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Daredevil "S1E4 In the Blood & S1E5 World On Fire" - Review: Wilson Fisk takes things to the next level


Daredevil "S1E4 In the Blood & S1E5 World On Fire" - Review: Wilson Fisk takes thin...
8 out of 10

“Some men just want to watch the world burn”. In this case, Matt Murdock may not want to but he kind of has to as that’s exactly how his heightened senses “impressionistic painting” form of sight paints the world for him. Though pretty soon he won’t be the only one seeing fire as Wilson Fisk starts putting his plans into motion.

Episode 4, In the Blood – Matt’s continuing efforts against the local Russian gang come back to haunt him as they capture and torture Claire to get to him. Karen and Ben dig further into the Union Allied liquidation looking at who’s re-assembling the pieces and we make a very personal introduction to Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio – Full Metal Jacket, Run All Night)

So last episode Fisk’s name and face were dropped as the big bad, yet rather than featuring him this episode in an elaborate penthouse, cigar smoking with a hip hop overture as he dishes out evil orders, the series takes a very unorthodox approach to his character. We come to learn more about the man behind the big suit via his romantic interests towards art gallery worker Vanessa, glimpsed last episode. This allows Fisk to be presented as imposing like his “He Who Must Not Be Named” reputation has implied, but still allow his heavy guard to dropped and reveal details about himself to a woman he clearly wishes to share himself with (Vanessa becomes his wife in the comics, though without knowing of his criminal activities). In his own words, “tonight I’m just a man enjoying the company of a captivating woman”. We learn that despite being born and raised in Hell's Kitchen he was sent away to live on a farm in his teens but later returned with a desire to make his city a better place. This creates a very obvious parallel between him and Matt; in their own way, both have the same goal, just highly differing methods. His immediate switch when business interrupts his night is notable, but more so when he still holds his control while in public and around Vanessa, which only makes his closing scene all the more powerful. Clearly, Matt isn’t the only one capable of “letting the devil out” as every ounce of his hefty being turns to rage. Even Wesley’s words of his actions resulting in war with The Russians don’t instil any remorse. Although his response of “I’m counting on it”, and their earlier ominous discussions of a timeframe implies the greater plan is still at work. Maybe the whole point of their earlier actions was to provoke the Russians into action to start a takeover war in the first place?

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The Russian’s themselves even get an interesting opening backstory as we’re shown the brothers of Anatoly and Vladimir being tortured in a Siberian gulag forming dreams of making a new start in a new land. The idea of the pair making their escape weapons out of their dead friend’s rib cage is just as awesome as it is gruesome. It sets them up as being people you don’t want to put in a tight spot which exactly what by Matt and Fisk are trying to do. The story of Claire’s kidnapping is a good notion of consequences on Matt’s actions; though they were being careful, it still wasn’t enough as she pays for his mistakes. Though it’s interesting to see that in the end, she comes to see good he’s doing questioning it in the opening. Yes, she’s scared now but she was scared way before Matt came crashing into her dumpster and so were a lot of other people. The Taxi HQ set piece as Matt rescues Claire is this episode’s impressive action offering. Using just the taxi headlamps for lighting adds such a great air of creepiness to the scene as Matt takes them out one-by-one in the shadows, with their panic gun fire flaring up in the darkness. Claire even gets a good hit in herself.

Foggy takes a back seat, which is probably for the best so the show appears less reliant on him;,but still gets a great rant in about how he should have been a butcher. The Karen and Ben gets story fully set in motion as they eventually agree to investigate the aftermath of Union Allied. They serve to need each other well as Karen’s enthusiasm nearly gets her killed without Ben’s guidance and Ben needs Karen to remind him of the hard believing, public serving journalist he was in his younger years. Karen reveals that he singlehandedly took down an Italian mob while she was a kid and he was less smart/more fearless. Ben’s hints at Karen’s shadier past could be a nod to her comic back story which includes the likes of heroin addiction and the world of adult entertainment (one of those will make a crowd pleasing flashback). The auction scene is wonderfully tense is Karen’s smart move is quickly outsmarted. You have to love the idea of being forced to bid and win something in an auction knowing you don’t have any money.

