Last updated on March 10th, 2017 at 01:19 am
The Geek Without Fear Reviews the Daredevil Pilot Episode (S01E01) “Into the Ring”
The Hometown Geek becomes the Geek Without Fear 😯
Within the Marvel universe there are thousands of heroes of all shapes and sizes, but the Avengers are here to save the universe and Daredevil is here to save the neighborhood …
(Avast! There be spoilers ahead, matey!)
The opening scene is heartbreaking and I found myself getting choked up.
By “Mirage Covers” at Kevin Eastman Studios. Retrieved December 27, 2016., Fair use, Link
By GabboT – Charlie Cox 02, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
Now, we go straight to an adult Matt Murdock, played by Charlie Cox, in the Confessional of a Catholic Church where we see the usual Hollywood version of Confession – albeit done much better than most.
“He was always on his feet when he lost. Every now and then, though, uh… Every now and then he’d get hit and uh… something inside him just snapped.Grandma Murdock would say: Be careful of the Murdock boys, they got the devil in them. And you’d see it sometimes… In the ring. My Dad he’d catch him and… Trap him in the corner. Let the devil out. What he was feeling, deep inside, I didn’t understand it. Not back then.”-Matt Murdock in the Confessional.
And now we have the theme of the show, the title of the episode, and the Genesis of Matt’s superhero identity as Daredevil.
- No, you can’t see the Priest and he can’t see you in a Confessional. I know Hollywood has to portray it that way or it would be visually boring, though.
- No, you don’t go to Confession to have a long conversation or to receive counseling – you can make a separate appointment for that. Confession would be to tell the Priest your sins, say you’re sorry, ask forgiveness, and receive it in the form of the Priest’s prayer over you of absolution.
- No, you can’t ask for penance for what you haven’t yet done, either. You can’t say I’m going to go out and sin, cover me, bro! You got my back!
Can I just say how hauntingly beautiful the opening credits scene is? Images of the city, the Church, Daredevil all intertwined and bathed in red set to an evocative musical score is perfection for this series.
We get to meet Foggy (played by Elden Henson) now and he’s both Matt’s best friend and the levity for the show.
Now on to the next crime scene with the amazing Deborah Ann Woll, last seen on True Blood as Baby Vamp Jessica, and now portraying Karen Page. Perfect casting! Great interpretation and knowing what storylines the comics had for Karen, I’m looking forward to future episodes with Deborah in the role.
We get to see Foggy, Karen, and Matt enjoying a nice meal together in their new office, which is in serious need of some cleaning and decorating help with it’s hand drawn marker paper sign announcing Nelson and Murdock, Attorneys at Law. Out of gratitude and lack of any other job prospects at the moment, Karen offers her services as secretary and we now have our core, triune cast complete.
While Matt is working out his anger issues on a punching bag at the gym during the closing sequence, we cut to various scenes of the Big Bad’s handiwork of tying up loose ends.
- Poor blackmailed guy has been made to look like a suicide and is found by his daughter whom he was trying to protect.
- Other guy whom Daredevil beat up and left for the police is another murder made to look like a suicide in his jail cell.
- Evil Mandarin Lady from the International Bad Guys meeting supervises slave labor of a sweat shop of blind people packaging up drugs for her.
- Evil Japanese Man from the same Gang of Bad looks deviously over blueprints of Hell’s Kitchen rebuild with Japanese (or Chinese?) markings on strategic locations while Evil American Bad Guy gleefully embezzles money on his computer.
- Turk is back out on the streets with Evil Russian Guys and brutally kidnaps a seemingly random little boy from his father.
At which point, Matt is now done with the punching of the bag and is high atop a roof listening to the city and hears the boy’s cries for help and lowers his Daredevil mask, ready for action and… Fade to black.
What a great start to this Netflix original series!
I’m truly impressed with the acting, the writing, the production values, the choreography, the cinematography, and camera movement. The tone is definitely in keeping with the Frank Miller, David Mazzuchelli, Ed Brubaker era of Daredevil and I can tell already that Hell’s Kitchen will be just as much of a character as any other in this story.
Directed by: | Phil Abraham |
Written by: | Drew Goddard |
Original Air Date: | April 10, 2015 |