Daredevil, Season 1, Episode 4: In The Blood
Well that was a lot better than the previous episode. And by a lot I do mean by a huge margin. This is a relatively villain-centric episode with a good bulk of it focusing on our main villain -- Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. the (future) Kingpin, as well as the Russian brothers that are part of Fisk's multi-racial criminal organization. Meanwhile, the good guys' share of screentime is split between Karen and Urich's little team-up in trying to hunt down clues and Daredevil having to rescue Claire from the Russians.
Let's talk about the good guys first, because I do have less to talk about them. I do like the exploration of how utterly stupid Karen's attempts at trying to one-man-show the whole "uncover the gigantic criminal conspiracy" was, and how she nearly got herself killed. Points for balls, though. And as I mentioned before, the idea of Ben Urich's role in this story is pretty well-done, and no one really believed he was going to leave Karen out to dry. The two have teamed up, ready to tackle the expose with Urich's greater experience... and we get some backstories snuck in too rather subtly and marvelously, a short backstory about Urich's tragic love story and how he didn't appreciate his wife enough because he was a workaholic, and some hints to some dirt in Karen's past. We also get some bonus "people who cross the Kingpin are disposed of" information too which is a nice little bonus.
The Daredevil part is honestly a bit more familiar territory to anyone who's watched or read anything from the superhero genre, where Daredevil is confronted with one of his allies, in this case Claire, captured by the bad guys and savagely interrogated to get to him. And having a crisis of whether he is going the right thing, before his allies ensure him that, yes, he is. Claire gets something to do when he bashes the Russian leader's head in, so despite the talk about Daredevil putting people in comas, she's not above some self-defensive violence herself. The whole sequence about the whole 'confronting what he is doing' is done a lot more succinctly and a lot less meandering than, say, Arrow did, so props for that. There really isn't anything particularly special or noteworthy about the Daredevil scenes this time around, but they're definitely well done.
One thing I do like is the ready acknowledgement that the people Daredevil fight actually do get hurt. The dirty cop that Daredevil threw off a roof in episode two is in a coma and him brushing it off kind of builds his darker character a bit, and sets the tone for the grittier setting this takes place in.
Also Daredevil was totally pulling off a Batman in that scene. And Batman predator scenes impressed me when I was seven, and will probably continue to impress me until I'm seventy.
Kingpin is where it's at, though. I am the first to admit that I'm not that well-versed with Marvel Comics characters, so I'm not quite sure how accurate this portrayal of Kingpin is -- all I knew from the old Spider-Man cartoons I used to watch is that he's basically a mafia version of Lex Luthor... and this episode really delves into just what makes Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, tick. We see that he subverts most of the trope of the super-cultured Blofeld-esque rich mafia-boss type villain that people like Don Corleone or Lex Luthor are. I do love how he acts like a lovesick little boy around the girl from the art museum last episode -- named Vanessa, apparently -- and it is absolutely a powerful and strong performance from D'Onofrio in this episode.
I do love how he just subverts the super-cultured stereotype by straight-up admitting that he doesn't understand a god damned thing about wine, how he gives in to vices like eating that funny dessert he likes... and is so wonderfully adorkable when he tries to interact with Vanessa with some really awesome facial expressions. How a date can be far more interesting than Daredevil trying to rescue an ally being tortured I don't know, but Kingpin makes it work. And then we get a display of power when the sane Russian brother came in, since the whole restaurant stands up in defense of Kingpin. And we get such believably human expressions from Kingpin when Vanessa gives an equally humanly ambiguous reply at the end. Hell, Kingpin really feels human all around, with that unguarded expression of "shit did I say something wrong" and "oh I think I said a cool line" at various points during the dinner. And that's not counting the little speech about his motivations, which in itself is pretty awesomely scripted.
And, of course, we get a stark contrast to his innocently cultured side by having him utterly brutalize the Russian brother than barged in to sue for peace. And this is a scene which is actually made better by the gore, unlike the gratuitous examples from last episode. It underscores just how powerful Kingpin is (and how prepared, considering he went into the fight with body armour) and how utterly brutal he is. I did think the head-smashy scene with the car door did go on for a bit too long, but on the other hand it underscores Kingpin's rage against the Russian brother from interrupting his date, and a stark contrast to the cultured Kingpin from a scene ago, just trying his hardest to talk about wine and paintings and his desire to reform the city with a girl he likes.
It also underscores something more important about Kingpin. It's no stranger to anyone watching fiction for a main villain to kill off lesser villains for disappointing or slighting him/her, but Kingpin beats the Russian guy up -- the Russian brother who wanted peace, by the way, which was what Kingpin wanted -- simply because he fucked up his date. And honestly it wasn't even irreparably ruined either. But it does show that Kingpin is a far more, well, emotion-driven being than what we was initially led to believe, him being just this supreme gangster overlord. And I do love this little direction we're taking.
Wesley, Kingpin's right hand man, has a relatively smaller role this time around but still continues to entertain, especially at the end with his utter indifference of the brutality happening just inches away.
The Russians themselves... well, I do think that we did spend a wee bit too much time on them, and what was the purpose of the first flashback scene, or extending the 'wake up the dude in a coma' scene too long. But since the surviving brother (Vladimir?) seem to be shaping up to play a role in fighting Kingpin in the next two or three episodes, I guess we do need to care about them somewhat. But eh, he ain't gonna stand half a chance against Kingpin, honestly. When Daredevil alone can Batman-style the shit out of their entire forces...
Overall, definitely my favourite Daredevil episode out of the four I watched so far and I do hope the quality stays around the same.
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