NETFLIX Daredevil: Finish Line - Spoilers inside

[Zak Katz]

This is a thread for those who have finished watching already, and contains conversation discussing the show. Spoilers are in the text below.

So I just finished the season, or is it series? And overall I think it was pretty good. Some things I didn't like like Ben's death, why focus so much on Ben just to kill him off? Did they think the audience would be like " I didn't expect Ben to die because he doesn't in the comic?" it was lame and I'm not sure it was necessary, maybe Fisk should've killed Karen? I think that would of actually been shocking. Who is Karen, who is she and why is she taking up Daredevil's screen time? I don't care she's there, but don't give her her own scenes, especially when they can show the maturation process of Matt as DD. Karen's scenes weren't very exciting to me, the whole rouge reporter stuff, who cares? I appreciate making the secondary characters have backgrounds but I found myself reading stuff on my phone while she was on the screen. I liked the lawyer stuff early on maybe because it was Matt and I enjoyed his character, I just would of rather spent the hour or so of combined time they spent on Karen and Ben and spent it on Matt training harder to get better. Speaking of wich he needs to improve immensely to get on the same level as some of the Avengers, he probably loses to Widow and most likely Hawkeye, what do you guys think, could he take Deathlok? And of course like Valo guessed, why five minutes of DD in his costume? I didn't mind the black but I think the costume looked good enough to warrant more screen time. On the positive side, this series gets me excited for the seemingly limitless possibilities Marvel has with these series. The acting as a whole was terrific especially the leads Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofio. The cinematography was great, the fight scene in the rain was really something, and that leads me to what I'm sure everyone can say they enjoyed the most, the fighting choreography was amazing, and although DD wasn't the combatant he is in the comics, he sure was fun to watch. Can't wait to see him in the Defenders flip kick what ever bad guy stands in his way.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Zak Katz

[minimadman]

Thanks for the spoiler tag.

[Nessex]

dude - are you serious? this has only just come out? most of us wont have seen it yet

[MiniFiend UK]

MASSIVE SPOILER IN THE FIRST LINE EVEN THE FIRST ACTUAL THING YOU TYPE OF YOUR TEXT AFTER YOU LIKED THE SERIES.....THANKS ALOT!!

You cant actually read what you put down without being hit with it, so ppl cant go woah he's leading into something I might want to avoid and stop. If there was a go boil your head emoticon I would have used it

[Mattallica]

I really like it, the "Humanizing" of Fisk and his motivations were great, D'onofrios proformance was fantastic.

Cox' acting was a bit stiff in some areas but overall pretty good, im glad they made a point of having Melvien point out that the DD suit "wasnt finished yet" im hoping for something a bit sleeker with a better looking mask.

I can see why they may have wanted to kill off Ben, as he kind of served his purpose of letting "the world" know that Fisk was the true villian and not DD, what else could he provide once that was done? plus as they pointed out the role of a Newspaper reporter is a bit passe.

Karen has some "history" that needs addressing wether it will be the same as her comic counterpart or not im not sure, i hope so as that might mean we could eventually see her in a Ghostrider series.

I liked Rosario Dawson as Claire (night nurse) of course i think she is a great actress anyway so....i hope we see more of her in the future.

as for Foggy he is the least interesting of the protaganists to me but i guess thats to be expected of a character named "Foggy"

lots of fun easter eggs among the 13 episodes and hints to upcoming characters like the Owl, the Hand, and Gladiator, maybe even mother crane and Stone

i am deeply eager for season two.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Mattallica

[Glantern]

Zak, maybe you should put your post in spoiler brackets, or move the rather big spoiler a bit further down in your post? All that can be seen from the front page is "NETFLIX Daredevil: Finish L..." so the spoiler warning is lost on a lot of people.

I just finished watching this myself. Overall, I enjoyed it very much. The fights were fantastic. The cast was very good. I loved Charlie Cox as Matt, and Elden Henson as Foggy was perfect. D'Onofrio's Kingpin took a little while to grow on me, but I liked him in the role by the end of it. Episode 9's meeting between Matt and Kingpin was the highlight of the season for me. Really loved the atmosphere of that sequence (really loved episode 9 in generally, to be honest).

As far as the death, I was disappointed to see it happen, but I could see why they did it. Prior to that moment, I felt just about as much sympathy for Fisk as I did Matt. After, I just wanted to see Matt kick Fisk's ass. I wish they could have pushed Fisk to the dark side some other way, but it wasn't a death without purpose at least.

