Daredevil Season 2 has been released on Netflix, offering fans another stellar season. While the Internet is full of mixed reviews for Daredevil 2.0, this year’s escapades following The Man Without Fear are worth checking out, especially if you loved Season 1. Here are five good reasons to watch Daredevil Season 2. Note: there are a few spoilers below, but they’re aren’t overly major.
The Punisher
Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, is easily not only the most memorable character in Season 2 but also a major driving force in breathing energy and life into the show. Actor Jon Bernthal does a masterful job bringing The Punisher to life. At the beginning of the season, this Punisher is everything fans could dream he’d be—brutal, merciless, and relentless. Yet, as his trial begins, the audience is let into Frank Castle’s psyche and he becomes even more likeable. Not only does the loss of his family generate empathy from the viewers, but an unwillingness to apologize for his vigilante justice makes The Punisher even more revered. The Punisher rights the wrongs in society, the same reason we like Daredevil. Only The Punisher will sink to the lowest of lows to eliminate bad men from Hell’s Kitchen. Of course, this philosophical gulf between the two heroes is a fundamental conflict in Season 2 and something that plays out exceptionally well throughout the season.
The Return of Wilson Fisk
After The Punisher is brought to trial, Season 2 falls into a bit of a lull. Once Wilson Fisk returns however, the series goes into maximum overdrive—never letting the audience off the hook and driving us full speed to the season’s conclusion. Fisk, being the major villain in Season 1, would have been overdone had he been too much of the focus in this follow up season. Instead, the Daredevil writers have used him sparingly but in a timely fashion. Not only is he as entertaining as he was in Season 1, his presence alone catapults the second season out of a mid-season malaise. Even behind bars, Fisk is once again the puppet master; masterminding the degradation of Hells’ Kitchen, all the while waiting for his release to once again wreak havoc on Matt Murdock and his friends (likely in Season 3).
The Violence
One of the unmitigated success stories of Daredevil Season 1 was the level of violence the TV creators brought to the small screen. Season 2 brings that and more; heightening the violence with brutal stabbings, execution shootings and prison bloodshed. Speaking of blood, there is no shortage of the stuff in the second season. All hell has broken loose in Matt Murdock’s world and no one’s body parts are immune. A multitude of weapons serve to feed the violence from knives to swords, handguns to machineguns, and even a corkscrew at one point. If you’re squeamish but still want to watch this season, cover your eyes. There are moments that would make the most hardened viewer cringe.
The Ninja
Season 2 also sees the return of another villainous party to Hell’s Kitchen. At the end of Season 1, Daredevil thought he had pushed the Japanese gang, the Yakuza, out of New York. Unfortunately for Matt Murdock, that was not the case. The Yakuza are a part of a full-on assault on Hell’s Kitchen, one that sees Daredevil fighting countless ninja throughout the season. Whether they are scaling hospital walls, swinging swords, or tossing throwing stars like a Las Vegas blackjack dealer, these ninja are something to behold. The action sequences are terrific. They continue the tradition from Season 1: well choreographed but never feeling rehearsed. The fights are fresh, furious and fun, unless you’re a certain hero named Daredevil who has to match blows with these skilled assassins.
The Love Triangle
Once the trial of the century begins pitting the People vs Frank Castle, Daredevil’s life becomes even more complicated when Elektra re-enters his life. As an audience, we are introduced to Elektra in a flashback, where she and Matt had a torrid love affair a decade prior. Now she is back in Hells’ Kitchen, interfering with not only Matt’s day job but also his love life. Growing ever closer to Karen, Matt seems to have found a stable element that keeps his life from spiralling out of control. That all is put in jeopardy when Elektra elicits Daredevil’s help to eliminate the Yakuza from Hell’s Kitchen. Like any good enchantress, she reopens Matt’s feelings for her, making an already conflicted Catholic ever more tortured.
All in all, Daredevil Season 2 is worth watching. While there are a few slow episodes in the middle of the season, it’s a minor detail and one that shouldn’t deter you from settling into your couch or easy chair and checking it out.
Daredevil 2.0 is one hell of a ride.
