Daredevil SEASON ONE

From the stable of shows under Marvel’s Netflix, Season one of Daredevil has the most relevant connection to the MCU than any other series or season.  What begins as a case for newly established firm of Nelson & Murdoch becomes a battle to save Hell’s Kitchen.  Matt Murdoch’s Catholicism and work within the court system becomes over shadowed by the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.  His drive to stop corruption and those who are victimized;  slowly begins to bleed into his day to day life, which begins to stage a tipping point in the battle to save the soul of Hell's Kitchen from various gangs, criminal organizations, and the kingpin of crime himself.

Working in response to causality; like Damage Control, a section of government charged to clean up the wreckage from the Avenger’s battle in New York (as seen in the opening of Spiderman’s Homecoming). Union Allied was one the major insurance companies that was on the ground working on the recovery process with claims filed for businesses and homes lost or destroyed in the battle. A Hired Secretary named Karen Page came across a file that saw the money that was filtered through the company off the books. That discovery had her lawyer friend murdered and Ms. Page framed for his murder in order to keep her silent and out the way.  When incarceration failed, the file was released to the public to help clear her name, and put her would be attackers off her trail when there was nothing more that could make her a threat.  Her lawyers, a first time practice of Nelson & Murdock took on her case pro bono; winning their client’s freedom and continuing to fight for the misfortunate and disadvantaged citizen of hell’s kitchen, Ms. Karen Page became the practice’s only official employee and secretary.

The first six episodes worked as a crime drama and an investigative journey.  The Arc to save Karen Page, while introducing a rogue of villains: Turk the human trafficker and guns smuggler, the Mafia syndicates of Russian, Chinese, and Yakuza. The show pits Daredevil against these factions, In episode two, opens with off duty Nurse Claire Temple saving Matt’s life from wounds inflicted from a Russian mob ambush, and sets up a stunning single camera one track shot of Daredevil rescuing a kidnapped boy.  The show would go on to top the stunt & fight choreography with an equally impressive cinematic style. Again using another single camera shot, this time inside of a cab, in a narrow ally, to take place just a few episodes later.  With a blind drug mule for the Chinese syndicate in the back seat as Daredevil fights on the outskirts with a 360 rotation to follow the action all from within the backseat. The main Antagonist and the moral consciousness of the series Wilson Fisk and investigative journalist Ben Urich are only introduced in the third episode. Displaying that though they are ultimately the heavy hitters of the story, not one character actually leads the story or series, as it’s an ensemble in both acting and in story, and works like a depiction of a point in history and of a place in the world as it unfolds in real time.

After the death of his father, Matt was raised in a church orphanage, and was devout catholic, today he spaciously goes to confessional and speaks for practical guidance from father Lantom, and weighs in on how much guidance he is willing to follow.  The connection to the church, and to his late father, prevents him from crossing the line and taking a life, the court will be used to punish the wicked as Daredevil will aide to shine a spotlight on those who need to have their day in court.   That line of rationale is what Matt Murdock uses in the day to day practice, but the balance of how much daredevil is needed over being a Lawyer starts to hemorrhage over;  as Daredevil is accused of compounding crimes; including the blowing up of Hell’s  kitchen, and the brutal murder of the head of the Russian Mob. Those two things alone puts Matt Murdock’s alter ego in the crosshairs of all law enforcement, the criminal underworld, and the court of public opinion. 

Episode 7, titled Stick and the remaining shows that will succeed it to the season finale, begins to shift gears, as for the life of lawyer Matt Murdock begins to disintegrate. An episode called Nelson vs. Murdock shows how the pair first met, and became the best of friends while conversely begin to unravel and be torn apart. The show has its epic battle with a deadly ninja named Nabo, and shows how similar in ideology Fisk and Murdock really are, yet on two sides of the same line.  In an outside world looking in Daredevil is one man in a system of a lot of moving parts, we see the pros and cons of going at it alone in his crusade.  The episodes are splashed with different tones of hues, and knowledge of art design that are imbedded subconsciously in the fabric of telling a compelling story. As we find both Daredevil and Matt Murdock are driven to the near brink to bring down Wilson Fisk and his vision of a new world order; as that drive will lead us to an inevitable showdown.