Luke Owen reviews the first episode of Marvel’s Daredevil…
It’s not only our first step on the road to The Defenders, but this first episode of Daredevil – a collaboration between Marvel and Netflix – also gives us our first glimpse into this new pocket of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Showrunner Steven DeKnight and Kevin Feige promised us this would be different from the family-friendly Disney Avengers movies and they sure weren’t wrong. Daredevil is gritty, grounded and violent. Like Battlin’ Jack Murdock, Daredevil is not pulling its punches.
What’s striking about this first episode is just how little time it wastes in getting under way. The opening of the episode sees Charlie Cox’s Daredevil taking out a group of bad guys who are trafficking humans, and this instantly sets the tone for the rest of the series. The action is fast-paced and hard-hitting and it’s nice to see a TV show based on a superhero to not waste time with an origin story or, worse, rush one into the first half. Of course as the series progresses we’ll get more of Daredevil’s beginnings, but to kick things off we just want to see Ol’ Hornhead kick people off.
Cox was a surprise bit of casting for most people as he is an actor who doesn’t have the most decorated of resumes. He’s not a Downey Jr. or a Chris Evans and he certainly isn’t a Kevin Spacey when you look at this show from a Netflix perspective, but he is perfectly cast as Matt Murdock. From the moment he starts fighting, you fall in love with Daredevil and the way Cox reacts to the sounds around him to next plan his move is just perfect. His body language is outstanding, and for a character whose face is mostly covered this is absolutely key. Better yet, when he’s out of the ninja suit and into his office suit, he nails Matt Murdock. He’s incredibly charming and he has a tone to his voice that draws you in as he does his lawyer spiel.
On the other hand, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson leaves something to be desired. He has been consigned to the Cisco and Felicity role as the ‘comedy relief’, and while he’s not terrible he could become grating. Thankfully the chemistry between the two is effortless and it genuinely feels as though they really have been friends for years, which often softens the blow on Henson’s performance.
But what would Daredevil be without Karen Page? And here we have the tremendous Deborah Ann Woll in her role. The first episode focuses on a case involving Karen, where she is found at a crime scene holding the murder weapon, and it’s up the newly formed Nelson and Murdock to prove her innocence. Woll is simply sublime as Karen Page and her sweet, good-hearted nature shines through the traumatic performance she has to give. One can only hope that the show delves further into their relationship, as she is one of the more tragic figures of the Marvel Universe.
The first episode of any show should set up as much ground work as it can while never feeling overbearing. In the case of Daredevil, they set up characters, motivations, themes and future plots – it’s done incredibly well. We get the right amount of Murdock being a lawyer, the perfect amount of Daredevil in action and a brilliant amount of setting up the show’s big bad: Wilson Fisk. Vincent D’Onofrio is not in this first episode, but in his place we get Tony Leonard Moore as Wesley who acts as Kingpin’s mouthpiece – and boy howdy is he great in this role! Tremendously smarmy, but perfectly calculating, Moore could actually be the stand out performance of this series when all is said and done.
They also sets up how we’ll see Daredevil’s powers (no radar sense here ladies and gents) and the show is trustworthy enough of its audience that it doesn’t spell out that this is his gift. It’s not like they also expect you to already know either, they just show you on screen and trust you will keep up. It’s just amazing how different this show is to the Marvel movies and the bloody awful Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but yet still feels like part of their universe.
With great action, superb writing and some nice nods to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the first episode of Daredevil is a home run on every level. Remeber when we all saw the first episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thought, ‘maybe it will get better?’ – that feeling is not present here. This show gets the character and nails it perfectly. A brilliant opener for what should be an amazing series.
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published April 10, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
