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Daredevil "S1E6 Condemned & S1E7 Stick" - Review: The law and the past bite back


Daredevil "S1E6 Condemned & S1E7 Stick" - Review: The law and the past bite back
9 out of 10

Those who seek justice must still answer to it themselves. Matt Murdock is about to learn that the justice of the NYPD is not as blind as he is; especially when their gaze is being steered by someone very powerful behind the scenes.

Episode 6, Condemned – When Fisk’s bought and paid for cops try to take out Vladimir, Matt takes him on the run from the law despite minimal cooperation from his Russian counterpart. Things escalate further when Matt gets framed for the building explosions and marked as a murdering criminal menace.

In a similar fashion to the recent episodes of Arrow, this episode makes great use of a classic villain ploy, turning the city against its hero as Matt gets seen as entirely different Devil. As with the prior episode, the criminal planning and execution from Fisk is great to watch as he utilises his influence in the media and police to paint the villain mask on Matt. The pair even get their first (and according to Fisk, last) chance to converse by radio in a fantastic battle of wits. D'Onofrio nails Fisk’s strategic composure, not even raising his voice, regarding Matt as less a threat and more an item on today’s agenda. As implied last episode, he reflects on the comparables of their mutual objectives; “I want to save this city like you, only on a scale that matters”. The main stay hostage situation becomes a great turnaround on the typical setup with the captor as the good guy and the hostage far from clean. The Matt/Vladimir relationship delivers the episode's best scenes as writers Joe Pokaski & Marco Ramirez very cleverly create apathy for this Russian devil as we witness him transition from hating Matt to understanding Fisk is their common enemy. Even in Vladimir’s wounded state, (cue some illuminating MacGyver level first aid) the high ground still switches back and forth between them. You also have to love the crazy Russian’s desires to try and die on his feet screaming “this isn’t how I die”, especially in the aftermath of his surprise second wind against Matt “that wasn’t very smart.... but it was fun”. Vladimir also makes some good reflections to Matt about the lines he’ll have to cross and the man he’ll have to be to defeat Fisk.

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More than any prior episode, this focused on a singular main story (enhancing Matt’s claustrophobia) but the supporting cast get some good moments including further character interweaving.  Even if only in passing, Foggy and Karen are now aware of Claire from their trip to the hospital. Foggy’s moment of realising he’s hurt is arguably the funniest moment of the series for its simplistic genius “Foggy you’re bleeding.... oh that explains it”. We also see that Ben has a long standing acquaintance with the corrupt detectives Blake and Hopkins from his crime reporting days. Ben’s deck of cards, crime world layout was a nice comic Easter Egg; the unknown king card at the top in reference to Fisk’s “Kingpin” moniker. Also, Vladimir’s jokes about Matt fighting with a “lethal stick”.

The action continues to impress. I really love the way the series incorporates darker environments as Matt uses them to his advantage. As he fights the corrupt SWAT team in the tunnel there’s an incredible, almost strobe like effect to the wild firing assault rifle as Matt rolls with his opponent. Then there’s the handcuffed fight straight out the Black widow playbook, and of course, even the floor can’t contain the ferocity.

As the episode concludes at roughly the halfway point of the series, it’s interesting to take stock more of what we haven’t seen from the show than what we have. That’s no superpowered or otherwise comic throw in “villain of the episode” characters. Instead, Drew Goddard has kept things rooted in realism as much as possible with all opponents being human and many developed through successive episodes like the Russian brothers. This is unlike other comic book/superhero show around right now for its sheer lack of audience pandering, and that is what’s made it so enjoyable to watch. Daredevil is a show devoid of all network pressure and hindrance meaning those involved cab really bring their vision to life and even looks like it could take the small screen crown from DC. Matt Murdock may be condemned but Daredevil may become the people’s champion.

 

Episode 7, Stick – When Matt’s childhood and equally blind mentor, Stick (Scott Glen – Silence of the Lambs, Suckerpunch), comes back into town to take out a deadly new weapon the pair conflict over their policies on killing and attachment, all while memories flood back of Matt’s childhood training.

So the piece work origin story continues this week as we start to learn how, even with his powers, Matt learned how to fight. The result is a scene stealing turn from Scott Glen, be it past or present, as he beats on Matt with his own brand of tough love. From his disarming intro to the bottle cap ricochet, Stick is an absolute riot he combines your classic “I’ll say what I want” grandpa with an ass kicking soldier. Although there’s no explanation given we’re to assume he has similar abilities from Matt even if more the product of time and experience rather than chemically induced, making him the ideal mentor to make Matt see his changes as gifts rather than curses.

The childhood flashback scenes are quite endearing as he uses his bully approach to distil Matt’s anger into a usable weapon. Young Matt’s confession of guilt over his father is also quite touching. In terms of the present, Matt clearly feels resentment towards his old teacher for abandoning him so suddenly (though likely to be part of a grander plan). Then the two figures present themselves as the path in front of Matt. Echoing Vladimir’s dying sentiments as Stick is the man Matt needs to be to defeat Fisk, willing to kill no matter the target and removed of emotions or attachments to others. Whereas many have already observed (and exploited), Matt’s attachments and feelings for others as weaknesses. This storyline covers a lot of heavy ground yet keeps the laughs constantly interlaced to take the edge off (“I swear I will not kill anybody.... pussy”).

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One minor criticism is that the much hyped “Black Sky” is more of an anti-climax. Yes, it’s great to see something completely unexpected in the container when the delivery arrives; it’s just that nothing comes of it. Even if it becomes ultimately inconsequential to the story, the episode spends its first half making us invest in the reveal only to be let down by the results.

The Blind aren’t the only ones kicking ass this week as Foggy and Karen get some good beats on Karen’s would-be attackers. It’s a brilliant and hilarious moment as the pair argue about what either is doing there while mace-spraying and whacking their unlucky assailants. With skills like these, let’s hope the company softball team gets up and running. It’s good to see Foggy brought into Karen and Ben’s investigations as it’s more efficient for the overall narrative to combine these characters if more new elements are to be introduced. Hopefully we’ll see this intrepid trio drawing the link towards key player accountant Lewland, who also holds his own this week thanks to the aforementioned stun gun from storage.

The final scene is the most curious of the season so far as Stick returns to a mysterious figure (presumably his master). Their words are suitably ominous of a looming big bad; “will he be ready when the doors open?”. This could go one of two ways. Either it will see Matt facing a bigger and more formidable threat than Wilson Fisk this season. Or hopefully this is the beginning of a long running “building evil” setup across all four upcoming Marvel/Netflix shows, to be faced in The Defenders team up. If so, full credit to Netflix for laying their cards straight on the table. Right now this episode is certainly a lucky number 7.

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