Daredevil Season 1, Episode 1 "Into the Ring" (USE SPOILER TAGS!)

[TheVileOne]

Just finished the first episode. may I just say the intro is amazing?

Spoiler

To be honest I winced at how much blood and violence was in this. The realism of the fight scenes as well was incredible. Not just 30 seconds of Daredevil beating the crap out of everyone. But instead a couple of mimutes of actual fighting. Murdock actually took some hits instead of dogding everything like a ninja. And won through skill and strategy.

Injuries clearly take their toll for the fights.

 

[Travesty]

I like how they mention the events from The Avengers.

 

[fixxxer]

Exactly 19 minutes and 37 seconds into episode 1. This is what love feels like. I... am... smitten. I'll be back in 13 or so hours. That is all.

I know that quoting myself is bad form. But I'm just in awe.

Episode 1 in the can. Still in love. Even after the slew of rave reviews (#BadBuzz notwithstanding... muuuuaaaaahahahhaha) I still wasn't expecting anything close to this almost absurd level of quality. If the remaining 12 episodes cumulatively match up, this will be among the flippin' best seasons of television ever made. My position at this point is that this is just great... like historically great.

As much as I want to binge, I think I'll take my time, though. I want to just devour these remaining episodes, but I think stretching it out a wee bit might make for a more satisfying experience. Then again, like I have that much self control.

 

[Silvermoth]

What about the Japanese crime boss? She seems pretty sinister.

She didn't get a whole lot of screen time but I'm looking forward to seeing more of her as the episodes move on

 

[TheVileOne]

She wasn't Japanese. Nobu was representing the Yakuza, possibly the Hand.

 

[PacificBoy]

Yeah she's Chinese. Better spoken Mandarin on display than Arrow. Another plus.

 

[Scarecrow_King]

I'm only halfway through the first episode and I'm already in love. The confessional scene and the first fight scene were enough to completely hook me.

 

[Kster95]

Daredevil is just great! Wow.

Intro music is always great. Track is really good.

My only gripe is I wish his eyes were more white like how Aflecks eyes were. And I wish we could see his radar thing like from movie, see how he sees things from sound.

 

[kedrell]

I like how they mention the events from The Avengers.

I am just loving this show. It may compete with GoT for my #1 spot. And yes, I love the just off the nose way they reference the Battle of New York from the Avengers. All references are well placed and fairly low key so as not to call obvious attention to themselves. That's the way to do it. Easter eggs placed in plain site aren't how it's supposed to be done. The audience needs to do at least some small measure of work to find them so it's enjoyable.

 

[Human Torch]

Yeah, I like the subtle mentions to the Battle of NY. Very nice.

I wish I had time to get to the second episode today. But at least it'll last longer this way.t:

 

[Mike Murdock]

I promised myself I'd try and pace myself with this. Originally, I said I'd only watch one episode a night. The hope being I could space it out until Age of Ultron but the minimum was at least two weeks. At a minimum, I said I'd write a review after each episode. After episode one, that alone might be a stretch. But let's try it (commenting without looking at the thread because it's cutting down on valuable show-watching time). So I'll make a Manhattan and get started. As an aside, a Manhattan is going to be my unofficial drink of Daredevil. For one, it's a whiskey drink and a non-mixer drink, which feels more like a traditional lawyer drink (in reality, lawyers learned to drink in Law School, so they'll drink anything). Second, Manhattan is the home of Daredevil. Third, the touch of rose can mirror his red final costume (hopefully). I took notes because I realize I'm not going to remember everything. The goal is to make those notes into something coherent (I've been writing Daredevil comic reviews and I usually stop to comment as I go, but there's no way this is happening here).

The opening works well. While I probably would have preferred to build up to it a bit (especially echoing MWOF by Matt being made fun of by being called Daredevil prior to that), I think the opening with the "parental trouble instinct" a la Broadchurch in full effect was quite good. Certainly, the vision fading away was quite powerful. I hope they return to that (maybe with Matt in a hospital bed and a nurse visiting him). The confession worked. They had a good compromise of Guardian Devil and the criticism of that. Matt identifies himself as a Catholic, but it's been a long time since he had gone (in fact, his grandmother rather than his father being the true Catholic rings true to my memory being raised Catholic). The segue to his father was wonderful. I figure we'll return to this conversation.

The first fight was awesome. Like holy Jesus it was awesome. I almost stopped watching to just squeel about how great it was. It's clear it's drawn heavily from Man Without Fear (even the parts that were unusually grim for Marvel with human trafficking), but it's simplified and to the point. More importantly, it's a good mix of brutal fighting and acrobatic fighting; combining all styles Daredevil is known for. It has all the tricks, including the billy club throw. Good use of sound, although it's much easier to dodge a gun when he's unnecessarily cocking it every single time. The second fight with the knife did a better job with sound and dodging there.

The characters - I'm loving Foggy. He does a wonderful job of being goofy and likable while still seeming reasonably competent (for being a lawyer for seven hours). Like his conversation with the cop (when you hang up a shingle, you need to work all angles). I'm with Foggy on the innocent/guilty debate, but I'm curious to see how they handle that going forward. I love the Melvin Potter insanity angle in the comics. I hope they explore that, since it's a client who did technically do what he's accused of. Maybe they could have Foggy convince Matt that this counts under his rules. When Foggy says that Matt always finds the beautiful women and it's trouble for him, I wonder if that's an Elektra reference.

