Netflix “Daredevil” Season 3 Review

Some viewers were nervous about the quality of the third season of Netflix’s “Daredevil”, and they had some good reasons; the lengthy time spent between seasons, the decline of quality in other Marvel-Netflix collaborations, and the fact that it’s opening would have to tie into the sad state of affairs that was “The Defenders”. However, a new showrunner and a ‘back-to-basics’ formula has helped make the third season a phenomenal piece of storytelling not just as super-hero narrative but as a crime-drama, a psychological thriller, and a high-stakes morality play.

Thankfully apart from a layman asking ‘what’s Midland circle’ (hint: it’s disappointing) is, the opening of this season doesn’t dwell too heavily on the events of “Defenders”. Honestly, the important thing is Matt Murdock is in bad shape by the time the season opens, but we’ve seen similar states of distress in the past anyway. Daredevil is a resilient, but very flesh-and-blood superhero, and in the second episode of the first season he was knifed by Russian gangsters, sliced up by an actual ninja maybe seven episodes later, and in season two he’s been shot in the head by a Marine (surviving only because of a helmet) and then poisoned by even more ninjas. So Matt Murdock beginning this season recovering from horrific injuries, with enough information given so newcomers or anyone who didn’t watch “Defenders” know a building collapsed with him inside of it, shouldn’t catch anyone off-guard. The first few episodes are focused on Matt coming to terms with being Daredevil at the cost of his physical well-being, and the rest focus on the metaphysical cost his soul might have to pay.

Along with a broken body, Matt begins the season with a shattered faith and spirit poised to collapse into despair. He is galvanized into action partly due to his own stubbornness, his anger directed at God for allowing so much of his pain to be met with hollow, temporary victories. As tired as Matt is of crushing defeats, he’s not willing to stay down and retire as Daredevil. When confronted with the inevitablity of his own mortality if he continues down the path of a vigilante, after the beating he’s taken, his infamous response is:

“I’d rather die as the Devil than live as Matt Murdock… I’m Daredevil. Not even God can change that.”

What really galvanizes Matt Murdock back into his vigilante mission though is the machinations of his arch-foe, Wilson Fisk. Largely absent from the series since the first season, Wilson Fisk has become more dangerous since his first arrival onscreen. No longer is he the same cripplingly shy mobster, the bogeyman who cast a shadow even in the dark, this is a proper Kingpin that the fans of the Marvel comics, the cartoons, and video games all have been waiting for. Now willing to step into the light, as evident by his new wardrobe of comic-accurate white suits, this Wilson Fisk is playing the long con to get out of prison and corner the city’s criminal enterprises all while appearing to cooperate with the federal government.

Of course this doesn’t account for Daredevil’s involvement, and the newly crowned Kingpin isn’t going to allow his nemesis to ruin his plans this time. Much of his rumination this season is turned towards hijacking the narrative from the free press, which rightfully paints him as a criminal, and turning it against Daredevil. The city needs a new villain if Wilson Fisk is ever allowed to roam free without consequence, and merely waiting for a new alien menace or hiring a mercenary doesn’t have the same appeal to this version of the Kingpin.

Rather, he turns his attention to a new player, a sharpshooter who would one day become Daredevil’s greatest (or at least most hated) enemy. Through gaslighting and other subtle manipulations, Wilson Fisk probes and molds the fragile psyche of the man known as Benjamin ‘Dex’ Poindexter into his personal executioner and dark reflection of Daredevil. This is the Netflix adaptation of Bullseye, the assassin with impeccable aim, though we don’t see him in his fully realized state just yet. Just as it was with Matt in his homemade black-suit, his proto-vigilante garb, and with Fisk only gradually lightening his suits until season three brought the classic white suit to life, Bullseye has to have his own narrative arc so that his transition into super-villain feels justly earned.

