Marvel/Netflix Daredevil Season 1

[Guy Gardener]

Amazon has the hard cover omnibus (28 periodicals bound together) priced between $120 and $190. Although Amazon might be adjusting for my silly make believe foreign currency?

(Lots of soft cover trade paperbacks (6-8 issues per book.) is cheaper. But they fall to pieces after a couple dozen rereads.)

Comics are not for the faint of heart or light of wallet.

Sometimes your public library can be a regular treasure trove if you can figure out their online preorder system.

 

[Christopher]

Small aside, but does anyone else wonder if the deal with Sony happened sooner that Ben would have been working a the Daily Bugle instead of the Daily Bulletin?

I doubt it. Unless they'd skipped the newspaper-office scenes altogether, then they would've had to include characters from the Bugle like Robbie Robertson in place of Ellison. I doubt the Sony/Marvel deal gives Marvel free rein to cast and develop new versions of Spidey characters before Sony does.

Besides, I don't think it would've worked with the story they had to tell.

Spoiler: later episodes

Robbie wouldn't have been a cynical editor only interested in fluff pieces, and he wouldn't have been someone Ben would suspect of being on Fisk's payroll. The only way it would've worked as the Bugle would be if they'd picked up on that plotline from Brand New Day where it was bought out and turned into a trashy tabloid called The DB. (As a result of which, IIRC, Ben Urich and others left the paper and started their own rival paper to keep the old journalistic spirit alive.)

I rather think the gentlemen at Nelson & Murdock are just as likely to hire Ms. Jones. She is a licensed P.I., yes? Matt, Foggy and Karen can't be doing all the investigative legwork themselves, so they'll have to outsource sooner or later.

Ooh, good point.

Is Claire somebody from the comics? The most recent DD comics I've read came out when Reagan was president.

She's a composite of two characters from the comics: Claire Temple and Night Nurse. I bet they decided to combine them because the original Night Nurse is named Linda Carter, which is too similar to the '70s Wonder Woman. Also because it adds some diversity to the cast, although they didn't have a problem changing Ben Urich's ethnicity.

Claire was originally a love interest of Luke Cage's, which suggests that maybe Rosario Dawson will be a crossover performer between series. Which makes sense, since Night Nurse provides clandestine medical care to heroes in general, not just one guy.

This is what I don't get.

Daredevil NEVER turned the lights off.

Good point. And it contrasts sharply with how they went out of their way a couple times in the first episode to show that Matt doesn't use lights...in spite of the fact that I've heard that blind people do tend to use lights and such as part of their routine. If he's so comfortable being in the dark, you'd think he'd use it to his advantage. They can use artistic license to light the scenes enough that we can tell what's going on. Though we might not appreciate the fight choreography as much.

Matt does shut down the lights

Spoiler: early episode (3 or 4?)

in the Velez Taxi garage when he rescues Claire.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Small aside, but does anyone else wonder if the deal with Sony happened sooner that Ben would have been working a the Daily Bugle instead of the Daily Bulletin?

I was wondering about that when I saw the paper in Ep. 1.

I thought they might have Urich working at the Pulse by season's end, but I guess that's out of the question now. Vondie Curtis-Hall was superb in this show, it should be said.

I loved Fisk's line about an ascot being "a bit much" when he was dining with Vanessa, given his wardrobe choices in the comics.

And the "Harlem Terror" headline was about the Hulk? I thought that it was laying groundwork for something in the upcoming Cage series, but a reference to the Incredible Hulk works just as well as a satisfactory Easter egg.

Excellent cast, all around. My favorite installments were "Stick" and "Nelson Vs. Murdock" with a special shout-out for the Wesley/Karen scene and the surprising way it ended.

Well handled were:
*the Battling Jack Murdock story
*the Wilson/Vanessa romance
*Kingpin's origin
*the Foggy/Matt friendship
*Night Nurse
*Ben's storyline (right up 'til the end!)
*Karen pursuing her own objective, often independently
*the Hand
*Melvin
*Matt's faith
*the fight scenes
*Leland (whose son, Lee, may want a measure of payback for this season)

 

[Guy Gardener]

In my head I still see Vondie as a young vigorous Black Goliath laying down the law in Romeo and Juliet.

