"Memento Mori" Gives The First Season Of The Punisher A Perfect Ending!

The Good: Incredible performances, Artful direction, Good character moments, Excellent plot progression, Themes
The Bad: Nothing!
The Basics: The Punisher's first season closes with "Memento Mori," which makes for the season's second perfect episode!


Perhaps the biggest surprise of the first season of The Punisher is that, going into the season finale, it's not really possible to say "What a long and bloody road we took to get here . . ." The Punisher could have been a constant bloodbath, a dumbed-downed, blood and gored-up, triggerhappy vengeance story, but Netflix managed to make something smart, complex and emotionally real. For sure, there has been blood, but it's hard to look at the first season of The Punisher and argue that it was more violent and gory than, for example, Daredevil Season 2 (reviewed here!) where there was violence with Daredevil, The Punisher, Elektra, and blood-draining ninjas.

So, as "Memento Mori" opens with Frank Castle beaten to a pulp as a result of the events of "Home" (reviewed here!), it is with the promise that The Punisher will not diverge from the formula that got it to this end: it has to be smart. And wow, is it!

Madani and Lieberman bring Frank Castle to her parents' home where Madani begs her father to treat the severely wounded Castle. Dr. Madani gets Castle breathing, while at his own lair, Russo extracts a bullet from himself. Russo takes his cash, the police walkie-talkie and kills his way out of Anvil. After Castle recovers, while the CIA and Homeland are hunting him, Lieberman brings Castle money and advocates for him to retire. Castle, though, is determined to finish what he started. Madani lets Castle leave, but tells him that if she sees him again she'll be forced to either arrest or kill him. Madani returns to Homeland Security where she is called onto the carpet by James and Hernandez.

Lieberman returns to his wife and kids to begin the period of readjusting to their lives together. Curtis Hoyle wakes up to Russo in his apartment. Russo keeps Hoyle at gunpoint in his apartment, but Castle manages to box the two in by sniping from across the street. Castle negotiates for Hoyle's life and Russo and Castle agree to finish their conflict that the carousel where their conflict began. But when Castle and Madani converge upon the park, they discover Russo's endgame is not as simple as a shootout.

There are very few preconceptions I had going into "Memento Mori." The biggest assumption I had in advance of sitting down to the episode was that there was a decent chance that Russo would survive the season, leading Madani to become disillusioned enough to become a Punisher herself. As horrific as some of the events in "Memento Mori" are - the sounds of the gagged teenagers crying is particularly unsettling, arguably more than the visual gore - there is the sense throughout the episode that it actually could go any way. With both Russo and Castle shot, there is the feeling either or both could die and as the episode races toward its climax, "Memento Mori" feels anything but predictable.

"Memento Mori" starts, uncomfortably enough, like a medical drama with the gore coming from Frank Castle's wounds and the medical procedure needed to save him. Director Stephen Surjik seems to realize quickly that the level of gore is moving toward disturbing, so Russo's exit from his facility is treated with more speed and art than realistic gore. That helps to make "Memento Mori" accessible. So, too, does the fact that the episode quickly transitions into characters talking and people exploring the consequences of the prior twelve episodes.

The realism of the Lieberman's awkwardness is magnificent. Jaime Ray Newman watching Moss-Barach and the kids playing cards allows her to present Sarah Lieberman with wordless charm. Newman is great at showing the build-up to the Liebermans' reunion quickie. Impressive as well is the level of detail that writer Steve Lightfoot and Surjik put into the piece where Russo can easily recognize - and the viewer can credibly believe - the sound of Castle releasing his rifle's magazine.

Surjik creates a beautiful-looking season finale with "Memento Mori." The simple shot of the clouds over New York City is artful and the falling coffee mugs are fantastic. Surjik taking the time to show things like Curtis putting on his prosthetic leg continues the sense of realism that is seldom shown on television. In fact, it is funny for how realistic most of the episode is that Surjik has Hoyle's coffee maker work at superhuman speeds.

"Memento Mori" reveals well the level of personal betrayal Frank Castle has been feeling for the latter half of the season by showing the moments leading up to Castle's family getting slaughtered. The scenes with Frank Castle and his family are heartwrenching. Russo continues to be well-characterized as the ultimate villain of The Punisher through the illustration that he has made his own narrative.

Ben Barnes makes a truly disturbing transition over the course of "Memento Mori." Russo goew from being a military minded man with some sense of his own personal ethos to a deranged maniac without ever seeming like the transformation is inorganic. Barnes is terrifying as Russo in almost every scene he is in in "Memento Mori."

"Memento Mori" is a series of surprises and revelations and it is incredible. The performances are wonderful by all involved and the fact that Frank Castle both develops as a character and remains true to his moral core makes for compelling television. Whoever thought that The Punisher could create a legitimate tearjerker?! But "Memento Mori" is that; it develops from a series of tense, action moments that manage to bring about plot resolution to big character moments to the season's ever-present exploration of the effects upon a soldier of their actions while at war.

"Memento Mori" is an amazing end to an incredible season of television. The balance of art and realism, horror and heart makes for - and no one is more surprised than me! - a perfect season finale.

For other Marvel Television Universe season finales, please visit my reviews of:
"AKA Smile" - Jessica Jones
"World's End" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"And Finally . . . Black Bolt" - Inhumans

10/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Ashes, Ashes" Slowly Moves To Two Big Marvel Cinematic Universe Deaths!

The Good: Stick is proven to be the smartest character of the franchise, Good acting, Lines from Jessica Jones
The Bad: Dull, meandering, plot, Some serious technical and character issues
The Basics: The Defenders take time to regroup in "Ashes, Ashes" while The Hand does the same thing.


As The Defenders nears its climax, it is interesting to see what directions it chooses to go. Unfortunately, because the Marvel Cinematic Universe is so vast, it is tough for even the Netflix components of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to retain some sense of originality. "Ashes, Ashes," for example, opts to go exactly where Luke Cage went a year prior in its handling of the (apparent) primary villain of the series and that is incredibly disappointing for fans - especially given how The Defenders had a limited amount of time and space to develop new adversaries. "Ashes, Ashes" uses Sigourney Weaver's Alexandra to reveal to viewers just how The Hand has operated for centuries and it manages to elevate Elektra to a level of villainy that justifies the fear Stick had in the Black Sky.

"Take Shelter" (reviewed here!) led directly into "Ashes, Ashes." As a result, the heroes of The Defenders are holed up at the outset together, The Hand is experiencing serious fractures and the sidekicks from the prior Marvel Cinematic Universe endeavors are all sequestered together at Misty Knight's precinct for their safety.