Not just Poindexter but every character feels fully realized, fully fleshed out, protagonists in their own stories rather than sidekicks or support in “Daredevil”. Foggy Nelson goes on the offensive as a way to protect himself, his family, and the sacredness of the law to ensure Wilson Fisk is re-imprisoned, and Karen Page is finally faced with the ghosts of her past, several of which are of her own making. New characters are slid into the story without feeling shoehorned, none of them jam the structure like a square peg into a rounded slot. Sister Maggie, a nun with a caustic-wit who treats Matt’s wounds both spiritual and physical, is a most welcome addition, and Agent Nadeem could have been any clueless or immoral FBI agent who fell into bed with Wilson Fisk’s criminal agenda, but the story doesn’t do him that disservice. He’s a good man, just manipulated and desperate, trying to do the right thing by his family.

In fact, while flawed (sometimes to a horrible degree) every character has impressive layers and depth. Wilson Fisk might be a criminal mastermind, but around the woman he loves he turns into a big shy dork. Benjamin Poindexter has severe mental health issues (as does reoccurring character Melvin Potter*), but he’s trying to get his issues under control even when it causes him no small amount of anguish. Karen is a good person, but she’s made mistakes in her past and she’s tried to warn Matt not to put her on a pedestal as an innocent thing to be cherished. And Matt himself? His crisis of faith, his impotent rage, issues with abandonment and the sheer stubbornness even for paths that might prove worse for himself prevent him from being a flawless protagonist. It does however make him a perfect superhero.

*It’s worth noting that while Melvin Potter seems a savant, ‘Dex’ is a radical departure from the standard Hollywood hand-waved, purposefully obscure classification of mental illnesses. Instead season three gives an accurate (as well as engaging) portrayal of borderline personality disorder and psychopathy, that obviously took seriously clinical research and the treatments required for such conditions.

Netflix has been canceling Marvel shows this past month. People have become nervous as a result, especially since “Luke Cage” was popular and “Iron Fist” had a much improved second season that ended on a tremendous cliffhanger. But I would bet my Netflix subscription that “Daredevil” will be free from the culling, and I look forward to what season four will bring to the table. This hasn’t just been a perfect superhero show, it has been a show that’s changed the way stories are told.

Netflix “Daredevil” Season 1 Review

The one that started it all.

“Iron Fist” was recently cancelled after a second season that proved a stellar improvement over the mediocre (at best) first season. “Jessica Jones” had a problematic first season, tackling mature themes and introducing one of the vilest supervillains in modern media, and a second season that managed to scuttle all hope for a better continuation of the story. And “Luke Cage” was half of a good show, hit hardest with the ’13 episode’ Netflix hard slog, where the narrative dries up with too much padding and too little consequence. The less said (or reviewed) about “Defenders” the better.

Yes, the only Marvel-Netflix collaboration that manages to exceed expectations with regularity has been the first series that premiered, “Daredevil”. The first season was approached less as a televisions series and more as a thirteen-hour movie, with each episode following a formula that added to the plot and characters in a meaningful way. The actual story structure, according to Marvel television executive Jeph Loeb, was based on crime films of the 1970’s, such as “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Taxi Driver” and “The French Connection”. The result was a much more grounded and personal story than had previously been seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, grittier and more visceral.

“We’re approaching this as a crime drama first, superhero show second.”

Everything else fell into place with fight choreographers, composers, and set designs that captured both the modern feel of New York and the ’70’s feel of Hell’s Kitchen back when it was ravaged by gangs like the Westies, corrupt cops, and crooked politicians. It managed to tie into the larger narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in an organic way and justified how the city had regressed back into that state of moral and urban decay, as the city was recovering from billions of dollars in damage done by a foiled alien invasion in the aftermath of the “Avengers” film.