It’s a slight dip on the great prior episodes but still holding true and looking like a good launching platform for the subsequent episodes. Now Fisk is more prominent on our screens will he and Wesley take “The Masked Idiot” more seriously? What will Ben and Karen find or will they get caught? While we’re slowly being drip thread explanations of Matt’s powers a bit sooner rather than later would be appreciated, particularly bringing in Stick as young Matt’s mentor. Finally, who didn’t love the “iron suit or a magic hammer” dig?

Episode 5, World on Fire – After slamming Anatoly out of the game, Wilson Fisk plots a move against the Russian gang led by the remaining brother Vladimir. For the time being he frames the masked man for Anatoly’s death. Foggy and Karen’s new client sends them into a blast from Foggy’s past and Thisk continues his courtship of Vanessa with surprising results.

Yet again in this episode, it’s actually great to see Matt’s vigilante antics placed in comparable insignificance. He’s not yet a threat to those at the top; at best, he’s a tool to be used which is exactly what we see Wesley and Fisk brilliantly doing this episode. Granted it doesn’t play out with as much impact for Matt as we’d like but it does serve as a good catalyst for the escalating events. The long game plan of Fisk against Vladimir and his crew is a good twisted affair with the subtle manipulations positioning everyone into place at the key moment. His opening scene with syndicate heads provides some great dark comedy as the rest are watching the bloodied and brained up 4x4 getting cleaned before his arrival. Bob Gunton’s Lewland is on great comedic form again as reflects on the growing madness; “Masked vigilantes, crazed Russians, I’m getting my stun gun out of storage”. Matt’s scenes at the police station see Fisk’s roots spread further a misplaced confession leads to a staged self defence killing, complete with great “who’s turn is it” banter from the detectives.

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Fisk’s personal live again takes centre stage as Vanessa comes back for round 2 against her better judgement. Once again, their scenes together are highly rewarding but on a very different level as Vanessa shows a closer awareness of Fisk’s real self than before. His pledge not to lie to her plays out well, as he keeps it, despite occasionally bending the truth about his occupation. Then when Vanessa drops the penny (and the concealed handgun), things take on an entire new dimension when an un-phased Fisk comes clean about everything “money and influence is not enough to usher change on such a scale, sometimes it requires force”. Her handing over the gun forms a symbolic acceptance of the real him, further demonstrated as she visually witnesses his grand actions but deems them justified when those involved were child traffickers. It’s an interesting detour from source material as although Vanessa’s character is still not 100% in the light, she’s far more illuminated about Fisk’s activities than her literary counterpart.

The building Foggy and Karen relationship has another great episode. Despite getting an actual (setup) date complete with mildly awkward face touching, their best moment by far comes when “Foggy Bear” is confronted in legal opposition by his highly successful ex, Marcy. With Karen seemingly as his confidence boaster, he quickly transitions from being emasculated mid lobby to wiping the pampered smirk off Marcy’s face, “So you’re gonna see us in court where I will absolutely dismantle you from the top of your salon blowout to the bottom of your overpriced pumps”. Their case also continues the good series interconnection we’re seeing from even small elements their evil landlord ailed client links back to Foggy’s cop bribery in the opening episode.

Five episodes down and already it feels redundant to say how good the action was but again it’s the creative camera work that really makes it sparkle. In a reflection of episode 2’s epic single shot finale we get an excellent continuous rotating shot from inside car, complete with pleasantly singing occupant mapping the tension out before Matt arrives to shake up the steady cam. The Matt and Claire scenes still shoulder than “explainer” duties but handle them well as Matt helps her understand how his heightened senses combine into his version of seeing. There are very literal transitions to the place beyond friendship as Matt does the other kind of face touching although the later events seem to push them apart again. Bonus points to Claire for throwing in a “billionaire playboy” joke.

A great episode that makes some good strides in many character relationships without feeling overcrowded and delivering an outstanding ending that threatens to shake up everything. The world may not be on fire but Daredevil is hot stuff.

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