History Awesome / Daredevil2015

'''Matt:''' When I was a kid, before the accident... I'd lay awake at night listening to the sirens. I liked to put stories to them. Trying to figure out what they were for, ambulance or cops, robbery or fire. I don't know, just a stupid game. But after I lost my sight, after my abilities developed, I realized how many sirens there actually were...how much this city suffered every single night.\\

'''Karen Page:''' No…we would never print those. We just pass them around the office.\\

'''Karen Page:''' OK... [[LetsGetDangerous you want secrets]]? I can tell you a secret, ''Wilson''. Is it OK if I call you that? I feel like we know each other well enough by now...\\

'''Karen Page:''' ''[softly]'' [[WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied He died quickly...if you were wondering. Didn't suffer much.]] You see, Wilson, Matt Murdock isn't the person you should be worried about. ''I'' killed Wesley. ''I shot him seven times... because the clip ran out! He deserved '''MORE!'''''

'''Matt Murdock:''' Vanessa. ''[This gets Fisk's attention]'' You asked me if I remembered the art gallery. I do. I remember her very well. She's out of the country; she....wants to come back.\\

'''Matt:''' ''[holsters his clubs]''[[BringIt ...Take]] [[IronicEcho your shot.]]

'''Matt:''' When I was a kid, before the accident...I'd lay awake at night listening to the sirens. I liked to put stories to them. Trying to figure out what they were for, ambulance or cops, robbery or fire. I don't know, just a stupid game. But after I lost my sight, after my abilities developed, I realized how many sirens there actually were...how much this city suffered every single night.\\

'''Matt:''' No. I...I tried not to fight...to make my dad proud. To...to block it out. The sirens, the pain, the fear, all strangling Hell's Kitchen. For years, I buried my head and turned away. Then one night, right after we quit Landman & Zack...I heard it.\\

'''Matt:''' A little girl. Crying in her bed, in a building down the block. Her father liked to go to her room late at night...when his wife was asleep.\\

'''Flashback!Matt:''' You touch your daughter again...and I will know.\\

-->'''Wilson Fisk:''' [[VillainousBreakdown I wanted to make this city...something better, than it is. Something beautiful!]] ''[[VillainousBreakdown YOU TOOK THAT AWAY FROM ME! You took EVERYTHING!!!!]]'' '''I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!''' \\