Alexandra is listening to a record when she notices, to her dismay, that it is warped. The Defenders are reeling from Stick having just killed Sowande in front of them. With Stick having realized that Rand is the key to something The Hand wants to unlock, Danny Rand freaks out. After the rest of the team incapacitates Danny Rand, Stick reveals to the team that Matt might know where the door The Hand wants to unlock is; in the hole beneath the skyscraper that is now Midland Circle. While Jones and Murdock head for the architect's house to get the plans, Stick and Cage dispose of Sowande's body . . . by Stick shipping his head to The Hand!

While Murdock and Jones visit Raymond's brownstone for information on Midland Circle, Madame Gao tries to work with and warn Alexandra of her place in The Hand's leadership. While Stick meditates, Cage and Rand actually begin to bond. Alexandra visits Elektra at Elektra's grave and works to bring her back to her cause as the Black Sky. After Jones and Murdock get the plans to Midland Circle and the hole beneath it, Stick makes a move on the Iron Fist, which leaves the team vulnerable to Elektra.

The Defenders seems incredibly derivative in "Ashes, Ashes" and not just from other Marvel Cinematic Universe works. Danny Rand is straight out of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer playbook when he whines at the outset of the episode that he is not a key. Sadly, Finn Jones is not a better actor than Michelle Trachtenberg. Furthermore, "Ashes, Ashes" reduces The Chaste to an analogy to Whedon's Knights Of Byzantium as Stick has the most pragmatic approach to Danny Rand. In fact, it is somewhat shocking that it takes Stick so long to make an attempt on Rand's life to try to save New York.

"Ashes, Ashes" is weird in that it gets a number of key character details wrong for the protagonists. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have their first genuine opportunity to converse since Cage abruptly ditched Jones near the climax of the first season of Jessica Jones. Cage abandoned her because she was tied to his wife's death; since then, he has learned that Reva was simply using him and was a part of the organization that violently gave him his unbreakable skin and exceptional strength. Cage, who is usually a good, stand-up guy, has the chance to end much of Jones's inner turmoil, but the dialogue is a bland brushing off of how their relationship ended and why.

The Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has smartly and slowly developed The Hand as an adversary. While the ninjas of The Hand have been disposable and easily-defeated, Madame Gao has represented a powerhouse of villainy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gao shows deference to Alexandra and that instantly elevated Alexandra the moment she appeared on screen. Bokuto was a half-rate villain in Iron Fist, Sowande was barely in The Defenders before he was killed. In "Ashes, Ashes," Murakami is a non-entity, which helps to undermine the menace of The Hand. Gao and Alexandra seem the most competent members of The Hand leadership and it is shocking how milquetoast the other three leaders are/were.

The tragedy of "Ashes, Ashes" - outside Danny Rand being a whiny little toad who is completely upstaged by Luke Cage's biceps (it is impossible to deny in this episode that Mike Colter is not only an amazing looking guy, but he's got charisma coming out his ears - or more accurately, eyes, smile, and voice) - is that the climax finds Elektra revealing her true level of power . . . at the expense of one of the worthwhile characters from The Defenders.

Elodie Yung is good as Elektra and director Stephen Surjik captured her confused expressions as Alexandra indoctrinates the Black Sky quite well. Scott Glenn continues to portray the blind master Stick with a realism that is incredible.

"Ashes, Ashes" plods along with the characters regrouping - Murdock and Jones figure out just where they need to go to stop The Hand over the course of the hour while Stick resolves to prevent the Iron Fist from falling into The Hand's possession and Alexandra similarly getting Elektra back to her cause - before yet another significant battle and a "big twist" moment that is anything but big. The result is a bridge episode that feels like a bridge episode and fairly average television.

For other works with Sigourney Weaver, please check out my reviews of:
The Cabin In The Woods
Red Lights
Paul
Cedar Rapids
Avatar
WALL-E
Baby Mama
Galaxy Quest
The Alien Quadrilogy
Annie Hall

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Defenders - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the street-level heroes here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Everyone Else Rules The Iron Fist Finale "Dragon Plays With Fire"

The Good: Claire Temple, Ward Meachum, and Joy Meachum
The Bad: Everyone else, Stale plot, Sudden macguffin, Stiff performances
The Basics: Iron Fist ends low with "Dragon Plays With Fire."


The entire purpose of a serialized television show is to tell a compelling story with interesting characters and the importance of a season finale is that it completes the long arc and makes viewers excited for any subsequent seasons. The television shows in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have often done a good job of bringing about strong resolution for the seasons, especially when the season has a strong adversary. Wilson Fisk, Kilgrave, and Jai'Ying all led to fairly decent finales for Marvel shows. Even John Garrett helped end the first season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. in an interesting way, because much of the season had been spent confronting the effects of his character. When the full season is not devoted to a single adversary, the climactic conflict with that adversary makes for a weaker finale; Diamondback only appearing for the back half of Luke Cage made the focus on the conflict with him in that finale a weaker end for that season, for example. Iron Fist suffers in a similar fashion as Harold Meachum steps up in "Dragon Plays With Fire" to be the sudden Big Bad in a simplistic conflict that hardly seems nearly as big or powerful as the other adversaries Rand has faced in the season.

"Dragon Plays With Fire" picks up right after "Bar The Big Boss" (reviewed here!), which climaxed with Danny Rand and Colleen Wing on the run from D.E.A. agents. Harold Meachum tipped off the Drug Enforcement Agency that Danny Rand was a drug kingpin and in fleeing them, Rand incapacitated some of the agents. "Dragon Plays With Fire" begins with the inherent weakness of a contrived chase that the viewer knows entirely is a set-up. To that end, "Dragon Plays With Fire" engineers a macguffin - in this case a tablet computer with unadulterated documents on it - opposite the simplistic conflict. So, it is almost unsurprising that "Dragon Plays With Fire" is a painfully unremarkable season finale that allows some of the supporting characters and actors to entirely overshadow the protagonists and their performers.

Harold Meachum returns to work at Rand Enterprises, while Ward is in the process of enlisting the aid of Jeri Hogarth in saving Danny. Harold is using the DEA to bring down Danny and Hogarth clandestinely meets with Rand and Wing to figure out their strategy. Rand is being hunted by the DEA because Harold altered documents that were on a tablet belonging to The Hand. Determined to get the uncorrupted data, Rand and Wing return to Bakuto's compound, but find it completely abandoned . . . save for the imprisoned Madame Gao. Gao tells Rand the only way he will truly become an Iron Fist is by killing Harold Meachum, whom she reveals as being the one who killed Rand's parents.

