Television

Standard Of Review: In Daredevil's Final Episodes, Matt Finally Uses The Legal System

Daredevil may have great fight scenes, but it's still fairly weak as a legal show.

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Finally, after several episodes of all talk and no action (and me complaining), Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) decided to actually use the legal system to go after Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), the criminal kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen. At this point late in the season, Matt’s vigilante investigation of Fisk using his Daredevil persona has hit a dead end, and an assassin working with Fisk has almost killed him. I mostly enjoyed the show’s renewed enthusiasm for the legal aspects of Matt’s story, but Matt’s plan contains a plot twist that strains credulity (this column will contain spoilers for the final three episodes of the season).

Daredevil establishes very early on in the season that Fisk has virtually every municipal employee in his pocket, paying so much to New York City that he could probably have funded the Second Avenue Subway by now. One of those individuals is Carl Hoffman (Daryl Edwards), an NYPD detective who murdered his partner on Fisk’s orders. Hoffman was subsequently kept in hiding by Fisk’s moneyman Leland Owlsley (Bob Gunton) as Leland’s insurance policy in case his relationship with Fisk deteriorated.

Matt realizes that finding Hoffman could be the key to stopping Fisk. Luckily for Matt, Marci Stahl (Amy Rutberg), the ex-girlfriend of Matt’s legal partner and best friend Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), works for Landman & Zack, the behemoth law firm that represents Fisk. And even more luckily for Matt, in what can only be described as “deus ex Mattchina,” Marci has begun to steal boxes full of Fisk-related documents from Landman & Zack, and has funnelled them to Foggy.

I had a hard time believing this twist. Marci had previously been portrayed as a cartoonish supporter of Biglaw and — in an earlier episode — had expressed joy out of forcing Foggy and Matt’s client Elena Cardenas (Judith Delgado) out of her apartment. But now Marci has had such a crisis of conscience that she breaks attorney-client confidence and steals documents (though I do give her credit for somehow being able to steal boxes worth of documents without being caught). The show did not lay any groundwork in establishing Marci as a real character instead of a cipher, making these scenes fall flat.

Nevertheless, after Matt, Foggy, and their colleague Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) painstakingly review the documents and find an anomaly in Fisk’s real estate holdings, they correctly surmise the location where Hoffman is being held. Matt, dressed as Daredevil, arrives at the location, beats some of Fisk’s goons, and convinces Hoffman to turn himself in. Matt and Foggy represent Hoffman as their client, as Hoffman spills the beans regarding the extent of Fisk’s influence.

Despite my qualms with how Daredevil handled Matt and Foggy’s receipt of the initial information, this series of scenes answered one of my criticisms of the show that I outlined two weeks ago — melding the show’s legal elements with its superhero elements. Here, instead of the two elements feeling like two completely different shows, they actually complemented each other, as Matt used both his legal and his superhero skills to find Hoffman and to bring Fisk and his cronies to justice. Part of this improvement is due to the fact that Foggy now knows about Matt’s secret (which he found out at the end of the ninth episode), which means that Matt is able to more easily marry his two worlds.

After Hoffman (represented by Matt and Foggy) strikes a deal with the authorities and provides information, the authorities arrest a plethora of individuals on Fisk’s payroll, including cops, politicians, and attorneys. This scene is artfully shot, as these criminals are arrested via a montage set to opera music, a sort of homage to the famous “Layla” scene from Goodfellas. Included among those arrested are several partners from Landman & Zack, though the show does not quite explain what crimes these lawyers actually committed (because for a private attorney, I am not sure what the difference is between a bribe and a retainer).

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Knowing that he is about to be taken into custody due to Hoffman’s deal, Fisk proposes marriage to his girlfriend Vanessa Marianna (Ayelet Zurer) in the least romantic possible way — as the feds are literally arresting him. The show has done a great job chronicling Fisk’s and Vanessa’s relationship, showing why Fisk is so attracted to her and why that makes him vulnerable. The scene is also heartbreaking as it underscores why Fisk is not compatible with Vanessa despite his love for her. I hope that next season further explores this relationship, especially the reason why Vanessa is interested in this criminal (besides his sweet apartment and culinary prowess).

Of course, Fisk has one last trick up his sleeve, as he has hired a strike team to attack the police vehicle that is transporting him. The strike team rains bullets on the transport team, and Fisk is able to escape (this scene might be far-fetched, but in the scope of police transport attack scenes, it is much more realistic than the opening scene of Fast Five, in which an entire police transport bus crashes horrifically and yet somehow none of the convicts on this magic bus are injured).

Matt catches up to Fisk before he escapes, and the two engage is one of the brutal, well-choreographed, hand-to-hand fight scenes that has now become the show’s trademark. This time, Matt’s suit is reinforced with armor, and he is able to get the upper hand. After beating Fisk in the fight, Fisk is finally incarcerated, and the last shot we see of the supervillain is of him staring blankly at his cell wall, perhaps contemplating an attempt to tunnel out of the prison, Shawshank Redemption-style.

I was immensely happy that Fisk did not die (and can therefore come back for the second season), as Fisk was my favorite character on the show. I doubt D’Onofrio will be rewarded come Emmy time, but he deserves at least a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. D’Onofrio does a masterful job portraying Fisk as a deeply sensitive and insecure character masking an intense range residing just below the surface. In the last few episodes, Fisk horrifically beats several different characters for daring to interfere with his personal life. First, Fisk is so broken up by the fact that his right-hand man James Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore) died that he pummels the henchman that was supposed to be guarding Wesley. Fisk legitimately considers Wesley to be his best friend, and he takes Wesley’s death very poorly. He then kills Leland after he realizes that Leland was behind a failed plot to kill Vanessa via poisoned champagne (though this murder is somewhat justified). Fisk also uses his bare hands to kill Ben Urich (Vondie Curtis-Hall), a crusty old reporter who had visited Fisk’s elderly mother. Fisk delivers a speech praising Ben’s investigative skills, but then, on a dime, Fisk turns and tells Ben that he is “not here to threaten [him]; [he is] here to kill [him].” Unlike most supervillains, Fisk truly just wants to be loved, and he won’t accept anyone interfering with the most important people in his personal life.

Overall, Daredevil’s first season was solid, if unspectacular. As I have now written about ad nauseum, the show’s strengths are its fights scenes and its characterization of Fisk, but it is still fairly weak as a legal show. Therefore, similar to my offer at the end of the first season of Better Call Saul, I am also offering my services if Daredevil wants to hire me as a legal consultant. I promise I won’t ask Henson any questions about The Mighty Ducks series. Okay, I promise I won’t ask him too many questions about The Mighty Ducks series.

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Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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