The Good Samaritan – Daredevil: ‘Daredevil’ Review

<p>I&&num;8217&semi;ve liked <em>Daredevil<&sol;em>&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;men-monsters-daredevil-episodes-7-9-review&sol;">liked it a lot<&sol;a>&period; From its pilot onward&comma; the series has felt like the satisfying process of fitting one puzzle piece after another in realizing the picture of the men we&&num;8217&semi;ve come to know as Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk&period; All along&comma; this first season&&num;8217&semi;s been about the paths they&&num;8217&semi;ve chosen to walk and it should follow that the its season finale should be like slamming that final piece into place – and what a glorious piece of entertainment it is&period; That <em>Daredevil<&sol;em> should echo that familiar feeling of accomplishment that comes with it is only fitting with who are heroes &lpar;and villains&rpar; really are&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Some Spoilers Follow<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As the immediate follow-up to <em>The Ones We Leave Behind<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Daredevil<&sol;em> carries a certain somberness&semi; its <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;truth-or-dare-daredevil-episodes-10-12-review&sol;">death in the family<&sol;a> enough to shock Foggy and Matt back into each another&&num;8217&semi;s orbit&period; The episode&&num;8217&semi;s funeral opener is provides a thoughtful poignancy to the trials that everyone&&num;8217&semi;s endured&comma; some certainly more than others&period; Like its beginning&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s pain that brings our trio back and together with a repaired Karen&comma; Foggy and Matt brainstorm Ben&&num;8217&semi;s vision to topple the Fisk from the inside out&period; Seeing the three of them around the table for the first time since the pilot is some easy nostalgia for the taking&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s Matt&&num;8217&semi;s smile and Foggy&&num;8217&semi;s laughter that sells Karen&&num;8217&semi;s musing that &&num;8220&semi;this is how it should be&period;&&num;8221&semi; Foggy talking about cured meats and all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the same breath&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s Fisk&&num;8217&semi;s world that&&num;8217&semi;s falling apart at the seams&period; From Turk to crooked cops to lawyers to Congressman Cherryh&comma; Fisk&&num;8217&semi;s enemies are already under siege from among the ranks&period; Yes&comma; after what feels like quite a few episodes&comma; our own Leland Owlsley finally ruffles one too many feathers as our unassuming mastermind behind the throne and Fisk returns the favor in kind&period; Given all the telltale &&num;8220&semi;Owlsey&&num;8217&semi;s soooo guilty&&num;8221&semi; signs&comma; it hardly comes as a surprise&comma; but the fallout&&num;8217&semi;s satisfying to see&comma; even at the cost of a rather unremarkable end to one of the show&&num;8217&semi;s &lpar;still&quest;&rpar; major comic characters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;05&sol;04233015&sol;Daredevil-Netflix-S1-Daredevil-Fisk-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignleft wp-image-82992 size-medium" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;05&sol;04233015&sol;Daredevil-Netflix-S1-Daredevil-Fisk-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Daredevil Netflix S1 'Daredevil' Fisk BagoGames" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"174" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Daredevil<&sol;em> was all about inner revelations – including Fisk&&num;8217&semi;s&period; Seeing his house of cards coming tumbling down is nothing short of transformative for the journey we&&num;8217&semi;ve seen him on this season and it undoubtedly adds insult to injury that his fall is so by the book thanks to our lawyers in action&period; Though fans may gloss over the legal jargon it entails&comma; the Pavarotti-tuned arrest montage is a poetic end to the Fisk empire and&comma; by extension&comma; him and Vanessa via a somberly impromptu proposal&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s the long ride to the big house that  produces the series&&num;8217&semi; most telling Biblical allegory&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s rare that the villain of the story come to terms with his role in it and that it should be told with Vincent D&&num;8217&semi;Onofrio&&num;8217&semi;s typical eloquence more powerful still&period; He&&num;8217&semi;s not helping his city on its feet&period; He&&num;8217&semi;s beating it and robbing it blind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Of course&comma; the villain&&num;8217&semi;s only as good as his hero and as you&&num;8217&semi;d expect&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s this final episode that <em>Daredevil<&sol;em> choose to give us our peek at the costume of its