**Please note that this review contains spoilers for “No Good Deed” and any episodes that occur prior**
“Wouldn’t that be something? If I became more valuable to this city than you ever were.”
That wide, creepy smile though: it’s iconic Bullseye. The show continued to play with the audience, still trying hard to make you think that this new FBI character was someone else—maybe even Sin-Eater. But then they dropped his name: Poindexter. From then on, we were slowly introduced to his mental instabilities. His pizza night with his girl was quite different than what you would imagine. The fact that we are finally being introduced to Bullseye is extremely exciting. His private moment with Fisk was fantastic—likely the birth of a fruitful partnership. Clearly they are taking a very unique path with the character, and I’m very intrigued to see what they have in store.
Speaking of that meeting with Dex and Fisk, The Kingpin was all the rage as the public learned of his unique imprisonment. What may be even more exciting is the fact that Fisk now knows that the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is back. His calm accepting demeanor certainly makes it seem as if he is in more control than he lets on to be. He already has his strings attached to Dex, and his invaluable help to the FBI puts him in an extremely powerful position—maybe even more so than he was when he was a free man. The public, political, and personal turmoil that Fisk’s situation brings to all of the characters, is extremely intriguing. It certainly seems like the show has no plans on dropping the ball on the fans’ favorite Netflix Marvel villain.
Wilson Fisk. Free at last. Well, sort of. Photo is a direct screenshot from episode 303.
The moment Matt gets his hearing back, the first thing he hears is that Fisk is “free.” He takes this as a sign that his role as the Devil is far from over. Looking into Fisk’s penthouse incarceration led to some amazing sequences, including Matt’s stealth run through the garage. He was smooth as all hell. My jaw literally hit the floor when he went into a one-armed push up stance to avoid being seen. It was graceful and on point. Scenes like this show why Daredevil’s choreography is still above and beyond the best Netflix has had to offer.
While Matt never got close to the real Fisk, Matt’s new motivation to kill Fisk didn’t sit well with his personal ethics. We got a personified Fisk as the devil on Matt’s shoulders, haunting and taunting him as Matt investigated the situation. It’s interesting that Matt is willing now to kill him—as it so strongly goes again most of what season 2 focused on. But to the show’s credit, things change. Matt is a broken man, with his faith shattered in so many pieces that killing seems like an answer now. I’m hoping the show continues to explore this dichotomy, and draws parallels to his actions last season and his run-ins with the Punisher.
Matt being slick. Photo is a direct screenshot from episode 303.
This time around, Foggy got a more substantial scene than Karen. Very surprisingly, and rather suddenly, Matt walks in to meet him—but with very drastic intentions. Matt declares that Matt Murdock still dead, and Daredevil is all that remains (something that in theory fits with his journey after season 2). So although Foggy knows Matt’s alive, he’s now burdened with the fact that Matt is leaving his loved ones behind in the dirt for good. Karen, however, still hasn’t received that official confirmation, and the writers made sure to keep reminding us that she has not moved on either. While Foggy may have had the more substantial scene between the two of them, Karen may have connected the dots to part of Fisk’s plan involving his new penthouse. The Kingpin is right where he wants to be—untouchable, with the power to fully watch over and protect Vanessa when she needs it the most.
An excellent episode saw Matt diving deeper into darkness as he further embraced the idea of Daredevil being his only identity. The potentially more exciting thing that we were given was the beginning of Bullseye’s story on the show. How he ended up there is a mystery, but I’m ecstatic to see what new and creative things the show has up its sleeve. How long do I have to wait for our first Daredevil and Bullseye showdown?
Bonus Notes:
- If only Matt knew that he had just talked to his number one adversary of all time in the hotel lobby.
- Have I mentioned that I’m super excited for Bullseye’s introduction?
- There really seems to be a dedicated push to focus on Karen’s brother. Really I should see this as a good thing, as I’ve always felt the show has unnecessarily dragged out the mystery of Karen’s past.
The third season of Daredevil is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