!!Meta
[[folder:Meta]]
* [[WinBackTheCrowd Marvel making Daredevil awesome again]]. Think about this, back when the movie came out, a lot of people saw Daredevil as nothing more than ComicBook/{{Batman}}-lite, or just ComicBook/SpiderMan with ill-defined powers. But, with this show being a hit with the critics, all of that has disappeared.
** The same has been done with ComicBook/ThePunisher. Commonly viewed as nothing more than a one-dimensional action hero that is impossible to sympathize with, the excellent writing and Creator/JonBernthal's portrayal have completely reversed the perception of the character. And unlike Daredevil, who has always been a beloved character within the comics community, the Punisher has often been snubbed by comic fans for the last twenty years with his titles being low sellers. His appearance on ''Daredevil'' is not only winning the general audience over, it appears to be winning the comic community over as well.
* The hallway scene in "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E2CutMan Cut Man]]" has been praised as one of the most well-filmed fight scenes ever made for a television/web series. An over five minute long scene, about three minutes of which is fighting [[TheOner with absolutely no cuts]], while also conveying [[CombatBreakdown Matt's absolute exhaustion from everything that happened a few hours before]]. It may not quite match TheOner from ''Series/TrueDetective'', but it's definitely up there.
* Season 1 wasn't even out for two weeks when executives decided to renew the show for a second season.
* Creator/CharlieCox's performance as Matt Murdock. Not only is he really good, but he hadn't read any of the comics before auditioning (he didn't even know the character was blind ''until the day before the audition'') and yet he had plenty of fans claiming he seemed to have leapt straight from the comics. Not just that, but near-effortlessly nailing an American accent and also managing to play a blind man to perfection (which he admits he had difficulty with). And since, he's become [[JustForFun/OneOfUs a fan of not just the comics, but comics in general]].
* Creator/VincentDOnofrio's performance as Wilson Fisk has been rightfully singled out as a terrifying yet complex and sympathetic portrayal of a classic villain. Fisk has long been one of Marvel's greatest villains and it's wonderful to see him portrayed with such perfection. In general, when it comes to live-action comic villain adaptations, the praise for his performance (and character writing) has probably only been rivaled by Creator/HeathLedger's [[Film/TheDarkKnight Joker]] and Creator/DavidTennant's [[Series/{{Jessica Jones|2015}} Kilgrave]]. In fact, when the casting calls for season 3 went out, Fisk was the first character outside of Matt, Karen and Foggy to be confirmed to be returning.
* Doubles as [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]], Netflix making this show the first to have a descriptive video service. Now blind fans can enjoy their hero too.
** Not only that, but when the fans demanded the descriptive video service be added, Netflix got it completely done in only ''four days!''
** ''And'' it's absolutely fantastic. Listening to it as a sighted person, it perfectly captures what's going on in every scene and adds an entirely new dimension to the show. And manages to do it all without ever talking over a single piece of dialogue or noticeably speeding up the narration to avoid this, always the hardest part of this process.
* In just a couple weeks, Season 1 became the second-most pirated show in the world after ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
* Many critics are proclaiming that this show is one of the best, if not, ''the best'' thing that Marvel studios has produced. In fact, of all the MCU films and TV shows, it now holds the highest score on Rotten Tomatoes, at 98%.
* Being watched so many times leading to Netflix ''actually releasing the ratings for this show''. Netflix never releases ratings.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXyW4Cuwphg The teaser]] for Season 2, with scenes from the show portrayed as the Sistine Chapel ceiling. In combination with the sound clips from the previous season, it's a stunning piece of art all on its own.
* The addition of the Punisher in Season 2 got such an enthusiastic response from the fans that Netflix began discussions about giving him his own show a couple months before the season was even released, and greenlit a ''Punisher'' series within a month of season 2's release.
** To give an idea about how excited people are to see Creator/JonBernthal's excellent performance as Frank Castle again: During the New York Comic Con after the ''Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}'' panel Jeph Loeb had the lights dimmed after a few seconds only two words were heard in the darkness: ''One Batch'' As the crowd went absolutely nuts!!! As Bernthal himself walked on stage.
* The fact that they were able to keep the reappearance of Wilson Fisk for a three episode arc in season 2 a complete secret, despite the intense scrutiny every MCU property has been put under by this time (and probably helped quite a bit by the Punisher and Elektra being pushed front and center as the things to look forward to in the season).
* Creator/CharlieCox was awarded the Helen Keller Achievement Award for his role by the American Foundation for the Blind.
[[/folder]]

** Bonus points since those [[MythologyGag weapons]] were [[WeaponOfChoice sais]].

* Dex demonstrates why he's one of the most formidable killers the show has seen. As he and Nadeem are running a convoy escorting Fisk, the convoy is ambushed by Albanian hitmen trying to kill Fisk for ratting out their boss. They manage to make short work of the other FBI agents. Just as they're about to cut into the car that is carrying Fisk, Dex gets out his gun and kills the entire team with precision based kill-shots before they have a chance to shoot back.

** On the other hand, DD stops Frank from killing the Dogs of Hell, which number in the dozens. He then gives him a much [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown deserved beat-down]], chokes him with his chain and slams his head into the wall for the finish.

* Karen gets one when she goes marching into Blake Tower's office and confronts him with evidence that Reyes is a backstabber, and she'll likely be backstabbing him, pretty much strong-arming him into being allied with Nelson & Murdock.

* Glass is strong. Stronger than bone, especially when it's thick. The glass of a windshield is specially heat treated, annealed, so it's stronger still. Then, to make doubly sure, there are two thick layers of glass with a thin layer of plastic between the two so no breakage or crack will spread through the whole windshield and make driving impossible. Matt drives through all of that by throwing a stick at Fisk's escape van.

