Daredevil, Season 2
Finishing up my pre-Defenders viewing by watching Season 2 of Daredevil out of sequence. (It should have come after Jessica Jones and before Luke Cage.)
In a nutshell, while better than Iron Fist (damning with faint praise), it's a letdown from the first season. It has its moments, and yes, there are some great characters, but it's just all over the place. Basically, they have enough plot and characters for a 22-episode season (or 44 on The CW) and they cram it all into 13, running from here to there, and forgetting stuff along the way. And I'm past complaining about the cost of saving a person who then goes on to die in later episodes.
The result is something that is neither episodic nor season-long story arc, and more showing people and things so that they can be referenced in future projects.
As the season opens, Hell's Kitchen is ripe for the taking since most of the underworld was disrupted or on the run. The Irish Mob is ready for a resurgence. Now, as an Irishman, I have the same mixed feelings for this as my Italian friends had for The Sopranos, but, hey, it's historical and the Irish were also the cops back then. Great scene, but you get the feeling that their leader is about to pull an Al Capone maneuver, a la De Niro in The Untouchables, except almost everyone gets gunned down by massive firepower. Wait, what?
Okay, so this is only a setback, really, because family comes over from Ireland for the wake, particularly Tony Curran, who played Datak Tarr on Defiance and Van Gogh on Doctor Who. This will be good. This is going to get serious. This is ... over before it starts. Did he just need a paycheck?
All this death is to let you know, the Punisher is around. By the way, that means that there will be a lot of violence in this series. The Punisher is a fan-favorite vigilante, so much so that he even managed a cross-over comic with Archie. And you probably know that he's getting his own series, so he's not going to die (or if so, he won't stay dead), and he's not going to jail (or if so, he's not staying there long). So there isn't a lot of suspense there, but there is a story, and it could have been a good one, except for one thing: Elektra
Again, I know enough to know that she's a love interest to Daredevil in the comics, but I didn't know enough to avoid seeing the Jennifer Garner movie. She shows up in Matt's apartment and wants to help him strike a blow to the underworld in New York City. Matt agrees to get involved AT THE COST OF HIS FRICKIN' DAY JOB. It wasn't just Karen and Foggy getting frustrated with Matt, the viewer will, too, because after he runs around all night -- when he's supposed to be preparing a kick-ass opening statement -- he's back at the apartment, decompressing or something, with Elektra when he should be getting some shut-eye. Naturally, he oversleeps and starts to wreck his career while an important case is going on.
Likewise, there's another little monkey wrench. Maybe I wasn't paying attention last season, but I thought that Karen and Foggy were getting to be good friends, although probably not in that way. Suddenly, Karen and Matt are an item and trying to figure out a first date -- right before Matt's old girlfriend shows up. Well, that's two things that Matt screws up.
And most frustratingly, the Elektra and Punisher story lines happen co-incidentally. They don't relate to or affect each other in any meaningful way.
Lots of cameos from characters from the first season are sprinkled in. Some because, why not, and some, I don't know why. This includes bringing back the Hand (although, again, this was before Iron Fist) who have a habit of bringing people back from the dead. And these guys can mask the sounds of their heartbeats while still making enough noise that I can hear them in my living room. They also know that Daredevil is blind because they stand still right in front of him, waiting, and he can't detect them.
Final complaints (only because I'm tired of typing): first, even if the action is confined to Hells Kitchen, you can't get around jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Daredevil has enhanced but not superhuman abilities. He can't jump across streets and definitely not the avenues. Yes, as a New Yorker, this bothers me more, but think about your own city, or its "downtown" or "business" areas. Is such a thing possible?
Lastly, even though it was supposed to be a climactic action sequence, the final battle was a bunch of guys wearing black fighting in shadows at night. Makes for riveting television. Don't watch it on any device that will reflect any kind of light source back at you. I was staring at my own reflection on my tablet for part of it.
In the end, you'll be ready for the Punisher series, consider the possibilities for Elektra, and wonder why they even showed certain people and gave them air time. And while I wouldn't call a certain thing a "major plot hole", something important gets found and never addressed again. And that's about all I can say without spoilers, except for "Bring on The Defenders".
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