While Rand sets his sights on Harold Meachum and recovering the tablet that will exonerate him, Ward visits Joy in the hospital. When Joy learns that Danny is wanted by the DEA, she leaves the hospital to confront her father. Joy quickly susses out that her father is lying to her. When Ward returns to Rand Enterprises, he realizes his father's personal army might be enough to stop the Iron Fist. Wing and Rand come anyway, with Temple providing a distraction. In the climactic battle against Harold Meachum, Danny must determine to what lengths he will go to stop his immortal enemy.

"Dragon Plays With Fire" might have been all right were it not for the fact that the episode rips off an earlier episode of Iron Fist. When Wing, Temple and Rand went to China to apprehend Madame Gao, the trip and the episode were bogged down with Rand moralizing about what to do with Gao when they find her. In that episode, Danny Rand was proven to be immature, uncommitted and somewhat stupid. That is repeated in "Dragon Plays With Fire." The repetitive nature of "Dragon Plays With Fire" becomes undeniable when Claire Temple bribes a cart owner the same way Wing bribed a beggar in China.

In "Dragon Plays With Fire," Harold Meachum loses any appearance of subtlety or nuance and moves into the over-the-top comic book villain category. Joy Meachum has some wonderful moments when she challenges her father's lies, but Harold's go-to of lying and violence make him seem ridiculous and a caricature . . . much the way Joy's ultimate scene is unsatisfying for its transparency.

Claire Temple and Rosario Dawson steal the early scenes of "Dragon Plays With Fire," while Tom Pelphrey crushes every scene he is in. Pelphrey turns Ward Meachum around and restores him to a professional, commanding character. Pelphrey's physical performance in "Dragon Plays With Fire" makes Ward compelling and once again seem credible as a businessperson. Ward and Temple have the most satisfying resolution to their character arcs in season one of Iron Fist.

Unfortunately, Danny Rand, Colleen Wing and Harold Meachum all have pathetic arcs in "Dragon Plays With Fire." Rand and Wing both have moments where they are stiff, clueless or poorly-defined. Season 1 of Iron Fist does not satisfactorily explain why Danny Rand worked so hard to become the Iron Fist only to abandon his responsibilities and go through the Trials without understanding even what the Iron Fist was. Moreover, how the hell did Davos - a devoted monk whose life and heritage were all designed around him become the new guardian of K'un-Lun - lose to Danny Rand?!

Finn Jones delivers an unfortunately inorganic performance at all of the key emotional moments of "Dragon Plays With Fire." Similarly, Jessica Henwick has minimal emotional connection with Jones on-screen and her reactions to Jones's most emotive lines are very stiff.

Ultimately, "Dragon Plays With Fire" is a predictable, formulaic, stiffly-executed season finale where a couple of the supporting characters steal all focus and credibility from the weak protagonists.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Iron Fist - The Complete First Season, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

For other finale episodes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, please visit my reviews of:
"You Know My Steez" - Luke Cage
"AKA Smile" - Jessica Jones
"Daredevil" - Daredevil
"Ascension" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Valediction" - Agent Carter

1/10

For other Marvel movie, television season and episode reviews, please check out my Marvel Cinematic Universe Review Index Page for a listing of those reviews!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Going Down: "Take It Personal" Undermines Luke Cage!

The Good: Moments of character and performance, The plot moves forward some
The Bad: Awkward direction (especially for the flashbacks), Over-the-top performances, Ridiculous plot and character movements.
The Basics: "Take It Personal" has the story of Luke Cage moving incrementally forward while muddying its purpose and intensity.


It is tough to go back and retcon a character's backstory with a significant change to a relationship and have it be satisfying to the audience. When altering a backstory, the impact of making a change is often more pronounced when the backstory is very well-defined. In the case of Luke Cage, the television series had a lot of ground to cover given that Cage was very much a supporting character in Jessica Jones (reviewed here!). Indeed, in Jessica Jones all the viewer truly comes away with knowing for sure is that Luke Cage is impervious to bullets, he looks amazing with his shirt off, and he still carries a torch for his wife, Reva, who was killed before the series began. So, the love Luke Cage has for Reva was one of the elements viewers expected would be fleshed out through flashbacks in Luke Cage and in the big origin story episode, "Step In The Arena" (reviewed here!), the viewer is treated to seeing how the two met. In "Take It Personal," the bedrock of Cage and Reva's relationship is shattered.

Unfortunately, getting to the retcon "Take It Personal" takes the long way around and it is hardly the most compelling hour of television. Because it picks up exactly where "DWYCK" (reviewed here!) left off, it is difficult to discuss "Take It Personal" without referencing the events of the prior episode.

Opening with Luke Cage in Dr. Burstein's acid bath, Claire Temple manages to restart Cage's heart and comes up with a theory of how to weaken Cage's skin enough to extract the shrapnel in him. Diamondback has Dillard visit his warehouse to prove to her that he is prepared to profit off the fear she can generate. Armed with a pair of power gloves, Diamondback takes to the street and kills a cop, yelling afterward that he is Luke Cage. The police in Harlem take to the streets and bring in every possible person they can, including the child Lonnie Wilson, who knew Cage from Pop's barber shop.

In Georgia, Luke Cage and Claire Temple use the flash drive that has Reva's files and Cage learns the truth about Reva's involvement in his experimentation. When Lonnie is roughed up by the police, Dillard leaps on the opportunity to demonize the police and calls for a hunt for Luke Cage. Dillard calls for the police to be properly armed to bring down Luke Cage. As Misty Knight tries to hunt down Diamondback, Cage and Temple meander through Carl Lucas's past in Georgia before heading back to Harlem.

"Take It Personal" retcons Reva and continues to make Dr. Burstein more important in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Burstein is, essentially, one of the Marvel mad scientists and given that he performed the experiments that made Luke Cage invulnerable and is left standing, it is hard to believe viewers have seen the last of him. As viewers play "villains roulette" to try to deduce who will be an adversary in The Defenders, it is hard to rule out Burstein as having involvement!

There is a very tough sell going on in "Take It Personal" as Misty Knight sees evidence that Luke Cage was Carl Lucas. Viewers have known that fact for several episodes and the music played when Knight comes across proof seems more like a parody of the emotional moment than a genuine emotional revelation.

The police in "Take It Personal," outside Misty Knight, are treated as crazed, bloodthirsty idiots who are unable to remain within the bounds of the law. While exploring police violence in any drama is a great idea and it is a subject virtually untouched until now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in Luke Cage, the conflict seems incredibly contrived. "Take It Personal" features Diamondback and Dillard's plotline which is essentially a convoluted plan to get police in Harlem armed with bullets that can puncture Luke Cahe's skin. While this is a plan that would completely service Diamondback and could be passed through using the fear of Luke Cage by spineless politicians, it is hard to see how "Take It Personal" could completely neglect the argument that overhauling all of the police's weapons for one suspect is ridiculous, dangerous, and bound to result in more collateral damage than anything else.

