Marvel's Daredevil 2.03: New York’s Finest
Mark Verheiden
Marc Jobst
We've had the
opportunity to explore why Matt Murdock puts on the mask and becomes the Devil
of Hell's Kitchen through the course of the first season. We fully understand
what his motivations are, and how he has taken the mantle to defend his city
against the crooks who are trying to burn Hell's Kitchen down. It's a crusade
built on the Catholic notion of guilt. So his no-kill philosophy is rooted in
that. He firmly believes that killing other human beings -- even those whose
deaths might otherwise be justified in the eyes of others -- is a mortal sin,
and that they would certainly condemn his eternal soul. This philosophy feeds
his complicated savior complex.
So because we understand this, there is going
to be the tendency to side with whatever Matt says in defense of the way he
does things in Hell's Kitchen. The heart of this episode lays in the (extended)
argument that Matt and the Punisher have on some random New York City rooftop.
Again, since so much of Matt's personal philosophy has already been shown,
there's an air of familiarity with all of their points. Matt sincerely believes
that his way is the right way, and that the Punisher is only killing to follow
some insane set of orders. There should be the hint that the Punisher's
philosophy forms the backbone of what this season is about, but that doesn't
really come to pass here. From what is shown, it looks like the Punisher sees
his way of doing things as having a finality to it, or providing absolute
clarity where Matt's sparing of lives mucks everything up.
To the Punisher, everything is black and
white. People are either good, innocent, and entirely virtuous, or they're
wholly evil, and deserved to be wiped from the face of the Earth. He thinks
that the Daredevil is a half measure, someone who runs around intimidating
people with his fists as a warning not to do crime again in his territory. It's
effective, but not quite as final as the Punisher's ruthless tactics. For the
Punisher, morality and notions of possible redemption just get in the way of
what his objective is at that moment. Their argument is really something that
doesn't go anywhere because they are both wrong, and they are both right.
Matt's no-kill policy is tested when it's revealed that Grotto didn't exactly
keep his hands clean in working with the Irish mob. The Punisher is goading
Matt into giving up the guiding principle of his brand of vigilante justice.
Essentially, the show wants it to be where it
would be best if the both of them operated without getting in each other's way.
At this point, there just isn't enough depth to what exactly the Punisher's
motivations are so the argument is rather unbalanced. Case in point, the
Punisher's final act before getting knocked unconscious: Destroying a few of
the Dogs of Hell's bikes, and pinning the act on Daredevil so that it makes it
difficult for him to exit the building unscathed. What follows is a stupendous
action sequence that aims to top the famous fight in the hallway from season
one.
Armed with a chain and an empty gun taped to
his right hand (I loved the little smile he flashes after finding out that the
gun is empty and he has to fight hand-to-hand) as weapons, Daredevil makes his
way methodically down the stairs, taking out each surviving member of the Dogs
of Hell. All the while, he takes an amazing amount of physical punishment. It's
a long enough sequence that I stared slack-jawed in wonderment at how everyone
was able to accomplish it. While technically brilliant, there's less tension
here than the season one hallway fight due to a lack of a tangible goal for
Daredevil beyond escape. The Dogs of Hell don't really have a beef with
Daredevil because he was framed by the Punisher. It can be chalked up to a big
misunderstanding, though that doesn't preclude the possibility that the biker
gang will go after him later on.
The show,
meanwhile, gives a tiny subplot each to Foggy and Karen to further the overall
story. That's more for Karen, who acquires a hospital x-ray picture of the
Punisher from the DA's Office that looks exactly like the famous symbol of the
Punisher from the comics. One mysterious circular pattern dots the picture,
suggesting that a gunshot might be responsible for his unyielding behavior.
- Another amazing extended melee combat scene
- Foggy is outshining Daredevil as the hero of the series right now
- The Punisher’s philosophy could use more definition at this point