namesake in action&period; Rougher&comma; darker&comma; and a bit more practical than fans might be accustomed to&comma; Netflix&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Daredevil<&sol;em> duds look somewhere more along the lines of Christian Bale&&num;8217&semi;s Batman suit than Ben Affleck&&num;8217&semi;s leather jacket-clad Man Without Fear&period; The suit&&num;8217&semi;s tough vibe fits the series&&num;8217&semi; tone to a T an while it&&num;8217&semi;s an added edge to Daredevi&&num;8217&semi;s arsenal&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s refreshingly no win button&comma; red billy clubs or no&period; I love it – especially if it allows Matt more air-kicking superhero poses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If clothes make the man&comma; then they also make for a kick-ass fight&period; As is his talent&comma; Fisk slips right from under the authorities&&num;8217&semi; noses even under armed guard in a spectacular &lpar;and slightly theatrical&rpar; shootout of cop v&period; cop&period; This is where Matt tells us that &&num;8220&semi;the law meets reality&&num;8221&semi; and in this case&comma; a dark alleyway ripped right out of the comic books as a part of Matt and Fisk&&num;8217&semi;s inevitable – and brutal – rematch&period; As fans of <em>Spartacus<&sol;em> are no doubt aware&comma; show runner Steven S&period; DeKnight knows how to do high-octane season finales and the flying fisticuffs here are on par with the former&period; This time&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s Matt toppling Fisk&&num;8217&semi;s empire&comma; first with the law and then with &&num;8220&semi;his law&&num;8221&semi; in a white-knuckle&comma; four-minute fight made to impress&period; Matt&&num;8217&semi;s not the bad guy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;05&sol;04232935&sol;Daredevil-Netflix-S1-Daredevil-The-Trio-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignright wp-image-82995 size-medium" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;05&sol;04232935&sol;Daredevil-Netflix-S1-Daredevil-The-Trio-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Daredevil Netflix S1 'Daredevil' The Trio BagoGames" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"174" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>By its end&comma; <em>Daredevil<&sol;em> does a marvelous job bringing our characters full-circle to where we met them and a terrific tease where we&&num;8217&semi;ll meet them sometime soon&period; If Team Hell&&num;8217&semi;s Kitchen&&num;8217&semi;s won something&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s a small battle in a longer war – one with its casualties that no one&comma; not even a blind ninja man&comma; can resurrect&period; And it&&num;8217&semi;s not without other secrets between them&comma; especially with the blood on Karen&&num;8217&semi;s hands&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; Fisk&&num;8217&semi;s journey is left to its predictable end poignantly staring into the snowstorm that we first met him in&period; As straightforward as this season&&num;8217&semi;s been&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s duly frustrating to have an overwhelming amount of loose ends hanging by a thread – Stick&comma; The Hand&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Black Sky&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Madame Gao&period; But it wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be a Netflix show if it didn&&num;8217&semi;t leave you starving for more&period; <em>Daredevil<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s just the cost of getting spoiled on excellence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Whatever desperately needed answers we get <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;daredevils-coming-back-for-more-on-netflix-next-year&sol;">next season<&sol;a>&comma; <em>Daredevi<&sol;em>l&&num;8217&semi;s last-round delivers the knockout punch I could&&num;8217&semi;ve only wished about from so many other series this year&period; As Netflix continues to build on its path to a Defenders universe with <em>A&period;K&period;A&period; Jessica Jones<&sol;em> and an Iron Fist series&comma; I can&&num;8217&semi;t help but wonder how one man can make a difference in a city full of vigilantes&period; But they don&&num;8217&semi;t call the Big Apple what they do because it&&num;8217&semi;s small&period; When <em>Daredevil<&sol;em> us again next spring&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;ll be ready and waiting in my queue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>All thirteen episodes of <em>Daredevil<&sol;em> are available for streaming through Netflix on TV&comma; PC&comma; tablet&comma; mobile&comma; and game consoles&period; Check back for more on all your favorite shows&comma; games&comma; comics&comma; and animé here at <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com">BagoGames<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;