Moreover, when Dillard makes callbacks to Jessica Jones and other super-powered people, the failure to reference the Sokovia Accords is glaring.

Mike Colter and Rosario Dawson keep "Take It Personal" watchable, even as the episode meanders erratically. The flashbacks for Luke Cage are presented virtually identical to how Misty Knight sees crime scenes and that is incredibly awkward. Even director Stephen Surjik cannot sell the flashbacks the way he directs them. Moreover, amid the sudden flashbacks that allow Cage to realize that Stryker is his half-brother (though why he never acknowledges him as a half-brother, he only calls him a brother, is a mystery), Cage throws out a lot of additional information, like being the "miracle baby," which is new. The whole "miracle baby" idea seems like an extraneous detail that does not actually add anything to the backstory.

But while the character backstory and the retcon that shakes the foundation of Luke Cage's world, Colter plays the part with a decent balance of coolness and anger, revelation and acceptance. Colter and Dawson have great on-screen chemistry that plays out well in "Take It Personal."

Despite having a comparatively minor role in "Take It Personal," Misty Knight continues to overshadow Luke Cage, in her scenes until the episode's climax. While Cage is moody and has revelations surrounding him, Knight is an active investigator and she is smarter than all of the other detectives and cops in Luke Cage. Because of how fractured the characters and story are in the first season of Luke Cage - "Take It Personal" is episode 10 and there is no clear conflict or plotline and characters are still being introduced without any real backstory of their own - having a protagonist who is not as on top of the machinations of the plots of the villains as another heroic character, it is hard to buy into the protagonist.

Luke Cage is advanced by "Take It Personal," but not in a particularly compelling way.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Luke Cage - The Complete First Season, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Jacob Vargas, please visit my reviews of:
Death Race
Bobby
Traffic

4.5/10

For other movie and television reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for a listing of those reviews!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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End The Arc: The Punisher Is Resolved In ".380"

The Good: Wonderful acting, Good dialogue, Decent direction
The Bad: Obvious issue with the ending, Light on character development
The Basics: Hero and anti-hero clash one last time when Daredevil and The Punisher independently hunt The Blacksmith in ".380."


One of the more interesting facets of well-structured serialized television that has multiple seasons to develop is how a show seeds elements and foreshadows. That can make television that is magnificent by the season or the series, but have episodes that hold up less well on their own. In the second season of Daredevil, the later in the season, the more the episodes run together, telling a strong overall narrative, but having less plot distinction within the episodes. "The Man In The Box" was filled with exposition, but the episode was mostly explanation of prior events than it was a story that told a new series of events. ".380" is similar, as it continues the menace left at the climax of "The Man In The Box" and barely moves the pieces (characters) forward. In fact, the most significant character moments come from Claire Temple; her life changes drastically, while the other characters continue on in pretty much the directions they had been going in.

".380" picks up in the final seconds of "The Man In The Box" (reviewed here!) with the Hand's ninjas scaling Metro General Hospital and the five young people Daredevil rescued from weird experimentation and exsanguination staring like zombies, together, waiting for them. Like most episodes that are part of a tight serialized narrative, little is actually resolved within ".380," though the journey is certainly engaging enough to keep the viewer glued.

The Hand's ninjas scale Metro General Hospital, there to recover the five children Daredevil previously rescued. Nobu's lackeys are efficient and manage to get the kids away, arguably because they want to be returned to The Farm, though the hospital's staff is shaken by the appearance of the ninjas and the casualties that result. While Claire tapes herself up, Murdock tries to explain The Hand to her. After Karen Page lies to the police about Castle's involvement in the shooting at her apartment, she and Murdock meet up, where she tells her former employer that she is convinced Frank did not kill Reyes. In the hospital, Nelson is visited by Marci Stahl, who offers him a meeting at her current law firm. Temple manages to survive an investigation into the children being admitted and the ninjas who broke into the hospital, but the autopsy on one of the Hand's ninjas suggest that he was dead before.

After Daredevil interrogates A.D.A. Tower, he heads to Chinatown to confront Madame Gao, who might be the primary competition to The Blacksmith. The same night, Page and Castle have coffee out and when Castle recognizes a car circling the block, he gets the civilians to the back of the diner while he takes out the assassins sent by The Blacksmith to kill him. Castle is given a lead, which puts him on a collision course with the core of The Blacksmith's forces and the firefight on the pier where Castle confronts them is a climactic battle for The Punisher.

Foggy Nelson is barely in ".380," but his scene with Marci is surprisingly charming. While viewers might want to root for Nelson and Page having a relationship, Marci Stahl has proven to be more than what she initially appeared to be and she's surprisingly fun to watch opposite Nelson. The brief scene of Stahl offering Nelson hope for his future is the mirror image of Claire Temple's. Temple takes a moral stand against the cover up and the hospital's profiteering and her strength of character is a nice foil to Stahl's more flirtatious approach with Foggy. Temple and Nelson sharing a scene at the end of ".380" is instantly evocative of Temple and Malcolm in Jessica Jones.

The return of Madame Gao is enjoyable for those who are detail-oriented and have an idea what is being foreshadowed by the mystical, Japan-based elements throughout the second season of Daredevil. When Gao left the narrative in the first season, the implication in her lines was that she was not actually human (in the books, Daredevil villains tread toward the supernatural as opposed to the science fiction - mystical forces as opposed to aliens) and her return in an episode that is laced with mysteries from The Hand, makes her understated scenes seem more otherworldly than the content they contain. Madame Gao ignores any aspect of Nobu's return and discusses with Daredevil the intricacies of the New York City drug trade. Gao is a pragmatist in ".380" and she acts for the episode as an unlikely ally to Daredevil.

On the Punisher front, ".380" illustrates a weird directing weakness from the early part of the second season of Daredevil. The Punisher's mantra is "one bullet, one kill," yet when Finn encountered Frank Castle in "Penny And Dime" (reviewed here!), he notes Castle's prowess with an AK (AK-47), an automatic weapon. Spray firing is not the m.o. of a sniper and it fits the specific needs of The Blacksmith. In ".380," Karen Page advocates for Frank Castle because she has survived two incidents of spray firing in the prior episode. The early crime scenes with The Punisher's victims - including the on-screen killing of the Kitchen Irish in the season premiere - are more like the methods of The Blacksmith than The Punisher, which is unfortunate for convincing the viewer that Page is right about Frank Castle being innocent of killing Reyes, the medical examiner, and trying to kill her. In other words, it would be easier to sell the idea of Castle's innocence to the viewer in ".380" if the crime scenes from "The Man In The Box" did not look so much like the early scenes of slaughter in the second season of Daredevil.

