Daredevil Netflix – Seven Inches of Your Time

“Daredevil” Season 1 Episode 7 Recap, “Stick”

Andy — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 20:39:16 +0000

Daredevil Week(s) continues with the arrival of Netflix’s Marvel’s too many apostrophes’ Daredevil. David has shepherded us through Frank Miller’s classic run, two of DD’s most famous origin stories and the not-classic Daredevil movie. Now the billy club has been passed on to me.

“Stick”

Daredevil was so successful right off the bat because it threw the audience right into the action. While he wasn’t (and still isn’t) called Daredevil, the Man in the Mask was more than a competent fighter. He was already fighting crime. Marvel eschewed the traditional origin story at the top, and instead, sprinkled it across the first three episodes in pretty damn effective flashbacks.

But how the hell can Matt Murdock fight? How is he such a badass? Well, part of the answer finally comes in the seventh episode of the series, where we’re introduced to Stick (The Silence of the Lamb‘s Scott Glenn), the also-blind, also-badass gruff mentor to a young Matt Murdock. One scene with Glenn and we know immediately how Daredevil is so awesome from the moment we see him.

“Stick” opens in Japan, with a man in the shadows chopping the hand off and then the head, of a panicked Japanese man. The man in the shadows asks after “Black Sky,” a mysterious weapon being transported to New York.

Foggy’s busy ranting about “the devil of Hell’s Kitchen.” He’s a “terrorist without the ist,” and he wants to punch him, believing him to be a coward, turning into the J. Jonah Jameson of this show for a scene. Matt believes the MIB should be defended in court and not in the press. He’s right, but also pretty darned biased, and we all know life doesn’t work like that.

Foggy’s antsy and wants to do something, and that apparently means starting a law firm softball team, which would be awesome, even though they have 3 members and one of them is blind. He invites Karen to go to the batting cage, but she rebuffs his offer for a “thing.” Foggy thinks she’s up to something, because everybody is (except for Foggy, who’s gloriously transparent).

Last episode, DD got the name of “Leland Owlsley,” the accountant in charge of the money dealings in Fisk’s empire. He pays him a visit. When Matt hears someone using a walking stick approach, he’s distracted enough for Leland to taze him and drive off. Leland had a chance to finish this show right then and there (though Stick wouldn’t have let him). But still, you’d think Leland would maybe shoot/attack DD while he’s down, considering how much trouble he’s caused and how much he’d be rewarded by Fisk. Instead, Stick does the wise/ass/gruff mentor thing.

In the past, Matt’s living with nuns, a sitcom waiting to happen, and they’re desperate for help with this poor screaming kid. Enter Stick, a man who wants cash to help. Immediately, he changes Matt’s attitude: that he’s lucky to be alive, to have these gifts, and that nobody’s going to feel sorry for him and he should stop feeling sorry for himself. It’s a no nonsense approach to the ice cream social. Speaking of, Stick hilariously points out the flavors inherent in the dessert: can taste the specific diaries, the dirt off the hand of the server, the chemicals…no wonder Stick is so skinny. I’d never want to eat anything if I had that kind of knowledge. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to food chemicals.

Then, the training montage begins, because Matt needs “skills for war.”

Ben Urich, meanwhile, is pulling the gruff mentor routine on Karen Page, with an eerily similar message: “Stop complaining.” It’s a hard case, and complicated, they just gotta “straighten out that spaghetti.” Okay, so Stick would never say that.

Apparently Detective Blake is in a coma, surviving the gun shot. Daredevil loves comas. On the subject of the vigilante, Urich pontificates: “There are no heroes, no villains, just people with different agendas.” Urich just drops truth all goddamn day.

Apparently, Stick’s been absent from Matt’s life for 20 years. Why is he back now? Well, to save everyone from a horrible death, silly. He follows Matt to his apartment, disappointed to see the kid gone soft, because he has a bed and “soft stuff.” Women are a distraction, he barks, then goes for a crappy German beer, hypocrisy incarnate. Stick warns him that he needs to cut loose all relationships, friends, women, whatever. “They will suffer and you will too. Relationships aren’t for you and me.”

