Among Netflix’s expanding Marvel properties, Daredevil is definitely a frontrunner in terms of quality and storytelling. The release of its first season was a watershed moment for both Netflix and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Satiating fresh viewers and diehard fans with proper comic book action bolstered by a morally complex world nestled safely outside the confines of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and in-universe films. Season 2 was an ambitious one, to say the least with the show moving ever closer to its comic roots, with mixed results. The Defenders…was less than stellar. With this season, however, Daredevil reminds us all once again why The Man Without Fear is a force to be reckoned with.
Matt Murdock against all odds is still alive but his war with the Hand as seen in Defenders has left him a completely different person. He’s lost and adrift, unsure of his purpose as he still tries to do good as the Masked Man. He is aided by a mysterious nun who intends to keep him on the straight and narrow. Meanwhile, his friends, investigative journalist Karen Page and respected lawyer Foggy Nelson try to cope with Matt being gone.
Little do they know, all three are on a collision course with one particular individual that has marked them all, Wilson Fisk. A powerful crime lord who has managed to game the legal system and create his very own private army out of FBI agents. His most loyal and deadly instrument being Special Agent Ben Poindexter, a turncoat psychopath with deadly marksmanship. This will be Matt’s greatest challenge yet. He must struggle against the law, Fisk, his faith and a pretender to the mantle of Daredevil.
Season 3’s plot merges the character development and focus of the first and the ambition of the second to bring us easily one of the best story arcs on Netflix’s Marvel series so far. The first five episodes can feel a bit of a grind, with Karen and Foggy’s hunt for Fisk feeling played out and redundant. That being said, watching Fisk manipulate and manoeuvre around Poindexter to turn him into his soldier in the aforementioned episodes, more than makes up for it.
Fisk’s father-son relationship with Poindexter definitely had me intrigued, filling me with so many questions. Is Fisk toying with Dex or does he actually care for him? Will Dex come to his senses? Now that’s a character arc! All culminating in the eight-episode when we see where his true allegiance lies. Therefore, it’s just such a shame that a major revelation for Matt is executed so hamfistedly in the final moments of it. Without, giving too much away let’s just say the manner in which he receives it is ridiculously unceremonious. Execution aside, the major reveal itself fits within the plot and tone that the series establishes in this season.
Some other interesting aspects of this season are its themes of abandonment and faith. Daredevil has always, always kept a spiritual side on things. In fact, a lot of Matthew’s values were rooted in his Catholic faith but what happens when he loses his way? Similarly, Poindexter’s faith in the system and people are challenged as well. This leads to both of them going down very similar and yet different paths. Furthermore, there’s a sort of poetry in having a blind man battle a man with perfect aim and vision.
If you’ve followed the series so far, you’d probably know the principal cast and that most of them have had plenty of time to settle into their roles. Charlie Cox once again does a great job as Matt Murdock, bringing the same heart and conviction to his character. His crisis of faith was one that many fans have seen as a long time coming. Therefore, when it arrives it feels natural. We get to see Deborah Ann Woll flex her range as the broken but determined journalist Karen Page, especially in the tenth episode.
Elden Henson as Matt’s friend Foggy Nelson doesn’t have much in way of character development this season. I suppose that’s not really necessary seeing that he’s always meant to be Matt’s North Star. Vincent D’Onofrio’s performance as Wilson Fisk was pure theatre from start to finish. His depiction of the modern day Machiavelli is a thing of beauty. Though his primary motivation, his lover Vanessa Marianna, can feel heavy-handed, it gives him enough humanity to do justice to the character. Fisk in his element this season.
The newcomers aren’t slacking around either. Much like Homeland Security Agent Madani in The Punisher, we get an everyman perspective of the situation through FBI Agent Rahul Nadeem. I enjoyed following Nadeem’s journey through Fisk’s seedy underworld. Yes, he is one of those dedicated family man archetypes. An easy shorthand for us to connect with but I won’t fault the show for this. With a world that’s already so established with players entering and exiting on stage, the showrunners are just being economical. That being said, they took their damn sweet time with Wilson Bethel as Ben Poindexter aka Fakedevil. Right from the start, Bethel’s character seems on the verge of snapping, making Fisk seem all the more likeable as a proxy father figure to the orphan.
As for the cinematography, this season has been experimenting with various techniques to set an atmosphere. The most prominent example is when Fisk is going through Poindexter’s files. The scene plays with monochromatic colours and switches perspectives in lieu of just handing us cutaway flashbacks. The hallucination scenes with Matt Murdock uses different depth of fields to give us his mental state when his dead father or an imaginary Fisk talking to him. Sometimes, we can’t really see their faces or they remain behind Matt, projecting them as unreal or ethereal. That is until he confronts his mental projection of Fisk and he becomes “real”, signifying Matt coming to terms with his fears.
It’s become a recurring trope for the show to have one amazing tracking shot of Daredevil fighting his way through some narrow corridor or stairway. They’re normally the highlight of a season. Strangely enough, they aren’t this time around. Don’t get me wrong, there is one and it’s pretty cool. It is however overshadowed by the faceoff we get with Matt as the Masked Man confronting Poindexter’s Fakedevil in the Bulletin office. There were some truly jaw-dropping moments with Fakedevil making deadly projectiles out of any weapon he could get his hands on. An awesome change of pace from the meaty melees we have seen from the first two seasons. The church scene is also a close second in my book.
Daredevil Season 3 shows that there’s still plenty of fire left in it. Learning from its mistake and successes, the show hones in what makes it so great and disregarding its more tedious elements. This season is in a way a sort of reset, so fans old and new can jump into it without feeling lost. Though, veterans will feel the sting of fatigue in a few episodes. Nevertheless, Daredevil more than makes up for its shortcomings with standout performances, a solid plot and plenty of intrigues to go around. It looks like the Devil has found redemption. You can catch Daredevil season 3 on Netflix today.
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