Marvel’s Daredevil: a Netflix original series
A superhero story for grown-ups; binge watching recommended
Courtesy of Marvel/Netflix
Marvel’s Daredevil
Created by Drew Goddard
Written by Stan Lee, Bill Everett, and Drew Goddard
On Netflix
If you’ve seen House of Cards or Orange is the New Black, then you know that Netflix isn’t half bad at making awesome television series. On top of that, we all know that Marvel is pretty great too — whether you simply enjoy their movies or you’re a die-hard comic book reader, who can resist a good superhero story? Luckily for everyone eagerly awaiting Avengers: Age of Ultron or the next episode of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Netflix is here to save the day and satisfy your Marvel cravings.
Get ready to binge watch Daredevil, a live-action Netflix original series based on the Marvel Comics character. Charlie Cox plays Matthew Murdock, a blind lawyer who moonlights as a New York City vigilante, known as Daredevil. Elden Henson stars as Foggy Nelson, Matt’s socially awkward yet sharp partner in, well, law. If you’re skeptical about the quality of a superhero Netflix show, let me assure you, this series has potential. There’s undeniable chemistry between the characters, and the show has plenty of intelligent and clever dialogue to keep the audience engaged between action sequences. The villains are deranged and disturbingly stoic; it seems that performing evil deeds yields a high paycheck, so murder and mayhem are just part of a day’s work. The show isn’t as trite or as predictable as I would’ve expected — in fact, I think the show does a good job of keeping its cards close and revealing important clues at a pace that keeps us interested and on our toes.
Daredevil is TV-MA, so it’s a lot darker than your average Marvel feature film. Expect action-packed scenes with a side of language and gore. While the show is certainly a little graphic (we see Daredevil himself nearly incapacitated with wounds), I wouldn’t say that its violence is gratuitous. Right off the bat, we can see Matt Murdock’s moral struggles with balancing justice and vengeance, and these dark elements contrast well with ideas of self control and commitment to doing the right thing. But Matt Murdock isn’t your overly glorified can-do-no-wrong hero; we can see from a series of flashbacks that he has skeletons in his closet, and he even claims to enjoy doling out justice with a good beating. While he seems to have good intentions, we aren’t 100 percent convinced that he’ll always do the right thing, which is sure to keep things interesting.
Daredevil is the first of four series and a mini-series that Marvel is pitching to various networks. Its first season premiered on Netflix this past Friday, and there are thirteen episodes to devour the next time a Netflix marathoning session is in order.