Episode Rankings: Daredevil

Daredevil is one of the best superhero shows of all time, definitely the best MCU show that's for sure. The casting and acting is top-notch, the action is some of the best of all time, and the darker tone really helps Daredevil establish its own voice compared to the rest of the MCU. If only it went on just a bit longer, though, three seasons just isn't enough. Here's my ranking:

1. Blindsided (S3.04) - The third awesome long take
2. New York's Finest (S2.03) - The second awesome long take
3. A New Napkin (S3.13)
4. The Devil You Know (S3.06)
5. Daredevil (S1.13)
6. A Cold Day In Hell's Kitchen (S2.13)
7. One Last Shot (S3.12)
8. Penny And Dime (S2.08)
9. Speak Of The Devil (S1.09)
10. Seven Minutes In Heaven (S2.09)
11. Revelations (S3.09)
12. Cut Man (S1.02) - The first awesome long take
13. The Dark At The End Of The Tunnel (S2.12)
14. Bang (S2.01)
15. Condemned (S1.06)
16. Reunion (S3.11)
17. Upstairs/Downstairs (S3.08)
18. Stick (S1.07)
19. Guilty As Sin (S2.08)
20. The Path Of The Righteous (S1.11)
21. In The Blood (S1.04)
22. The Ones We Leave Behind (S1.12)
23. The Man In The Box (S2.10)
24. Into The Ring (S1.01)
25. The Perfect Game (S3.05)
26. Regrets Only (S2.06)
27. World On Fire (S1.05)
28. Please (S3.02)
29. Karen (S3.10)
30. Dogs To A Gunfight (S2.02)
31. Nelson Vs Murdock (S1.10)
32. Aftermath (S3.07)
33. .380 (S2.11)
34. No Good Deed (S3.03)
35. Semper Fidelis (S2.07)
36. Rabbit In A Snowstorm (S1.03)
37. Resurrection (S3.01)
38. Shadow In The Glass (S1.08)
39. Kinbaku (S2.05)

Daredevil (Season 3)

While I loved Season 2, I can't deny that it felt a bit messy, and the main villain wasn't anywhere near as compelling as Fisk was. Season 3 goes back to basics as it brings back Fisk as a villain, but that doesn't at all mean it's more of the same.

I know this is an odd way to start this review but Season 3 is at its worst when it's picking up the pieces left from The Defenders. Matt coming back from dying isn't all that interesting and led to the weakest episodes of the season by a long shot. Thankfully, once Fisk starts to come back into play after being let out of prison, Season 3 really begins to jump up in quality, mostly because he's such a strong antagonist this season. I have rarely ever seen a conflict that felt so futile for the heroes, Fisk is ten steps ahead of Matt throughout the entire season and gets a major victory what seems to be every episode. Every time you get the hope that Fisk that be taken down, he squashes that hope and leaves Matt, Karen, and Foggy in an even worse place than when they started. It can make for a season that's a bit hard to watch at times, but really gripping. I also love Matt's arc about having to deal with the fact that killing Fisk might just be the only option to take him down.

But Fisk isn't the only antagonist this season, there's also the iconic Daredevil villain Bullseye. It's about time Bullseye showed up, and he was great. Wilson Bethel does a great job as the character, Bullseye's backstory and mental state are legitimately super fascinating, and the character allows for a lot of fantastic action scenes. Outside of the antagonists, though, I also think one of the biggest highlights of this season was Karen. Now that she knows Matt is Daredevil, it allows her to get more involved in the action and it leads to some great interactions between her and Matt. We also get a solid backstory that fleshes out her character, as well as an especially electric scene between her and Fisk. I also think the action this season is the best it's ever been, probably some of the best on TV period. The prison fight, the church fight, the Bulletin fight, that final three-way fight, there are so many fantastic action scenes this season that repeatedly blew me away with what Cox and the crew were able to accomplish.

Pretty much every episode after the first two is great, but here are the best ones:

Blindsided: This is the episode where Season 3 really got good for me, and it's all because of that amazing prison fight. A roughly 11-minute-long-take is ambitious in a movie, let alone a TV show, but it was so well-done. I love how Matt doesn't have his suit on, it means that the viewer can see Cox's amazing performance, having to both pull off the stunts as well as act. It's an incredibly impressive production, it's no wonder that this is the scene that stuck with so many people from this season.

The Devil You Know: This episode did the best job at balancing plot progression with action. The big Bulletin fight was another series highlight, with a nice blend of impressively tight choreography and a bit of humor at times. But while this was a cool fight, it also led to the deaths of a lot of people who work at the Bulletin, as well as Matt being framed for Bullseye's crimes.

