain in his rogues gallery? Yeah, I'm talking about The Owl.

Perhaps that is why I was thrilled to see Leland Owlsley among Kingpin's underbosses in this series. Maybe, just maybe, and I don't know yet as I'm reviewing these episodes as I watch as opposed to doing it after I've seen the whole series, but maybe he will emerge as a villain like his comics counterpart. Already, I have enjoyed Bob Gunton's performance with his owl-like gestures and facial expressions. Gunton is a great character actor, memorable from Shawshank Redemption and Evita on Broadway among others.

All that said, I can see why showrunners might shy away from the Owl as he is in the comics. A mutant with birdlike powers, motifs, and mannerisms might be too cartoonish, although Robin Lord Taylor seems to be doing quite well as the Penguin on "Gotham" doing much the same schtick. As for the comics, I suppose matching Daredevil, whose title at the time had flagging sales, with Spider-Man villain the Kingpin probably made better financial sense, even the Owl would agree with that.

The cinematography and direction continue to amaze. The brief scene in the cab as Gao's man sings in Mandarin and the camera moves slowly 360 degrees is pure brilliance. Fisk continues to romance Vanessa, and Foggy and Karen help the downtrodden and get to know each other better, while the Russians, working on fuzzy planted information from our friend Turk, declare war on the Kingpin and Daredevil.

They all play into the Kingpin's hands, right into the cliffhanger with the police surrounding Daredevil standing over the remaining Russian brother, as the city burns...

Daredevil S01 E03: Rabbit in a Snowstorm

Turk Barrett, or just plain Turk, is not just a fixture in the Daredevil mythos, but also in Marvel Comics New York. He is the underworld everyman, every bad guy default henchman, the street tough with connections - but who ultimately posed no threat. He's worked for the Kingpin, the original Fixer, and Mister Fear among others, stolen and worn super-villain armors, and fought the likes of Iron Man, the Punisher, the Black Panther, Night Thrasher, and Daredevil.

My first exposure to the character was in the first Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game from TSR back in the eighties. The game did not have metal figures to place on combat maps like many RPGs of the time, instead there were cardboard fold-ups. There were well over one hundred of them, depicting the major super heroes and super-villains of the Marvel Universe, and Turk was one of them. Yeah, apparently he was that important.

The first time we see Daredevil in action in episode one, "Into the Ring," Turk is there, as a matter of fact, he's the guy taking the biggest beating. Here, as in the comics, 'crime does not pay' is a saying that Turk never remembers. At the end of that episode, we see him getting a second chance selling guns, and that's where we find him here, selling his guns. One of them falls into the hands of an assassin set to throw the Russians into chaos.

There are lots of connections in this episode, and Turk is really the least of them. Matt takes a moment to talk to the priest from the first episode outside the St. Agnes church. His name is Father Lantom, who has appeared in the Runaways comic, and the church is the same one where Skye was found as a child in "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." It is all connected.

Also more important than Turk, or Lantom or St. Agnes, is the first appearance of reporter Ben Urich. The character has switched races, much like Heimdall in Thor, and also switched allegiances of his profession. Because of the whole Marvel/Sony/Spider-Man thing, Urich can't actually work for the Daily Bugle here on "Daredevil," but has to write for the New York Bulletin instead. That's okay though, that's easier to deal with than Ant-Man and the Wasp not being in the Avengers at least…

Vondie Curtis-Hall is no Joe Pantliano (from the Dardevil movie) in the role of Urich, but he is a pro, a great character actor that folks most likely know from "Chicago Hope." His wife is the brilliant Kasi Lemmons, the director of The Caveman's Valentine, Talk to Me, and one of my absolute favorite films, Eve's Bayou. His portrayal lends a very cool and very real vibe to the show that reminded me in a good way to "The Wire." Yes, I said it, "The Wire."

In the comics, Ben Urich works frequently with Daredevil, Spider-Man, and the Punisher, and his investigations have exposed the identities of several heroes and villains, Daredevil and The Kingpin among them. Vondie Curtis-Hall kicks up the quality of this character, and I'm looking forward to more of him in this series. I feel for him, and his ailing wife. My heart breaks as a writer knowing that his wife's hospital care are definitely aiding his decision between his passion for journalism and keeping his job. Writers need to follow their bliss, to quote Joseph Campbell, but Urich is chained by his hard reality.

Much of the episode revolves around Wesley hiring Nelson and Murdock after an assassin murders Prohaska in a bowling alley with one of Turk's guns. It's a test. Let's see what they're made of, what they can do, if they are dangerous - it's what the big bad is thinking. Maybe we'll need a lawyer sooner or later. Karen is shuffled off to a subplot where she's asked to sign off on not talking about what Union Allied tried to do but can't. There's more to this, and her, than meets the eye.

There is a very nice juicy scene between Wesley and Leland Owsley. I can see the beginnings of The Owl here, his mannerisms, etc. This could be very very good if they go in that direction. With a second season just announced, would they use The Owl as a baddie, or go right to Elektra? I suppose it's sadly unlikely. The Owl became a forgotten character, as opposed to daredevil arch-foe when Frank Miller, Kingpin, Elektra, and Bullseye all took center stage. We Silver Age Marvel Comics readers can dream though, can't we?

There is great use of Matt's powers while trailing Wesley and in the courtroom later. There's precious little fighting or even Daredevil in this episode, but everything else is so good one doesn't notice. That said, I hope that what we have seen the past two episodes - the "Kung Fu" move of only having action in the last five minutes - will not become the pattern.

Speaking of endings, we not only finally get a name for our big bad, Wilson Fisk, but we see Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin as well. We see him admiring a stark white painting, where we get the title of this episode, and beginning his romance with a woman, who in the comics will become his wife. D'Onofrio's Fisk is childlike, with a sense of menace, frightening indeed. I think I am going to dig him very much...