Marvel’s Daredevil 307 – Aftermath
In the aftermath of the attack at the Bulletin, things go from bad to worse for Daredevil. With reports burning the airwaves that he’s responsible for the mayhem at the newspaper, Matt retreats to the orphanage to lick his wounds. Shaken by the unknown assailant masquerading as his alter ego, Matt vents to Sister Maggie though she’s not much comfort for his tortured soul.
Aftermath examines the fallout from last episode on many fronts. The focus shifts from Matt dealing with his stunning defeat to the offices of the FBI, the staff of the Bulletin and the personal lives of Karen and Foggy. Every one of the players has their own reaction to the horrific events with equal amounts of confusion, guilt and rage flowing through the narrative.
Agent Nadeem tries to piece together the events of the attack on the Bulletin and questions Karen with Foggy present. Running over the video of Pointdexter as Daredevil addressing Karen by name only casts more suspicion on the her and her connection to the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Karen stands her ground and even pushes back against Nadeem’s line of questioning throwing the bureau’s failure to keep Jasper Evans alive at the startled agent.
Intrigued by the authenticity of the suit the man in the Daredevil was wearing, Matt tracks down its creator to get some answers. Melvin Potter readily reveals Fisk’s involvement in the creation of the new suit. Fisk has Potter between a rock and a hard place and when he and Matt check out one of Melvin’s workshops he betrays Matt’s trust.
Nadeem’s instincts kick into overdrive when the prison Warden pays him a visit and during their chat his words don’t quite ring true. The Warden’s sudden shift coupled with Karen’s testimony causes Nadeem to confront his superior with his suspicions and just how much Fisk has been pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Karen finds herself at a painful crossroads and her loyalty is put to the test. She visits an injured Ellison in the hospital and her comments that the man that attacked them wasn’t really Daredevil piques his interest. When he asks Karen if she knows Daredevil’s true identity and she refuses he becomes enraged and threatens to fire her if she doesn’t reveal what she knows.
Seven episodes into Season 3 of Daredevil, the way the show has combined all of the best elements of the comic book and adapted them into a tense drama with brutal fight scenes it’s become clear that this is Marvel and Netflix’s equivalent to what Christopher Nolan brought to the Batman mythos. Taking the fantastic and grounding it in a brutal reality has elevated the source material and its characters. Even the villains, like Bullseye and Gladiator, while not fully realized yet to match their comic book counterparts, have acknowledgements to their roots that have been excellent.
And so has this season been so far. There’s still a long way to go before it all wraps up but so far so good.
