Daredevil: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman, October 9, 2017

Marvel is unquestionably on a winning streak, not only with its cinematic ventures but also its television shows, the latter perhapsthan their big-screen brothers even while focusing on "lesser" Marvel universe character. By the longer format the television medium allows, the shows have created some of the richest, deepest, most engaging Superhero stories this side of the ink and page. Jessica Jones and Daredevil were revelations of the television format and the filmed superhero story, finely honed masterpieces of character, mood, depth, and narrative development. For whatever reason,has yet to make its way to Blu-ray in the U.S., and hopefully the upcomingwill earn a high def home release, but at leasthas found a home on disc, and season two, while not quite as powerful as season one, delivers another engrossing, dark story of the blind lawyer turned vigilante, introducing new characters and playing through incredible narrative advances in a season that begins slow but picks up considerably through its run.'s second season picks up more or less where season one finished. With Fisk behind bars, a new villain -- The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) -- enters the picture. Much like Fisk, The Punisher, a.k.a. Franck Castle, is a complicated character who is not purely evil but whose life experiences and circumstances have almost necessarily steered him in a certain direction and who, even with the choices he makes, can be seen as a figure worthy of audience empathy. He sees the world almost strictly in black-and-white, unlike Daredevil, a.k.a. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), who, despite his physical blindness, is more apt to see the complexity of people or a situation. The Punisher believes in street-level justice; he kills those whom he believes have no redeeming value to society. But are he and Daredevil really all that different, even as Daredevil works through both the written letter of the law and his own brand of vigilantism? As the season progresses, a mysterious figure from Daredevil's past, Elektra Natchios (Élodie Yung), returns into his life, and Daredevil finds himself both drawn to and repulsed by her actions as a hardened, trained killer. As with season one, season two makes wonderful use of flashbacks to fill in their history together.In some ways,'s second season is very similar to season one. At its core, it's focus is still on the title character attempting to protect the city from evil. He's still working as a lawyer by trade, the masked vigilante at night, and he's not exactly open in every way even with those closest to him. But in other ways, the seasons are very different. Gone is the singular set villain in Fisk, replaced by a more evolving opposing character set. Daredevil ultimately finds himself dealing with new and unexpected dynamics in his relationships, forcing him to deal with a part of his past he'd rather leave behind him. The season forces him to consider alternative approaches to his work by day and by night. In The Punisher, Daredevil meets an individual who both stands for what Daredevil believes and who is opposed to what he believes. The show, as with season one, dives head-first into massive character complexity that challenges them well beyond the field of battle, where the show finds its greatest strengths. Daredevil/Murdock finds himself in the greatest battle of his life -- fighting a crisis of conscience -- as he wrestles with the notions of true justice, eliminating the truly irredeemable, or continuing to fight for the rights of everyone, even those who are too far gone to be of any benefit to society. Further, he finds himself questioning a life in which he must keep so much from those he keeps so close, struggling with a desire to live more freely or isolating those he loves -- including Nelson, Page, Nurse Temple, and Elektra -- or keeping them close and risking everything.If season one was a gritty legal thriller with superhero elements on the side, season two delves even farther into the dark underbelly of Hell's Kitchen and emphasizes the superhero elements more so than the legal aspects of the show. Season two is darker and bloodier than season one, revealing a much more violent side to Daredevil that he tried to hold back in season one, certainly provoked to behave differently by both Elektra and The Punisher. Daredevil certainly has his work cut out for him behind the mask, but at the same time Nelson and Murdock face problems at work, and financial problems in particular. Page plays a larger role in helping them win a big case, and both Page and Nelson continue to grow and evolve as characters, forming into complete three-dimensional figures rather than necessary but flat sidekicks who fill a place but don't fill a purpose; they're integral components to the greater story. In fact, their growth parallels Daredevil's, and by season's end it's as much their fates as anyone else's that the audience will be left anxious to discover.Charlie Cox once again delivers an amazing duel performance as masked vigilante Daredevil and the blind lawyer Matt Murdock. He effortlessly conveys his character's struggles and emotions and leaves audiences feeling as though the character is a real, tangible person shaped by his life experiences and those who exist on both sides of the law  and particularly in that soupy middle gray area  around him. He's also very adept at selling his character's blindness, demonstrating a command of the world around him by way of his other senses and never feeling as if he's simply walking about with sunglasses on his face to fake the condition. Jon Bernthal delivers a first-rate performance as The Punisher. He expertly conveys the character's emotional struggles and desires to dole out his style of justice. He is able to draw audiences into his mind and world and make his character empathetic despite the mounting death count he leaves in his wake. Élodie Yung also delivers a memorable performance as Elektra and leaves audiences not only curious about her mysterious figure but also how she and Daredevil will manage to coexist despite their many differences. Deborah Ann Wohl and Elden Henson continue to offer insightful performances that make their characters more realistic and fleshed out and keep the sidekicks from falling to wayside as they so often do in lesser shows.