It's safe to say that the first season of Marvel's Daredevil is a hard act to follow, providing a more gritty and 'dark' alternative to the feature films of the MCU. It has been praised for the cast performances and for the outstanding fight choreography, and now finally we have a second season to build upon these strong foundations.
Following news that both The Punisher and Elektra would be introduced this season, it is easy to worry that Hell's Kitchen would become over-populated with heroes and anti-heroes, and that much of the story would be lost due to this overcrowding, especially with only thirteen episodes with which to tell an increasingly complex story. Luckily, this couldn't be further from the truth. Both of these new characters are interesting and intriguing. However it is Jon Bernthal's Punisher that dominates the first half of the season. His portrayal of the controversial character is impressive, as whilst The Punisher is shockingly violent by nature, Bernthal is also able to make him surprisingly sympathetic. The impressive thing about this season of Daredevil is the sheer amount of content it fits in to only thirteen episodes. There are two new superheroes, both of whom are given substantial screen time, and whose origins are also explored. Of course our protagonist Matt Murdock is still prominent, even with Bernthal's Punisher in the picture. Charlie Cox's performance as the 'Devil of Hell's Kitchen' was great last season, and it seems that now he's really settled into the role. The same can be said of Elden Henson with the role of Foggy Nelson and Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page. Despite the array of new characters, we still see plenty of the regulars from the first season, and it's good to see Foggy and Karen evolve as the show goes on. During season 1, it was easy to sometimes think that Foggy was being used as comic relief. This time around we get to see him use his skills as a lawyer inside the courtroom, and in these particular scenes Foggy does seem like a much more formidable character. Scott Glenn also has a larger role as Stick (Daredevil's former mentor), and it's good to see this role being expanded beyond the 1 episode appearance he had previously. As a result of all of these characters having a more prominent role, this season's story is definitely more multi-stranded than the last. However, despite how busy it is it never feels overstretched, and the multiple storylines are well balanced.
The only character with whom I was slightly disappointed this season is Karen. Whilst Deborah Ann Woll continues to play the role well, it seems that Karen's character is stuck in the role of the stereotypical 'princess'. Either she's busy being somebody's love interest or she's in need of saving. This is a real shame, as there are moments where Karen is very resourceful and it seems as though the character has a lot more to offer.
This season has all of the strengths of the last one, especially when it comes to the fight choreography. Once again, it is outstanding, creating gripping and intense scenes that are extremely memorable. You can tell that there is a conscious effort being made to top the famous corridor fight scene from last season, and it's quite possible that they have done just that.
Daredevil's season 2 is still very enjoyable, skilfully made TV. However, this season doesn't live up to the first. This is, I think, mainly due to the absence of a clear antagonist. Vincent D'Onofrio's portrayal of Wilson Fisk last season was outstanding, and his character was a great villain. He loomed over the entire season and it was clear that Matt Murdock's main aim was to defeat him. However, in this season there is not really a clear antagonist until the last couple of episodes, and even then the 'final battle' that should be the climax of the whole series falls a bit flat. The lack of villain also makes the middle of the season feel as though it's lacking direction, leaving you thinking 'where is this going?'. Despite this the season ends well and the performances of Cox, Bernthal and Elodie Yung (who plays Elektra) are great, keeping the season afloat even though the void left by Fisk's absence hasn't really been filled.Still incredibly entertaining, with intriguing new characters, outstanding cast performances, and intense fight scenes. Daredevil season 2 may suffer from the lack of a real villain, but is gripping and impressive nonetheless.