I like the take on Karen. It does a good job of drawing them into the mystery and the actress really sells her torment (the ligature marks help too). I will do my usual PSA that you should never sleep with a client, but I'll not dwell on it. The legal aspects (and strategic) aspects are interesting to discuss, but I won't dwell on it right now. Suffice it to say, for a murder case, they were quite lucky. But there were a lot of things not adding up, which helped. I do like that they mentioned Brady material (the duty of prosecutors to disclose information helpful to the defense) without needing to explain it to the audience (since both characters were already familiar with it). It essentially operated as technobabble for lawyers but was more or less accurate.

I think it's obvious Wesley is going to be awesome, just from his first scene. He is a mix of creepy and disciplined. He's just a businessman, but in a brutal business. But he's got a fun sarcastic side. Leeland Owlsley isn't as good, but I love the other side of superheroes he brings up. It appears the Avengers are good for business. Let's see how Daredevil goes. I also loved the Chechnyan kidnap preschool line.

Other stray thoughts:
It's raining a lot. Let's see if that impacts things like in the comics. Loved the knife fight, glad the guy choked by the chain didn't die, I'd like to think the people manufacturing heroin (cocaine?) were hired because they were blind rather than blinded. Finally, when Matt said "it's easy when you're client is innocent": No it isn't. It's really, friggin' hard. It's so stressful (I don't like anyone getting convicted when the case isn't proven, but it's a feeling of sadness rather than anger if an innocent person is found guilty).

Overall, it was great. I can't believe I've spent this long writing, I need to get back to watching.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

No poll?
First minute is bleh.
Second minute is bleh.
Things start picking up starting with the 17th minute.
Things get really good around halfway into the episode.

It's an alright opening episode, but nothing that wowed me.

 

[Travesty]

No poll?
First minute is bleh.
Second minute is bleh.
Things start picking up starting with the 17th minute.
Things get really good around halfway into the episode.

It's an alright opening episode, but nothing that wowed me.

 

[Docker2.0]

Watching it now and man does Marvel do dark well. I can only imagine if they did the Punisher.

 

[flickchick85]

I can only imagine if they did the Punisher.

That certainly seems a lot more imaginable now. t:

 

[Snow Queen]

Once upon a time I'd say Punisher would be too dark and violent for Marvel...yeah that's not the case after the stuff this show has done.

 

[Mikelus]

Very good first episode. I like the tone of the series a lot. The beginning was really captivating. That fight scene at the docks...oh MAN. This show ain't no ARROW. This has REAL down and dirty fighting. Can't wait to watch more which won't be until much later tonight.

Amazing. Love Cox and Henson's banter. You buy into the friendship between them straight away.

The fight choreography is exceptional. I enjoy Arrow but the fight fight scenes in Daredevil put the ones in Arrow to shame.

Agreed, and the acting is better too, Charlie Cox is a great actor, Stephen Amell has a lot to learn. The Arrow/Flash producers should take many notes, they really need better writers, less teen angst, etc.

 

[flickchick85]

Agreed, and the acting is better too, Charlie Cox is a great actor, Stephen Amell has a lot to learn. The Arrow/Flash producers should take many notes, they really need better writers, less teen angst, etc.

Those shows are limited by their tiny network budgets (CW is the cheapest of the "major" broadcast networks, and they're all cheaper than Netflix to begin with). That applies not just to the sets, costumes and fight choreography, but to everyone on the crew, from the writers onwards. And that network has certain requirements for all their shows. I don't love The Flash and Arrow (yet for some reason I continue to watch them), but they are a result of the network they are on, plain and simple. The producers can "learn" all they want from this, but it won't change their circumstances.

 

[Human Torch]

Isn't it possible to appreciate a show these days without resorting to "X show should learn from this show!" AOS/Arrow/Flash are still great shows.

 

[famicommander]

That first episode was excellent. The fight choreography is absolutely outstanding. It's also very well shot so you can actually see what's going on; it's not just a shaky cam mess.

I like how quickly they jumped into everything. We have major supporting characters, the origin story, a set up for the season long villain, references to the shared universe, the beginning of the lawyer aspect...

This is an unashamed, unabashed "Daredevil" show. It has faith in its premise. In my opinion, the only other comic book show on television right now with absolute faith in its premise is The Flash. Not that iZombie or Arrow or Gotham or Constantine are necessarily bad just because they're more liberal adaptations, but it's nice to see them boil the character and his world down to their essence and then make their own story based on that essence. That's the feeling I'm getting one episode into Daredevil, and it's the feeling I get with Flash.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Sorry to disappoint.

 

[Silliminite]

Really good first episode. The first fight sequence was awesome. Charlie Cox is excellent so far and so are the supporting cast. Love the overall tone and plot of the show so far. I look forward to the rest of the series.

 

[Mike Murdock]

I can tell I'm going to like Foggy t:

Yeah, Foggy started great. There's been enough different portrayals in the comics over the years that I wasn't sure if I would like their take. But I loved it.

No poll?

In my reviews that I'm writing for myself (and then posting), I'm giving a rating. I've left it out when I copied and pasted it, though. The first episode got Five Stars.

 

[Greens]

Pretty good episode. I won't say it's fantastic (yet) but I like what they're doing.

 

[chamber-music]

Agreed, and the acting is better too, Charlie Cox is a great actor, Stephen Amell has a lot to learn. The Arrow/Flash producers should take many notes, they really need better writers, less teen angst, etc.

Stephen Amell seems like a nice guy but to be honest he has mostly got work throughout his career because of his looks rather than his acting abilities.

CW for better or worst has its own distinct style aimed at their target demographic.

I do think the Arrow Producers/Writers could learn that just because your show is about a dark & gritty vigilante, your lead doesn't have to be repressed and brooding all the time.