by Ribbons on Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:12 pm
I finally got around to watching the third (and final) season of Daredevil. It was fantastic. The fact that it drew heavily from what is probably the character's best story arc in the comics certainly helps, but it was incredibly well-made regardless. The fight scenes remain brutal and peerless among the other Marvel-Netflix shows, and this is perhaps the first time watching one where I didn't get the sense that it struggled from weird pacing issues. Even the series I've enjoyed, like Daredevil S1, Jessica Jones S1, and The Punisher typically start strong out of the gate and them limp to the finish, like they ran out of plot somewhere in the middle and had to drag things along. "Born Again" is perfectly paced, each episode delivering entertainment and tension and moving the story forward in a logical way, leading to a climax that's both nerve-wracking and satisfying. It explores the religious underpinnings unique to the character in a surprisingly thoughtful way, and in providing Bullseye as a foil, does the good-evil dichotomy in a far more nuanced and believable manner than the ham-fisted conflict between Daredevil and The Punisher in season 2. I even appreciated the constant callbacks to earlier episodes, like psychopathic FBI agent Poindexter's failed attempts at empathy ("That sounds really hard") to the recurring imagery of plastic tarp, which plays a role here similar to that of oranges in the Godfather films. It's disappointing that the show was cancelled immediately afterward, but it couldn't have ended better. Even if you've never seen a minute of Daredevil, you could (and should) watch season 3.
