Daredevil Season 2 – Characters

What I love best about these new shows is the importance placed upon good character development and Daredevil certainly doesn’t disappoint in that department. Its assortment of flawed, conflicted characters is what is at the heart of the show and what makes it so engaging.

Matt Murdoch, aka Daredevil, played brilliantly by Charlie Cox, goes through some really tough situations this time around. On the one hand it is admirable because he is willing to put his life on the line to protect Hell’s Kitchen, but in this season, there is also an air of recklessness to him. His arrogance with regard to Daredevil is visible and his lack of regard for those dependent on Matt Murdoch is frustrating.

If you really think about, Matt is a very shitty friend. He lied to Foggy and continues to lie to Karen, while claiming to care about them both. He is also never around, every time Karen or Foggy tried to reach out to him when they were in trouble, he never answered their calls. He ignores his responsibilities at the firm, if not for Foggy, the firm would have collapsed a long time ago. Even his reaction to the Punisher didn’t ring true. All that talk about not killing, I guess he forgot that not very long ago, he was all set on killing Fisk and stopped at the last minute.

When it comes to the women in his life, it’s a wonder that any of them stick around for long. He claims to love Karen but never tells her the truth about himself. Before Karen, there was Claire and she was smart about it and refused to deal with all his baggage. Elektra, on the other hand, had a mission and during the course of the mission, fell in love with him. I don’t think Matt leaves himself open for that kind of relationship, even when he says that Elektra got through his defenses, that’s not completely true. They all just get a glimpse of the person he really is.

Foggy Nelson, played by Elden Henson is probably the most likeable character on the show. With Foggy, there is also no baggage, what you see is what you get. In season 1, he seemed a little unsure of himself, but season 2 saw him become more confident and come into his own. He’s great at his job and it was frustrating to see him short-changed because of Matt’s preoccupation. Season 2 saw Foggy step out of Matt’s shadow and be better for it. The friendship that he shared with Matt was one of my favourite things in the previous season but Foggy deserved better and I’m glad that he stood up for himself.

Karen Page is my favourite character on the show, and knowing her arc in the comics, I feel fiercely protective of her. What I love about some of the new shows (Supergirl, Agents of Shield, Jessica Jones) is the way they handle women. Karen has agency, she’s brave, independent, focussed and driven. Yes, she puts herself in danger but it’s always her choice, she does it for herself, not because of a love-interest or because of coercion. Her need to uncover the truth often supersedes her own safety.

She drew a lot of flak this season for her insistence that there was more to Frank than met the eye and the fact that she was more than a little sympathetic to him. Actually, it’s not hard to see why she would react that way. She sees a lot of herself in Frank, she has a dark past and she killed Wesley last season when he kidnapped her. She’s a killer too and if she can secure justice for him and what happened to him, then maybe there’s hope for her too.

I like what the show has done with her character and especially this season, we saw her branching out beyond the law firm. She’s a very talented researcher and it was gratifying to see that talent recognised and appreciated. It was easy to see that she cared deeply for Matt but I was glad to see that she didn’t tolerate his nonsense, she gave him so many chances to tell her the truth and he avoided it every time.

I love the way Deborah Ann Woll plays her, she’s vulnerable but with a core of steel. She infuses the character with heart and makes her easy to relate to.

I was hoping that we would see more of Claire Temple this season, especially considering her character’s popularity in the previous season and her brief appearance on Jessica Jones. But this time around, her character felt underused. She keeps helping Matt and yet again it puts her in danger. Rosario Dawson is too good and it feels like both her and her character are being wasted on the show. I am hoping that her character on Luke Cage will be treated better.

Jon Bernthal’s Punisher completely overshadowed The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. He was every bit as ruthless and unpredictable as he was in the comics. There were no half measures with him, when he had a target in his sights, he let nothing distract him. There were times when we got a glimpse of the man he once was, but those moments were fleeting. And they only served to show just how much he had changed. Or perhaps, he was always like that but having a family tempered that. He let nothing get in the way of his objective. When he was with Karen, I felt that the writers might just give him a redemptive arc, thankfully they didn’t. For instance, he was willing to put Karen in danger if using her as bait got him closer to his objective, he may not want to actively see her hurt or hurt her, but he wasn’t too concerned if she ended up as collateral damage, case in point, when he rams her car with his own without a second thought.

He was a man on a mission and the end saw him accept that mission wholeheartedly. His arc in the season was one of growth and by the time the end drew in, he had grown into the Punisher. I don’t know yet whether he will get his own spin-off, though it seems unlikely, I do like his dynamic with the characters on Daredevil, namely the Devil himself and Karen.

Now, onto the final new character this season, the one and only Elektra Natchios, played by Elodie Yung. I haven’t read a lot about what other people thought of Elektra but I really liked the way Yung played her. She was so ambiguous and hard to figure out. You could never tell if she was being honest. She was cold, ruthless and unflinching. She slits throats and doesn’t bat an eyelid. And yet Yung gives her a strange vulnerability as well. You can see it on her face, in her eyes, that slightly lost look. It’s there in her interactions with Daredevil, the yearning on her face and it isn’t a façade. This Elektra was fascinating and she was so much more than the cold-blooded killer everyone thought she was. There were so many layers to her personality and as a viewer that’s my favourite kind of character, knowing that there’s more beneath the surface. Elektra kills unapologetically but she also saves Matt’s life a number of times. It would have been so easy to paint Elektra as manipulative, and she is, but she is so much than that. I am glad that the show gave her that depth.

