Daredevil is at its best when it’s letting its main characters actually talk to each other
It turns out that when you have three likable actors playing
a trio of friends, your show tends to be stronger when they’re actually onscreen together. Who knew? After a season of Daredevil that saw Matt distance himself from Foggy and Karen and then a
season of The Defenders where he
largely did the same, I’m not sure it was a wise choice to have season three
once again revolve around Matt positioning himself as such a loner. That’s something
I didn’t fully realize until we got a bunch of scenes of Matt and Karen hanging
out in a church basement and the show was suddenly engaging in a way I’d
forgotten it used to be back in season one. Charlie Cox and Deborah
Ann Woll have a great, lived-in sense of chemistry by now, and watching them hang out
and chat was so much more compelling than much of the stuff that’s happened
elsewhere this season. That goes double once they eventually bring Foggy in
as well. “Reunion” ultimately has Matt come to the conclusion that
he’s better with his friends at his side. I just wish he’d reached it sooner.
“Reunion” deals with the fallout of
Dex’s attack on the church. While Dex is panicking about having failed his
mission to kill Karen Page (again, using a gun might’ve been helpful there),
Ray is slowly developing a spine and deciding not to give into Fisk’s demands.
Before that, however, Karen and Matt have to hide out from the evil killer
who’s now posing as the rational FBI agent searching for them. That gives the whole episode a
fun cat-and-mouse chase angle, and, again, I can’t
emphasize how refreshing it is to have Karen and Matt just sit down
and talk to each other for extended periods of time. Though
Matt is initially mad at Karen for bringing violence to his church and for dragging
him away from his chance to kill Fisk, they quickly come to a much more nuanced
understanding of each other. Matt is genuinely impressed to learn of Karen’s
bold attempt to singlehandedly take down Fisk. Karen directly calls out Matt’s
false sense of abandonment. And once she finally tells Matt about having killed Kevin
and Wesley—news Matt takes very gracefully—their conversations are colored by
the fascinating dynamic of the seemingly innocent journalist informing the brutal
vigilante what it’s like to commit murder.
Unfortunately, that also brings us to
the part of this episode (and this season) that I care about the least—the
question of whether Matt should kill Fisk. The question is dumb for any number of reasons, not least of all because it requires us to believe that in all the
brutal beatings he’s delivered as Daredevil, Matt has never accidentally killed
someone. But even beyond that, it’s hard to invest in this complex issue
of real-world morality when Daredevil so
clearly doesn’t exist in the real
world. That’s one of the problems with making Fisk so overpowered. Foggy’s earnest
“the system can still work!” plea carries no weight in a world where
Fisk has control over the entire FBI and the ability to overturn his own criminal conviction at the drop of a hat.
There are timely, relevant
conversations to be had about how to punish people who are functionally above
the law. But those conversations don’t really apply to a series that’s amped
up Fisk’s manipulative skills to the point where it wouldn’t feel out of place
if the next episode suddenly revealed that based on an elaborate plan he set in motion five years ago, Fisk has the President of the United
States in his pocket. The idea that Nadeem’s testimony alone would be enough to put Fisk back in
prison is absurd, as is the idea that there’s even a prison that could hold Fisk. We’re meant to be on Foggy’s side
about the whole thing, but all I could think is that if Matt doesn’t want to be
the one to actually pull the trigger, they should just call up Karen’s dear
friend Frank Castle and see if he’s free for an afternoon to get the job done
without all the guilt.
Still, if Daredevil has to have these annoying conversations, I’m at least
glad it’s having them among friends. The Karen/Matt scenes and the final
Karen/Matt/Foggy conversation are some of the most engaging stuff the show has done all season. Hopefully the final two episodes offer even more of that.
Stray
observations
- If Matt and Foggy want to come to some
ethical middle ground that’s less evil than murder, they should arrest Fisk but revoke his ability to talk to his lawyers from within prison. They’re the ones who
actually carry out all of his evil plans and he would be powerless without
them. - The true hero of this
episode is Detective Brett Mahoney, who is also the hero of my heart. - This season hasn’t had nearly enough
rooftop parkour. - This is a stellar episode for Maggie,
who’s observant, quick on her feet, and great at using her position as a seemingly meek nun to fool Dex and his team. - I *think* the subplot about Fisk trying
to buy back “Rabbit In A Snowstorm” is meant to add some complex humanity to
his characterization, but it’s maybe the most bizarre tangent this show has
even taken. Also Leslie Ann Warren deserves better than that Party City wig. - “Obviously, I’m here to help you,” is my favorite line reading Charlie Cox has ever done.