Of course, that’s because Stick projected his entire life and mantra onto a 9 year old boy. Daredevil started with a 9 year old boy sipping scotch at the behest of his bloody Dad. Now we see an old man beat the shit out of said 9 year old boy (who can still do crazy kicks and leaps!). I haven’t mentioned Skylar Gaertner at all through my recaps, and while I think he’s been great for a child actor in most respects as “Young Matt,” when he gets emotional, the overacting is painful, as it in the aftermath of their training.

After time has passed in the flashbacks, Matt gives Stick a bracelet, made from the ice cream cone wrapper from their first bonding moment. It’s touching, and that’s the problem. Stick crumples it up and abruptly ends their training. “I expected more of you,” he says, shattering Matt Murdock.

Stick also attacks Matt’s “no kill” belief, that they’re essentially “half-measures” that will come back to haunt him. Stick wants his help to take down Nobu (the head of the Yakuza/Hand presence) and the Black Sky. Matt offers help, but only if Stick promises not to kill anybody. He does, but not without a comeback: “Pussy.”

Page visits Ms. Cardenas, bringing groceries. Cardenas wants to pay her back, but Karen wants information instead. Before she does, Cardenas continues to tout our boy Foggy, telling Karen that she can tell he loves her by the way he looks at her. Karen clearly feels uncomfortable, and it makes me wanna cry that she’s leading on Foggy like this. Cardenas then describes a bald man and a tattooed guy that hung around the building as enforcers (but not Enforcers).

I’ve touched on it previously, but I’m continually impressed with how Daredevil handles languages, and bilingual speakers, and infusing Hell’s Kitchen with its melting pot of ethnicities and languages, and not force feeding us subtitles. It feels more real because of it.

After their rendezvous, Karen’s IMMEDIATELY accosted by said bald and tattooed men, and it looks bleak, until FOGGY TO THE RESCUE. He throws a softball at them, then attacks them with the bat, and then Karen finishes one of them off with some mace. They really need to start this softball team. It’s a wonderful moment, but instead of being thankful for her life, Karen wonders why he’s following her. Because he’s WORRIED about you (and kind of creeping, to be fair).

At the docks, not-DD goes about taking down the not-Yakuza. Nobu opens the crate, and “Black Sky” turns out to be a young boy. Stick aims and takes a shot with an arrow at the boy. DD deflects it, allowing the boy and Nobu to get away.

Well he gets away from Matt; not from Stick. While Matt was dealing with Nobu’s men, Stick went and killed the boy. This betrayal puts them both over the edge: “I needed a soldier, you needed a father.” The two have an intense, brutal and thrilling fight (one of the best in a series chock full of them), after which, a bloody Stick grunts, “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.” He makes to leave, but before he does, he leaves Matt with his wooden sticks. “You’re going to need them.” I love how important and dignified these nondescript wooden batons are treated. They’re like the equivalent of Buffy’s stakes.

In the wreckage of their fight in his apartment, Matt finds the bracelet his younger self gave to Stick. Aw. I love emotional and physically abusive relationships.

The two big takeaways from the episode are this: after saving her ass, Karen brings Foggy into the fold with Urich, introducing him to Urich’s playing cards map of the city’s crime scape.

The second: Stick is going to be a big player the rest of the season (or next), if not immediately. He meets a massive scarred man, in front of a fire, “no idea” if Matt will be ready when “the doors open.” The guess is that this is Stone, one of Stick’s other pupils, and a fellow soldier in the war against the Hand (the secret ninja organization that Nobu most definitely works for). It’s the first Easter Egg-y larger picture ending of Daredevil, and arguably, its most compelling.

“Daredevil” Season 1 Episode 6 Recap, “Condemned”

Andy — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 22:48:17 +0000

“Condemned”

An episode of Daredevil wouldn’t be complete without an interrogation; this episode has countless, following the massive bombing of Hell’s Kitchen, with not-yet-Daredevil caught in the middle.

He and Vladimir (Nikolai Nikolaeff) are pretty much screwed, with the cops surrounding them. But they’re cops, Hell’s Kitchen red-shirts, and after another awesome fight (Daredevil has better action than ANY show on TV), the two manage to escape.

