It’s hard for me to write about Daredevil because we run into what I call the Uncanny Valley problem, but with TV.
The Uncanny Valley is a concept of human depiction. It says if you’re obviously not human, nobody minds, but if you’re mostly human and get just a LITTLE bit off, you’re going to freak people out a little. Compare C-3PO, for example, to Superman with his face obviously CGI’ed to hide his actor’s mustache. We’re fine with 3PO, ‘cause he’s MEANT to be a facsimile of a human face, not a realistic one, but a face that’s MEANT to look human but subtly isn’t is gonna creep us out.
That’s what I feel when I watch Daredevil. It tries harder to be realistic than a lot of live-action super-shows do, but that means when it’s unrealistic, you really feel how unrealistic it is. It’s to the point where it might’ve been better off going for C3PO. So 50% of the time watching Daredevil I’m so there for what’s happening and the other 50% of the time I’m so annoyed ‘cause I can see how fake this all is. That’s why I’ve never written about it, even though I love superhero stories and have seen tons.
That said, Season 1 is the closest to being flawless. Got a great reception, established the universe well, did a GREAT job with the characters it introduced. The Kingpin and Daredevil both get acclaim for being amazingly cast, scripted, and acted.
I specifically remember three moments in the pilot that convinced me this was gonna be a good show:
- The opening speech in the confessional, which feels like the kind of opening you’d see in a play
- The chirpy “What time is it?”, “Half past get the heck up!” exchange soon after, which established a good sense of humor
- The scene near the end where we see Daredevil’s apartments night is bathed in a red neon glow from a billboard across the street, soaking his apartment in atmospheric, comic-book style color with an in-universe justification and an explanation of how he can rent such a nice apartment. That was just *Italian chef kiss*work right there.
Those alone did a lot of work to keep me watching. The other moments in the next episodes that cemented the loyalty was worked on that stuff. And it shows.
But, weak points?
Well, I’m not going to go into detail, but the Karen Page character here always annoys me, ‘cause she feels like a reverse Chuck Cunningham character, who always gets the guys around her killed and then is all sad about it, while then doing nothing to change what brought about their deaths in the first place. Like a honey trap, but with vulnerability instead of sexiness. And then it feels like they try to make her a Lois Lane-type character, but that doesn’t work when Lois Lane is still always crying about how she failed or something. This will continue to frustrate.
And secondly, Daredevil BFF Foggy Nelson’s hair will always annoy the heck out of me - you’re a law graduate! You should have a permanent haircut figured out by now! And it should be a good one! To be fair, by the time of Defenders he has figured out a permanent cut and it looks great, so I’ll give it a future pass, but it still annoys me here.
And finally, and the biggest actual problem - pacing. I feel like these shows would have benefited from a ten-episode season instead of thirteen, because thirteen forty-five minute increments is long enough where you start having to stretch the story out. There’s always something in each season that feels a little longer than it has to be. In Season Two, it’s the Blacksmith plot. In Season Three, it’s the Bullseye business. In this, it’s the whole business with the Russians, which feels like it spends three episodes fleshing out side characters and then killing them off. Also, the foot-dragging with the real Daredevil costume. The first season gets an excuse ‘cause they probably wanted a cool reveal in the last episode, but that they have the hero wear jeans and Lycra for all the season and then get the absolute tar beaten out of him on several occasions feels like plot that could’ve been avoided if they just started giving him the suit sooner. This is also an ongoing issue that I’ll be revisiting later, but suffice it to say, it’s emblematic of a larger problem.
But overall, these are small complaints. The show has great atmosphere, great takes on its characters, and great fight scenes, and those are things that will never really decline with the show’s run, and it deserves major props for that consistency. Well done. Loved it. 9/10
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