Marvel has launched it’s latest project – an adaptation of Daredevil – on Netflix. This 13 episode series tells the story of Matt Murdock, a blind man who lives a double life. By day, he’s a lawyer with his partner, Foggy Nelson, and by night he’s a vigilante trying to help the endangered citizens of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. In this first review, I’ll be taking a quick look at the first three episodes of the series
Episode 1: “Into The Ring”
As opening episodes go, this is one of the better ones I’ve seen. It doesn’t feel dragged out and also isn’t bogged down with trying to establish everything and everyone in under an hour. What we do get is all relevant – Matt’s childhood accident which blinds him, starting his law firm with Foggy and who some of the main players are.
The central plot of the episode revolves around Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) who wakes up in her apartment one morning to find herself covered in blood with a knife in her hand and a dead body next to her. While discovering the facts of the case, we are also given subtle nods to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe and exactly how it all fits in.
One of my favourite elements of the episode is that we don’t see Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk. In fact, he’s not even mentioned by name – all we get is his voice in the closing minutes of the episode. For me, this makes him much more of an imposing character as we are left to our imaginations to come up with who exactly he is.
Episode 2: “Cut Man”
This episode picks up a short time after the first episode left off. Matt is on the trail of a young boy who has been kidnapped. Along the way, he crosses paths with Claire (Rosario Dawson) a nurse who’s heard about the mysterious man in a black mask.
The title of the episode could apply to three men – Matt (who is physically cut), his father Jack (who agrees to lose a fight to take a cut of the betting profits) and Foggy (who gets drunk or ‘half cut’ with Karen) – but focuses primarily on the Murdocks. In both past and present, these two make decisions that have lasting consequences. At the centre of it is Matt, who at times can barely stand but he keeps fighting on through the episode in order to save this boy from his kidnappers.
This episode could have easily been a two hander between Matt and Claire, and at times that’s what it feels like, but the addition of the flashbacks tell us why Matt keeps going and maybe why he’s so desperate to find this young boy. As for Karen and Foggy – those scenes could have been left for another time but it’s nice to see they’re not overlooked in favour of the titular character.
Episode 3: “Rabbit in a Snowstorm”
This is an episode of dilemmas. For Ben Urich, it’s trying to balance being a ‘true’ reporter with keeping his job and supporting his ill wife. For Karen it’s whether or not to take a deal offered by her former bosses to keep quiet regarding the events of episode 1. Their paths cross by the end of the episode and it will be interesting to see how they deal with opposition on both sides of their lives
Matt and Foggy face a dilemma of a different kind. They are approached by the suited associate to represent John Healy, a man who has brutally killed another man by caving his head in with a bowling ball. Both know something isn’t right with the situation but end up agreeing to take the case. Their suspicions are further raised when they meet Healy, interview him and note his calm behaviour and confidence. Also trying to find out more about their new employer has them meeting dead end after dead end.
We do, however get our first glimpse of Wilson Fisk, who is also named for the first time moments earlier. Standing in an art gallery admiring a painting is not how we perhaps imagined our first glimpse but it oddly fits – this imposing dark figure set against a backdrop with variations of white. The scene with him and the gallery’s curator – who jokes that a white piece of paper is an image of a ‘rabbit in a snowstorm’ – is short but effective. It leaves us wanting more, which is exactly what television needs to do.
Words by Megan Roxburgh