Vlad, of course, doesn’t want to escape with the Man in Black. He thinks he killed his brother, and wants payback. While the rest of the episode around them doesn’t operate this way, in many ways, Vlad and Matt find themselves in a classic bottle episode, and the results are incredible. Matt tries to clear things up, that Fisk killed Anatoly. He wants to put Fisk on trial. Vlad’s counter proposal? “Suck my dick.” Their back and forth is tremendous throughout (“I don’t speak asshole,” Matt retorts), with Nikolai Nikolaeff taking a character that seemed as stereotypical and ridiculous as his real name and making him a multi-faceted and even sympathetic villain. The more time you spend in this twisted, dark Hell’s Kitchen, the more you realize there isn’t a wasted moment or character on this show.

Foggy and Karen have survived the explosion, and manage to bring an injured Ms. Cardenas to the hospital. In a brief melding of the two worlds, Claire whisks Ms. Cardenas away. We also learn Foggy is bleeding and hurting big-time himself, once his heroic deeds have been completed and he can think of himself again. Foggy’s the best.

Vlad, however, is fucked up. He’s been shot, stabbed, exploded on, yet he clings to life somehow. To save him, Matt calls Claire for help stabilizing the wound. “It’s not as easy as it looks in the movies,” she spits, but hey, this is TV. Rather, this is Netflix, and the solution becomes cauterizing the bullet wound with flames (the bullet’s still inside him, mind you). It’s another ingeniously brutal moment in the show, but Vlad’s screams alert a nearby cop. The poor cop, a new recruit and someone not on Fisk’s payroll, joins the interrogation brigade, and gets tied up. But before being gagged, he manages to call in the situation, putting Daredevil well up shit creek.

The cops arrive for what has been termed a hostage situation, and before they can just blow the building up and solve their problem, Ben Urich arrives on the scene. The man knows police procedure, and would know if anything iffy takes place. Fisk’s solution? Invite all the media, make it a circus, with Daredevil at the middle of it. Fisk is brilliant; this episode especially showcases his artful skill as a tactician, a Puppet Master behind the scenes.

Vladimir points out Daredevil’s hypocrisy and the hypocrisy of every superhero who doesn’t kill. He won’t kill Vladimir, but he also won’t let him die even though that’s what he desires. He’s only keeping him alive for information. Matt thinks he’s different, but “you’ll get there.” You’re a “man like us,” Vlad threatens. I mentioned earlier that I hoped this show wouldn’t tackle Daredevil’s unwillingness to kill, but I was wrong. It’s never been tackled this powerfully, or as darkly, that Daredevil’s own demons might overwhelm him. It feels more Shakespearean than comic book/CW.

While Nikolai manages to somehow own it, Vlad’s ability to not die borders on superhuman. He almost dies, flatlines, and incurs all kinds of punishment a completely healthy person wouldn’t be able to bounce back from, let alone someone already on the brink of the afterlife. This episode is essentially an extended and dramatic interpretation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail‘s “I’m Not Dead Yet” scene.

He manages to fake DD out by pretending to die (which fools all of us, since he should be dead), before engaging in an impressive (that he can move at all) fighting scene that knocks them down an entire floor. Matt gets knocked out, but when he comes to, Vlad’s still there, unable to move, but still alive, waiting to stab Matt with biting sarcasm. Except again, he’s about to go, for real this time…until Matt resuscitates him, hammering at his chest, Jack from LOST style. Vlad’s body needs to be sent to all of the research facilities.

In the midst of the two sides of the same coin (maybe?) Matt/Vlad one-act play, there’s a wonderful scene with Foggy in a hospital bed, determined to go out and find Matt. He’s worried about him (and should be). But Karen stops him: you’ve played hero enough for one day. She pecks him on the cheek. “Helluva first date,” Foggy grins. “I’ve had worse,” Karen says, as she exits. I love these moments on their own, but my favorite part? When the camera zooms out to reveal that they’re sharing the room with another family, that this private moment wasn’t so private after all.

Vlad and Matt’s stand off is interrupted by Wilson Fisk himself, bringing us the first interaction between DD and the Kingpin. Even if it’s over a comm device, it’s chilling. Again, Fisk suggests they’re not too different.