The show portrays Elektra as someone who was always headed down the path of killing, the flashbacks to her training with Stick only drive that point home. Killing came naturally to her, it was Matt’s approach that was alien. Why spare someone to fight you another day when you can just end it here and now (an approach Punisher would approve of) She tries to fight her nature for Matt, tries to be like him and but can’t and the devastation is plain to see on her face. She loves Matt and wants to be loved for who she is and know that he can’t. She sees Stick as her father figure and his betrayal cuts more deeply than his sword. Her final act of saving Matt and thereby depriving the Hand of their objective was heartbreaking because of the humanity that Yung gave her character. After Karen, Yung’s Elektra may have been my favourite character this season (followed closely by the Punisher)

Actually, after watching season 2, Daredevil or Matt Murdoch may just have been one of the weakest characters on the show. As Daredevil, he was borderline ineffective and as Matt Murdoch, his life was spiralling out of control. It was those around him who picked up his slack. And Elektra and Punisher completely overshadowed him.

There was always the chance that with new characters and their own narrative arcs, the show may feel a bit crowded and not as linear as the previous season, and while a slightly uneven pace may have bothered some viewers, in the larger scope of the entire season, it worked fairly well. The season answered some of the questions raised during the previous one, but raised new ones that I am hoping will get answered in the next season.

Jessica Jones Season 1 Thoughts

Considering that I binge-watched the entire first season of Jessica Jones yesterday, this is less a review and more (mostly) incoherent thoughts on the show. I went into this show absolutely blind, having read only the most basic information on the character. Which is why I’m guessing I missed out on a lot of Easter Eggs.

Let’s start with the principle difference between the protagonists of Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Matt Murdoch wanted to be a hero, he wanted to protect the people of Hell’s Kitchen, the people that everyone else had forgotten about. He set out to kill the Kingpin only to realise that that’s not what he wanted, he didn’t want to become a killer. Jessica, in contrast, had been a superhero and now wanted no part of it. She works as a private investigator and that’s how she likes it. She doesn’t care about other people and isn’t interested in being a saviour. She suffers from guilt and self-loathing about the things she did when she was under Killgrave’s control. She just wants to live her life in peace. She spends most of the season trying to make him accountable for his numerous crimes only to realise that that’s not possible. He’s too powerful and there’s only one way to truly stop him for good.

The pace of the show is also not as consistent as Daredevil, which is not to say that it’s a bad thing, but the show loses some steam right before the third act. This is partially because there are multiple arcs and while Killgrave is the primary antagonist, there are other forces at play and there’s much we don’t know about them or their motives. The show is also exceptionally well-written and does very well in wrapping up enough of the plot lines by the finale to be satisfying, while also setting up some stuff for season 2. As bleak as the tone is, it is the dialogues that provide the levity and keep the tone from getting too heavy. Also Ritter’s deadpan delivery also helps that along.

One of the thing that works in Jones’ favour is the casting, the casting is spot-on and even the changes they made, for instance Jeri Hogarth’s gender-swap, worked really well within the show. Kristen Ritter was fabulous as Jessica Jones and could not have been portrayed better. She is understated and she makes the character very sympathetic without losing her snark or bad attitude. Rachel Taylor was also great as Trish Walker. She was probably the most likable character on the show and yet she brought this quality to Trish that made her relatable. Carrie-Anne Moss as the tough-as-nails Jeri Hogarth was perfect and could not have been better cast. Mike Colter as Luke Cage was compelling and I’m excited about seeing him head his own show. David Tennant as Killgrave was perfect. He was equal parts funny and twisted psychopath. And yet you didn’t hate him and that is thanks to the way Tennant plays him and the way he’s written.

Jones also features some of the best written characters on TV, and it is refreshing to see more and more shows avoid the tired and abused tropes that are still far too common in mainstream TV series. Unlike Daredevil, Jones also has a relatively large number of characters and for the most part, they are all engaging and interesting. But I loved what Melissa Rosenberg did with the female characters on the show. They were all complex characters who were very hard to figure out. All too often on shows like this, the female characters make some very stupid mistakes that jars even the viewers because they are so out of character. What really struck me with Jones was just how smart they were, with regard to Jessica and a special mention for Trish Walker. They were cautious and didn’t rush headlong into danger. Their plans were well-thought and while they did make mistakes, they were logical ones. What I also loved that they didn’t take bullshit from anyone, case in point, after Simpson attacks Trish a second time, she doesn’t trust him and shuts him down calmly and decisively. She is very much in control.

That’s the other great thing about this show (as well as Daredevil) is that it features complex characters. Characters who are real, they are not inherently good or evil. They make bad decisions but are capable of redeeming themselves. Even the villains have a compelling history that makes them all the more menacing.

Throughout the season, Jessica suffers from PTSD and while we know that she spent time with Killgrave, under his control and did things that made her hate herself, the show never goes into explicit detail. We see her after the fact, fighting her guilt everyday having escaped from her abuser. We don’t need to see the abuse to know it happened (something Game of Thrones refuses to understand) We see Jessica as a woman who escaped on her own terms.

While there is some romance, especially between Jessica and Luke, it is understated and always in the background. It never distracts from the main plot.  At its heart Jessica Jones is a love story (as my friend pointed out) but never between Jessica and another man, but between her and Trish. Their relationship is the only positive one in the show. Trish is the only person that Jessica truly loves and Trish loves her, exactly as she is, bad attitude and all. Trish is the bright spot in the darkness that’s Jessica’s life.

Jessica Jones is a great follow up to Daredevil and does very well in distinguishing itself from it. Like Daredevil, Jessica Jones is very intense, dark and bleak but it is a very rewarding watch. Featuring great writing and characters, it is also immensely satisfying and I for one want to watch it again and this time take my time and savour it.