'''Matt:''' ''[holsters his clubs]''[[BringIt ...Take your shot.]]

*** It's later confirmed that Fisk smashed him so hard that ''his spine was shattered,'' with him requiring dangerous surgery just for the chance to walk again. Bare in mind that Dex was still wearing his armour suit at this point and Fisk just tore straight through it, [[StoutStrength showing just how strong he truly is]] and why it's a '''very''' [[UnstoppableRage bad idea to cross him.]]

* [[WinBackTheCrowd Marvel making Daredevil awesome again]]. Think about this, back when the movie came out, a lot of people saw Daredevil as nothing more than Franchise/{{Batman}}-lite, or just Franchise/SpiderMan with ill-defined powers. But, with this show being a hit with the critics, all of that has disappeared.

* Creator/VincentDOnofrio's performance as Wilson Fisk has been rightfully singled out as a terrifying yet complex and sympathetic portrayal of a classic villain. Fisk has long been one of Marvel's greatest villains and it's wonderful to see him portrayed with such perfection. In general, when it comes to live-action comic villain adaptations, the praise for his performance (and character writing) has probably only been rivaled by Creator/HeathLedger's [[Film/TheDarkKnight Joker]] and Creator/DavidTennant's [[Series/JessicaJones2015 Kilgrave]]. In fact, when the casting calls for season 3 went out, Fisk was the first character outside of Matt, Karen and Foggy to be confirmed to be returning.

** To give an idea about how excited people are to see Creator/JonBernthal's excellent performance as Frank Castle again: During the New York Comic Con after the ''Series/IronFist2017'' panel Jeph Loeb had the lights dimmed after a few seconds only two words were heard in the darkness: ''One Batch'' As the crowd went absolutely nuts!!! As Bernthal himself walked on stage.

** Additional awesome for this fight is the prepwork that Jack put into it. [[spoiler: Jack knew that there would be harsh penalties for winning the fight instead of throwing it. That's why he put the winnings from the fight into a credit union account that was under his son's name instead of his own. He tells his bookie to cash out ''immediately'' and then lie low for a few days. School may not have been his strong suit but he is still a smart guy.]]

* You have to admit, the one honest cop that Matt ends up encountering, with only two months on the force, opting to shout for help on the radio while Matt is right there threatening to seriously hurt him took some ''serious'' balls. [[spoiler: [[TooDumbToLive Unfortunately, those balls got him killed.]]]]

* Matt, despite [[spoiler: losing copious amounts of blood and being lacerated several places all over his body, using Nobu's weapon to blow up the lightbulb and set Nobu on fire.]]
** Nobu also deserves credit for his reaction to this: [[spoiler: throwing away his weapon, charging Matt, and managing to get in a few more hits even as he burns to death]].

* Fisk gets one for actually being shown as a credible threat to Matt rather than a token comic villain. [[spoiler: He does some serious damage to him gives him quite the beatdown]].
** [[spoiler: Matt gets another by managing to actually hold his own against Fisk briefly despite having just come off of a brutal beatdown from Nobu, especially because as their fight at the end of the season shows Fisk would be able to match Matt blow for blow in his prime.]]
* For comic fans, the revelation that [[spoiler:Nobu is a member of the Hand, which is revealed by having him appear in full red ninja garb.]]

* Karen [[spoiler:snatching Wesley's gun from the table, and calling his bluff that it's empty by shooting him in the shoulder. Then she empties the whole magazine into him. Fisk's downfall truly starts right here.]]
** While [[spoiler: Wesley]] may have been TooDumbToLive in the above-mentioned scene, [[spoiler: he manages to keep a completely straight face when Karen snatches the gun. He then gives a convincing (to the audience) bluff that he'd [[BlatantLies never be so stupid as to leave a loaded gun in her reach]]. It didn't work, but he gets an A for effort for unflinchingly acting like he was still in control right up to the moment Karen pulled the trigger.]]

