A wise, handsome man once said that any crime show worth its salt will eventually do an episode about the Russian Mafia. Okay, it was me who said that, in a review of Legends. Anyway, “In the Blood” was Daredevil‘s attempt, and like everything else about this show, it was very successful. Focusing on the Russians gives me hope that we’ll also focus on Madame Gao and Nobu and Leland Owsley, the rest of Kingpin’s criminal buddies. This show is doing a remarkable job of expanding its world.
It’s also doing a remarkable job of making its title character seem scary as hell. “In the Blood” opens on one of the Russians, Anatoly, fleeing from Daredevil. As he escapes in a taxi, we get a glimpse of DD in a shattered window, looking more like a shadow than a man. Just the way Charlie Cox stands while in costume is intimidating. The guy has really nailed the physicality necessary for a role like this.
Long story short, Daredevil is really fucking up the Russians’ business. Wesley tells Anatoly and his brother Vladimir that “his employer” is willing to step in, which Anatoly is amenable to but Vladimir takes as an insult. They decide to take things into their own hands; they wake up Semyon, now in a coma after Daredevil threw him off of a roof in “Cut Man,” with a shot of epinephrine, and ask for his help. He points them in Claire’s direction, and after beating information out of Santino, they get their hands on her.
Daredevil really doesn’t shy away from showing violence towards women, either. It’s not crass or exploitative; it’s just unsettling and hard to look at, which I’m pretty sure is the goddamn point. Daredevil shows up at the taxi garage where Claire is being held – and beaten – and once the lights go out you know the Russians are in trouble. Without ever showing himself, DD stalks through the garage, taking them out one by one; the violence is just as bad to hear as it is to watch. Like I said, “In the Blood” is very much focused on making Daredevil into a figure that inspires fear, and it does so with aplomb. Matt Murdock’s costume has never looked scarier.
Elsewhere, we get to spend some more time with Wilson Fisk, who’s as intimidating as Daredevil, but in a different way. He speaks softly, not because he’s shy, but because he’s used to people listening. He returns to the gallery where he bought the painting in “Rabbit in a Snowstorm,” and asks the curator Vanessa out on a date. She demurs, saying she’s the only one working, which leads to this wonderful exchange:
FISK: Another time, then.
VANESSA: That’s it? You’re not going to offer to buy every painting here so I can close early?
FISK: A woman who can be bought is not worth having.
Any other supervillain would do exactly that, buy out the whole gallery. But Daredevil, and the excellent Vincent D’Onofrio, is much more invested in humanizing Wilson Fisk, and D’Onofrio’s quiet, slightly awkward portrayal is a breath of fresh air when you consider other Marvel villains like, say, Loki, who is never less than a strutting peacock (note: this not an indictment of Tom Hiddleston’s performance, which I find to be amazing. Please don’t hurt me, Tumblr).
Anyway, the date is going well – it’s one of those “adult” dates where they don’t laugh much but they look into each other’s eyes and have deep philosophical discussions because apparently they’re too good to drink Bud Light at Dave and Buster’s. Anatoly, in a spectacular display of bad judgment, decides that this is a good time to crash the date and tell Fisk that he and Vladimir will accept his help. Fisk ushers Vanessa out of the restaurant and tells Wilson to put Anatoly “in a car,” which usually means good things. At her doorstep, Fisk asks if he can see Vanessa again. “I don’t know how I feel,” she replies. What just happened here was an example of Daredevil‘s brilliance: a villain asked a woman out, got turned down, and I felt sorry for him. What the hell is going on here?
I think this show might be psychic, too, because just as I was feeling mild disappointment that the only fight scene we got took place in the dark, here comes Fisk, bodily removing Anatoly from the car. “You embarrassed me in front of her,” he hisses, before beating the absolute shit out of Anatoly. Fisk doesn’t fight like Daredevil, he subdues oponents through his size and the sheer force of his will. Just as The Walking Dead will always find new ways to kill zombies, so apparently will Daredevil find new ways to kill mobsters. Fisk smashes Anatoly’s head in a car door, over and over, until he smashes it right off. Blood drips from the running board, and director Ken Girotti (Vikings) wisely lets us imagine (most of) the carnage. “Send what’s left of him to his brother,” Fisk tells Wesley. “That will start a war.”
“I’m counting on it.”
A Few Thoughts
-
LOL at all the Russians having stereotypical Russian names: Anatoly, Vladimir, Mikhail, Sergei, Piotr. I’m surprised we didn’t get an Ivan in there
-
Karen and Ben are digging deeper in to Union Allied. Until this starts feeling more urgent, it will be relegated to this section
About Author
