‘Daredevil’ Season 2 Stronger Than The First
There seems to be a fairly vocal contingent that disagrees with my headline, so below I will attempt to explain why I think the second season of the Netflix series Daredevil is better than the first (itself an amazing season) — and do it without spoilers. That will be a challenge, but if something has to give, it will be the defense of my statement. I won’t spoil anything.
The first season of Daredevil suffered (inasmuch as it can be said of suffering from anything) from having to deal with keeping up the tension throughout 13 episodes of what was basically a one-on-one story between Daredevil and the Kingpin. Because of that, it suffered from the same thing that it’s same-universe follow on series Jessica Jones did — pacing issues. Both series slogged a bit in the third quarter of episodes.
Season 2 of Daredevil doesn’t have this problem, since it bounces back and forth between the stories of the past, present and future of both Frank Castle and Elektra Natchios, all through how they have interacted with Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Paige (Deborah Ann Woll). This allows the show to jump to a different part of the overall story without having to extend any scenes to fill space within an episode.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean the show seems rushed. There are some excellent slow, emotion-filled moments. And also to be clear, this series still focuses mainly on its title character. But instead of the often unconnected worlds of Daredevil and Wilson Fisk finally coming together in the later episodes of the series, Season 2 starts right out of the gate mixing the world of the various characters.
Elevated noticeably in the second season is the fight choreography. I loved the brutal boxing-plus style of Matt Murdock as he was transitioning into Daredevil in the first season, but realistically, when he faced off against a trained enemy, the martial arts choreography was standard at best. Not in Season 2. Without drastically changing Daredevil’s fighting style, the fight choreography shows his growth in getting used to his own style, and also matches fighting techniques to individual combatants perfectly.
Most noticeable, however, is how the acting of everyone has been elevated from very good to outstanding. Both Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle and Elodie Yung as Elektra absolutely own their roles, which are rich, complex and very well written. Last season, Vincent D’Onofrio was so incredibly good as Wilson Fisk that everyone else seemed somewhat lesser because of it. This season, both Bernthal and Yung bring serious acting chops as well, and everyone else in the cast rises to meet them. (As an aside, my only exposure to Yung was as Jinx in the acting-challenged G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Who knew the gorgeous black belt had a black belt in acting as well?)
One more improvement — by moving Daredevil clearly into the superhero realm with having him wearing the costume, the show makes it easier to integrate those mystical elements that last season seemed like a square peg in a round hole. Sure, that means the show sacrifices a bit of its noir and realism. But the show is still noir as Hell, and as to realism — well the main character has chemical waste-induced super senses. A costume is the least unrealistic thing going on.
There are some continuity issues, and some structure and logic problems (which I can’t explain without spoilers) but they are so small as to get lost in the overall quality of the season. There are also well crafted story-extending references to Season 1, and wonderful Easter Eggs and call outs to other parts of the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even if, unlike me, you find it isn’t as good as Season 1, you will still love Season 2, and I strongly recommend it.
