Daredevil Season 3 (Review/Spoilers)

So it's been a month since Daredevil Season 3 was released, so I feel it's okay to talk a bit more spoilers on what I liked, rather than trying to be a bit more discreet. So let's talk about why I think this is the best season. Now there is one small issue, and if you have watched through it, or will, but you decided to read through this anyways, it's that unlike S1 or S2, there isn't a ridiculous one take fight scene. We do have in episode 4 a one take escape, which was both brilliant and tense, but we were definitely missing something akin to the rescue or the down the stairs fight scenes. Yet for me, the action in this season is just way more tense. So we start off with Matt crawling out of the wreckage and being pretty fucked up. I mean, it takes a few episodes and a lot of him getting his ass kicked before he starts to become DD again. For me, I like these kinds of things, the whole I was on top, let myself go or something happened to me, and now I have to get back to what I was and than some kind of stories. I kind of blame Dragon Ball Z for this, but it's why movies like Skyfall resonate with me I suppose, and this kind of felt like that. You had Matt trying to rebound from a battle that nearly killed him, while fighting against an enemy that is on par, if not better than him for most of the show. With this, it brought a lot of tension to the show, making you feel like anyone could die, and it doesn't help too that most people who are fans of the comics knows that Bullseye winds up killing certain characters FROM the DD universe. So you're both hoping it doesn't happen, as well as just waiting around for the show to bring down the hammer already.

So the season at first is a bit slow, as the first few episodes really build up the few new characters, as well as reestablish the ones we know and love. But right about episode 4, we start rolling into it, and it's a non-stop ride after that. I really appreciated the take on Matt this season, as he basically gives up being Matt for most of the season, and just focuses on being the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. I appreciated that he didn't want the red suit anymore, having this balance of him dealing the with the blackest parts of his soul, and the black suit he was wearing through out. One of the best things to happen with this season though, is of course Vincent's version of Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin, and let me tell you, I can't think of a more perfect casting besides maybe Robert Downey as Ironman. I really couldn't imagine anyone else playing Kingpin at this point. I also love that we get to see so much more of him than we would in movies. We get to see how the character came to be, we get to see how he thinks, how he reacts, and it's just great. He's great, and it's scary how far ahead of everyone else he really is once you start to see his plan unfold. The dude is just straight up frightening. Kingpin was amazing this season, but the one that stole the show of course had to be Bullseye. It was teased I do believe in S1 that Bullseye was already working for Fisk, but I guess the series writers decided that they wanted to do more, and I'm glad they did, because man on man, Bullseye is fucking menacing. We got to hear his backstory with his family dying when he was younger, and how through out his life, he needed therapy and stability, something Fisk wants nothing more than to pretend to give him. You get to see how far Fisk will go to manipulate a situation into his favor. It's character depth for Fisk, and a deeper look into Bullseye. Fisk winds up killing someone that Bullseye gets close to for stability, and Fisk kills her, and makes dude believe she was pushing him out. It was something that kind of made you feel for Bullseye, even though he winds up killing 89 people with anything in arms reach. Bullseye is something Matt isn't prepared to deal with though, because first off, he's not himself until close to the end, and second he hasn't had to deal with anyone quite this skilled. Bullseye actually represents like the most annoying boss fight you could ever imagine as he can turn anything into a weapon. Stapler? Check. Pencil? Watch out! The dude would be unstoppable in your local Office Max. But the fact that he isn't just some baddie with a quirk is what makes him so great. Daredevil, and most of the series on Netflix do a great job of making every villain as close to Shrek as they can. They have layers, they are complicated, because in the end, even villains for the most part believe they are doing what's best. Most of them don't see themselves as "bad guys" but a means to an end. Because they are so good at doing this, this is why you feel bad that Bullseye is getting played by Fisk. However, it does make it satisfying when Matt reveals this to old boy, and he goes on a rampage towards the end of the season, which will hopefully leave a ripple effect going forward, if they do.

The choreography is as great as ever, and even though I did admit earlier there isn't that badass scene like the first two seasons, but there are so many great shots. We did get ONE scene that is kind of like those, but it bounced from dialogue, to fighting, to running, and it was more intense. The scene is when he's escaping the prison as Kingpin tries to corner and kill Matt, and Matt makes a deal with a group of Siberians, and the whole thing is white knuckle, as you aren't sure which person will come after Matt next. It could be the Serbs, the other Jail mates, or even the Jailers themselves. You aren't sure just who, or how many, are under Kingpins umbrella. So to me, there aren't too many other series that can get so many phenomenal shots the first and only time, yet DD continues to excel here. No matter what, whether it's a dialogue scene, or a fight scene, they do their best to keep the amount of cuts and jumps down and they pull it off every time with flying colors, and that shit isn't easy.

