Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget – or so it’s said by someone that must not have been Foggy Nelson or Matt Murdock. What’s a guy to do when he finds his best friend on the ground wearing a ninja suit? That’s exactly the question hanging over our two gentlemen for the better half of Daredevil as much as Fisk for better or for worse.
As its title would imply, Nelson V Murdock is all about the men of its namesake and that’s really quite enough. It’s a terribly familiar scenario that both of them find themselves in as far as genre conventions go. We’ve seen what happens to the hero when he’s unmasked at least a dozen times over and a lesser show could easily have skirted over and moved on from. Not so with New York’s Nelson and Murdock Law Office. In a series so much about flying fists and the occasional flying toaster oven, it’s just as gratifying to see words pack as hard of a punch and especially when they’re coming from two actors as talented as Elden Hanson and Charlie Cox.
This time, it’s Foggy who has to pick up the pieces of Matt’s double life and even save it. That Matt’s lied about basically everything, late night crime fighting included, is something he can’t forgive. The questions that begs to ask about the both of them are hard and the answers either of them can give are naturally unsatisfying, but strikingly honest. It’s Nelson V Murdock‘s campy college flashbacks that reminds me just how much I enjoy watching Matt and Foggy do anything together. Hanson’s Foggy probably does rock a mullet better than anyone in this series as easily as he does impromptu Yoda impressions while Cox exudes a quiet wisdom beyond his years befitting his straight man schtick of the duo. That nothing can ever be the same between them is a deliberately human strength on the show makers part, but one that sees both of them coming out better for it.
Whether just one man can make a difference is something that drives Matt as much as Daredevil which, for the first time in the series, really does leave Matt in a lonely place, sad little monkey balloon in hand. Matt’s a man very much the sum of his friends, ones that don’t take kindly to being shut down, including one Claire Temple. For the screen time Rosario Dawson’s given, she certainly makes up for it in levity, and powerful proof that not every actress need end up as a committed romantic interest – at least in the conventional sense. Not every one’s willing to wait for Matt forever, and maybe not even Matt.
Fans of the Marvel universe may take particular interest in these last few samplings of Daredevil’s first season as the show continues to brilliantly weave itself into the thicker fabric of its comic book roots. Spider-man fans might raise an eye at a certain (Miles?) Morales at Foggy and Matt’s first law gig and “that Greek girl” in Foggy’s Spanish class…Elektra, anyone?
It’s Paths of the Righteous that puts everyone’s loyalties on the line, Karen’s included. Always the hopeful center to the show, a fateful confrontation with Wesley finally tests the cracks in Karen’s resolve. Though we haven’t gotten to know either character very well, their battle of the wills raises a revealing discussion and Deborah Ann Woll and Toby Leonard Moore carry it with chilling class. Suffice to say, Karen’s great at calling bluffs, if not manufacturing some herself, and the resulting fallout is one that’ll surely leave its mark beyond this season.
No one’s really as they seem in Daredevil as Matt himself proves time and again. Friends can become enemies and enemies become friends in Matt’s search for a suitable replacement to his diminishing supply of black leotards that takes him to a rather unlikely ally for some more serious superhero duds. Besides a hectic garage fight and Matt’s brutal version of twenty questions, Paths does provide the best not-Assassin’s Creed parkour chase with a sucker-punch of a surprise from Leland Owlsley’s shadowy small-talker, Madame Gao. Alongside Stick, Gao’s character is arguably the most frustrating loose end dangling from the show’s tassels, but call me interested by this tough old lady. But it does beg to ask, who can Matt be allowed to hit in this show, hmm?…
I might have changed my tune about Owlsley, the sneaky little bugger, if Paths‘ Red Wedding level disaster is any indication. A couple – okay, a lot of bad drinks leaves Fisk’s precious Vanessa and half his party guests foaming at the mouth, his one chance at a life in a hospital bed. As easily as a neon-sign emblazoned with “perp” could be pointing to Owlsley’s vicinity, it’s the women in Fisk’s life that take center stage here than crime, moreover their maternal power over him, figuratively or otherwise. It’s tender moments like these that I can’t help but love watching Fisk and Vanessa’s genuinely moving chemistry. But, for the love of God, don’t mess with Fisk’s real mommy.
Of all the characters to get their fair share these three episodes, it’s fitting that Ben Urich get the best of it in the somber note that The Ones We Leave Behind implies. As the show’s straight-laced reporter (ugh, blogging!), it should come by extension that Ben’s shouldered the burden of the reluctant hero who doesn’t so easily resonate with the fantastical characters around him. Nevertheless, in a show all about shades of grey, it’s Ben’s unwavering honesty that come as the show’s beacon of hope.
Fisk’s empire is his image as much as his muscle and Ben’s sleuthing that’s Team Daredevil’s real weapon in a war of ideas. That Ben should choose to do the right thing for all the right reasons is a moving twist for a devoted husband we’re shown would much rather keep all he has to lose. It’s safe to say that The Ones We Leave Behind does justice to its namesake as the episode’s end credits roll.
If honesty is the best policy, then it’s Daredevil’s cornerstone in building towards a heck of a finale. A break from the action paid off in spades as we got a personal look at every corner of our character’s lives and into their hearts. Daredevil‘s just keeps beating with the same vigor it did in its debut and I trust it’ll keep mine ’til its very end.
All thirteen episodes of Daredevil are available for streaming through Netflix on TV, PC, tablet, mobile, and game consoles. Check back next week for our review of the season finale here at BagoGames.
Daredevil: Episodes 10-12
Pros
- Matt and Foggy's New Dynamic
- Karen's Gut-Wrenching Choice
- Ben Urich's Shocking Exit
- More of The Kingpin and Vanessa
- Triple A Serving of Parkour
Cons
- Shaky Cam Here and There
- Madame Gao – Hitt or Miss?
[…] the immediate follow-up to The Ones We Leave Behind, Daredevil carries a certain somberness; its death in the family enough to shock Foggy and Matt back into each another’s orbit. The episode’s funeral […]