Revelations: While not very action-packed, Revelations does a lot to really shatter Matt's world, as he learns that Maggie, the nun who's been taking care of him, is his mom. Even more, with Fisk's influence in the FBI having been fully shown, this is the episode where Matt decides he should probably kill him, which sets up his arc for the rest of the season.

One Last Shot: While Nadeem's death ultimately ended up being for nothing, he really tried to make an impact. This episode was the most damage Matt's team was able to do to Fisk for the whole season, and was thus a pretty nice breath of fresh air. Of course, Fisk managed to evade his charges yet again, and it led to a pretty cruel ending.

A New Napkin: This was a fantastic ending to the season, and worked pretty well as an ending to the series as a whole (Bullseye cliffhanger aside). It's very hard to pull off a three-way fight but it works incredibly well in A New Napkin, and Matt deciding to spare Fisk is a great end to his character arc.

Overall, outside of a slightly shaky start, this is easily my favorite season of Daredevil. Fisk is a nearly unstoppable threat this time and it makes for a really gripping storyline, but all of the characters have compelling arcs, and the action scenes being some of the best of all time definitely helps.

5/5 Stars

Favorite Episode: Blindsided

Daredevil (Season 2)

Coming after the really solid first season, Daredevil's second outing is a bit more uneven. It's definitely an improvement, with both higher high points and lower low points.

The first four episodes of Daredevil's second season is some of the best stuff the series has to offer. The season starts with the introduction of Frank Castle (also known as the iconic anti-villain Punisher), and he is just amazing. He works as both a fascinating and morally complex character on his own right, and as an antagonist that shows what Matt could have been like if he did slaughter criminals. The conflict between Daredevil and the Punisher is gripping, juggling both fantastic action that tops most of the stuff from Season 1 as well as compelling moral dilemma. There's an episode that's almost entirely the two having a mature conversation, and it is some of the most gripping material in the entire series. Jon Bernthal's performance is also one of the show's best, he embodies Punisher so well. Even more, since the arc is only four episodes long, it's also incredibly well-paced. Daredevil's second season actually has three arcs, which makes for the most brisk pacing out of any Marvel Netflix show, let alone just Daredevil. 

However, once the Punisher arc ends, the season can't quit reach that same high point. The second arc revolves around Elektra, and the third revolves around The Hand, both of which are antagonists that aren't nearly as interesting or charismatic as Kingpin or Punisher. Elektra is an iconic villain, but she lacks the chemistry with Charlie Cox that makes her plot essential. And while The Hand sounds cool in theory, a simple gang of ninjas just seems a bit too lacking in depth for a show built on these grounded and complex conflicts. It leads to a pretty average rest of the season, at least if it weren't for the fact that the characters remain incredibly gripping. Frank Castle is still a major player in the rest of Season 2, as he gets put on trial, sent to prison, and comes face to face with Kingpin. Additionally, Karen gets a lot more focus this season as she plays a pretty proactive role throughout, and the finale where she learns about Daredevil's true identity. As a whole, I think the finale does a good job at bringing the three arcs together to end the season on a satisfying note, which helps make the season feel a bit less disjointed.

At its best, this season has a ton of absolutely fantastic episodes:

New York's Finest: This was the aforementioned "conversation episode" and it really is as great as I hyped it up to be. New York's Finest is impeccably written and acted, and makes me kinda want more superhero stories where the hero and villain just discuss morality for a bit. It's not all talk though, the episode also ends with the season's big long take as Daredevil escapes the building where the Punisher imprisoned him. It's not as good as the Cut Man fight, but still easily one of the best in the series. 

Penny And Dime: This is a nearly perfect end to the Punisher arc that starts off Season 2. The scene where Castle reveals his backstory to Matt is phenomenal, easily the best showcase of Jon Bernthal's acting in the whole season. But even outside of that, Penny And Dime boasts some great fight scenes, brutal sequences, and the first appearance of Elektra.

Seven Minutes In Heaven: In the middle of the Elektra/Hand arcs, we get this fantastic gem of an episode that finally brings back Kingpin. It's great to see Fisk back, and his scene with Punisher is absolutely electric, but the true highlight of the episode is the brutal prison fight that manages to usurp the season's long take fight as my favorite of the season.

A Cold Day In Hell's Kitchen: While the final battle with the Hand isn't quite as satisfying as the one with Fisk last season, this is still a great finale that does a lot more to change the status quo than the previous one did. If you take Daredevil as a trilogy, this is very much the "Empire Strikes Back" ending. Elektra dies, Castle fully becomes the Punisher, The Hand is still around, and biggest of all, we get that amazing cliffhanger where Karen learns Matt is Daredevil

Overall, I'm a bit stuck on the general quality of Daredevil's second season. Its first third is nearly flawless, the final two episodes are great too, and there are some really solid episodes around the middle, but when the Elektra and The Hand stuff is as bland as it is, can I really say that this season is better for the first? Personally, I think it's better than the sum of its parts, and the first four episodes alone make the season more than worth watching.

