Marvel’s Daredevil Season 2 Savors True Purpose and Brutality
By William G Chandler Jr., March 19, 2016
Thomas Jane as the Punisher, in the 2004 film, presents a creation that has character. That Punisher was clean, in the best sense. Marvel’s Daredevil Season 2 presents a great mess. Wilson Fisk and the other syndicates no longer run the city with ease. Various gangs fight for control of Hell’s Kitchen in part of a nasty, community election. Daredevil, Matt Murdock, is accustomed to crime prevention. He has armor.
However, a rival from the shadows, Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal, signifies a final force against crime. Bullets make holes. Criminals die in a city that endures a summer blaze. Punisher, a divine, military agent, embraces the super human mission of killing crime. Initially, he views Matt Murdock’s agile efforts as cowardly. Around the fourth episode, called Penny and Dime, Punisher accrues a respect for the devil of Hell’s Kitchen.
Warning: Daredevil Season 2 Spoilers Follow!
Daredevil, played by Charlie Cox, needs armor to hide his identity and protect his body. Frank Castle, Punisher, is body armor with one single purpose. All men have weaknesses. Frank Castle is a man without his family, taken by crime. His body can endure any punishment, and deal it out. However, his mind needs to find a place for peace and hope. Punisher establishes Season 2 as a place where allies, with different attack methods, find each other in the shadows.
Daredevil and Elektra Natchios, played by Elodie Yung, introduce intimate conflict to the mid-point of Season 2. Elektra, an old, intimate connection, of Matt Murdock’s needs his help as a lawyer and the crime fighter, Daredevil, against a secretive enemy. The wealthy Miss Natchios, in a search for excitement, finds the duality of Matt Murdock exotic. She knows him well enough, abuses this, and twists his reality. Her weakness is accepting that she cannot bend Matt Murdock to her will completely and into darkness. However, this does not stop her continual efforts.
Karen Page, played by Deborah Ann Woll, represents the premier associate of Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson’s firm. Miss Page’s legacy grows as she continues the work of a former skillful reporter, Ben Urich. She also plays Matt Murdock’s great good to Elektra’s manipulative cruelty.
Foggy Nelson, played by Eldon Henson, plays the smart, hard-nosed law counterpart to Matt Murdock. He fights against a character named District Attorney Reyes. She is intent on creating a case to get her into New York’s mayoral office. However, she institutes a process that may connect to the Marvel Universe in a very interesting way, as it relates to Captain America: Civil War.
This show continues to impress because of its street level start and its continual growth into a wide reality. The idea of the Punisher and Daredevil’s discussion on crime prevention ethics is amazing. The Kingpin did happen and will happen again. Elektra is right out of the comics. An epic trial occurs that is not the Trial of the Incredible Hulk. Daredevil is not fluff, or lack of substance but real action, and drama that knows its past.
Special thanks to Goldenmurals Art!