So the other big thing I loved in this season was the focus on Karen, as not only did it give some backstory to people who aren't readers/fans of the comics, but also makes you believe that she might die this season. Obviously she doesn't, yet, but it added to the intensity through out the season, as you weren't sure if they would or not. The flashback episode was really sad, and I felt really well done. Even though they kind of pulled a Stranger Things 2, with the timing being just as things were ramping up, I felt it was pulled off much more smoothly. I loved how it showed her relationship with both her dad and brother, and the sad ending on how she accidently killed her brother, which explained why her dad was so distant with her. Another character that was well done, but I don't feel gets enough love from everyone was Agent Nadeem. Agent Nadeem was having some personal struggles, as you get early on with some of the first episodes, but as the series goes on, it comes to light that Kingpin basically set it up that way. That he caused a lot of the problems in his life to make the man desperate to get a head start in any kind of promotion. It was another layer for Fisk, sure, but Jay Ali did a great job, and to be honest, was apart of a really interesting FBI tale. There have been a lot of movies the last few years that have tried to "capture" that Jason Bourne or Mission Impossible vibe, but woefully wound up short. But the tale they spun with the FBI in S3 of DD is not only well done, but once again added that tension that just stuck with the show til the very end. Seeing Agent Nadeem realize that the only way he might be able to protect his family, or stop Fisk, was to sacrifice himself, was jarring. You knew it was coming by the things dude was doing, but than to see the final spin on it all with the video he made right before was a giant middle finger to Fisk. Jay just crushed it through out the season, and I just felt like I needed to give him some props.

One character that didn't get a TON of time was Foggy, but for what Foggy got, I did like. It showed how Foggy might still have feelings tied with working with Matt for the greater good, but he still has his own ideas too. He is his own man, and the whole campaign to get the DA to push to be harder on Fisk was great. It was a great look into how politics are played too, and the dialogue was genuinely great, especially with the pissing contest between Foggy and the DA. I also loved that the cops haven't forgotten what Foggy and Matt had done not too long ago. Even if it cleaned up the police station of the dirty cops, it didn't help the images of everyone else in any of New York's precincts.

Lastly, the big twist, and one that I actually loved, was that of finding out who Matt's mom is. Now they did pretty much transfer the character from comic to screen, but I loved the revelation of who, and just how close, his mom was to him for so long. We got flashbacks of both her, and Jack, and we also learned that she had Post Partum Depression, something that back in the 70's and 80's, wasn't something many people knew about. It gives us not only more depth into Matt, but also into Sister Maggie, Father Lantom, and Jack. It also helps weigh down the death of the Father at the hands of Bullseye, as Matt didn't have many sweet words to bestow on him the last time he saw him. I felt that having Maggie become a big part of Matt's new life before dropping the bomb was handled really well. This, while showcasing an issue that does effect a lot of people even today, was handled really well to me as well. In the end, Maggie wound up being the lighter side of Matt, and being Matt's conscious while he struggled to realize any reason to give up the darkness he was trying to embrace more and more as time went on. That maybe killing was the only way. I chalk up to him having both Karen and Maggie act as North Stars for him, is why in end of the season, Matt does spare Fisk.

There wasn't much I didn't like about this season. As I've said to people close to me, I felt that the writers heard some of the criticisms of S2, and brought it back down to where S1 was more akin. There are more people focused on, like in S2, but it's just better executed all around. I'm going to give Season 3 of Daredevil a...

10/10. It also gets the OTS seal of approval! Why? Because truly, watching back through the season, even with knowing what was going to happen, and what was to come, I couldn't think of a single thing I'd change about S3. I felt like for the first time truly, they finally mastered the 13 episode format, the only other season I can think of that did, was S2 of Jessica Jones. But even than, I'd say this season flowed even better. I loved Daredevil, and I hope it, and Jessica Jones don't end up like the other two shows and get canned. But tell me what you think, and let me know in any of the comments sections what you felt was done right or even wrong? What would you grade S3 at?

As always though, I'll talk to you guys soon enough on the next OTS.