I will say the whole "everyone" is under Fisk's control and bribery does kinda stretch credibility at times.
Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Especially since they made a big deal about turning Dex and then it turns out like more than half a dozen F.B.I. agents are under his direct control.
I guess it's best not to scrutinize these shows too much, since they aren't meant to be realistic, but: Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler How long would a criminal last if he threatens several members of the F.B.I. team guarding him, including their families? I predict he would be shot a dozen times in an "escape attempt" on the first day.
Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Well I think that's the point of the Albanian attempt on Fisk's life; to demonstrate that he already had the skills to do something like this. Plus Dex had the advantage of having body armor, so he wasn't vulnerable to stuff like the scissors he used to put Murdock down. It was relatively clear to me, at least in that episode, that Murdock was still the better hand-to-hand fighter.
Up to episode 12. Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Okay, the whole "Wilson Fisk has successfully appealed his conviction" is very bad writing. We were never even aware of his appeal as an audience until he revealed it. Why the need for the whole complex plan that involves getting shanked and blackmailing multiple F.B.I. agents if he had that in the pipeline?
I'm done with Daredevil season three. I thought episode nine and ten were alright (I would even say that episode ten was great). But the last three episodes were a bit of a letdown. Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler After all that, we have just reset the clock on the whole Fisk thing. Also, the Julie thing was a bit convenient, especially in terms of Felix having stashed the body in a freezer. I mean, I knew that was going to play a part sometime later on in the season, but I had assumed it would have been handled more cleverly. My revised rankings: The Punisher Daredevil season two Daredevil season one Jessica Jones season one Daredevil season three Luke Cage season one Iron Fist season two The Defenders Jessica Jones season two Iron Fist season one Luke Cage season two To me it's clearly the weakest of the three Daredevil seasons. That still makes it better than most of the other Marvel Netflix series. But the things that worked (the characters, the setting, the Catholic subtext) were already there in previous seasons and there isn't something to make this year stand out, not even the villain. In the end what I liked most was the one thing they did add which worked, in the form of Joanne Whalley as Sister Maggie. But if there is going to be a season four, I hope they tap from another narrative well for a change.
Overall, Daredevil maintains its high standards of show quality and remains atop the Netflix Marvel shows rather easily, Punisher aside. D'Onofrio's Fisk still manages to impress me a lot; he just nails every scene every time. It's so much fun to watch. @Belgian guy's assessment of it hitting basically the same beats as Season 1 is correct, but dayum, it's more Wilson Fisk, more Daredevil, and more satisfying action with stakes that feel like they rise with every episode. These were all things I wanted more of, and I'm glad I got it. Nadeem was a nice addition to the cast and they did good work to flesh out his arc. I felt like Bullseye/"Fake Daredevil" would've been better if he had embraced his sadistic cockiness the whole way through and just stuck with that as opposed to making him "unstable", moody, and childish. It would've created more contrast with Murdock, who's always moody, questioning himself, trying to build order in his life. Instead we have two characters basically wrestling with parallel issues of their troubled childhood, reaching out to their friends, and trying to find their true selves/purpose the whole time. It felt like the writers were trying to make a "What If" mirror image of Murdock but didn't execute it well. Also, I love the "inner monologue" moments where Matt dialogues with the Fisk in his head. It gives D'Onofrio even more opportunity to chew scenery and it's delicious.
Jessica Jones and Luke Cage had some pretty deep themes. The first like a noir drama about abuse while the latter a gritty urban drama with themes of Black empowerment. I quite liked those more than the simple superhero ascetic presented by Daredevil. Daredevil is solid. All 3 seasons were pretty damn consistent. JJS1 is the best Marvel series (IMO) while the second sucked majorly. LCS1 had highs during the first half and major lows during the second half. Something about the writing in these shows. They can't seem to be developed enough for 13 episodes. 10 episodes probably would have been perfect for all involved. The Punisher was good, but what about it really gets fans behind it? Was it the gross violence? Was it that the character more resembled the comic book? It was good, but I wouldn't vote it as among the best.
A few reasons. I think Jon Bernthal is the most perfectly cast lead across all of the Netflix Marvel shows. Unlike most of these things, it is not guilty of the Netflix bloat (which in the other Netflix Marvel shows mostly reveals itself by a two or three weak episodes in the middle of the season). It was surprisingly funny (when it could be). The nature of Frank Castle's "heroism" is least tied to comic book tropes. I love the Frank Castle-Karen Page relationship.
I actually didn't even enjoy the gross violence, though I understood it was totally appropriate for that series. Personally I thought it had the most consistent plotting, writing, and characterization of any of the Marvel Netflix shows. I was never even that into the comic book version of the Punisher so was kinda surprised I liked it as much as I did.
Another thing I thought that set "The Punisher" apart is that whilst "Daredevil" had a clear Catholic subtext, I thought the Frank Castle show had a more subtle Jewish subtext.
It's mostly in the Micro character and his family's subplot. It's a lot more subtle than Daredevil and its Catholic themes, which slaps you in the face with confessionals, priests and nuns.
Finished Daredevil season 3 tonight. It was quite good. They seem to have fixed their pacing problems - it didn't feel slow, like it should have been half as many episodes, as a number of the other series have felt. It did get a little slow towards the end. I loved the sequences where Kingpin was exploring Bullseye's past - episode five, I think - I thought they were really tremendously filmed, with the memories appearing in washed out colors but taking place in Kingpin's hotel suite. I was less fond of when they spent half an episode on Karen's family history, that's when it started to drag for me. I thought the acting was all good - Karen and Foggy have improved a lot since the first season. The only exceptions were pretty minor - Marci (Foggy's girlfriend) was formerly interesting as a lawyer and sparring partner but was just an accessory in this series, and Vanessa (Kingpin's girlfriend) didn't add much - I never really got the motivation for her character even going back to the first season. The new characters - Sister Maggie, Nadeem, Dex - were all good. I was not as fond of Daredevil season 2, because of the split stories - the Punisher story was great, but the Electra story was a drag. Luke Cage season 1 had a similar problem with two halves of the season - the first half with Cottonmouth was great, the second half with Diamondback was bad. They seem to have stopped having two storylines like that with the recent shows, and I think it's made the shows more watchable, they're not dragging in the middle like they used to. So I'd put Daredevil season 3 up with Punisher and Daredevil season 1 as my favorites of the Netflix series. I'm not going to rank them all like Belgian guy did but this one was near the top.
New "Captain Marvel" trailer. Chewie! So the chance of us getting a Rocket Raccoon/Chewie scene in "Infinity War Part II" is now 5000%, right?
Dat trailer for Captain Marvel in Super Saiyan mode! 😍 pic.twitter.com/gwmOSeDt6n— Will Leverett (@312Will) December 4, 2018 Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought this at this moment of the trailer.
A guy in the YT comments section suggested watching the "Captain Marvel" trailer with the sound muted and then playing the audio of the "The Avengers: Infinity War Part I" over it and it does work incredibly well. The big moments match across both trailers, which means they probably share a same structure. Which has to be a conscious decision.