Netflix’s newest original series, “Daredevil” debuted April 10, with all 13 episodes of the Marvel Comic adaptation’s first season available on the streaming service. Ed Carroll will review each episode here on Monkeys Fighting Robots without fear and let you know if the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe meets the lofty standards of its predecessors. There are more Daredevil review links at the bottom of the post.
Before I get into the meat of a pretty eventful tenth episode, “Nelson v. Murdock,” I’d like to offer both an apology as well as a grateful shoutout to reader Brian Sosin for notifying me that he was getting subtitles on his device. The lack of subtitles has probably been my biggest consistent complaint. I had been watching the series on my Playstation 4’s Netflix app, as that’s my most-used console, and despite fiddling around with the closed captioning settings, I wasn’t able to get any subtitles, so I just figured the show didn’t use them at all. After Brian’s comment, I decided to try another device, since Netflix is on nearly everything, and sure enough, the subtitles work on my Wii U. It isn’t the first issue I’ve had with the PS4 Netflix app, but I’m quite grateful to finally get a better sense of what’s going on; I’ll re-watch every episode where I complained about this, and will add a disclaimer to those posts, and possibly edit them if necessary. Thanks again, Brian.
The subtitles came in handy, as early on as Gao and Fisk met, with Gao expressing her disappointment both in Fisk’s role in Nobu’s death as well as the lady in his life, Vanessa. We know Gao is involved in the heroin trafficking, but we haven’t really seen too much of what she does.
She was apparently able to convince Leyland to ally with her, although he was already questioning Fisk’s methods. Perhaps I misinterpreted what happened incorrectly, but I’m pretty certain Leyland was the one who poisoned the drinks (which explains why he didn’t drink any even though he grabbed two glasses). Unfortunately for everyone, Fisk didn’t take the other drink but Vanessa did. I don’t know if she’s dead or not (my guess is probably), but I really hope she isn’t dead. She’s been a great part of the show, adding a needed humanity to Fisk and she was a fun character in her own right.
The main storyline in this episode, though, focused on the fallout of Foggy discovering Matt to be the man in the mask. Apparently Claire had stopped by at some point between the end of the last episode and the beginning of this one, which seemed like a bit of a. cop-out cause why not show Foggy meeting Claire? Regardless, she stitched Matt up, and Foggy stayed to keep an eye on him and send him on a guilt trip.
But seriously, this episode did a lot to establish what Foggy actually is doing on this show. He’s been entertaining, for sure, but he rarely felt like a necessity. Between the conversation in the present, where Foggy was feeling understandably betrayed, to the flashbacks from various periods in their lives, it became far clearer why Foggy was so important to Matt (and vice versa), and makes Foggy’s anger much more understandable. Foggy keeps Murdock’s secret (for now), but does appear to have quit the law firm by the end of the episode (I can’t believe that would be a permanent move for the show, though). Elden Hanson did a good job in this episode, and I admit I nearly cried at the end of their argument when he walked out the door. 
The ‘C’ storyline started out pretty mundane, but ended up potentially providing Ben and Karen (and Foggy and Matt, eventually) an unexpected link to Wilson Fisk. I didn’t make the connection that the elderly woman was Wilson’s mother, thought to be dead, but by the end of the scene, the only thing that didn’t make sense was just how Karen found her, since Ben clearly didn’t have any idea, but I have to imagine that will be revealed soon enough. Not sure what they’ll use her for, but it’s safe to say Fisk probably doesn’t want anyone to know about her.
After 10 episodes, I think it’s safe to call Netflix’s Daredevil a good show, and it’s in position to potentially be a great show if the final three episodes are up to snuff. I’m honestly a little bummed there are only three left, and I really hope this gets a second season already. Unless Marvel wanted this as a limited series, it would seem foolish for Netflix not to give us more of the man without fear to binge on with glee. I know this Daredevil review sounds like gushing, but I’m not going to be angry about good television. “Nelson v. Murdock” continued the run of excellence, giving us needed answers while still adding new developments to the story.
Watching Daredevil on Netflix, too? Leave a comment and let us know what you think and feel free to tweet Ed -@EdTheRevelator
You can find his review of episode one here.
Click here for his review of episode two.
Read his thoughts on the jaw-dropping episode three here.
Ed’s review of the fourth episode is here.
Click here for Ed’s review of the explosive fifth episode.
Episode six was dripping with suspense, Ed’s review is here.
A familiar face from the comics debuted in episode seven, read Ed’s thoughts here.
Ed’s thoughts on episode eight are right here.
Ed thought episode nine was another standout, his thoughts are here.