Director Stephen Surjik, however, gets the Punisher's violence right in ".380." Rewatching the episode, viewers are likely to catch important moments that foreshadow the nature of The Blacksmith. At the pier, Frank Castle does not start taunting his adversary until he sees the face - and lingers on it - of one of The Blacksmith's most trusted guards. Surjik makes sure that Castle lives much closer to the "one bullet, one kill" rule than the spray firing from the prior episode.

Surjik gets a great performance out of Jon Bernthal. The diner scene allows Bernthal and Woll to play off one another one last time for the season and it is infused with an intriguing amount of chemistry. While there has been a "will they or won't they" vibe between Murdock and Page for most of the second season, the idea of Castle and Page seems almost viable in ".380." Bernthal sells both the chemistry and the idea that Castle is perceptive enough to figure out how Page feels for Murdock, which is a surprisingly subtle line for an actor to be able to walk.

The climax of ".380" is very much a Marvel movie ending for The Punisher storyline and given how grounded and serious the rest of the episode (in fact, most of the season) is, it is hard to buy the conceit. ".380" resorts to the old science fiction conceit that is played out in comic books as well that begs viewers to accept the death of a major character without seeing it.

Fortunately, the absurd conceit is not the end of ".380." As the Punisher arc (more or less) resolves, Stick and Elektra return to the narrative. The frustrating aspect of their return is that it forces viewers to believe that Elektra and Matt Murdock are, far and away, the very best Stick ever trained. Any future adversaries in Daredevil who rival the powers and abilites of either Elektra or Daredevil and were trained by Stick will need a convincing in-universe excuse to not be at Stick's side in ".380." Stick tried to have Elektra killed and fearing for his life, the few people he might keep around him should be his very best. In ".380" they hardly seem to be better than the hospital security guards.

Ultimately, ".380" is a series of endings and it refocuses the show - going into the penultimate episode of the season - on the Elektra plotline. While that has been a weaker aspect of the second season, ".380" turns to that plot for its final act with enough of a sense of urgency (and weirdness for the scenes with The Hand) to make it seem vital.

For other works with Deborah Ann Woll, visit my reviews of:
Daredevil - Season 1
True Blood
Highland Park

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Daredevil - The Complete Second Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the sophomore season of the blind vigilante here!
Thanks!]

6.5/10

For other television episode and season reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Red Wedding" On Daredevil: "Seven Minutes In Heaven"

The Good: Well-written, Well-directed, Well-performed
The Bad: Light on character development, Disturbingly violent and graphic . . . even for adults
The Basics: Daredevil steps up its game as adult's only entertainment in "Seven Minutes In Heaven," which returns multiple adversaries to the series.


I am not, as a general rule, a huge fan of spoilers. Spoilers, however, are entirely time-based. Last year, when The Walking Dead had an episode that led to the apparent death of Glenn and viewers freaked out for a week as people went online to discuss it. During that period, I used my social media accounts to illustrate that everything that was once a spoiler eventually became common knowledge - things like "Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father," "Bruce Willis's character in The Sixth Sense is dead," and "Don't get too attached to Sean Bean's character in [insert name of movie/show here]!" The second season of Daredevil had a huge, incredible spoiler that managed to be unspoiled by reviewers because reviewers were only given the episodes before the spoiler event occurred.

"Seven Minutes In Heaven" is the first episode of Daredevil after the huge spoilerific event. The episode follows up on a revelation in the last moment of "Guilty As Sin" (reviewed here!) and while it is easy not to spoil that moment in "Guilty As Sin," the very nature of "Seven Minutes In Heaven" makes it absolutely impossible to discuss the episode without revealing the climactic moment of "Guilty As Sin." In "Seven Minutes In Heaven," the second season of Daredevil takes an abrupt right turn that ties it to the first season and that turn is enough to make fans of the first season squeal with delight, especially given how unexpected it is.

Opening with the convicted Wilson Fisk arriving at prison, Fisk is approached by Dutton, an inmate who declares himself to be the kingpin of the prison. Fisk is also approached by Stewart Finney, a white collar criminal, who bonds with Fisk. Fisk immediately begins assembling information on inmates and using his lawyer to arrange favors for his new crew. Fisk is looking for a way to get into cell block A and he sees The Punisher as a way to get to Dutton in block A. His information points to the idea that Dutton's heroin trade might have been involved in the incident that resulted in Frank Castle's family being killed.

At Matt Murdock's apartment, Matt is rescued by Elektra, who has used her allies to clean up his apartment in the wake of her killing a ninja in self-defense. Murdock pushes Elektra away and later Foggy Nelson visits and suggests it is time to shut down their law practice. Much to Nelson's chagrin, Murdock agrees and does not fight for their business. Heartbroken, Nelson returns to the office where Page has made an important discovery about the Castle case. Page discovers that there was another civilian body at the shootout the day Castle's family was killed and she convinces Nelson to visit the medical examiner with her. Daredevil gets confirmation from the Yakuza accountant that The Hand exists and he learns that the accountant's son, Daniel, is a prisoner of The Hand. While Frank Castle dispatches of his and Fisk's mutual enemies, Daredevil attempts to rescue civilians from a horrifying facility run by The Hand.

"Seven Minutes In Heaven" expertly ties the first and second seasons of Daredevil together. Wilson Fisk is not out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; he is rebuilding his organization from the inside of the prison. Similarly, the return of Nobu only makes sense to those who were invested in the first season of Daredevil (reviewed here!), but his return is the first real confirmation for Matt Murdock that Stick was telling him the truth in "Guilty As Sin."

Fans of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe are likely to wonder how it is that Wilson Fisk and Frank Castle did not end up at the Supermax prison from the Jessica Jones episode "AKA Top Shelf Perverts" (reviewed here!). That said, the rest of the continuity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe works well.

"Seven Minutes In Heaven" features long scenes between Frank Castle and Wilson Fisk simply talking. The scene, which includes a lot of exposition and subtext, is a chance for Jon Bernthal and Vincent D'Onofrio to growl at one another for more than ten continuous minutes and it is a pleasure to watch such dramatic heavyweights verbally box. Bernthal holds his own with presence and vocal force opposite the established, recognizable, greatness of Vincent D'Onofrio. The performances and characters are a thrill to watch for a scene where two people are just calmly speaking to one another. The final scene between D'Onofrio and Bernthal reminds viewers what an undeniable presence D'Onofrio has as Fisk. Seeing Fisk and Castle go toe to toe is one of the high points of the series so far.

