Daredevil, Season 1, Episode 9: Speak of the Devil
I don't quite like this episode as much as I probably should, but mostly it's because of the odd pacing of having Daredevil fight Nobu (dressed in full Hand ninja garb) and cutting back and forth in a 'how we got there' moment... except we didn't really need to have this how-we-got-there and it doesn't really make sense. On the bad guys' side, Nobu is talking about how he's going to send "somebody" when the audience knows full well it's Nobu and it's weird, whereas Matt is struggling to think if he should kill Wilson Fisk in one of the show's best character development for our lead character, and it just seems out of place for it to be cut back and forth with this ninja fight we have no context for.
And it's a shame, really, because the ninja fight is easily one of the most well-choreographed fights in the season, and the conversation between Matt and the Father Lantom is easily one of the strongest moments in the series. But cutting back and forth kind of dilutes it for no real discernible reason. But hey.
I do love the progression of Matt's thoughts from how he meets Vanessa and later Wilson Fisk himself in the art gallery. Matt and Vanessa's scenes are well done for both of them too, with Vanessa talking about how art isn't just furniture and how you can appreciate art better with someone describing it to him... a wonderful scene, especially when Matt realizes that, well, even a devil (a recurring theme in this episode is the devil) has its loved ones that will mourn his death.
And having Matt as a very spiritual and religious character after a fashion really works in his favour... I don't think I've actually encountered a religious superhero in TV or movie format. There are several in the DC comics I've read, but having the main character here, Daredevil, be actually religious without it being preachy at all, really works great as he talks to Father Lantom about his struggles on to kill or not to kill, as well as a lot of talks about angels and devils and whatnot. There's a distinct feel of the age-long fan discussion of 'why doesn't Batman just kill the Joker?' and Matt himself is considering this pathway. Granted Wilson Fisk is a lot more human than the Joker, but he's still, well, a monstrous villain. And having the hero struggle with whether the age-long 'real heroes don't stoop to the level of killing' thing is pretty well done.
And as much as I hate comparing shows... this is a lot better than how Arrow handled the 'kill/no-kill' rule.
And the talk about the devil being a fearsome monster gets a bit foreshadowed as Matt adapts a bit of the devil symbolism when he puts the everloving fear into the heart of the confused junkie who clearly isn't in his right mind when he was forced to kill Mrs. Cardenas, and scaring the junkie all Batman-like to surrender himself to the police or 'I'll come for you'. It's also pretty well done that the asshole who killed lovable Mrs. Cardenas isn't some 'mwa-ha-ha I am obviously a jackass' monster of a human being that Daredevil can just beat into a pulp while the audience cheer but just a confused drug addict who doesn't even want to do the job.
We get a bit of an escalation as Mrs. Cardenas gets killed off-screen by what is no doubt one of Fisk's men. It's heartwrenching especially for Karen and Foggy, the later whom blames himself for pushing the case to fight for the little people. The scenes with Cardenas earlier in this season really helped out to make her a likeable character, and even if it's obvious that she's going to be killed off later in the series, the shocker really comes that Cardenas isn't even killed off because the tenant problem is bothersome to Fisk's organization, but rather she is bait to get Daredevil to hunt Fisk down and eventually fall into the trap against Nobu... itself a plan by Fisk to get two troublesome elements to possibly wipe each other out. A perfect follow-up to last episode's big Kingpin-centric focus.
Daredevil versus Nobu was a brutal fight, a well-choreographed fight, and one that furthermore confirms that Nobu is part of a larger organization that's more than your regular yakuza (*cough*the Hand*cough*). And, well, for whatever reason Nobu needs a specific block? That's weird, and we don't get an explanation for this for the rest of the season. We get more hints of a coming 'war' and Nobu confronts Daredevil about possibly being in the same organization as Stick, which is more foreshadowing. Nobu's cool, though, with his 'I respect you as a fighter' speech and his ninja skills. But Nobu gets burnt alive and that's horrifying and awesome because he keeps fighting even as a human effigy. But exit Nobu and the Japanese elements, leaving only Madame Gao, Leland Owlsey and James Wesley as Kingpin's lieutenants.
I'm not quite sure why the show doesn't explore the fact that Daredevil, if accidentally, caused Nobu to fucking burn to his death, when he was so confused about killing and death earlier in this episode. Or maybe Nobu isn't quite dead when Matt is still around, just nearly dead? And Kingpin's men finished the job later on? Whatever.
And then, bloodied and bruised, Daredevil is forced to contend when Wilson Fisk and his men show up, and Wilson Fisk's brutal beatdown of Daredevil is absolutely well-done. Nothing much to say beyond that.
The near-dead Matt then has to be discovered by Foggy, who these past few episodes has been pretty obviously spouting off how the vigilante is a psychotic copkilling nutjob, and, well, this betrayal's shaping up to be an obligatory gigantic drama storm next episode and I'm definitely not looking forward to that. Boo.
Other than the eye-rolling promise of drama I won't be interested in, though, it's a great episode through and through, odd sequencing aside.
No comments:
Post a Comment