Marvel has been knocking it out of the park with just about every addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Netflix has done similarly with their lineup of original series. Daredevil, which is part of the MCU as well as a Netflix original series, is no exception—the show is good.
For those unfamiliar with the Marvel character, Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer who uses his other heightened senses to moonlight as a masked vigilante. Matt has a sort of radar sense that gives him great awareness of his surroundings (e.g., placement and movement of objects, people’s heart rates and body temperatures).
It’s satisfying to watch the titular character flip around and kick countless amounts of asses. Beyond the physical action, there’s plenty of character development and non-combat tension. What I found impressive was the show’s success in developing the antagonists which sometimes left me rooting for the bad guys. As it should be, however, I ultimately wanted Matt Murdock to prevail.
Daredevil benefits from being a Netflix original series in several ways. Obviously, not being an over-the-air broadcast show, the violence can be more brutal and the dialogue doesn’t have to be too Disney-esque (which is ironic, considering who owns Marvel). Most importantly, the plot and pacing is much better than it otherwise might have been if it had to fit within the confines of a regular television season. There are no filler episodes (contrasting with the CW’s Arrow which gets slightly bogged down while stalling for the season finales; though, for the record, I like Arrow). Daredevil keeps moving forward.
Other good things about the show includes the opening theme song, casting, and performances—in particular, Vincent D’Onofrio, Toby Leonard Moore, Charlie Cox, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Deborah Ann Woll (after a few episodes). What I found lacking is humor. I understand the show’s supposed to be somber in tone, but it could have benefited from a few more jokes here and there.
Overall, as I’ve told Netflix’s rating system, “I Really Liked It” (i.e., 4 out of 5 stars).
You sound like me with the “binge” thing. I am binge listening to Paticia Briggs Mercy Thompson series right now and binge watching Warehouse 13.
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And art-binges aren’t as bad for you as alcohol and food binges. 🙂
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So True! 😉
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I watched the first episode and thought it was solid, although it didn’t beg me to keep watching. I think I’ll come back to it when I finish Game of Thrones, which I now have access to through HBO Now. It’s the first time I’ve ever been able to watch it, so I’m tearing through 😛
I did find it interesting that they referenced the Battle of New York in the pilot. I was like “huh, so they *are* going to tie in with the larger MCU.”
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Are you starting Game of Thrones from the beginning just now?
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Yeah, I haven’t had access to HBO til now *sigh* Thank god I had an Apple TV laying around! (And while I’ve been known to occasionally pirate, I don’t mess with HBO. They are pretty hardcore about catching people).
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This is on my radar for something to watch after I get around to Better Call Saul and the current season of Game of Thrones.
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I’ve only seen two episodes of Saul. I’ll probably wait for the entire season for Thrones to be out before I get back to that.
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I’m rather annoyed by something that happened late in the series…(no spoilers, anyone who watched probably knows what I’m talking about). The series was really good…
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A certain character’s reaction to something was a bit tiresome to me, but that might not be what you’re thinking of.
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I’m 5 episodes in and liking it. It’s not as high on my like list as a few other Netflix originals but it is solid.
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So, four stars rather than five?
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I’m watching this now with my 15- and 17-year-old sons. I told my youngest he either watched it with me or he didn’t watch it at all, because I wasn’t sure how violent it would be. Well, after three episodes, there is no shortage of violence, but we’re loving it. Will watch another one tonight. With all this competition, pretty soon no one will be tuning into the networks anymore…
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What’s more awkward? The violence here, or Oliver Queen’s sexual exploits?
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Ha, good point.
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Might give this a watch… Need something to break up the wait between GoT episodes
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Might not be gritty enough when placed next to GoT.
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Just finished Ep 5 last night … I did a bit of a ‘headdesk’ where Matt (like Olie/Arrow) started the ‘let’s kiss and make out, but you shouldn’t fall in love with me, but I’m attracted to you, but …’ emotional game.
Dear showrunners – this trope is getting kinda old now
That said, I’m enjoying the show, and Vincent D’Onofrio is great … kinda reminds me of Frank Underwood. (House of Cards)
I do wonder though, how a woman superhero would deal with this situation? … “I’m attracted to you but before anything happens there are some things you need to know. I’ll spell it out for you and you can make up your own mind.”
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I feel like it’s either going to be one trope or another, so I try not to let it bother me too much (particularly when the source material calls for it, as in the case of Oliver Queen’s tendency to go through many women, and deviations may upset the fans).
I think I’ve seen female characters doing similar things (maybe Buffy sleeping with Spike the first few times?).
The performances of the villains were definite highlights in this series.
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I thought Foggy brought enough humor to the series, pushing it to the comedic edge without making it silly. Far too many series and movies fall to humor to add levity, like Supernatural adding humor to the apocalypse. Yeah, that should be funny. Daredevil keep the mood appropriately dark and as one of my favorite dark and violent characters, I would really like to see Netflix do a similar reboot of the Ghost Rider franchise without the assload of stupidity that ruined the big screen adaptation.
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What? you mean … no Nic Cage? … Oh, the humanity!!! 😀
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lol yeah, no Nic Cage. Get a new casts, new writer(s), and a new director.
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Tnx for sharing.
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Ever since I saw the first trailer with D’Onofrio-as-Kingpin, I was hooked. Got to empty my DVR from any current series but this series is definitely on my list.
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Oh, I gotta watch it. I used to love Arrow but at some point, I just stopped…I guess I wasn’t intrigued anymore.
PS: Blogging coachella happening, if you’re interested ^_^ https://princesskickass.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/blogging-coachella-join-the-party/
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I binged watched “Orange Is The New Black” on Netflix. I understand…
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I haven’t heard of Daredevil, and I’ve been living in a Marvel world for more than a year now. I even have my seat booked for opening night of Age of Ultron. Then again, I don’t have Netflix.
From your assessment though, I don’t know if I’d enjoy Daredevil as much as I do the movies or Agents of Shield. The hook that keeps me watching is the humour. Take that away and…well, you just have shows about spies and superheroes which never appealed to me.
Thankfully though, by the sounds of things, this show has no bearing on the movies. Agents of Shield is intertwined with the movies, particularly the Avengers movies, so piecing these puzzles together are interesting.
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Daredevil is definitely not the same type of show as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents still has a Whedon-family kind of comedy vibe to it. Daredevil isn’t big on the funny.
Even if Daredevil ends up interacting more with the whole MCU, you could always just read episode summaries on Wikipedia if you don’t want to actually watch the dark gritty scenes firsthand.
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Wow! I came over to thank you for following my blog, and I found this engaged community. Congratulations. You must be proud.
My children grew up binge watching TV in our home too. It was our quality time, and then we talk about the shows between episodes.
I’m sorry I didn’t make it over yesterday. To thank you then. Nice meeting you.
Janice
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Thanks! I am mildly proud. Haha.
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OMG I can’t fucking stand Better Call Saul. Dull and boring. I really can’t believe it’s written by the Breaking Bad guys. As for Daredevil, I wasn’t impressed. I just couldn’t stand the Matt character. He really is more of a villain than a hero. It’s sad that I actually liked that horrible ben affleck movie version better than this netflix version.
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You are definitely a man of discerning taste. What about the Ben Affleck version did you like more than this Charlie Cox version? I assume it wasn’t Collin Farrell as Bullseye.
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