Daredevil 2x01 Review: One-Man Army

“Bang”
Written by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez
Directed by Phil Abraham
 
The Story
Matt is still protecting the city as the Daredevil, but his takedown of Fisk has created a massive power vacuum in Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal underground. The Irish want to fill it, but while they’re making their big plans, they get massacred by a hailstorm of about a million bullets. The lone survivor seeks out Nelson & Murdock for help getting out of crime without getting killed. Criminals all over the city are terrified of whoever took out the Irish, and the Irish aren’t the only ones who got hit. The Dogs of Hell, a biker gang, also sustained several losses, as Foggy discovers when he very bravely goes to pay them a visit. Matt finds the headquarters of this unseen enemy, as well as a few bodies on meat hooks. One is still alive. He tells Matt it’s just one dude massacring gangs and mafia guys, not a faction. Karen is with the lone Irish survivor when the shooter busts his way in to finish the job. Karen gets him out, and before the shooter can deliver a headshot from a neighboring rooftop, Matt attacks him. They fight, and Matt mostly has the upper hand, but what he does not have is a gun. The other guy shoots him in the head. Credits!
 
Okay, so there’s some clear parallelism in the way the camera deals with Matt in vigilante mode and with Frank Castle. Lots of silhouettes and partial views, or we just see the back or side of a head instead of the face. The face is saved for last. That kind of parallelism suggests Frank is going to be the main foil to Matt this season, like Fisk was in S1. It’s also never a good thing when a character makes a promise at the beginning of a story arc, so if Matt promised Foggy he won’t lose him, then that means, in some sense or another, he absolutely is going to lose him by the end of the season. I’d say S2 is off to a pretty solid start so far. I really like that everything isn't just happily ever after because Fisk and his allies are no longer a problem. A takedown like that would have many consequences, not all of them good.
 
Things I Liked

• The way we don’t see Matt entirely until the end of that opening sequence
• “Do I look capable of making healthy life choices?”
• Karen’s shirt!
  

• They have clients! Who unfortunately only seem to be paying them in food.
• The arms dealer guy calling Daredevil “D” when he’s begging him to go easy on him
• Karen has Ben’s car! And now it’s getting shot up.
• The way we don’t see Frank clearly until the end of his and Matt’s fight

 
Things I Didn’t

• Why are people always running through busy restaurant kitchens in chase scenes? Doesn’t seem like the best way to get away unnoticed. Maybe if you’re going to pick a crowded place to run through, don’t pick one where everyone has access to large knives?
• The detective who seems to only be able to react to things by comparing them to his penis, for some reason
• Matt’s optimism about their financial situation paired with no plan to fix it
• PEOPLE ON MEAT HOOKS
• Matt getting shot in the head

 
The Characters
Matt’s protecting the city every single night because he would blame himself if someone got hurt. This is what led to Jessica’s sleep deprivation. She got hit by a car. What’s going to happen to Matt? Especially now that Punisher has proved him right by wiping out the Irish the night he does take off. And then again by beating him in a fight. He’s probably going to feel like he has no choice but to push even harder than ever.
 
Foggy has an impressive amount of guts. He is a super average dude, but he just walked into a murderous biker gang’s lair on the extremely narrow thread of credibility being third grade classmates with one of their members grants him, and he managed not to wet himself or cry hysterically when that thread snapped. And then, instead of bolting at the earliest possible second, he doggedly stayed put until he got the information he came for. Foggy is amazing.
 
So I guess we’re not dealing with Karen’s backstory or the fact that she killed Wesley or the fact that she doesn’t know Matt’s Daredevil yet. Humph. But at least she’s still mad stylin’ in her pencil skirts and pretty blouses. And whoa boy is that crush she had on Matt last season way less subtle now.
 
Overall Rating
4.5/5