* [[spoiler: The last half of the season has demonstrated that actually bringing Fisk to justice may be impossible because he's got so many members of the NYPD (as well as judges and lawyers) in his pocket, meaning the actual local authorities are useless. Then Hoffman spills the beans and we are treated to a few solid minutes of what can only be described as justice porn: a slow motion montage set to opera music of all of Fisk's associates -- cops, judges, and lawyers -- being arrested]]. '''Hell'''. '''Yes'''.
* Fisk [[spoiler: killing [[DirtyCoward Leland]] [[SmugSnake Owlsley]], even managing to NoSell a taser to the face through sheer rage.]]
-->'''Wilson Fisk:''' [[spoiler: YOU HURT HER! YOU HURT VANESSA!]]
* Fisk [[spoiler: effortlessly escaping from custody with the aid of a team of gunman and a bribed SWAT troop]]. He then casually strolls down the bridge with his coat flapping, and shouts out instructions to take out anyone who tries to follow him.
* Matt [[spoiler: finally appearing in the red costume, and beating Fisk into submission. Fisk fighting back despite his earlier car wreck is also impressive.]]

* Frank being one of the few to not only keep up with, but beat ''Daredevil'' in a fight, [[spoiler: albeit with a gun.]]

* This episode kicks off Foggy’s main character arc for this season, which is his journey toward stepping out of Matt’s shadow and taking charge when Matt is unable to step up to the plate. After saving Matt's life, Karen and Foggy go to the precinct to deal with Grotto. Reyes tells Foggy to forget whatever deal he got for Grotto as witness protection is way out of his league and takes shots on how his firm is about to collapse. She informs him they'll be taking over but Foggy threatens to calls up the U.S. Department of Justice, telling Reyes that local D.A.s don't have jurisdiction on witness protection, the Feds do and "they're probably as douchey as you, but they can deliver on their promises." Karen puts a hand to her mouth to hide her grin as Foggy tells the D.A. "cut the shit, you're dealing with us." Foggy’s legal abilities were put on display in Season 1 as well, so this is nothing new, but we never get tired of seeing him kicking skulls and taking names. For viewers worried that in a season so full of powerful characters, Foggy might get pushed to the side, this episode does an excellent job of keeping him in the forefront of the action, where he belongs.

** And then there's what he does with it afterwards: [[spoiler:He rigs the truck so that it drives straight into Reyes's sting operation, with the corpse of the guy who was washing it at the wheel, and while everyone's distracted with that, attempts to snipe Grotto from the rooftops.]]

* When the show re-enacted the SadisticChoice from ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank'' where Frank had Daredevil chained to a chimney with a loaded gun taped to his hand, telling Daredevil that the only way to stop Frank from killing Grotto is to shoot Frank. Rather than the controversial moment from the comic [[spoiler:where Daredevil fired only to discover that the firing pin was removed]], the show instead opted to TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler:Matt shot the chain holding him to the chimney, allowing him to break free and charge the Punisher]]. The look of shock on Frank's face is what really sells it. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Grotto, he was too late]].

** A subtler moment if you read the comic: Frank gave Daredevil a loaded gun, [[spoiler: firing pin and all. The Punisher wasn't going to let Matt kill him in the comics, but here Frank is willing to die just to prove a point.]]

* Frank, after being captured by Finn and the Irish, spends the episode ''taunting'' them, only revealing the location of Finn's money [[PetTheDog when they threaten the dog he rescued]]...[[spoiler: which turns out to be booby-trapped anyway]]. And after his inevitable escape, [[spoiler: by cutting the bonds with a razor he'd hidden ''under his own skin'']], he proceeds to procure a gun from the goon about to kill him, walk off taking a power-drill to the foot and gets right back to Punishing.
** Not to mention the fact that his whole capture and torture was ''part of his plan'' to get close to Finn, for just one reason: [[spoiler: to ask him who was behind the murder of his family.]]