But can’t go into detail about what makes the series work so well without describing, at length, how the characters have been so brilliantly brought to life. After a disastrous attempt to adapt the comic in the 2003 Ben Affleck film, it was a relief to see a Matt Murdock who was equally skilled at being a lawyer as well as a crime fighter, with Charlie Cox delivering some of the most powerful acting seen in the MCU. From the opening scene in the confessional, to the first time fighting in costume, this fleshed out character could have leaped off the pages of the comics just as readily as he jumps from rooftops. This Matt Murdock has a range of emotions that highlights the struggle with his duality as an attorney of the law and as a law-breaking vigilante, combined with his Catholic faith that is both his tether to morality and largest source of shame. This Matt Murdock shows anguish when he’s confessing his sins, boils over in frustration when his efforts to do good are thwarted, and displays alarming zeal that never quite reaches full-fledged sadism when he’s brutalizing bad guys… Charlie Cox manages to express all this without using his full range of facial motion, as his eyes are almost always covered by tinted glasses, a makeshift mask, and eventually the horned cowl.

His supporting characters aren’t merely comic relief or side-lined love interests either; Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, and Claire Temple are all characters with autonomy and agency in their own right who could easily be the main characters in their own stories, albeit an entirely different set of genres.

As Foggy Nelson, Elden Henson brings boyish charm and that manufactured ‘awkward-guile’ that comes off as a carefully constructed facade later in his lawyer career as a cover for his more genuine bumbling in the flashbacks he shared with Matt in college. He’s less idealistic than Matt, but given how Matt is a few rooftop jumps away from martyrdom that just makes him more realistic, and he’s less obviously smooth than Matt’s Casanova-like pull with the ladies. However he is shown to be a fine lawyer in his own right, with a moral code that remains unshakable when pressed.

Neither he, nor Matt, can compare though to the juggernaut of moral outrage that is Karen Page. After being framed for a ghastly crime she didn’t commit, Deborah Ann Woll plays the character as no damsel in distress or girl-Friday, but as a woman driven to uncover the truth at any cost, who cannot be bought off and refuses to be bullied. She senses something’s more with her co-worker Matt Murdock, who she harbors an intense attraction to, but she cannot pin down the source of his charisma; she cannot quite see the devil behind his disguise. In short, she’s everything comic books fans would’ve wanted to see from a portrayal of Lois Lane, but sadly that hasn’t come to pass.

And Rosario Dawson’s take on the Night Nurse herself, a minor figure in the comics who has become a reoccurring role (to some detriment of over-saturation) in all the Marvel-Netflix series, is one of the best new characters. Claire Temple is the girlfriend not every superhero deserves but definitely the one they all need; supportive, helpful, insightful, caring but not coddling, and unafraid of the risks of living the vigilante life. She and Matt would have continued to make a very good pairing if not for Claire realizing very early on that Matt’s one-man war on crime, beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands, hint at a fractured psyche and martyr-complex.

Heroes are only as good as their greatest adversaries though, never is this more true than in comic books, with colorful supervillains outnumbering a hero often a dozen to one. Daredevil hasn’t had the best luck with villains in the past, but that had changed with a Spider-Man villain given over to him in a rogues-gallery transplant. Reimagining the Bond-villain ‘Kingpin’ into a Mafia don, leading away from gimmicky weapons and doomsday devices and keeping to grounded street-level criminal enterprises, saved both the character of Wilson Fisk and Daredevil as well. And Vincent D’Onofrio revives the character again, proving the worth of one of Marvel’s most popular and persistent foes. His Wilson Fisk is shown gradually becoming the comic book villain (in time with Matt Murdock progressively growing more skilled as a super-hero), starting instead as a rather human, compelling crime boss with almost sympathetic motives and a heart-wrenching backstory.

Ultimately though, it is a story about legacy; the legacy of father’s and sons, of the lessons passed down that influence us for good or evil, and how choices leave a mark on our world.  Matt Murdock’s father was a boxer who wanted to win, but also wanted to make sure his boy had more to life than fighting; Wilson Fisk’s father was an abusive, vile and petty loser who saw his son as an extension of himself to bully into a ‘real man’ according to his standards. As a grown man, Matt Murdock talks at length about how he feels a great anger in him, and his nightly hunts for criminals is as much a chance for him to vent that rage and channel that frustration as it is a desire to punish evil-doers. Likewise, Wilson Fisk talks at length about wanting to make the city a better place, but unlike Matt his scope of the city isn’t in terms of the people already living within it, but what the city could be shaped into according to his vision. His methods are even more violent, and his justification appears more and more hollow as the series progresses.

