Posted May 4, 2016

By YUNA JO

Gone are the days of heroes avoiding the dirty work when saving the damsel in distress now that season two of “Daredevil” is back on air. With a Marvel comic-based adventurous storyline, the thrilling yet equally gory program explores the main character who is a blind hero, Matt Murdock.

Daylight car chases are replaced with night-time alley fights filled with blood splatter and crushed bone. It’s the darkest show that Marvel has ever produced thus far both tonally and visually. “Daredevil” is where superhero meets bad-ass crime fighter, where superhero meets serial crime.

Set in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, the show focuses on Murdock, a blind hero who strives to achieve justice through any means necessary— even if that means decapitating a villain by repeatedly banging a car door on his head. The secretly violent yet effortlessly charming main vigilante finds peace in courtrooms and gets along with every supporting characters

One of the biggest “wow” moments of the show is every time Murdock flawlessly kicks ass. Despite his lack of visual abilities, Murdock doesn’t let that stop him. Instead, his heightened sense leads him to superbly tackle the evil of New York City no matter what the obstacle is.

With the release of an extremely successful first season of the show, the second season kicked some more evil ass lurking around in the Big Apple.

Not that the beautiful Matt Murdock isn’t enough of a reason to watch the show, but the interesting supporting characters both during the day and night, are additional ways they entertain you. From the beginning of the show, steadily into the freshly released second season, these characters have remained demonstrably captivating.

The protagonist’s best friend and law partner, Foggy Nelson, portrayed by Elden Henson, is a goofy, comical guy who can almost make you forget that the entire show is about brutally killing and eradicating crime dark alleys and discrete locations.

And of course, each hero has his very own damsel (but in this case, she’s not in so much distress). Karen Page, characterized by Deborah Ann Woll, grows progressively more fond of Murdock as the season progresses. She proves to be as courageous as the hero himself through the tragedy and violence.

Last, but not least, the antagonist who keeps things constantly interesting is Wilson Fisk, also known as the Kingpin, portrayed by Vincent D’Onofrio. Although everyone loves to hate the bad guy, Fisk is the perfect balance between strength and weakness.

But what makes this show one of the best that Marvel has produced? One of the many answers to this question is the clashing stories of the protagonist and his antagonist. Although blind, Murdock attacks injustice with street-level vigilantism in a black mask and heightened sense.

On the other hand, Fisk strives to wipe out anything and everything that stands in his way for selfish reasons. Though both bad ass and strikingly strong, they resort to killing for polar opposite reasons.

Another reason is because their superpowers are not completely science-fiction. In exchange for sacrificing his sight, Murdock has a heightened sense of smell, hearing, taste and just about anything else to get himself out of dangerous situations. Unlike others possess superhuman abilities, Murdock’s character is someone that everyone can scarily relate to.

Not only that, but Murdock is a realistic hero. He isn’t godlike in the sense that he succeeds in everything he gets himself into. He fails just as much as he succeeds, which makes the plot believable and realistic.

And this is one of the simpler reasons— the fight scenes are extremely entertaining. Although they’re cruelly graphic with all the details (and blood) a fight scene can ever contain, when Murdock successfully kicks some evil ass, you get that great sense of accomplishment through vicariously living through him.

What makes the show complete is the perfect cast. Without D’Onofrio’s portray of the complex character of Fisk or Henson’s comical acting of Nelson, “Daredevil” would not be the amazing mixture of violence, action, sadness and justice all in one.

• Title: “Daredevil”
• Release Date: March 18, 2016
• Runtime: 54 minutes
• Starring: Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Rosario Dawson, Vincent D’Onofrio
• Created by: Drew Goddard
• Production Company: Netflix
• Genre: Action, Crime drama, Superhero
• Personal Rating 4/5 stars