[Additup]

I really enjoyed this series. The 13th episode length really allowed them to develop multiple characters and touch upon a lot of Daredevil plots and weave them into among narrative. I enjoyed the Vanessa/Wilson dynamic and was surprised they put it in the show, as well as the Foggy Matt friendship arc. I'm really glad they decided to go this route over another movie, and I'm excited for the next Netflix series.

[MisterPL]

Random Thoughts:

- Very good casting. Cox's quiet and understated Murdock reminds me of Hugh Dancy's Will Graham on NBC's Hannibal, and that's a good thing. D'Onofrio's Fisk is much more nuanced than I expected even for episodic television and I'm glad they spent so much time on him. And every time I see Woll I see a Phil Noto illustration of Karen Page brought to life. I really have nothing but praise for the entire cast from top to bottom.

- I like Daredevil for the same reason I dislike Sherlock. The latter seems to be unedited, hour-long TV shows in dire need of trimming. The former, for some reason, does not. My mind wanders quite a bit with Sherlock but not so with Daredevil. Somehow ol' horn-head is holding my attention.

- I actually prefer the black costume to the red one. There were a couple things about the black suit that made it special. First off, it was skin tight, especially is the scenes when it's raining. The wet, clinging fabric did a terrific job of showing off Matt's physique. Second was the mask, which had no eyes. At first I thought that might make it too obvious that this vigilante was somehow blind but the more I saw it, the creepier it became. For the same reason Giger's Alien face was so disturbing, Daredevil's eyeless mask just got more unsettling. The moment Matt put on the red suit, he became just like every other superhero; covered in busy body armor with a mask that undoes everything the previous one achieved.

- That mask. After disliking the design in stills before seeing it on the show, I was hoping I'd like it in action. It's even worse. It makes sense that a boxer would want more protection for his nose than the classic cut provides but it still looks all wrong. This is Batman's red cowl. I'm glad he can move his neck but the horns, eyes, and jaw hole really need to change.

- There was one hiccup that took me right out of the story. When Matt infiltrates Gao's heroin facility, he's mobbed by her blinded workers, surrounded on all sides by dozens of groping hands. Gao and her gunmen rush down to the warehouse floor and suddenly The Man in Black is upon them. He dispatches the gunmen but Gao pulls a Yoda and disappears after knocking Matt on his ass. With the warehouse on fire, Matt turns his attention to saving the blind workers who are still standing at their workbenches as if nothing had happened. They really needed a shot of Matt escaping that mob or at least show those workers still flailing about in search of their unknown invader.

- Karen Page is not a damsel in distress. When Wesley captured her, I thought, "Here we go. We're setting up the finale where Matt has to rescue Karen from Fisk." Wrong. I was much happier with Karen taking care of herself and suffering a little PTSD afterward.

- Killing Ben felt like a mistake. It was like if Miller had killed Gordon at the end of Batman: Year One. Urich was such a huge advocate for costumed vigilantes, from Daredevil to Spider-Man. I can't imagine the MCU without him going into Civil War. This is one reason why I prefer DC's approach to keeping the film continuity separate from others.

- Is Gao human? Clearly she's keeping a big secret. She's more poewrful than she appears, speaks "all" languages, and her homeland is even farther away than China. I'm going with Skrull for now.

- Sober up, Foggy. You're not in college anymore. 'Nuff said.

I'm definitely looking forward to a second season. The other Marvel Netflix shows have a high standard to match. Broadcast network shows are in trouble, except maybe The Flash and Gotham. One is very different in tone while the other seems willing to go further than audiences expect. We'll see how they all react to this show's acclaim.

[karamazov80]

I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, I feel the season lost a lot of momentum about 2/3 through the season, as if they were trying to figure out ways of providing enough filler to get the full 13 episodes. At a certain point, Foggy, Paige, and Ben became a bit tiresome, since they kept reiterating the same sentiments and concerns in slightly different contexts. 8-10 episodes probably would have made for a better, more streamlined story. I'm guessing they killed Ben so the audience didn't get too complacent thinking there were no serious threats at that point in the story. Early in the season it felt to me like any supporting character could go at any time (like a cable television drama), but half-way through I started feeling Foggy, Karen, Night Nurse, and Ben were probably safe (started feeling more like an ABC show or something).

