Daredevil is in a process of rebirth. After its bloated, meandering second second season, the show needed to hit the reset switch, to get back to basics, which “Resurrection,” its third-season premiere, does neatly. Everything in the early minutes of this episode tells us that we are returning to what worked best about this show and this story. Matt gets washed out of a drain pipe after the explosion at Midland Central, and it’s like watching him being born. His costume is tattered and useless. Broken, he winds up at the same orphanage where he grew up. It’s like going back in time.
This is a different Matt Murdock. His identity as Daredevil has been torn to literal shreds (I never loved the Daredevil costume, but damn if it doesn’t look cool all tattered). He can’t hear out of his right ear. And he refuses to give confession to Father Donovan, which is a big decision for such an ardent Catholic. He’s isolating himself, not just from God, but from everyone. He doesn’t tell the orphanage to call Foggy or Karen (or one of his fellow Defenders), choosing instead to let himself be considered part of the wreckage of Midland Central. We’ve seen Matt broken before, but never emotionally. It’s in scenes like this that I really admire the physicality that Charlie Cox brings to this role. He can handle his fight scenes with ease and grace, but he packs so much characterization into the defeated way Matt lies in bed, for instance. It’s a full-body performance, and although this the quality of Netflix’s Marvel shows is uneven, Cox’s performance is something we can take for granted.
What’s so compelling about “Resurrection” is its approach to Matt’s faith, which is such an integral part of his character. Catholic guilt has always been part of Daredevil’s DNA, and this episode does more than just give it lip service. Matt says he once thought of himself as God’s soldier, but now he doesn’t see anyone in command of his actions. “I am what I do in the dark now,” he says. The resolve in his voice is a bit off-putting, because what is Matt without his faith? Not Matt at all, as it turns out. “In front of this god, I would rather die as the devil than live as Matt Murdock,” he tells Sister Maggie (Joanne Whalley).
“Resurrection” has a little more difficulty in keeping our attention with everything happening with Foggy and Karen. Karen has been coming to Matt’s house, sorting his mail and paying rent, and it’s a sweet notion, but it’s here that the episode gets too bogged down in flashback. It’s nice to see that Daredevil has a long memory, and it firmly builds its relationships on that bedrock, but what we get here is several minutes of scenes we’ve seen in previous seasons. It’s a bit too much, and the only real hiccup in the screenplay from new showrunner Erik Oleson (a veteran of Arrow and The Man in the High Castle). Nevertheless, Deborah Ann Woll has always been one of the most dependable presences on this show. Karen and Foggy have a nice energy together, but it still seems like Elden Henson is getting different direction from the rest of the cast.
But let’s be honest, the real success of “Resurrection” lies in the return of Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk. D’Onofrio gets the “and” credit here, which means he’ll be a big presence this season, which is good for the show, since Daredevil has lived in the shadow of Kingpin since his exit in season one. (Season two’s ninjas were not a good substitute; the Hand was never engaging enough as an entity.) Fisk has always been one of Marvel’s best villains, and thanks to D’Onofrio’s portrayal, he ranks up there with Loki, Thanos, and Killmonger as one of the most compelling villains that any Marvel show or movie has offered up yet.
D’Onofrio has a hulking physicality that nicely counteracts Cox’s lean, muscular Matt Murdock. You can’t take your eyes off of Fisk when he’s on screen, especially when he’s introduced shouting “Quiet!” in a crowded prison – and getting what he demands. D’Onofrio is an unsung voice actor (referring to his facility with voices) – look at his oddball, high-pitched tracker in The Magnificent Seven and try to reconcile it with what he’s giving us here. The plot of “Resurrection” really hinges on Fisk, as he calls FBI agent Ray Nadeem to the prison, under the auspices of wanting to make a deal.
“Resurrection” shouldn’t be as successful as it is. It’s a return-to-basics episode that in lesser hands would induce nothing but eyerolls. But there’s a reinvigorating sense to the proceedings. By the end of the episode, Matt has once again suited up as the devil of Hell’s Kitchen, but it feels less like fan service and more like an epiphany. Sister Maggie sees God working through Matt, and while Matt certainly feels a greater connection to his faith as the episode progresses, one thing that Daredevil doesn’t gloss over is that, to an extent, Matt is doing this because he loves fighting. With Matt and Fisk both back in play, and poised to become rivals once again, it doesn’t feel like the show is falling back on its status quo, but like it realizes what works, and is approaching it with greater clarity and vision.
4/5
A Few Thoughts
- It was smart of Daredevil to introduce Ray as a family man first, then as an FBI agent who can be compromised. It adds depth and dimensionality.
- Really great training montage here. It feels like we’re watching Matt become Daredevil for the first time. Even Maggie is impressed, remarking, “It’s really something, to see it with my own eyes.”
- And on the subject of Maggie, there’s some nice wordplay going on here. Matt calls her “Sister Maggie,” which as a nun is her title, but since she’s also his sister, it shows the distance between the two of them. That one word is doing a lot of work.
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