Love it or hate it, superhero cinema is the new nerdy thing to be interested in these days. If you’re any self-respecting superhero fan with access to Netflix, chances are you’ve started watching or already finished the second season of “Daredevil.” Or you could be a reasonable person who doesn’t binge superhero shows on the regular. (Either way, no judgment)
If there is a small chance you haven’t watched any of “Daredevil,” it’s time to add it to your Netflix list, because the show redeems the terrible early 2000s movie and then some.
What’s better, “Daredevil” is a Netflix original. And unless you’ve lived under a television-less rock, you know that Netflix produces some damn good original content, from “House of Cards” to “Master of None.” Not only that, but because the shows aren’t on public television, Netflix original series are often grittier and more graphic. And man did Season 2 of “Daredevil” bring the grit.
Don’t get me wrong, season one was no prude either. Take for instance the time (spoiler alert, and from here on out it’s a spoiler train) Wilson Fisk, the main villain of season one, decapitated a man by slamming a car door on him repeatedly. That was hard to watch, but you kept watching it.
The same cringe factor carries over in Season 2, and it also steps up the moral conflicts that were introduced in season one. Put the violence and moral questions together and you get one hell of a season. In a season full of great moments, it’s hard to pick just a few scenes. The best five though (in my opinion) either have particularly memorable violence or provide the viewer with an illuminating perspective on the plot.
5. The Punisher and Daredevil’s Rooftop Talk
The second season of “Daredevil” starts rolling at what feels like a fast pace, but the overall plot doesn’t unravel too quickly. By Episode 3, Hell’s Kitchen’s gangs are either already obliterated or pissed off at whoever they can toss a fist toward.
The new villain, the Punisher, is introduced in the first episode as a homicidal maniac. The viewer doesn’t start to question that label until episode three, where we get to see what kind of villain the Punisher is, or rather how he’s an anti-hero. You get a (pardon the bad joke) killer comparison between Daredevil and the Punisher when it comes to their ideas of justice.
Both of them want the same thing, but have a different means to an end. One of them just beats criminals senseless and kills them in droves. But hey, potato po-tah-to.
4. The Stairwell Fight
Probably the most iconic fight scene of the season, the stairwell fight amps up Season 2. Episode 3 (or as I like to call it, the episode that keeps on giving) provides us with this scene at the end, ultimately kick starting the binge-worthiness of season two.
Matt Murdock (Daredevil, duh) escapes Frank Castle (the Punisher, not so duh) after Frank destroys the property of a biker gang with a sniper rifle. The now pissed-off biker gang is coming for whoever decimated their bikes, and that means Daredevil ass-kicking time. The best part is the chain that Matt is unceremoniously blessed with on his arm. He throws that thing around like an angry combat-trained ribbon twirler.
3. Elektra and Matt Revenge Scene
Ah yes, Elektra. When it comes to her history with Matt, she’s a character that makes audiences hate to love her or love to hate her. Elektra is like the “dark” side of Matt, the kind of person he could have turned into if he went down a different path. The scene in which Elektra brings the murderer of Matt’s father to him is especially character-developing, because while the scene isn’t the viewer’s first look at Matt’s moral code, it is for Elektra as a character.
Besides drawing the line between the two ethically, the situation puts a pin in their relationship, a pin that doesn’t get removed until she appears again during Season 2. Now we understand why Matt is furious at such a badass woman, but that doesn’t mean we want her gone (at least not me).
2. Elektra’s Death
Elektra’s death was one of the tearjerkers of the season, and the biggest spoiler on this list. About as soon as Elektra pledges to turn a new leaf and run away with Matt, she sacrifices herself to save him from the somehow notoriously hard to kill Nobu.
In a way, she does turn a new leaf. Elektra is no longer the “black sky” by dying (or so we think. I’m looking at you, final scene of the season), and she’s saved somebody instead of killing them for fun.
1. Penny and Dime Talk
By far the most moving part of Season 2, the talk between the Punisher and Daredevil right before Frank gets arrested is the most humanizing moment the character has. If you didn’t feel for the guy or understand Castle’s motives a little bit before that point, you did after he explains the phrase “penny and dime.”
It’s incredibly harrowing for both the viewer and for Matt Murdock since the whole scene makes you second-guess who the real villain of the series is. It leaves you rooting for Castle, not just because his character is interesting and emotionally charged, but because you want him to stay a threat to Matt well after his arrest. You can’t lose a character this morally ambiguous in one season.
Bonus Moment: The Prison Fight
Who could leave out Frank’s prison fight? It’s got everything you could want in a “Daredevil” fight. The surprise return of Wilson Fisk, betrayal and Frank killing about twenty dudes with just his hands and weapons he muscles off of the prisoners. Sure, the massacre leaves Frank Castle looking like a bloodied homicidal maniac, but you didn’t actually want him to lose in the end. (Screw Fisk, am I right?)