I liked the final suit, though not perfect. I also really liked the black get-up. Apart from looking cool, black would be way more utilitarian skulking around in the dark. But ultimately, it's nice to have a (more or less) red DD with the horns, etc.

D'Onofrio was pretty great. Mysticism stuff is OK, so long as it eventually means Darkheart and Mephisto. I hope a season 2 happens, so we can get Bullseye and Elektra. And maybe Typhoid Mary and Stiltman? I really hope he shows up in Civil War.

Edited April 20, 2015 by karamazov80

[undeadpool]

I am 99% sure Gao is from K'un-Lun as she uses the Steel Serpent logo on her heroin and seems to exhibit some power over her chi along the lines of Ironfist

[hellpop]

I watched the first three and really liked them. I was in the middle of one when I remembered that they'd already made a Daredevil movie. i know, it's best left forgotten.

I sincerely hope that, somewhere down the line, they do a straight up adaptation of Born Again.

[undeadpool]

Daredevil confirmed for a season 2

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/daredevil-gets-second-season-with-new-showrunners

Edited April 22, 2015 by undeadpool

[Mnemosis]

I think undeadpool is right.

I loved the final costume. LOVED.

This is my new favorite aspect of the MCU.

[hellpop]

Just finished watching the show; overall I thought it was great but the finale was probably the weakest episode of the series. I agree with most everything PL said; I really liked the black Dread Pirate Roberts outfit and thought the final costume was pretty silly looking. D'Onofrio was amazing, though I think they tried so hard to humanize Fisk that they made him a bit weaker then he should be.

My big takeaway, though, is that the show really captured everything that makes Daredevil such a unique character. Not just the faux blindness, but his Catholic guilt, father issues, and unique relationships with his supporting cast. I really liked Karen and Foggy (despite that haircut...) and thought they were perfectly realized.

[Mnemosis]

Foggy SERIOUSLY needed a haircut.

And I'm sorry, but I don't think Deborah Ann Woll (Karen) was attractive at all

[battlecat]

Finished it on the weekend and I liked this series a lot, I thought Peggy Carter was really fun and AoS is okay, but this was a big step up. I agree with PL that casting was a huge part of that. I was REAL bummed about Owlsley, that actor's delivery was hilarious throughout, and I was hoping they were setting him up to take over the organized crime stuff next season.

I think if they get rid of the weird "eyebrows" on the mask then the red suit should be fine. Hope we get a mate of Matty in the black one at some point...

[Trekker 42]

Man I adored this series so so damn much. Fisk is just such a great villain and I loved how he seemed unbeatable. Like I had genuinely no idea how the hell he could be stopped. I thought the suit looked pretty good and that Foggy and Karen did admirable jobs. The writing on Foggy was particularly good.

Overall this was one of the stronger entries in the MCU so far. I'd rank it above most of the films with the exceptions of Guardians, Winter Soldier, IM1, and Avengers.

Genuinely stoked for season 2 and I'm glad it's coming so soon!

[MisterPL]

I don't think we've seen the last of Owlsley. That dude just fell down a shaft. It's not like he got his head chopped off in a car door.

[hellpop]

Doesn't he have an exoskeleton in the comics? Seems like a logical thing to do here.

[MisterPL]

Last I knew The Owl was taking a mutant growth hormone, which made him ridiculously strong for a guy his age.

I know Marvel can't say the M-word so maybe there's a workaround.

[Glantern]

My theory is that the Owlsley we saw isn't the Owl, but his son Lee, who was mentioned several times, will show up looking for his father's killer and take on the persona.

[Mnemosis]

Exactly. Lee, short for Leland the second, perhaps. Though I WILL miss that actor. I agree he was hysterical.

[undeadpool]

Foggy SERIOUSLY needed a haircut.

And I'm sorry, but I don't think Deborah Ann Woll (Karen) was attractive at all

1. you're wrong

2. no one needed you to think she was attractive...like ever? how is that even relevant?

EDIT: (both of these are about Karen, Foggy DID need a haircut)

Edited April 28, 2015 by undeadpool

[MisterPL]

I didn't find Woll particularly attractive in True Blood. I found her much more attractive in Daredevil.

What's up wit' dat?

[hellpop]

I'd say in both she's more normal person attractive then movie star glamorous. Which is perfectly fine with me; I like normal people more then movie stars.