Moreover, moreover

Commentary

[moreover-moreover]

One aspect I truly admire in Daredevil Season 3 is the careful rupturing of the work-life divide. It makes everyone more relatable, as they become well-rounded figures with backstories, histories, vulnerabilities and people whom they need to protect.

Although each of the characters try to inoculate those from their “personal” lives from the rough and tumble of their “work”, they find it’s impossible to do so.

Indeed, the choices each character takes on (Nadeem’s and Dex’s FBI job; Matt’s nighttime shenanigans as Daredevil; Kingpin rebuilding his criminal empire) have an irrevocable impact on the lives of their friends and family.

“How dare you bring this into my home?” snaps Special Agent-in-Charge Tammy Hattley to Nadeem when he tries to report his crime - a similar thought echoed by Seema later on, when she says bitterly, “You brought a gunfight into our home.”

The FBI storms Matt’s apartment; Matt and Nadeem break into Dex’s apartment; Dex intrudes on Nadeem’s family; Fisk’s men explode into Nadeem’s home; the last three-cornered fight between Matt, Nadeem and Fisk concludes in Fisk’s penthouse suite, the home that he tried to build for Vanessa.

A breach is always eminent, waiting - Foggy is targeted because of Matt; the church comes under attack; Julie Barnes is murdered; Seema and Sami endure a gunfight at home; Vanessa is almost killed by Dex.

The point the season makes is that, now, more than ever, we have to learn to trust the people around us.

Seema tells Ray that the reason she married him was because she thought he was a good man. Vanessa tells Fisk that the reason she married him was because she fell in love with his brutality and strength. Nonetheless, both want the same thing - honesty from their husbands; full disclosure - “to live inside [their] world, with [them]”.

As Matt and Karen eventually open up to each other, baring their shortcomings, they are finally ready to see each other as who they truly are. Matt no longer sees Karen as innocent and pure, to be shielded from the world, but someone capable of protecting herself.

Fisk, too, initially sees Vanessa as delicate, to be hidden away from his cruelties, but she insists that her hands have never been clean (similar, ironically, to Karen). He accepts her wish to be involved, and her brutality without question, when she orders the hit on Nadeem.

Relationships are at the centre of Daredevil Season 3, and the heart of the story beats stronger because of it.

[moreover-moreover]

Just finished my thousandth rewatch of Daredevil Season 3, and I have A Lot of thoughts.

I love the constant parallels between the different characters. It brings out so much depth in each character, and it also drives home how community, friendship and (the right kind of) companionship can make the difference between a straight or wayward path.

Matt vs. Dex

Sister Maggie points out the similarities between them, to which Matt responds in denial. Nonetheless, they both have what Dex described as a “shitty childhood” - no parents, fear of abandonment/loneliness, and pent-up rage.

Both are angry, grappling with their respective realities, and subconsciously looking for a “North Star”. While Dex more obviously searches for a reference point, it’s notable that Matt does too. He briefly references Stick as his mentor, as well as Father Lantom whom he looked towards for guidance. In the last episode, he asks Sister Maggie to fill in for Father Lantom’s role (not that she hasn’t already been filling in, for the whole season).

The difference is the strong social ties Matt was lucky to have, that provided him with some scaffolding to crest through his difficulties. That included the church and his friends, perhaps even Stick to some extent. Conversely, when Dr Mercer’s ties to Dex are cut, it’s likely the beginning of the end for Dex. While Nadeem turns out to have “betrayed” Dex (by searching his house), and Julie seemingly “abandons” Dex, Matt’s friends on the other hand stubbornly refuse to let him go - thereby becoming his redemption.

Matt vs. Dex vs. Fisk

Fisk tells Dex to release his rage with a primal scream, which he does, several times. Lesser flagged out is that Matt does the same, in the last episode - when he is on the verge of killing Fisk.

At that point, we are made to confront the similarities between all three men - before we are, quite thankfully, shown that Matt can be pulled back from the brink by love (Vanessa begging him not to kill Fisk).

It’s interesting also to note that these three demonstrate a willingness to be killed - Matt is ready to end his life in Episode 1, and Dex in Episode 6, when they no longer know their place in the world. Fisk, too, tries to bait Matt into ending him, in the last episode, as a nice mirror or book-end to how Matt tried to do the same for himself in Episode 1.

Their extreme behavior sets them apart from the other characters - although unfortunately, it is Nadeem and Father Lantom who die in the course of events.

More on the relationships between the characters in the next post!

[moreover-moreover]

One of the best scenes in Daredevil S3 is in Episode 8, when Karen visits Fisk in his penthouse jail, with the intent to rile him up enough so that he’ll break his terms with the FBI.

The acting is off the charts, with amazing details like:

Fisk watching Karen from the second floor - this implies his position of power, how he has been observing everyone, and orchestrating everything from above

Constant shifting of power between Karen and Fisk, as the conversation moves from Fisk’s mother, to Matt, then James Wesley

Both Karen and Fisk glancing upwards at the security camera; Karen to check it’s still switched on and Fisk to remind himself to hold back

The little details layered into Karen’s dialogue about James Wesley are amazing too:

“What was it like for you? When he disappeared? Really it's those.... it's those first 24 hours that are the worst aren't they?

And you call, and you call, and you call, and you call, and there's just no answer. It becomes an obsession. The calling. The never-ending loop that goes to voicemail in your ear.

You worry. You wonder. You swear, goddamn if he's still living I'm gonna kill him myself. Is that what it was like for you?”

Karen is intimately acquainted with these feelings - when she lost Matt at Midland Circle. She, too, held out hope that Matt is still alive. She, too, is livid when she realises he is alive but didn’t let his friends know that he was.

More than that, though, she’s recently watched the phones of those killed at the New York Bulletin lighting up with calls and messages; family members and friends asking if they’re ok. Earlier in their conversation, Fisk references her “misfortune” at the office. Karen’s lines are a great callback to that, an attempt to force Fisk to re-live the same emotions that he’s inflicted onto others.

This has got to be the most incredible writing for any scene, ever!