But "Seven Minutes In Heaven" is not all talk. After the single, very graphic on-screen murder at the end of "Guilty As Sin," "Seven Minutes In Heaven" features a bloody scene on par with the Red Wedding from the third season of Game Of Thrones (reviewed here!); it is not for the feint of heart or the weak of stomach. Those who want the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be kid-friendly have to accept that Daredevil is adult, R-rated television and "Seven Minutes In Heaven" features the most graphic moment of the franchise yet. Director Stephen Surjik presents the violence in a way that is exceptionally difficult to watch.

"Seven Minutes In Heaven" is a weird mix of cerebral, procedural conspiracy drama - Karen Page is all investigative reporter, Fisk and Castle conspire to cut a lead in the case of the shootout between three rival drug gangs, and Foggy Nelson talks shop entirely in his time on screen - and a horror film (Daredevil's trip to "the farm" the Hand has established is nightmarish). Surjik backloads the episode; the first half hour is visually tame, the last half includes throat-slitting, exsanguination and other grisly, on-screen murders.

The conspiracy in the second season of Daredevil is almost entirely detailed in "Seven Minutes In Heaven." Dutton speaks the first reference to The Blacksmith, a drug supplier with pure heroin who orchestrated the meeting of three rival gangs in the park near the carousel that went south. Like all well-crafted conspiracy stories, there are layers and Page and Ellison (the editor of the New York Bulletin) learn key facts about the conspiracy before Castle gets some of the information. The Blacksmith is a newly-discovered player in that conspiracy and it will guide Daredevil's Punisher arc through the end of the season.

Not all of "Seven Minutes In Heaven" is oppressive, cerebral or visually unpleasant. Karen Page is given Ben Urich's old office to work out of and the emotionalism of that moment is enough to root fans of the show in something more real. Sadly, it is sandwiched in between two scenes that are so graphic that they turn the viewer's stomach. Despite the episode's graphicness, "Seven Minutes In Heaven" is packed with information those who are fans of Daredevil that is essential for understanding both the Punisher and Elektra plots. This episode lays the framework for future Wilson Fisk plotlines, as well as the core concepts for the eventual television incarnation of Shadowland.

The result is an episode of television that is not always enjoyable to watch and might not have larger themes, but is essential Daredevil.

For other works with Bill Walters, please check out my reviews of:
Annie
Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Man On A Ledge

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Daredevil - The Complete Second Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the sophomore season of the blind vigilante here!
Thanks!]

7/10

For other television episode and movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Divergence Into Inevitable: Jessica Jones Treads Down With "AKA You're A Winner!"

The Good: Important character development, Decent performances
The Bad: Predictable plot, Oppressive tone
The Basics: Jessica Jones is hired by Luke Cage on a case that makes for an inevitable showdown in "AKA You're A Winner!"


To the credit of the writers and producers of Jessica Jones, it honestly seems like they worked together well to construct a very solid concept for the season. Unfortunately, it seems like that concept was about three episodes less than the commitment the executives had to Netflix and the creative team had to stretch it out by a couple episodes. I write that, not from any sort of industry knowledge, but because the flow of the the main plotline gets broken up a couple of times and then stretched in an almost painful way as the plot lumbers toward its ultimate resolution in "AKA Smile" (reviewed here!). The second significant divergence away from the main plotline in the first season of Jessica Jones is the episode "AKA You're A Winner!" To be fair, "AKA You're A Winner!" is something of a necessary evil episode and it comes at a decent time for a lull in the main plotline.

For several episodes in Jessica Jones, viewers have known that Jessica Jones is initially surveilling Luke Cage because she killed his wife while under Kilgrave's influence. Luke surmised that Jones could not get over the "dead wife" factor and let Jessica tank their budding relationship. Jessica, viewers knew, tanked the relationship because she felt unable to tell Luke Cage the truth of her part in his wife's death. That withheld truth has been a time bomb for the series and "AKA You're A Winner!" is when the producers chose to set off that bomb. Forming an episode around the revelation of the truth is a good idea, but it is almost a tangent to the main thrust of the plot (i.e. filling in another character on a backstory, as opposed to plunging forward in the main plot of finding and capturing Kilgrave). "AKA You're A Winner!" is made possible by the natural lull formed by the events in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" (reviewed here!). While Malcolm dries out and Kilgrave lays low following the botched attempt to capture him, there is a void that needs filling and the return of Luke Cage does that nicely.

The story picks up with Kilgrave playing poker in a high stakes back room game where he wins more than a million dollars with a seven and a two before he walks out. Jessica Jones and Malcolm sit around the Alias Investigations office trying to pool information on Kilgrave when Luke Cage arrives with a case for Jones. Cage is looking for Antoine, who is the brother of Serena, Luke's client. Antoine is in debt to a loan shark and has gone missing; Serena wants help in finding Antoine and getting him back safely. Jones takes the case, but Hogarth calls and informs Jones that Hope Shlottman was attacked in prison. Before Jones can move on Cage's case, she learns that Shlottman was attacked by another inmate - Sissy Garcia - who tells Jones that Hope hired her to beat her up. Jones learns that Shlottman is pregnant with Kilgrave's spawn before heading to deal with the Greer case.

After confronting the loan sharks outside Antoine's apartment, Luke Cage brings Jones back to her offices. There, Cage is confronted by Malcolm who tells the unbreakable man about Kilgrave and his powers. Outted to Luke, Jessica Jones falls back into bed with him. Jones entraps the man using Antoine's phone with a phony contest and tracks him back to a grow house where Antoine is holed up. But returning Antoine to his sister means that Luke will get information on the death of his wife and Jones does not want to risk that. Trying to control the situation puts Jones into an impossible predicament where she must balance the value of her secret against an innocent man's life!

"AKA You're A Winner!" has a decent pro-choice message and the episode eliminates all doubt over just what Kilgrave did to Hope. Shlottman gets beaten up by Sissy in order to try to kill the fetus because the prison doctor will take two months to get to her. The argument made in "AKA You're A Winner!" is an important one and one not discussed nearly enough in America's continuing debate over abortion and abortion rights. Hope Shlottman very articulately defines how feeling the fetus growing within her is a continued violation and it is one of the season's most universally poignant and powerful moments to hear Shlottman talk about the feeling of being continually raped.

The heady topics of rape and abortion are broken up with witty dialogue from Pam, he Catholic lesbian. But the episode treads more toward the serious and darkly real; Jones gets realistically upset at Malcolm for telling her past to Cage and before the episode degenerates into gunfights and an inevitable conflict, "AKA You're A Winner!" is almost oppressive for its tone and themes.