Speaking of, Claire Temple was married to (the marvel comics character) Black Goliath.

That could be an interesting connect to the aftermath of the Antman movie?

 

[CaptainWacky]

The corridor fight at the end of episode 2 actually was done in one shot: http://observer.com/2015/04/daredev...ning-a-one-shot-fight-scene-for-a-blind-hero/

 

[Christopher]

And the "Harlem Terror" headline was about the Hulk? I thought that it was laying groundwork for something in the upcoming Cage series, but a reference to the Incredible Hulk works just as well as a satisfactory Easter egg.

There was a photo of the Hulk (a movie clip, presumably) under the headline, and the subtitle was something along the lines of "Hulk emerges victorious in destructive battle" (I don't recall the exact phrasing).

Excellent cast, all around. My favorite installments were "Stick" and "Nelson Vs. Murdock" with a special shout-out for the Wesley/Karen scene and the surprising way it ended.

That one kind of bugged me.

Spoiler: Wesley/Karen scene

I suppose I can understand Karen being overcome with fear, and not just for herself, since Wesley had just threatened everyone she loved. But technically, legally, she wasn't justified in using lehtal force, because she had the option of retreat. Once she had the gun, she could've just fled. So it wasn't strictly self-defense. I can understand emotionally why it happened, that it was more a panic reaction than a calculated choice, but she went too far, and it's a shame that she crossed that line, a line that even Matt managed to stay on the desired side of.

It also bugs me that they just kind of dropped that thread after the first part of the next episode. I mean, we saw that something was still haunting her, but it didn't really resolve. I suspect the intent is to set up her arc for the next season, which is worrisome, since I gather Karen went to some really dark places in the comic. And they did hint at that by having her and Foggy joke about graduating to the hard stuff.

The corridor fight at the end of episode 2 actually was done in one shot: http://observer.com/2015/04/daredev...ning-a-one-shot-fight-scene-for-a-blind-hero/

Most impressive. I guess the "Texas Switches" he talks about are like that bit at the end where Matt fell through the open doorway and was out of sight for a moment before staggering back out to save the boy -- no doubt it was the stunt double who fell through the doorway and Cox who emerged a moment later. And of course at the beginning when he went in one of the rooms and we just heard the fighting for a few moments before it literally burst back out into the corridor.

The stunt coordinator (I feel the British term "fight arranger" would be more appropriate here) also did a commendable job conveying Fisk's brutality and rage, the relentlessness he talks about in the interview. I've seen some comics showing what Kingpin can do when he really cuts loose, and there were scenes here that really captured that, particularly his first direct confrontation with Matt and

Spoiler: late episode

his murder of Ben.

It was kinda scary.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Ben Urich said that she already did porn. He didn't use the actual words "you did porn" but he knew that she did something embarrassing that she was ashamed of in her past, which "might" not have been porn at all.

Did you see Agent's of Shield last week?

Edward James Olmos threw a gun at May and told her to shoot him if he was such a massive threat.

She didn't shoot him.

I remember something else from a while back when the person given the gun opens fires instantly without thinking.

"You shot at me!"

"You gave me a gun and told em to shoot you."

"Well I didn't think you were going to do it."

"How is that my problem?"

 

[The Old Mixer]

Of course, Luke Cage would be far more likely to set up shop in Harlem.

In the comics, his office was in Times Square.

Third episode...I got very distracted early on by the name Prohaska, trying to figure out who he was in the comics. Turns out it was Blackhawk's name....

 

[Guy Gardener]

Opening credits. "SAY MY NAME JUNKIE! SAY MY NAME!"

 

[Tosk]

The corridor fight at the end of episode 2 actually was done in one shot: http://observer.com/2015/04/daredev...ning-a-one-shot-fight-scene-for-a-blind-hero/

I believe him that they filmed the sequence in one shot (several times) but the final version is definitely made up of at least two different takes. Of course, that'd be an editing decision made well after he did his job so I don't mean that he's lying, just not informed.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Huh. No Stan Lee cameo.

