Hoo boy, Daredevil is not going to be a lighthearted show, is it? “Cut Man” was a slower, more philosophical episode – at least until the end – but it was nevertheless thrilling, and so, so dark. If this is the direction that showrunner Steven DeKnight is going with Daredevil, count me in. Matt Murdock has been subjected to enough campy bullshit already.
Daredevil starts the episode in pretty bad shape. “Cut Man” is a boxing term applied to the guy in a boxer’s corner who treats wounds, but the title could easily describe Daredevil too. He’s found in a dumpster, bleeding, concussed, and generally in bad shape after getting his ass kicked by the Russians who kidnapped the boy at the end of the previous episode (not showing Daredevil get beaten is an interesting but effective tactic). Santino, the kid who found him, takes him to the apartment of Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), a nurse who tries her best to patch him up. “Cut Man” has some flashbacks, and a B-story involving Foggy and Karen going bar-hopping, but it’s more or less a bottle episode between Daredevil and Claire, and a very good one at that.
Daredevil, at its core, is about recovering from pain. Whether its temporary, like Battlin’ Jack Murdock’s forehead gash after a fight, or permanent, like Matt’s blindness. Matt has honed his pain into something not sharp but blunt; it’s dirty, visceral, and at times hard to watch. One of the notes I took while watching “Cut Man” was simply: Pain looks very painful. Which is as true as it is redundant. Daredevil is a painful show to watch, and it’s remarkable that two episodes in it’s able to assert its identity to strongly.
In no scene is this truer than in Daredevil’s rooftop interrogation of a Russian thug. It’s a straightforward line of questioning, punctuated by the dull punches that this show is making its trademark, but then Claire gets in on the act, telling Daredevil the location of a nerve above the eye that’s particularly pain-inducing. The Russian finally reveals the location of the boy, but it doesn’t do him any good. “You need to know why I’m hurting you,” Daredevil tells him. “Not just for the boy. I’m doing this ’cause I enjoy it.” Then he pushed the guy off a roof, into the same dumpster where the episode began. It’s a jaw-dropping, and more importantly mic-dropping moment, that the show tries to undermine by having Claire say she doesn’t believe that DD actually enjoys causing pain. I have to disagree with her, if only because of the next scene.
To call the ending of “Cut Man” amazing is doing it a disservice. The final sequence is so good that it bumped up the episode’s score by half a star. Daredevil shows up to the place where the boy is being held, and in a wonderful, exhilarating tracking shot, proceeds to beat the shit out of about a dozen Taken rejects. It’s a fantastic sequence for a few reasons. Director Phil Abraham, a veteran of Mad Men, wisely keeps the camera almost static during unbroken shot. It’s probably the least showy tracking shot I’ve ever seen; Gravity this ain’t. It glides, unobtrusively, from one end of the hallway to the other, seemingly reluctant to take its eye off the door keeping the boy prisoner. The fights in Daredevil are so goddamn good, you guys. Daredevil’s fighting is purely functional; there are no flourishes, no signature moves, and it’s highly unlikely that he’s going to burn two massive flaming Ds into the ground. What’s even better is that he’s not invincible; he gets as good as he gives, and occasionally even gets winded. The fights have their own near-musical cadence, a rise and fall as the combatants pause every now and then to lean against a wall or catch their breath. And keep in mind how all this carnage started: when Daredevil entered the hallway, it was empty; theoretically he could have quietly gotten the boy and just as quietly left. But he listened to a door to make sure there were men behind it, then he kicked it in. He’s doing this because he likes it.
A Few Thoughts
- No one ever throws fights when they’re supposed to, do they? RIP Jack Murdock
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That said, Jack was kind of an over-the-top tough guy. I find it hard to swallow that his eye wouldn’t have been stitched up after the fight. What kind of health plan is that? “Go home, give your kid some scotch, have him do it.” I’d hate to be in that union
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I try to say “Daredevil” when he’s in costume and “Matt” when he isn’t. Does that work for you guys?
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Foggy is a potential trouble source. Elden Henson needs to rein it waaaaay in
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