And Fisk clearly has the upper hand. When DD rebuffs his offers to capitulate, Fisk promises he’ll pin the bombings on the masked man, kill Vlad and “call the day a push.” That’s pretty much exactly what happens, and feels more than a push for Fisk. It feels like a victory. He hires a sniper to shoot Officer Blake, adding more fuel to the fire, as the Masked Man becomes branded a terrorist in the media, Condemned.

Throughout the episode, Matt has been talking with Claire, and she calls him with the news of his outing as a villain. Matt apologizes to her, that she was right, that he can’t love her, and that she should stay way. It’s heartbreaking, since Claire is wonderful, even if we’ve seen so many variations of this scene in comic book adaptations.

Our boy can’t catch a break: the cops are going to go in, and the only possible escape is through the sewers. Except he can’t lift the grate on his own. Luckily, Vlad has super powers and helps. There’s still little hope, with a cop army nearby (a ruthless one who kills the innocent cop) but Vlad decides to play hero, to defend the sewer while DD can escape. Just as importantly, he gives our masked man a new name to use in the war against the Kingpin: Leland Owlsley.

“Daredevil” Season 1 Episode 5 Recap, “World on Fire”

Andy — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 21:59:51 +0000

“World on Fire”

In the opening scene, Daredevil expertly navigates its superhero baggage. “You’re not one of those billionaire playboys I hear so much about?” Dawson’s Claire Temple coos, and she could’ve been talking about anybody. But she’s not that lucky. Then she spells out the series’ logline playfully, “lawyer by day, vigilante by night. How does that work?” Really fucking well, it turns out. Last episode, the not-Night Nurse-but kinda Night Nurse and Daredevil switched roles: Matt took her home and cleaned her up. The next morning, Claire wipes away the condensation and looks at her bruises in the bathroom mirror. It’s a simple, powerful and unapologetically artsy moment, one that would seem out of place in any other Marvel show or movie, but in Daredevil it’s just another beautiful moment. Sure, we don’t need Claire to blurt, “you see so much,” to Matt, as he matter of fact-ly explains that he can hear her bones move, but it’s forgiven when we finally see what he sees, “a world on fire,” a red, constantly shifting impressionistic painting. Claire probably would hit people too if that’s all she saw. Matt asks her to stay with him until he knows she’s safe, “helluva a way to get a girl to move in,” Dawson making lines sing that would have doomed most actors. Then they kiss for the first time, Temple “wondering when you’d do that.” Wesley meets with Vladimir, the last surviving Russian brother, wondering where Anatoly is. He doesn’t know his head has been hacked to goo by Wilson Fisk. In a ballsy maneuver, Wesley and Fisk have framed the man in the mask, bringing in his body, the MIB’s mask in his pocket as a calling card. That seems silly, but it works; Vladimir just needed an outlet for his rage and vengeance. Meanwhile, Fisk meets with Madame Gao, Nobu (Peter Shinkoda) and Leland Owlsley, explaining the situation. That he “knew the Russians would have to removed.” They were too unpredictable. The promise of a greater share in the profits soothes most of their ire. Bob Gunton’s dry and sarcastic Leland Owlsley and Madame Gao’s over-the-top laughs make every scene with them a treat. Of course, every scene is a treat with Daredevil. The fight choreography is exceptional, and beautiful, and “World on Fire” has another terrific moment to pair with the Hallway scene at the end of Episode 2. The Russians have captured a singing Chinese guy, and from his POV, we see Daredevil attack, in a swirling circular shot of the battle. The cops eventually arrive, and the man in the mask escapes, leaving one Russian in the hands of Officer Blake (Chris Tardio) and Officer Huffman (Daryl Edwards). Unsurprisingly, Fisk also owns the cops in this city. When the two officers interrogate the kidnapped Russian, he squeals, saying Wilson Fisk’s name. After figuring out whose turn it is, one of the officers punches the other, and then kill the Russian for revealing their boss’ name. Another front on the war comes to light this episode, with Elena Cardenas (Judith Delgado) walking into Nelson & Murdock. She and her neighbors are being forced