Good and evil, the sins of the fathers revisited tenfold upon the generations after, transcends ordinary comic-book adaptations and transfigures “Daredevil” into something with near Biblical heft. This strength of narrative combined with strength of production and the cast of talented actors portraying some of the most well-rounded characters in not just comic lore but some of the best characters on modern television right now made just one of the best shows of this decade.

Pathfinder RPG: Build for The Kingpin

Before I begin, this entry is inspired by Matt Mercer and the cast of Geek & Sundry’s “Critical Role“, for rekindling my love for Dungeons & Dragons, and Noah Antwiler of “Counter-Monkey” for his endlessly amusing stories. 

I also want to give credit where credit is due to both Kalvincent Games and Neal Litherland of “Improved Initiative“, who both have great ideas and insights for building worlds and adapting characters to the d20 game-play.

The site d20pfsrd was invaluable in helping build/fact-check with this project. 

 

And of course, I don’t own the character, that’s Marvel. Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin stands head-and-shoulders, sometimes literally, above most supervillains. In a world filled with aliens, warlocks, evil robots, and maniacal mutant overlords, it’s an entirely human crime-boss who remains one of the most persistent and threatening foes to multiple heroes.

 

Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin

Lv. 16 Barbarian

Urban Barbarian Archetype

Feats:

Associate, Boasting Taunt, Body Bludgeon, Brawler, Brilliant Planner, Clear Mind, Combat Reflexes, Controlled Rage, Cosmopolitan, Criminal Reputation, Crowd Control, Deadly Grappler, Diehard, Endurance, Extra Rage, Greater Rage, Headbutt, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Uncanny Dodge, Indomitable Will, Intimidating Glare, Iron Will, Knockback, Lightning Reflexes, Mighty Swing, Power Attack, Quick Reflexes, Rage, Reckless Rage, Toughness, Trap Sense

Traits:

Cruelty, Influence, Masterful Demeanor, Unpredictable Reactions

 

The Kingpin of Crime.

Wilson Fisk was once a pudgy and unpopular child in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Bullied by his peers and abused by his spiteful father, he swore never to be so helpless ever again, reinvented himself as an imposing criminal enforcer. A trail of bodies paved the way for him seize his old neighborhood, then the city’s underworld, and then he controlled almost all crime across the East Coast. By then he had become an entirely different man, a mammoth brawler and a diabolical mastermind, and took on a new moniker; the Kingpin.

Originally, the Kingpin debuted as a Spider-Man villain, and had a greater emphasis on his high-tech traps and lavish hideouts, more elaborate Bond-villain than gritty crime-boss. It wasn’t until writer Mark Millar appropriated Wilson Fisk as a Daredevil villain that the character became as ruthless and iconic in the comics, and as he would later be in his appearance in the Netflix “Daredevil” series.

First, it should be noted that when using the Kingpin in your campaign as a character or as an encounter for your party, there are a variety of ways to play the character. As stated above, the Wilson Fisk that got his first appearance fighting Spider-Man was more like Sydney Greenstreet playing the Bond villain Blofeld. He was, and sometimes still is portrayed to be, a mastermind with nigh-unlimited resources and a stable of superpowered criminals to do his bidding. In fact, most people still hold the Kingpin of “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” to be the most accomplished to date, even with the praises and accolades heaped on Vincent D’Onofrio’s portrayal.

The problem with that particular take on the criminal archfiend is that he is simply too fully realized, and there’s no easy time squeezing him into a readily labeled character class. But with the Netflix version, an origin for the Kingpin just as much as it is for Daredevil, we get the rare chance to see the core of Wilson Fisk’s character. Yes, he is a criminal genius, a ruthless tactician, a bit of a romantic, and a deadly adversary. At his core though, and this is reflected in his class, he is still as Vincent D’Onofrio described in one telling interview “a child and a monster”.

