Marvel's Daredevil Season 2: 10 Ups And 2 Downs
The moments that were Elektra-fying, and those Punishing to watch.
How did you spend your weekend?
Lol, as if I even need to ask. Daredevil Season 2 dropped into Netflix on Friday, ensuring that anyone who enjoyed the first instalment - i.e. anyone who watched it - was ready to give up their weekend and any pretensions of having a social life in order to binge-watch all 13 episodes as quickly as possible.
Thankfully, despite meaning close to 13 hours of television, it wasn't an arduous task. Far from it, in fact. While the first season focused on Daredevil's origins and his battle with Wilson Fisk, this broadened the scope to introduce Elektra, the Hand, and of course The Punisher.
It was Jon Bernthal's addition that everyone was most hyped for, and suffice to say he didn't disappoint, delivering the definitive version of The Punisher. He was a big reason, though certainly not the only one, that the second outing for The Man Without Fear was just as dramatic, action-packed, and ultimately great viewing as the first - if not even better.
The stakes were raised, the action increased, relationships were made and destroyed, and their were mysteries at every turn. Was it perfect? No, there were a couple of missteps, but on the whole it was a !*$% good season of TV.
Firstly, a look at the many things Season 2 got right.
12. Building Upon Season 1
As mentioned, the first season of Daredevil was a great success, delivering a take on the character that banished any lingering memories of the 2003 film, and was exciting, dramatic, and fun to whizz through in an entire weekend.
If the events of The Avengers led to Daredevil, then the events of that first season lead us to Season 2. Hell's Kitchen is a different place now: the rise of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen gives rise to a new wave of vigilantism, while Fisk being put behind bars opens a power vacuum that is begging to be filled.
It's a logical follow-up, and though there's plenty in this season that stands alone, it's good to see it build upon that great first season and use those foundations as the basis for the various directions it goes in, from Matt and Karen's relationship to the emergence of the Punisher, the return of Fisk, and the mysterious new villains on the scene.