Martin Carr reviews the second episode of Daredevil season 3…
There are many different cages people choose to construct around themselves. For some the bars are psychological for others emotional favoured when choosing to isolate, protect and insulate themselves from harm. Rarely are they physical, literal and wrought of iron and steel. However these can come to define the occupant and prove pivotal in the choices they are compelled to make. If anything this is central to understanding episode two of season three in which some serious thematic questions are systematically unpacked.
For Wilson Fisk it his abundant strength and influence which prove the real barrier, while a necessary reliance on law enforcement institutions an Achilles heel. Murdock meanwhile feels compelled to continue his vigilante missions having psychologically shut himself off from a normal life. These are the contradictions which help shape and give substance to an episode still unpacking plot and introducing essential back story. For all the opposites which exist between Fisk and Murdock it is their unwavering belief that their intentions are pure which make both so compelling. By disavowing God and his influence over everything Murdoch is turning his back on formative years of Bible training and religious scripture. His belief which gave him purpose outside of being Daredevil has now been banished along with the public image.
Fisk meanwhile wears his concern in plain sight as his collusion marks him out for retribution. Fighting every urge to not react violently he is emotionally compromised, calculatingly complicit and ultimately opportunistic when the time comes. These two men are the driving force even this early on and everything else is being set up for destruction further down the line. Foggy’s family and business alongside Sister Maggie and the orphanage are all under threat.
Strangely turning informant has made Wilson Fisk the hero here as rivals are being eradicated, which although transparently self-serving remains engaging stuff. Meanwhile the two handed dialogue scenes between Joanne Whalley’s Sister Maggie and Murdock are fresh, cynical and bitingly honest. She gives him no quarter and stops self-pity from knocking off those much needed hard edges. Audio trickery continues putting you in the driving seat for fight scenes while hearing loss and balance issues are illustrated effectively without compromising tone.
Shackled by ankle, wrist and chest he may be and surrounded by Albanian cartel members out for blood he definitely is, but there is an inevitability to Fisk’s liberation which sets things in motion. Not only the result of desperate measures taken to impress others, but an underestimation which guarantees Murdock will have more to worry about than the existence of a God before long.
Martin Carr
Originally published October 20, 2018. Updated January 8, 2019.