out by Armand Tully, who started construction on the building and then had their workers move out right in the middle due to BS fears for their safety, leaving the building in a mess. Daredevil doesn’t stoop to translating every language, or telling the audience everything that’s said, and it’s been a brilliant way to showcase Hell’s Kitchen’s melting pot of ethnicities. Cardenas is the MVP of this episode solely for calling our favorite sidekick “Senor Foggy,” the greatest nickname of all-time (and dangerously/hilariously close to the Mexican chain Senor Frogs). Foggy and Karen go to the law firm that Nelson and Murdock interned at, and spurned to start their own firm. That would be L&Z (Landman & Zack), where they meet Marci (Amy Rutberg), a bitchy blonde that Foggy used to date. She pushes Foggy around, backed by the powerful leverage of her firm…until Foggy retaliates brilliantly, cutting her down to size, happy to bring them to court, knowing that he and his client, in fact, have the leverage. It’s probably the best moment Foggy has had on the show, and more fodder for Karen to realize that Foggy isn’t so easily jammed into the friend zone. Right?! Foggy is a Boss this entire episode, visiting Ms. Cardenas and her apartment with Karen, and upon seeing the disaster zone, resolves to put on his plumber hat and help out. In way of thanks, Cardenas makes the two dinner, leaving them alone to eat it. Ms. Cardenas is the best wingman in Hell’s Kitchen, and even Karen can’t deny: this is a date. A lot of love is in the air this episode and on this show, but it’s not necessarily for our main hero. Fisk meets Vanessa for a second date, and she explains she’s not into liars. Fisk promises he’ll be honest, that she can ask anything, and we know he means it. He loves this girl, and it gives us another wonderful layer to Vincent D’Onofrio’s performance, as Marvel has found their best villain in all the MCU after Loki. D’Onofrio portrays him as a socially challenged, shy man with a stilted, halting speech, suppressing his pent-up aggression like we would suppress a sneeze. The danger is never far from the surface. Vanessa challenges Fisk, sharing sexual anecdotes to gauge his response and to shock him, and asking after Wesley and his organization (“he’s more than an assistant; he’s a friend”). I hope before the season ends we uncover Wesley’s backstory; Toby Leonard Moore’s measured performance has made his character as indispensable to the show as he is to Fisk. Vanessa has also brought a gun to the date Turk Barrett pays Vlad a visit, revealing to him that he heard about an SUV with blood and brain spatter in a chop shop, “owned by a big bald white guy.” He claims that the Man in Black works for Fisk, and this is all Vlad needs to gear up for war. Vlad offers up a 1 million ante for the one who can find Fisk, and back at the restaurant, it appears that Fisk’s waiter wants that money. Instead, Fisk was baiting Vlad all along, bringing the Russians into the danger zone. He and Vanessa watch as Fisk unleashes his next plan to “unlock the city’s potential,” to wash away the city’s ugliness and rebuild. The man-who-will-be Kingpin is a “man with a dream,” and in many ways, it’s not a bad one, or a faulty one. But his methods leave something to be desired if, you know, you have morals. His methods involve watching Hell’s Kitchen burn. To do so, he unleashes a bomb, set off by a blind Chinese man (with help from Madame Gao), destroying city blocks in the process. Including hitting Ms. Cardenas’ apartment, and tragically interrupting Karen and Foggy’s date. Though, to be fair, it was veering into uncomfortable territory anyway. Foggy was talking up Matt’s prowess with women (he’s a “sexual Rain Man”), and Karen, clearly fascinated with Matt, lives out her fantasy with Foggy, having him touch her face, like how Matt does with women to “see them.” It’s going to be heartbreaking if Karen’s truly just leading Foggy along. But the blast changes everything, Wilson and Vanessa looking on from a skyscraper, the “world on fire” below, seeing the world how Daredevil does. You’d think putting Foggy and Karen in mortal peril and killing the entire Russian mob would be a satisfying cliffhanger. But no, this episode dollops on another with Daredevil coming for Vlad, who managed to survive the bomb, swapping fisticuffs. It doesn’t matter who wins; neither does, as the cops have them surrounded.