By Gustavo Buenrostro
“Daredevil,” last year, showed that comic-book-based shows can be wildly entertaining while also dealing with some heavy themes and a fantastic story, and season two is no different. Season two of Daredevil proves to be one of the best shows out there.
“Daredevil” continues the story in New York’s district of Hell’s Kitchen with Matt Murdock, played by Charlie Cox, fighting against the criminal underground trying to keep the people of Hell’s Kitchen safe.
A new character shows up to Hell’s Kitchen and becomes a vigilante as well, but not like Daredevil.
Frank Castle, also known as The Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal, doesn’t just beat down gangs, he systematically kills people.
This is what the show did well when bringing in the character from the comics.
The Punisher is a complex character, and it could have been easy to just make him the primary antagonist to Daredevil, but the show did not do this. The show’s writers respectably made The Punisher more sympathetic and gave him his reason to kill.
The show makes you root for The Punisher and his war against organized crime. Killing people is what needs to be done to keep people safe from gangs.
One of the best parts of the show is the way it is written and the characters’ dialogue, which makes it feel real and grounded.
A good example is when Daredevil is fighting against The Punisher and they discuss the way Frank handles criminals. This scene also proves why Bernthal is a solid casting choice to play The Punisher.
“When you knock someone down, they get back up. When I knock someone down, they stay down. You don’t realize it yet, but you are just one bad day from being me,” The Punisher said.
Not only does it show The Punisher’s view on criminals, but it also shows the different tactics the two characters use.
Although Daredevil beats up and even hospitalizes criminals, he never kills them because he believes there is light inside everyone, no matter how small. The Punisher, on the other hand, believes that criminals don’t have light and must be taken out. This conflict of views is why the two characters fight.
The season deals with the question of whether killing criminals is right or wrong, with Punisher being one of the characters who thinks killing is the only way to deal with criminals.
The season isn’t just about Frank Castle, but is also about Elektra Natchios, played by Elodie Yung, who is introduced as Murdock’s old flame.
Elektra has come to Hell’s Kitchen looking for the help of Murdock. The chemistry between Cox and Yung was undeniable, making the interactions between them all the more believable.
Many older characters come back, like Foggy Nelson, played by Elden Henson, who Murdock runs a law firm with and who also knows that Murdock is Daredevil.
Nelson and Murdock’s relationship is strained even more when Murdock starts to focus on his work as the Daredevil rather than the firm.
Karen Page, played by Deborah Ann Woll, also returns and becomes interested in The Punisher’s background and tries to understand him.
Some of the best things about the first season were the fight sequences and choreography, and this season had them in spades with one scene showing a one-shot take of Daredevil fighting a bunch of gang members, like in the first season.
Another great fight scene is with Daredevil and the Punisher, with both showing their skills as fighters. Both get the better of each other at some point in different fights. The show did not hold back in the number of fights these two characters had throughout the season.
This season did a lot of things well, but it was not perfect.
The focus of The Punisher’s story and Elektra’s story became inconsistent. The episodes kept switching from both of the character’s story. Both stories were great, but neither of them felt like the main story for Daredevil.
The writers did do a good job connecting all the stories, but it’s as if the writers didn’t know which story they wanted to tell more.
Overall, this season was just as good as the first one with many surprises. There are also a couple of Easter eggs hidden throughout the season, connecting “Daredevil” to the wider Marvel universe.