It’s been my prediction (and hope) that the future of
television lies in the bolstering model of instant streaming. With the number of Netflix Originals growing
from zero to over a dozen in just three years, series’ like House of Cards and
Orange Is the New Black are paving the way for other series which may have too
niche a market for cable or network television.
As they are with most cultural advancements, Marvel has
placed their name at the forefront of this content delivery model by announcing
not one, but five series, later announced to be partnered with Netflix, to be
released over the next few years. Set to
deal with more “street level” characters than their costumed counterparts on
the big screen, these series are led by The Man Without Fear, Marvel's Daredevil,
premiering its initial season (consisting of 13 episodes) on April 10th,
2015.
I just finished the first episode and I have to say, it is
better than I expected. And I expected a
lot. The concept is right up my alley: a
superhero (my favorite Marvel character at that) paired with a street level
crime show? Sign me up. But I didn’t think it would be this good. The first episode is directed by Phil
Abraham, a guy I know best as the director of 13 episodes (several of which
were nominated for Primetime Emmys) of one of my favorite shows on television,
Mad Men. His directorial credits also include
an episode each of Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, and two episodes of Sons of
Anarchy. Right off the bat, Abraham’s
involvement in the series bring quite a bit of credibility from some
heavyweight prestige format dramas. I
took notes while watching the first episode and quite a few of them involved
how well shot the episode is. Seeing
Abraham’s name in the credits explained every single bit of that. Being a cinematographer by trade, Abraham
knows how to frame a shot. The scene
just after the opening titles (which are f***ing DOPE, by the by) takes place
in a Catholic confessional. The ever so
slight zoom toward Matt Murdock’s face as he gives a monologue adds a startling
amount of gravity to a scene that otherwise might have fallen flat. Speaking of Mr. Murdock, he is portrayed by
Charlie Cox, a British actor whose credits include last year’s Academy Award
nominated The Theory of Everything, an episode of Downton Abbey, and roughly
two seasons’ worth of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.
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| Based on how dark this show will get, I don't think anyone will say that Mr. Murdock looks at life through rose-colored glasses. That, and he's blind. |
Cox portrays Matt Murdock well in this first 53 minute
outing, and I have no doubt he’ll do even better as the season progresses to
darker depths. One thing I was weary to
see how it was visualized is the “sonar-like” effect Matt’s superpower gives
him. How do you show that on screen
without being hokey? According to the
showrunners, and to my delight, you don’t.
Killing the extra sounds, focusing solely on what Matt is hearing, and
slowing down the motion on screen displays Matt’s power well, in my opinion.
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| Foggy Nelson, Matt's law firm partner and best friend |
One thing Marvel-ites tout over DC fans is the live action
depictions of Marvel characters typically contain more humor than their DC
counterparts. Daredevil continues this
trend with the light-hearted banter between Matt and his law firm partner and friend,
Foggy Nelson. Quick asides during
meetings with a real estate agent, and later their first client, Karen Page,
show this quite well.
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| Ms. Karen Page |
Speaking of Karen Page (with whom I fell in love halfway
through the episode), she is played by the lovely Deborah Ann Woll of True Blood
fame. Her character is at the center of
the inciting incident for the entire plot of the season. Essentially, she is being framed for murder
by a crime boss for whom she used to work.
Her innocence in the murder is proven quickly by Matt and his ability to
detect whether or not someone is lying based on their heart rate. This same ability later brings into question
in Matt’s mind just how much she knows about her former employer’s criminal
activity.
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| Absorbing Man versus Battlin' Jack |
One of the coolest things in this episode was just how
closely knit it is with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nothing is directly said at all, but subtle
hints are dropped throughout the episode.
A quick shot in the gym where Matt is training shows a fight poster from
his dad’s boxing career. The poster is
promoting a fight between Matt’s dad, “Battlin’” Jack Murdock and Carl “Crusher”
Creel. Fans of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
might recognize that name as a villain that appeared in the first episode of
this season of AoS. Creel, known to
comic fans as the Absorbing Man, is actually a Hulk villain.
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| Absorbing Man on the second season premiere of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. |
Another instance is concerning the purchase of Matt and
Foggy’s offices for the Murdock & Nelson law firm. There’s mention by the real estate agent of a
cut in the price due to the “incident” (to which Matt responds, “Is that what
we’re calling it now?”). I didn’t pick
up on this at first, but when a second mention is made later on, I realized
they were talking about these guys:
And this:
Mentions like this really help to bring the show in tighter
to the MCU continuity and give a sense of real world consequences that the
Avengers and their actions have on the rest of the world.
The Daredevil fan in me really wants to see an appearance made
by the original yellow suit. I know it won’t happen, a little wink and a nod would be pretty cool,
though.
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| Cover to Daredevil: Yellow #1 written by Jeph Loeb, who is now the head of Marvel's television division |
In his pair of outings as a vigilante in this episode, Matt
sticks with a set of black pants and a black shirt. It will be interesting to see how he
transitions into the red costume later in the season.
One thing I loved about the episode was how origin light it
was. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts,
I’m not huge on straight origin stories, mainly because I feel the origins
could be told better than by showing everything on screen and in sequential
order. This episode achieves both of
those goals in the first scene (a very well done, emotional scene showing how
Matt lost his sight in a childhood accident) and later in a strategically
placed flashback during a fight scene (the flashback features his father and
the aftermath of a fight). In just those
two scenes, we got the cause of Matt’s disability and the reason for his powers
to develop and the beginnings of his devotion to law and justice in the scene
with his father. Easily done in less
than three minutes where other shows may have taken an entire episode.
Quick thoughts:
- The attempted murder on Karen was well done.
- I love the legal aspect of the show. A procedural cop drama has been done to death, but a procedural law show? That’s different.
- “It’s perfect ‘Chechnyan’s kidnap a pre-schooler’ weather, Vladimir.” LOL.
- I love how the mysterious crime boss (SPOILER ALERT: it’s Kingpin) gets a Voldemort-esque treatment from the criminal underlings.
- The fight scenes are very gritty. It helps to show Matt’s inexperience.
- But at the same time, he’s not THAT inexperienced. We’ll get to see his training in flashbacks in later episodes, I assume.
- The events of The Avengers (2012) serve as a backdrop for the entire episode and the plot of this season. I love it.
- I really want to see Bullseye, but I believe it’s been confirmed that he will not appear this season.
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| Daredevil's most well known and deadly villain, Bullseye |
All in all, it was a fantastic first episode. I can’t wait to binge on the rest of the
season. I plan to write two more posts (one
covering episodes 2-7 and one covering 8-13) for the show in the next week or
two.
As always, thanks for reading!
-Josh
All
characters, and images in this blog are owned and trademarked
by Marvel Comics, a division of the Walt Disney Corporation.