* Foggy chewing out Matt after [[spoiler:Elektra's threatening of a witness backfires and he gets removed from the case altogether]]. He lays into him for lying about Elektra, for his BloodKnight tendencies and for dragging him into a case he didn't want in the first place, only to abandon Foggy during preparations. And unlike in "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E10NelsonVMurdock Nelson v. Murdock]]", it's hard to have much sympathy for Matt.

* Foggy coming into his own as a badass lawyer throughout the Frank Castle trial, up to and including doing the impossible and making the most divisive killer in New York City look ''human''. [[spoiler: If not for Frank Castle's outburst at the end of the episode, it's outright stated by several characters that he could have ''won'' his case.]]

* The episode's final scene is another instance where the descriptive audio really enhances the experience. [[spoiler:After describing the man Frank sees as huge and bald, the narrator pauses a moment, and then says with a beautiful mixture of excitement and trepidation, "It's Wilson Fisk."]]

* Wilson Fisk gets a villainous one, [[spoiler: as he spends the whole episode [[TheChessmaster carefully moving everything into place to take control of the prison]] and ends up completely victorious, even managing to profit from the Punisher's release and finally claiming his comic-book name. He then nicely gloats to Dutton and eats a steak dinner as Dutton is dying in his hospital bed.]]

* [[spoiler: Fisk gets another one after Frank's aforementioned hallway fight scene. Fisk confronts Castle in his jail cell, and the conversation eventually comes to blows. While Castle does manage to hold his own and stagger Fisk for a bit, Fisk proceeds to turn the tables on Castle and delivers him an epic beatdown, and only stops because he wants Castle alive because it suits his larger agenda. Given how Castle once beat down ''Daredevil'', this is nothing short of awesome.]]
* [[spoiler: Frank Castle himself, easily equals Fisk in awesomeness in the scene even if not in combat. He manages to hold his own against him for a bit ''despite'' having both arms and legs shackled.]]

* Reyes [[spoiler:finally shedding her mask and owning up to her mistakes in front of Matt, Foggy, and Karen, admitting her part in the sting operation that resulted in the deaths of Castle's family. When she's done, she is gunned down through her office window. Watching Foggy and Karen chew her out makes it all the more satisfying, that is until she adds that her daughter might be in danger and begs them to help her.]]
** [[spoiler:All that aside, Matt hearing the gun being cocked and tackling Karen and Foggy to the floor right as the bullets begin to fly is one of the most badass things he has done so far without putting on his Daredevil suit.]]
** YMMV on this, but for some, seeing [[spoiler: Reyes getting gunned down by a rain of bullets is oh so satisfying to watch considering how much of TheLoad and AlphaBitch she was throughout the season until this point]].

* A rather dark example; Frank [[spoiler:finally offing the Blacksmith and finding the secret armory within the shed of weapons. He finds a plethora of guns...and a vest that seems to resemble a skull -- and it's at that point that Frank ''truly'' becomes the Punisher.]]

* Daredevil becomes so pissed after [[spoiler: Elektra's death, that he doesn't even care when the Punisher starts sniping the ninjas attacking him. Then he (seemingly) violates his ThouShaltNotKill rule by throwing Nobu off the roof.]]
** [[spoiler:And then, when he gets back up again, Stick is right there to finish him off for good.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Stick:''' [having stabbed Nobu in the chest] And this time, you piece of shit- [yanks his sword out and slices off Nobu's head] Stay down.]]

* Frank [[spoiler:showing up at the end to perform the aforementioned ninja-sniping in full Punisher gear with the skull emblem on his chest, much like Matt getting his Daredevil suit in the season one finale.]]

* Matt’s sheer determination throughout TheOner scene. He’s drugged, outnumbered, and arguably takes the most hits he ever has in [[TheOner Oners]] (which is saying something) and still manages to fight off the inmates, get what he needs from the Albanian gang leader, to convince them to help him escape the prison, and in the end escapes ''being drowned in a taxi''. Murdocks just don’t know how to stay down.

* The first words out of Matt’s mouth when he calls Dex (using Felix's phone) for just how blunt and to the point they are.

* