daredevil season 2 musings

***There will lots of Daredevil spoilers in this post. If you don't want to be spoiled, you should probably go watch it and come back and read this, I'll wait.....***

So this is my first official TV rambling, how very exciting! I wasn't sure what show I should start with, I thought maybe Parks and Recreation because Leslie Knope is everything, I mean EV-ERY-THING. (this is what I was thinking in my head when I typed that. Original and Community. I have a sickness) but I just finished Daredevil Season 2 and it's fresh in my mind so that settles THAT, hmm.

I want to start with a disclaimer that I am not a comic book fan. I don't know anything about any comic book unless its a Buffy comic book and I only read like 3 of those so I don't even know much about them either. THE POINT IS, I am not here to argue if it was good or close to the comic book portrayal. Again, to be clear: I. do. not. give. a. shit. I don't care if in issue #152 Elektra has a peanut allergy and on the TV show she eats trail mix. That shit does not matter to me. If it matters to you, I'm sorry; you must live a small, sad, little life and this blog is probably not for you. I am writing about Daredevil: the Netflix TV show and it's place in the larger Marvel TV/movie-universe, not to debate the downfalls of the TV portrayal compared to the comic book. Let me live. Okay?

ANYWAYS, let me start off with what I loved, loved, l-o-v-e-d. Punisher. Frank mother fucking Castle. I can tell you the moment I knew that I liked him, as he was walking out of the pawn shop and the dude was yelling at him to buy porn and offered some ages 12 and under. Mr. Castle stopped and the pawn shop creep was like oh yeah you like that young shit. I vomited a little in my mouth, and I know Frank did too because he locked up that fucking shop and took out Creepy VonKiddiePornPeddler and from that moment, I was pretty much on the Punisher train. Frank Castle is mostly this enigmatic dude- quiet, reserved, murdery. And then when he speaks, its some fucking poetry. The writing team really upped their game with his dialogue. 

Two bits of dialogue really stuck out to me:

Daredevil and Frank Castle talking about the effects of war and loss on the rooftop.

"We don't get to pick the things that fix us, Red, that makes us whole." (at around 4:30) That line, jeez Louise, that line.... it hit me like a ton of bricks. How many times have I gone through something and did whatever I could to feel better again, a lot of times it wasn't particularly good or healthy? You just do and try whatever you can to fix that hole in your heart. I get that, man. This whole argument between the two of them, that's the moment I fell in love with the Punisher. Jon Bernthal brings so much to him, so much depth. He's not some killing machine, he's not just judge, jury, and executioner. He's something else, he's still figuring it out.

The second bit of dialogue that stuck out to me is Frank talking to Daredevil in the cemetery about coming home from Iraq to his daughter and being tired.

First off, Jon Bernthal is acting the FUCK out of this scene. You can almost physically feel his heartbreak echoing out of the screen, he still feels so tired. An achy, down into your bones, into your soul tiredness, something I have never experienced but I have seen. My brother was in the military and served overseas and when he came home, I remember a time he stood in the kitchen with all the cabinet doors opened, just staring. I asked him what he needed, and he just shrugged and said I don't know. Our whole conversation felt loaded and heavy, like we were obviously talking about something much bigger than what cereal he should eat. And this whole monologue, it felt like that. It completely captured for me that moment with my brother in my kitchen, it's perfect and completely heartrending and it nailed it. It's been a couple weeks since this aired and this scene in particular has weighed in my mind, two separate moments with equal emotional depth. The tiredness of war, the helplessness of not being able to understand, the disconnect between the two.

I'm going to throw in this video too, not because of any dialogue (because there isn't any) but just because it's my favorite part of the both seasons. Punisher getting murdery,

I love his white jumpsuit highlighting that he's an outsider and all that blood. I watch this whenever I get a particularly terrible customer service call at work (if you've ever worked customer service phone support, or just customer service in general, you feel me on this one), it calms my soul.

I also really enjoyed Elektra. I was happy to see her fight scenes were as difficult, bloody, and complex as the boys (thank God!). It was how I wished the Jessica Jones fight scenes would have been (not that I didn't like Jessica Jones, I loved it, that's just a song for another night). She had a compelling backstory both with Matt and with Stick and I loved all of her flashbacks, they were like rings on a tree. It's been fantastic to watch these comic book TV shows when you enjoy watching bad bitches. The Marvel movies are mostly lacking in that department. I mean yes, Black Widow is quintessential bad bitch, obviously. But all the movies that she was in, she was always a side note, an after thought, a plot device even. Gross. That's one of the things I love most about these Marvel TV shows, Elektra, Karen, Jessica Jones, even Melinda May, Daisy, Gemma, and Bobbi on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and after last weeks episode of AoS, I will be fucking writing about that, BRB, crying forever), are treated like equals with their male counterparts. Their storylines are not supplemental, it doesn't feel like it's added in for diversity's sake, it feels integral because IT IS (which is lovely to see because, ya know, women are integral to life and stories and existing, etc). (OK- Mini rant: one stupid thing that did bother me was Karen, with no journalist experience, not only getting hired on at a newspaper, which LOL why?, but getting a FUCKING OFFICE? No one else had that office since Ben died in season 1??? COME THE FUCK ON, I am willing to suspend my reality to watch a show about superheroes but IN WHAT WORLD???? okay, mini rant over.)

So on to what was the weakest point for me, Daredevil himself. I'm probably going to get some flack for this so let me preface it with this: I will repeat myself from earlier, I do not give a shit. Moving on to how Matt Murdock/Daredevil's story arc and fight scenes were the weakest point of the show. Don't get me wrong, Daredevil with the chain and fighting Hell's Angels in the stairwell, that was Grade A shit. But that was the end of episode 4. After that, there was this lull in the show. Punisher was in the hospital/court/jail and the story was focused on Matt's... love life? Really? I mean, I get it, of course there's going to be somewhat of a shift- Elektra used to date Matt. So there's that back story and that tension, but then we have to bring in Karen? That's what didn't make sense for me, that whole bit felt like creating drama for drama's sake. I don't care for that kind of shit, I guess the writers felt that something needed to happen specifically between Karen and Matt for them to fall out like Matt and Foggy, I don't agree though. I think Matt acting selfishly and carelessly was always going to alienate Karen, just as it did with Foggy. 

Besides Daredevil's love story arc, there's the fighting scenes and much to be desired from there. Season 1 had much grittier, hard core, intense fighting and season 2 left me wanting more a lot of the time (assuming Punisher or Elektra wasn't fighting). I remember in season 1, Daredevil fighting Nobu, the entire length of the episode (flashbacks/forwards) and the intensity and danger it brought every time you were dumped back into the fight. Here in season 2, Daredevil fights Nobu again, annnnnnd.... I don't even remember it. It clearly didn't matter whatever it was, there was nothing all that memorable about it. With the exception of the bad ass chain/Hell's Angels/hallway fight scene, Daredevil's fights were "meh" (Again, unless he was fighting Punisher or Elektra, those two really brought the goods this season). Maybe it was his suit, it physically slowed him down so everything was just not as intense, or maybe I'm misremembering season 1. Who knows, I just remember thinking in the middle of the season "I wish Daredevil would bring the pain again", then almost immediately after I thought that, enter Wilson Fisk. It was fucking spooky.

And yes, Wilson fucking Fisk. I think I screamed when he came on  my screen, and by think I mean I did. That was exactly the jolt the show needed to get moving on out of the lull it was falling into. And thanks to Mr. Fisk, we got the jail fight scene. Bless us all!

All in all, Daredevil season 2 really delivered but if Elektra and Punisher don't come back for season 3, the writers will need to step up their game on Matt and Foggy. Maybe get a better costume for the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, something he can move in (sidenote: UMMM AWESOME BATON STICK THROWY THINGS, THAT WAS COOL!) and have Foggy do something besides whine about Matt. Looking forward to Foggy working with Jeri Hogarth because CROSSOVER! I can't wait to see his interactions with Jessica, OMG.  But I have little doubt that the writers will pull out something awesome next season too and can I just say, I cannot WAIT for Luke Cage (he's soooooo dreamy!).

Let me know what you think, if I'm out of line, if I'm right (I am, but okay) etc. Thanks for reading my ramblings!