Daredevil Recap: Season Finale – “Daredevil”
Apt title is apt.
It’s the moment you’ve all—those of you who still read these, anyway—been waiting for! The season finale recap, when I will finally catch up with where the rest of polite society was nearly two months ago! We can now talk about all of the things! But first, the recap.
The season finale starts with Ben Urich’s funeral—all of our heroes in attendance except Foggy who has a very full schedule of being a jerk—to let us know that the stakes have raised. Karen’s pretty pissed that Foggy didn’t show up, while Matt tries to make everything about himself.
“This death is my fault.”
“Foggy’s jerkitude is my fault. And wtf is an ‘Ultron’? Probably my fault, too. Everything sucks.”
Karen’s worried that Fisk is going to find out about her visit to his mom and come after her just like Ben, and she’s dealing with the crushing reality that Fisk controls the news, the police, and everyone. Meanwhile, Fisk is clearing up his financials after all that’s happened with Leland, who thinks he can just tell Fisk that he intentionally had Vanessa poisoned and will now be making off with half of Fisk’s money, because he’s got crooked-cop Detective Hoffman hiding out somewhere for blackmail purposes. You know, because Fisk is known for working through things.
“Good talk.”
Foggy goes to talk to Matt so they can finally get their shit together in regards to the whole secret identity thing. Foggy doesn’t want his friend, fighting or not, to get killed, so he tries to convince him that they need to take Fisk down using the law… together. They decide that they can’t get their friendship back to where it was, but they can move forward.
With the old team back together, now fully 2/3 of the hero side is terrible at hiding their secret.
“M… mask? What’s a ‘mask’? What’s a ‘guy’? What?”
“Oh THAT guy in the mask. I think you know him, right Matt?”
“Psst keep it up; everyone’s totally buying it.”
“…”
They don’t learn anything from the only cop they know they can trust—Foggy’s buddy from episode 1 who Daredevil recently beat up—but Matt overhears some of Fisk’s paid cops talking about finding Hoffman. Back at their law office, they figure out where Hoffman is hiding, and Matt excuses himself to go make sure he doesn’t get killed before they can get his help. Fisk also figures it out around the same time and sends a team of police/goons for Matt to beat down before he escorts Hoffman safely to the police precinct, which the show skips because everyone knows escort missions are tedious and boring.
The law firm of Nelson and Murdock takes up Hoffman’s case.
“I feel like this isn’t the easiest way to get clients.”
Hoffman finally spills the beans on the record, and then we get the episode’s second musical sequence as the FBI takes down all of Fisk’s paid lackeys—arms dealers, corrupt police, a senator, and notably not Ben’s editor! Awww, he really didn’t give Ben up to Fisk like everyone thought.
:(
They even drag Fisk away mid-marriage proposal, though letting Vanessa get away is a pretty big oversight considering just getting engaged doesn’t exactly count for the married people not getting compelled to testify against each other thing.
The hero team has a short-lived celebration while Fisk is transported in custody before he’s busted out, and it looks like Matt might get a chance at that moral decision every character has been hyping the entire season as Fisk’s true character finally shows through.
“This is the face of ill content.”
Matt takes off to pick up his snazzy new Daredevil suit and track Fisk down for their final showdown as he tries to meet up with Vanessa for their escape, which he tells her to do without him if he doesn’t show up in time.
“SIGH.”
He manages to interrupt Fisk’s transport and corners him in an alley… not the most impressive location for a climactic battle, but Fisk was a little short on options as he literally ran from Daredevil.
“I get all dressed up for you and this is where you take me?”
They fight. A lot. And argue over whose city it is while Fisk beats on Daredevil’s fancy new costume with… parts of his fancy new costume.
“WHY ARE YOU HITTING YOURSELF? WHY ARE YOU HITTING YOURSELF?”
So I guess that big moral choice is finally coming! It’s really going to come down to it! Daredevil’s going to wind up in a situation where it’s either kill Fisk or let him get away with no middle ground! What will he do!? His moral fiber will be put to the test! What will he choose!?
“Please don’t hurt me.”
Or… the whole thing could end with Daredevil simply punching him out for making fun of his costume like they’re 10-year-olds. That works, too.
*SNORE.* “Wake me up when all that foreshadowing pays off.”
Their cop buddy shows up to take the unconscious Fisk back into custody, and Vanessa finally has to go it alone.
“Next season, you’re all in so much trouble.”
And as the law firm finally puts up its sign now that Matt and Foggy are done ignoring their true feelings, Karen sums up how pretty much everyone in the universe felt about a Daredevil TV show:
“I thought it was a bit goofy at first, but it kind of grows on you.”
Foggy makes Mrs. C. roll over in her grave by suggesting that he and Marci may get back together, and Matt finally owns up to my suspicions that he knew something was up with Karen this whole time, but I guess we’ll have to wait for season 2 for that. He and Karen also decide to “move forward,” and there is some more weird tension and physical contact that I do not approve of because Claire Temple forever. And then the season finale ends the same as the first episode, with Matt listening in for some crime and springing into action.
“I GOT RENEWED FOR ANOTHER SEASON, Y’ALL!”
—
Overall, I thought Daredevil was really great in its first season, and it handled the “origin story” aspect well. It was also the kind of “dark” aspect of the Marvel universe I was hoping for—more grounded, but not without a definite sense of Marvel fun and optimism. I do think the show got a little lost in the last few episodes as things just kind of tumbled into place instead of building dramatically—the worst offender being Matt’s moral dilemma not coming into play enough for how heavily it featured in the season’s dialogue. Still, it’s probably my favorite part of the MCU so far outside of maybe the first Avengers, which says a lot, and I can’t wait for season 2.
Now that everything’s established, hopefully we can get more into Karen’s back story and find out how she got to be the person she is today, and I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Vanessa take over for Fisk and become season 2’s big bad. The waiting begins!
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