I'm addressing season one here, since that's all we have to work with to date. The first half of the season blew my expectations out of the water: Incredible action, great drama, amazing performances, you name it. It was really smart storytelling that ramped up the stakes and weaved in backstory brilliantly.
With that said, I think Netflix was savvy in releasing just the first five episodes to critics before the launch. Those first five are untouchable, and the next five are very strong as well, but things bogged down a bit in the final few episodes.
(SPOILERS AHEAD.) Karen being unwilling to "confess" her killing of Wesley with Matt and Foggy was somewhat silly: She'd just been kidnapped and understandably feared for her life. Claire dropping out of the picture felt more like plot contrivance than anything else. Foggy's anger with Matt was understandable at first, but that and everyone's general misery dragged on too long. We should have gone into the final episode with everything ramped up to a fever pitch, but the intensity wasn't there until midway through.
And finally, the red costume just looked a little dumb. We should be thrilled to see DD in his "real" suit, but it didn't play nearly as well in practice as the black skivvies did. I'm praying for a redesign before season two.
With that said, it was still a really good season of television, and I happily devoured it in a couple of days. Charlie Cox won me over as Murdock/DD immediately, Scott Glenn was perfect as Stick, and Vincent D'Onofrio owned Fisk/Kingpin like he was born for it. Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson won me over as Karen and Foggy right away.
I'm glad they didn't feel the need to immediately bring in Elektra (outside of an easter egg mention) or Bullseye, especially since the show takes virtually everything (in story, style and tone) from Frank Miller's Daredevil work. There's plenty of time for that.
The show has built a great foundation, and I'm looking forward to another season. I hope it can iron out a few of the rough patches going forward, and I'm confident it will. First seasons are always tricky, so it's really impressive how great this one was overall.
With that said, I think Netflix was savvy in releasing just the first five episodes to critics before the launch. Those first five are untouchable, and the next five are very strong as well, but things bogged down a bit in the final few episodes.
(SPOILERS AHEAD.) Karen being unwilling to "confess" her killing of Wesley with Matt and Foggy was somewhat silly: She'd just been kidnapped and understandably feared for her life. Claire dropping out of the picture felt more like plot contrivance than anything else. Foggy's anger with Matt was understandable at first, but that and everyone's general misery dragged on too long. We should have gone into the final episode with everything ramped up to a fever pitch, but the intensity wasn't there until midway through.
And finally, the red costume just looked a little dumb. We should be thrilled to see DD in his "real" suit, but it didn't play nearly as well in practice as the black skivvies did. I'm praying for a redesign before season two.
With that said, it was still a really good season of television, and I happily devoured it in a couple of days. Charlie Cox won me over as Murdock/DD immediately, Scott Glenn was perfect as Stick, and Vincent D'Onofrio owned Fisk/Kingpin like he was born for it. Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson won me over as Karen and Foggy right away.
I'm glad they didn't feel the need to immediately bring in Elektra (outside of an easter egg mention) or Bullseye, especially since the show takes virtually everything (in story, style and tone) from Frank Miller's Daredevil work. There's plenty of time for that.
The show has built a great foundation, and I'm looking forward to another season. I hope it can iron out a few of the rough patches going forward, and I'm confident it will. First seasons are always tricky, so it's really impressive how great this one was overall.