 

[Mage]

Ok, I've seen the first episode. Liked it, quite a lot. I'm not gonna binge this, so I'll try an episode a day. Hopefully, it stays as good as the first episode, if not better.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It seems that there was an abandoned Daredevil project in 1978.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.co...es-wife-did-a-black-widow-tv-show-me-neither/

 

[Zaku]

Huh. No Stan Lee cameo.

We found Stan Lee’s hidden ‘Daredevil’ cameo!

 

[Turtletrekker]

Huh. No Stan Lee cameo.

We found Stan Lee’s hidden ‘Daredevil’ cameo!

 

[Reverend]

Small aside, but does anyone else wonder if the deal with Sony happened sooner that Ben would have been working a the Daily Bugle instead of the Daily Bulletin?

I doubt it. Unless they'd skipped the newspaper-office scenes altogether, then they would've had to include characters from the Bugle like Robbie Robertson in place of Ellison. I doubt the Sony/Marvel deal gives Marvel free rein to cast and develop new versions of Spidey characters before Sony does.

Besides, I don't think it would've worked with the story they had to tell.

Spoiler: later episodes

Robbie wouldn't have been a cynical editor only interested in fluff pieces, and he wouldn't have been someone Ben would suspect of being on Fisk's payroll. The only way it would've worked as the Bugle would be if they'd picked up on that plotline from Brand New Day where it was bought out and turned into a trashy tabloid called The DB. (As a result of which, IIRC, Ben Urich and others left the paper and started their own rival paper to keep the old journalistic spirit alive.)

A *lot* of people work at a newspaper and we saw maybe a dozen on one floor. Unless I misread things Robbie was an Assistant Editor, not the Editor-in-Chief which would have been J.J., who needn't have appeared or even mentioned (though hearing J. K. Simmons yelling at Robbie over the intercom would have been a fun touch .) In short there's no story reason why it *couldn't* have been the Bugle.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Bulletin.

Yuck.

Stupid Marvel selling their shit off to stay afloat at the beginning of the century.

There would have been so much synergy if they were allowed to call the magazine Ben was working for the Daily Bugle.

"Sigh"

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Spoiler: Wesley/Karen scene

I suppose I can understand Karen being overcome with fear, and not just for herself, since Wesley had just threatened everyone she loved. But technically, legally, she wasn't justified in using lehtal force, because she had the option of retreat. Once she had the gun, she could've just fled. So it wasn't strictly self-defense. I can understand emotionally why it happened, that it was more a panic reaction than a calculated choice, but she went too far, and it's a shame that she crossed that line, a line that even Matt managed to stay on the desired side of.

It also bugs me that they just kind of dropped that thread after the first part of the next episode. I mean, we saw that something was still haunting her, but it didn't really resolve. I suspect the intent is to set up her arc for the next season, which is worrisome, since I gather Karen went to some really dark places in the comic. And they did hint at that by having her and Foggy joke about graduating to the hard stuff.

I'm not sure I entirely agree:

Spoiler: Self-Defense law applied to the facts

New York only requires retreat if the person knows they can retreat with complete personal safety. She knew Wesley had at least one gun. She doesn't know if he has a second gun. She also knew he had a cellphone and the ability to call others. I agree killing him to prevent him from calling others wouldn't be sufficient by itself, even though he knows where she lives, but combined with everything, it's quite possible she doesn't make it safely home when retreating.

I also think it was left hanging because there is no easy resolution. It's the kind of thing that gnaws at you no matter what, which is why Matt hasn't killed anyone.

Ben Urich said that she already did porn. He didn't use the actual words "you did porn" but he knew that she did something embarrassing that she was ashamed of in her past, which "might" not have been porn at all.

Yeah, I took it to be a career in porn prior to her recent employment.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Got it.

Not porn.

Spoiler: alternate theory

She shot her husband.

"What makes you think that I haven't killed someone before?"

Um?

Shouldn't that have come up when she was being accused of murder in the first episode if she has a record/history of killing people?

Sealed Juvie file?

Child bride.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Vampire.