4/5 Stars

Daredevil (Season 1)

With Kingpin's appearance in Hawkeye, I knew it was finally time to cover the greatest television show that the MCU has ever produced. Actually, I don't think that even sums it up. Daredevil ranks among some of the best superhero movies and TV period.

The first season of Daredevil is pretty much a standard origin story in a lot of ways, for both the titular character and major antagonist Kingpin. It's about blind lawyer Matt Murdock becoming the vigilante Daredevil, while Wilson Fisk becomes a crime lord to be reckoned with. Matt has to find a way to take down Fisk both as a lawyer and as Daredevil, which is tough given how Kingpin always seems like he's one step ahead of him. That's probably my favorite thing about this series, the titular character fails a lot, both in fight scenes and in general. But it's also not for a lack of trying either. I never get the impression that Matt is a bad lawyer or a bad fighter, it's just that Kingpin is such a difficult villain for him to take down. Both characters also have their own subplots that range a bit in quality. While watching Matt try to get his law career started is fun especially in the court scenes, his friends Karen Page and especially Foggy Nelson are two of the less interesting characters in the series. Karen gets better, but I don't think I ever end up finding Foggy interesting. Meanwhile, Kingpin gets a romantic subplot that does a great job of highlighting his softer and more human side, as we learn more about his pretty dark backstory throughout the season.

Where Daredevil really excels, however, is in its fantastic production. For starters, the cast is phenomenal. Charlie Cox makes for a great Matt Murdock, as he's able to play both the charismatic lawyer and angsty vigilante sides of the character. He does most of the fights himself, and it's obvious he put a lot of effort into making sure he plays a blind person respectfully and accurately. Then there's Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin, who rivals Ron Perlman's Hellboy, Heath Ledger's Joker, and JK Simmons' J Jonah Jameson as some of the best comic book casting ever. Kingpin is still as brutal and rage-filled as you'd expect, but D'Onofrio's performance imbues a sense of tragedy into the character. As much as he is a criminal mastermind, Fisk is also a pretty pitiful figure in this series and D'Onofrio does a great job of making him sympathetic while also making sure you hate his guts. And when Cox and D'Onofrio are on screen together, it's absolutely magnificent. Of course, Daredevil is also known for its amazing fight scenes. While the long-take in Episode 2 is rightfully the most praised one this season, the majority of Daredevil's fights are well-choreographed and nearly movie-quality.

While the whole season is great, there are definitely some noticeable highlights in Season 1 of Daredevil:

Cut Man: This one's a bit of a no-brainer. The hallway fight in this episode put Netflix's Daredevil on the map and ranks as one of the best fight scenes in the series. It's brilliant in how exhausting it is, putting you in Matt's shoes as he slowly gets more and more worn down by the nearly endless wave of mooks. But this episode is more than the fight. It feels like a standalone Daredevil story, with great banter between Matt and recurring character Claire Temple, plenty of scenes outlining Matt's backstory, and a simple plot of Matt trying to save a young boy.

Condemned: After the previous episode ended with city-wide bombings and Matt getting caught by the police, Condemned is an intense outing about pretty much the entire cast having to survive the whole affair. It's an exhausting and relentless episode that all builds up to the incredible first interaction between Matt and Fisk.

Speak Of The Devil: The In Medias Res trick works really well for this episode, as much of the plot is intercut by a brutal and impressive fight between Daredevil and Nobu, one that perfectly encapsulates Daredevil's resilience in the face of repeatedly getting beat up. But the real highlight of the episode is Daredevil coming to blows with Kingpin only to predictably get beat nearly to death and come face to face with Foggy, who now knows his true identity. It's an episode that really kicks the final act of the season into gear.

Daredevil: Saving the best for last, Daredevil is a fantastic finale that finally gives the viewers what they wanted to see. Daredevil gets his iconic costume, and Kingpin is defeated multiple times. Not only is he defeated in court, not only are all of his workers arrested in a fantastic sequence, but we also get a lengthy and fun fight between Daredevil and Kingpin that uses both of their abilities to the fullest. Fisk is the highlight of the episode though, between his iconic monologue, his tragic goodbye to Vanessa, and his unbridled rage towards Daredevil.

Overall, Daredevil's first season is an incredibly well-crafted season of television with a great cast, well-done action, and a strong dynamic between its main hero and villain. It's probably my least favorite season due to still mostly being an origin story, but the fact that it only gets better from here is a testament to how great this series is.

4/5 Stars