No matter what he accomplishes, how sophisticated he grows, or whatever he’s called, Wilson Fisk is still that same tortured and angry boy he was years ago. That rage stews beneath the surface, and erupts in explosive bouts of horrifying violence. For that reason, it’s obvious that Wilson Fisk is a Barbarian, with Extra Rage to spare.

Hard to picture Conan the Barbarian and Wilson Fisk the Kingpin in the same company though, isn’t it? A party of adventurers in a high fantasy setting are more likely to encounter Wilson Fisk commanding a company of heavily armed and well-dressed mercenaries before catching him dressed in uncured animal pelts. Maybe he’d be the head of a respectable merchant guild who moonlights as a fearsome boss for the local thieves’ syndicate. He could even be imagined to have the ear of a local ruler, an oblivious baron or even the king, as a trusted but mysterious member of the throne’s inner circle.

But in the second season of “Daredevil”, Matt Murdock succinctly sums up Wilson Fisk’s relationship to New York City:

“… now you’re thinking you can serve your sentence, hop on a jet, go to her whenever you like. Live somewhere like Monaco, or… I don’t know, wherever the hell you fat cats go to sun yourselves. But you can’t. You can visit her, but you’ll never live with her. Because this is New York, Wilson. You live here. This is your jungle. This is your blood, like it is mine.”

‘This is your jungle… This is your blood’… if there was any relationship with a city that’s so perfectly defined in Barbarian terms, it’s the Urban Barbarian. And from there on, the feats and rage-powers practically supply themselves.

Diehard, Endurance, and Toughness are all perfect for supply the Wilson Fisk build the necessary perseverance to keep slogging through combat, soaking up damage and shrugging off attacks. Plus, when he’s raging, these feats further minimize the damage he does end up taking. That is harder than one might suppose though, for while the Kingpin is a large target in every continuity he’s also depicted as being faster than his girth would imply possible. Feats like Brawler, Combat Reflexes, Improved Uncanny Dodge, Lightning Reflexes, and Quick Reflexes all serve to bolster his impressive strength with speed and agility that will make it hard for enemies to land blows from the start.

As for the physical offensive though, Wilson Fisk can dominate most fights with sheer rage and brute force. For those, feats like Body Bludgeon lets him hurl opponents bodily off the ground, sometimes even into other enemies. Deadly Grappler is just as the name implies; if Fisk gets his hands on you, it’s already halfway over. Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Knockback, Mighty Swing,  and Power Attack provide arsenals to channel his impressive strength. And rage-powers like Extra Rage, Greater Rage, and Reckless Rage further enhance his might and give extra attacks.

(Headbutt of course is necessary, it seems to be his signature move in the Netflix series.)

And because the Kingpin is as powerful in psyche and presence as he is in physicality, feats like Brilliant Planner showcase his skill as a schemer, and Cosmopolitan grants him two additional languages (Wilson Fisk is depicted as pretty realistic omniglot, speaking both Mandarin and Japanese). The standard barbarian feature Trap Sense also fits for his justifiable paranoia. Boasting Taunt gives a chance to showcase his prowess with psychological warfare, and abilities like Clear Mind, Controlled Rage, Crowd Control, Indomitable Will, and Iron Will all serve as the bedrock to his impressive will and focus.

Lastly, traits like Associate and Criminal Reputation serve to represent his fearsome authority in the criminal underworld, as does the trait Influence, though that can serve as reference to his corruption reaching ‘legitimate’ society. The other traits Masterful Demeanor and Unpredictable Reactions perfectly represent the dichotomy of Wilson Fisk’s outward displays of control and sophistication with his explosive temper, which make him hard to read and harder to manipulate. And you don’t have to choose between the three traits if you select a drawback trait, like Cruelty; when Wilson Fisk hates someone, like say Daredevil, it’s not enough to kill him, Fisk is compelled to burn his whole life and everything he loves to the ground.

This is the Kingpin, in all his girth and glory. As a character you encounter, or a character you might play, long may he reign.