After a year’s wait, comic book fans everywhere rejoiced when season two of “Daredevil” recently became available on Netflix after a successful first season.
There has been a lot of talk surrounding the recent – or maybe not so recent – boom in superhero entertainment. Sure, there have been movies coming out for the last 50 or so years with cape and spandex clad men and women saving the world.
More recently though, audiences don’t have to journey to the theater to catch the newest installment of whichever franchise intrigues them.
While not every show has been a success, there is one that stood out to me upon its arrival as a Netflix original around this time last year. “Daredevil” with its new face and fresh story lines got the 13-year-old inside of me stoked.
I have to admit, I was expecting the same run-of-the-mill fight scenes with absurd bad guys and impossible plot lines. It was supposed to be everything my inner child could ask for.
Fortunately, with a slew of talented directors and writers, along with actors such as Charlie Cox (Daredevil) I got a healthy dosage of what I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect to be gripped the way I was.
After season one I was entertained. What wasn’t to like? Great fight scenes, solid acting, ample time spent on back story to catch non-fans up, along with a dollop of adult themes that could keep even the most snobbish TV watcher hooked, all made me think that the series could not get better.
I was hopelessly wrong.
The second season of “Daredevil” stepped up to the plate, delivering new plot lines that tie into the rest of the Marvel Universe, something that often gets underplayed in other franchises.
Audiences get a chance to connect with new characters that not only oppose Daredevil, like our main bad guy in the first season Wilson Fisk, played by Vincent D’Onofrio, but also characters that bounce back and forth over the good and evil line.
This is something not completely unique to the Daredevil world but it is something that made this season captivating. It kept me interested.
I can only enjoy so many fight and love scenes, but “Daredevil” takes those trademark cliches and turns them on their heads.
We see big names make appearances like The Punisher played by the familiar face of Jon Bernthal and Elektra played by the beautiful Elodie Yung. The cohesion between authenticity and the need for the new keeps “Daredevil” in everyone’s queue.
This is what makes the series for me, a representation of the superhero world that is not black and white. Good and evil get blurred and that presents a certain amount of reality that is often missing in the superhero genre.
Beyond that, the series has many other triumphs, including a finale that takes the viewer through a spectrum of emotions. There are solid cliffhangers as well as an unique sense of closure that can only be fathomed when you see it on-screen.
Anticipation for the future of the series is heightened when solid twist towards the end begs for a third season. I can’t wait.
“Daredevil” can be found on Netflix for anyone with an account and is rated TV-MA for violence and gore, profanity, drugs and alcohol and frightening/ intense scenes.
Originally published in the March 30 print edition of The Echo.
image via www.netflixlife.com
