Once again, as a super colossal, super fantastic, super Daredevil comic fan, I must take a step back and channel into a different realm of consciousness becoming a N.E.R.D., which is a person who NEVER EVER READ DAREDEVIL. Being an N.E.R.D. allows me an unbiased and objective response. I also took a control in with me while watching Daredevil 1.2, having my significant other who doesn’t really like comics at all to gauge her responses (Opposites attract. It’s science). Here is what I got from my humble N.E.R.D. and following her responses… Wow, Daredevil is a strange superhero. He actually takes a beating. A bad beating that might even put his life in danger. Lucky for him, he is rescued by a nurse named Claire who apparently knows who he is by some of the cases she has encountered while working at the hospital. Claire is a likable character instantly as she seems to be a lady of conscious and great skill. She even saves Matt (of whom she calls “Mike” based off an old boyfriend who kept a lot of secrets) from a lung that is collapsing. These are the moments that define the whole first half of the story and Matt with Claire have a very strong chemistry in this episode. Matt even gets to return the favor to Claire as she has a visitor who acts like a cop, but is not by the determination (and super senses) of Matt who is looking for this masked man so he can finish him off.
Between these interactions, we get more back story regarding Matt’s father Jack, and the choices that he makes when given a directive to take a dive in the fifth round against a younger and apparently up and coming contender. It appears that the Murdocks in order to do the common good are willing to forgo their own safety if they feel they are doing the right thing. Apparently the fruit doesn’t far too far from the tree from father to son. There are some additional interactions between Karen and Foggy that are light-hearted, drunken, and once again help to solidify the tightness that is this Hell’s Kitchen. Everybody knows everybody and even though crime is rampant, the people who live here feel relatively safe. Don’t know if that will remain though.
For the last 10 minutes or so of the episode, Matt, still hurting, gathers what strength he has to go and finish the mission that put him in such a position of hurt in the first place. After a little torture and throw off a building session with the baddie who came by Claire’s door (and with Claire’s nursing expertise help, Ouch!) the location of the young boy that was abducted in the end of the first episode is located and we are given a treat of a fight sequence. Filmed in one continuing shot, we see the fight from an observer’s role watching Daredevil fight, hurt, and fight some more. The end result is very satisfying and like the montage in the first episode, you as a watcher are ready for more episodes as soon as this one ends. Really good stuff.
That’s the N.E.R.D. perspective. Here’s the super devoted fan boy perspective… DAMN!!! WHAT A FIGHT SEQUENCE AT THE END!!! I felt that overall this episode was fairly good. We see in the beginning the aftermath of a failed rescue attempt that appears to have been a trap for our masked man. He is in a world of hurt and if it wasn’t for a lady named Claire who I am certain is a hybrid of an old Luke Cage squeeze and the actual comic book heroine the Night Nurse, there is no telling what would have happened to our hero. Much of the story deals with their interactions both in Claire’s interactions to help Matt and in Matt’s aid to Claire relating to a man disguised as a policeman who is obviously looking for the wounded warrior and doesn’t believe Claire’s response to him. These are good solid interactions. Charlie Cox and Rosario Dawson (playing DD and NN respectively) have a real nice connection and make the screen burn. The Foggy and Karen “drinking the eel” and running around town was nothing more than mild filler with the Jack backstory coming right from the Frank Miller’s Man Without Fear mini-series. One of those personal favorites of mine.
I did have this one settled in a strong 3/5 until the fight sequence though. That one take fight was magnificent and quite impressive. It establishes what Daredevil has always been to me… A person who doesn’t ever give up no matter the odds and who won’t quit ever. This is shaping up to be a good series and if this is the kind of fighting we are getting in only two episodes in, then I can’t wait to see what will happen as things progress.
Score: 4/5
Daredevil 1.2 – Cut Man Director: Phil Abraham Writer: Drew Goddard Distributor: Netflix, ABC Films, Marvel Studios Runtime: 60 Minutes Exclusively on Netflix