Despite his comparatively limited appearance in "AKA You're A Winner!," David Tennant blows away every scene he is in. Kilgrave has recovered from the attempted abduction and is seen shopping online for houses and playing poker. Between getting angry at the noise at the cafe he is at and his forced geniality when dealing with the owner of the house he wants, Tennant shows impressive range as Kilgrave in "AKA You're A Winner!"

On the character front, Jessica Jones finally comes clean to Luke Cage, but it is more out of plot necessity than any sense of genuine character development. Perhaps more important are the lengths Cage was ready to go to for his dead wife and Hogarth's pragmatism in creating a side project from the Shlottman case. Luke comes close to a monstrous act out of his sense of grief and Hogarth simply becomes quietly monstrous in a way that was only previously alluded to.

Antoine Greer is very much a subplot case, but it occupies most of "AKA You're A Winner!" Marvel afficianados with more knowledge than me might be hopeful that "Greer" indicates a future appearance of Tigra into the Marvel Cinematic/Television universe. If the producers are considering such, the District Attorney in "AKA Smile" played by Michelle Hurd seems like she would be ideal to cast for Tigra. Her face looks just like Tigra did in the She-Hulk> book I read that had the character! There is no hint of superhuman abilities in the pothead Greer in "AKA You're A Winner!"

Ultimately, "AKA You're A Winner!" is an incredibly average story, presented in an ultimately average way. It is not a horrible episode of Jessica Jones, but it feels very much like filler as opposed to a vital, essential, episode of the series.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Jessica Jones - The Complete First Season, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Susie Abromeit, please visit my reviews of:
Battle Los Angeles
Sex Drive

5/10

For other film and television reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The First Knock-Out Jessica Jones: "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me"

The Good: Good character development, Decent performances, Wonderful plot development, Awesome reversals
The Bad: Minutia, A tad front-heavy
The Basics: Incredibly well constructed, "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" connects an incredible number of dots in the story of Jessica Jones!


As much as I enjoyed the first season of Jessica Jones, when it came time for me to review the whole of the first season, I found myself very much conflicted. In the last few episodes of the season, the show takes a left turn and while that turn humanizes the superhuman protagonist of the show, it also forces the first season on a beeline into the most conventional plot progression one could imagine for a super hero-based television show. And, as much as I might want to blame the late-season turn into the mundane for the problems in the first season of Jessica Jones, the truth is, the show had some erratic plotting long before the key turning point. After three episodes of rising action focused on a seemingly inevitable confrontation between protagonist Jessica Jones and her adversary, the mind-controlling Kilgrave, the show took a significant detour for "AKA 99 Friends" (reviewed here!). "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" recovers the footing lost by "AKA 99 Friends" and rockets the story ahead, once again forcing viewers to wonder, up until the last moments of the episode, just how the season could be maintained following the events of the episode.

The truth is "AKA 99 Friends" was not a complete stumble; it built character and the meandering plot comes into sharp focus in the episode's final minute for a big character reversal that leaves viewers shocked. Unfortunately, it is absolutely impossible to discuss "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" without referencing where "AKA 99 Friends" finished as that key reversal defines the new direction Jessica Jones takes in her hunt for Kilgrave. In "AKA 99 Friends," Jones discovers who has been performing surveillance upon her for Kilgrave and her theory that the heroin-addicted Malcolm has been under Kilgrave's control for quite some time is immediately confirmed by Jessica Jones in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me."

Using that information, Jessica Jones and her sister Trish Walker and the former special ops soldier, now police officer, Will Simpson rocket the plot of Jessica Jones forward in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me." "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" is a packed episode and it is the first real knockout episode of Jessica Jones.

Opening 18 months ago with Jessica Jones slacking off at her crappy job when her boss confronts her on it, she extorts him for six months severance pay. She and Trish go out and have a drink and it is a fun time for both, despite a drunken idiot at the bar recognizing Trish from her days as a child star. Flashing back to the present, Jessica and Trish find records of what Malcolm was like before he became a heroin addict and she tracks him to a meeting with Kilgrave where Malcolm delivers him photographs in exchange for drugs. Tracking him a second day, Jessica Jones arrives at Trish's apartment where she finds Simpson there.

Jessica Jones is advised by Trish to enlist Simpson and his skills in her effort to capture Kilgrave in order to exonerate Hope Shlottman. Simpson shows Jones an isolated facility he has access to that has a hermetically sealed room where they believe they can store Kilgrave after sedating him. Jessica begrudgingly agrees to wait until Monday so Simpson has time to build in some safeguards against Kilgrave. Simpson expresses curiosity and reservations about working with Jones, but Trish mollifies him. Jones visits Shlottman in jail, where the prisoner begs for money, which Jones provides to the increasingly distraught Hope. After all of the preparation is done, Jones, Simpson and Walker execute their plan to capture Kilgrave, with unintended consequences.

Through the flashbacks peppered throughout "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" the episode reinforces both Jessica Jones's integrity and her motivation at this point in the season. Simpson argues for killing Kilgrave, but Jones knows it is essential to keep him alive in order to exonerate Hope Shlottman. Jones exhibits kindness to both Hope and Malcolm and the show expertly develops the character as Jones transitions from an overqualified slacker to a professional working on a team for a common purpose. Jessica Jones is once again revealed to be exceptionally clever and the moment Jones and Kilgrave make contact in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" is electric and tense!

"AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" does a decent job of illustrating just how clever and manipulative Kilgrave is. He got control of Malcolm six months ago and the way he manipulates Malcolm is heartbreaking. Malcolm, we learn in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me," was once a promising student who wanted to become a social worker. Trish helps Jessica Jones put together the extent of the manipulation when they observe that Malcolm has left like clockwork every morning at quarter to ten since Jessica first started noticing him. The concept of Malcolm in Jessica Jones is a clever one as social commentary, as well as fitting the plot and characters of the specific show wonderfully. The idea of drug addicts as invisible in society, so much so that they could be used for surveillance for months is a clever one and "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" illustrates horrifyingly well how Malcolm is kept in place by his addition and the mind control.

Kilgrave is also proven to be an exceptional tactical thinker in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me." As the rising action of the episode occurs and Jones, Simpson, and Walker execute the plan to capture Kilgrave, the safeguards he has in place are incredible and illustrate his understanding of the dangers of taunting Jessica Jones. Kilgrave has spent the early part of the season taunting Jones and after coming face to face with her at the climax of "AKA It's Called Whiskey" (reviewed here!), it's clear Kilgrave understood the potential consequences of trying to unsettle Jones. Using intermediaries to set the location of the meet each time is a clever precaution for Kilgrave.

"AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" either misses an opportunity to connect to Daredevil or it makes a statement on how Hell's Kitchen has changed since Daredevil when Malcolm's drugs are shown. Madame Gao's drugs in Daredevil had a distinctive stamp and the drugs Kilgrave provides lack that stamp. It could have been a clever tie-in, but the show avoids making that connection, which is a little disappointing. There are other Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins, from the overt child in a Captain America costume to the references to the patient zero that required the CDC in New York to set up the hermetically-sealed room.

Director Stephen Surjik gets so much right in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" that it is surprising to an alarming degree when he doesn't. The most poignant example is when Jones tracks Malcolm to the news kiosk, Kilgrave looks directly at the camera/Jones and it is inconceivable that he does not see her/Surjik left the shot in the episode. The episode is constructed well with the time needed to get the ex-fil room set up spent with flashbacks and a weird scene between Jones and her upstairs neighbor Ruben, so Surjik gets a lot more right than the one awkward shot.

All of the performers in "AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" play their parts brilliantly. Taylor, especially, erupts over the course of the episode as an actress with an amazing ability to emote using only her eyes and the tiniest movement of her lips. Rachael Taylor makes Trish seem entirely vital and gives her enough screen presence through her subtle moments of performance to make a Hellcat spin-off seem entirely viable (hint, hint, Netflix!). Wil Traval continues to build the presence of Simpson through the course of the episode.

"AKA The Sandwich Saved Me" is packed with clever lines, good character development and wonderful performances, putting Jessica Jones right back on track to energize its audience!

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Jessica Jones - The Complete First Season, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Rachael Taylor, please visit my reviews of:
The Darkest Hour
Transformers

9/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for a listing of those reviews!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wilson Fisk's History Bleeds Out Through "Shadows In The Glass."

The Good:  Character development, Plot progression, Performances
The Bad: Musical direction, One or two moments of character
The Basics: Wilson Fisk's history is fleshed out through flashbacks and amazing performances in "Shadows In The Glass," which is one of the most powerful episodes of Daredevil.


In creating serialized television, the responsibility the showrunners have is to make sure that a single plotline does not dominate the entire series. The first season of Daredevil is essentially an origin story, building to the proper emergence of the hero Daredevil and the villain Wilson Fisk evolving into The Kingpin. But the midpoint of the first season, while including some elements that would carry into subsequent episodes, was very much focused on seeding a major, future plot. In fact, the only real hint at "Stick" (reviewed here!) in "Shadows In The Glass" - the episode that followed it - is Matt Murdock's broken apartment and the allusion to the murder of Black Sky.

"Shadows In The Glass" moves Daredevil back to its a-plot. This is an episode that works very hard to round out the character and history of Wilson Fisk, much the way it has been doing for Matt Murdock. In addition to fleshing out Fisk, "Shadows In The Glass" quietly introduces Melvin Potter to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, the episode is erratic and, in its quest to build up Wilson Fisk, it undermines his intelligence.

Opening with Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock getting ready for their days, Matt Murdock learns what Karen and Foggy have been up to in the wake of the bombings in Hell's Kitchen. Wesley and Fisk meet with Nobu, who threatens Fisk's operations in the wake of the Black Sky getting killed. Wesley is incensed on behalf of Fisk, but Fisk keeps him in check by declaring that the mobster is a necessary evil in their rising organization. Fisk's problems grow when Detective Blake comes out of his coma and Wesley is concerned he will squeal after being shot.

Worried that Blake will name Fisk, Fisk and Wesley meet with Detective Hoffman (Blake's partner) and bribe him to kill his partner and friend from childhood. Murdock is unable to get any information from Blake before he dies. Madame Gao visits Fisk in his home and makes a veiled threat against him. Forced to get his house in order, Fisk allows himself to be vulnerable with Vanessa after he lets his rage out. Wilson tells the truth about his father's death to Vanessa while Matt Murdock finally meets Ben Urich and tells him that Fisk is behind all the violence in Hell's Kitchen.

"Shadows In The Glass" is peppered through with flashbacks to Wilson Fisk's backstory. Fisk's father ran for Town Board in Hell's Kitchen. Bill Fisk is a misogynist and a bully. Predictably, he beats his wife and emotionally abuses Wilson as a kid. The magic in "Shadows In The Glass" is the way the episode ties back to "Rabbit In A Snow Storm" (reviewed here!) and explains the emotional connection he has to the painting. This is also the episode that fleshes out Fisk's tragic flaw; his rage.

This is the episode that cements Vanessa's place in Wilson Fisk's life. She becomes his enabler and fills the role that the priest does in Matt Murdock's character arc. But, instead of simply hearing Fisk's confession, Vanessa prods him into action. In a critical final scene in "Shadows In The Glass," Vanessa dresses Wilson Fisk and picks out new cufflinks for him - a small detail that sets him free from restraint and moral inhibitions.

Unfortunately, Wilson Fisk is not only vulnerable in a very human way in "Shadows In The Glass," he is somewhat stupid. When Blake wakes up, he learns that the police have closed ranks to protect him, making it very hard to kill the witness to his organization. Fisk goes through a number of permutations involving police officers before settling on hiring Hoffman to kill his childhood friend. Fisk's solution is remarkably inelegant and opens him up to further exposure. Why Fisk (and the episode's writer) did not think to hire a hospital employee to kill Detective Blake is inexcusable.

On the flip side, Vincent D'Onofrio is amazing as Wilson Fisk. Cole Jensen does an able job portraying the younger version of Wilson, but D'Onofrio does all of the emotional heavy-lifting in the episode and he is absolutely amazing playing the intense, wounded, complicated, and enraged businessman.

The only other issue with "Shadows In The Glass" is a nitpick that comes from those who love the broader range of television history. The musical direction in "Shadows In The Glass" is unfortunate in that it is entirely derivative. Those who are savvy to television history - modern television history - will recognized that the musical piece used in "Shadows In The Glass" to embody Wilson Fisk's tormented self moving toward the breaking point is the exact same piece The West Wing used in the second season (reviewed here!) episode "Noel." The problem is, "Noel" used the music the same way, for the exact same emotional stirring and so Daredevil here seems to be a cheap imitation of something that was popular, smart and powerful. The music fits here, but given the depth and breadth of music history, it would have behooved director Stephen Surjik to use another piece that was equally evocative, but not the same work Yo Yo Ma played on The West Wing.

That said, Surjik comes damn close to a perfect episode and "Shadows In The Glass" is one of the best first season episodes of Daredevil!

For other works with Wai Ching Ho, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Listen Up Philip
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Keeping The Faith

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Daredevil - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the Man Without Fear here!
Thanks!]

9/10

For other television episode and movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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