Daredevil is perfect, the best new show of 2015 and the best comic book series ever. First, the pacing and storytelling are impeccable. I love that major characters are introduced gradually (side eye at Gotham). The main villain isn’t seen until the second episode when we just see his cufflinks. We don’t get a name until the third episode. I love the restraint. Nothing was predictable, and every episode of Daredevil surprised me. Every character’s story arc is exquisitely told. Daredevil earned every sensational moment when it finally came. Also I love that it makes the viewer question the lofty morality of the rest of the heroes already introduced in the Marvel universe. Sure they save lives, but the havoc and chaos left in their wake leaves the survivors ripe for exploitation and evil by government bureaucratic and corporate corruption. The already introduced existing Marvel universe is the 1%, and Daredevil shows the gritty existence of those struggling to emerge from the rubble. If any of those heroes, including Agents of SHIELD appeared in this neighborhood for a bite of schwarma, they may get pelted with something riper than rotten tomatoes, and the jeers would be justified. Thirteen episodes is a perfectly lean length-not bloated and uneven like a certain 23 episode Marvel show.
Second, each episode is visually beautiful, including the greatest fight scenes in ANY television show in existence to date. I normally prefer seeing women fight, but the fight choreography is graceful and brutal. Daredevil deserves to be seen on the largest screen available with no distractions. I would rather pay all the Avengers: Age of Ultron money to Daredevil per episode than to the latest installment in the Marvel movie franchise. It earns every tableau.
Third, the casting and acting are so impeccable that it feels like every actor was born for his or her role.
SPOILERS
When a major henchman dies, and I miss him, but know nothing about him other than a handful of lines and his facial expressions, you know that you’re in the major leagues. Vincent D’Onofrio of Law & Order: Criminal Intent is fabulous of course, but now instead of worrying about his deteriorating health, you feel like it was just more method acting to become the character. You know that Daredevil is good when just seeing a white wall gives you the shivers and is imbued with meaning. Casting Bob Gunton as the 70 something year old baddy best known for his corrupt warden in The Shawshank Redemption feels like winning the viewing lottery-who else could play his role? No one! Elden Henson is given the comedic relief role, which is usually forgettable and thankless, but not in Daredevil. And major thanks to the writers and Rosario Dawson for getting a New Yorker in perilous danger right. Sure we would be scared and verging on hysterical, but when the bullets are flying, we would hit the deck, grab the nearest blunt objection and hit the perp with it instead of standing like a fool waiting for the hero to win. Don’t just stand there. Do something.
The only thing that Daredevil does not quite get right is the larger issue of morality. Matt Murdock is Catholic and keeps visiting his parish priest. He is understandably concerned about how a Catholic should appropriately respond to evil without being evil himself. The answer seems to be that some people are evil, and you must do everything possible short of murder to stop them. I’m not Catholic, but where is the redemption? I think that struggling with issues of redemption as a vigilante and a lawyer would make Daredevil more interesting.
Wilson Fisk was intriguing. He is like a sociopath trying to mimic being a good guy and a man of faith until he realizes that he is the robber in the Good Samaritan story and embraces that yet he simultaneously thinks that he can rescue the city by conducting evil acts. Fisk is the most interesting character-does he believe his own hype of the end goal and how does he reconcile working with and recognizing that his business associates are human traffickers, rapers, drug dealers, which ultimately he reasons to Vanessa means that they deserve to be consigned to Hell. He does not seem to condemn himself.
I cannot wait for the second season. Who is Madame Gao, and where is she from? Why did those people blind themselves? Daredevil cleverly introduced some teasing elements with Stick’s group and Nobu’s people to keep us on the hook next season without feeling like an over 2 hour movie trailer for the next installment like Avengers: Age of Ultron. I cannot wait. Drew Goddard is a Whedonite and hopefully he can continue the race now that Whedon no longer can.
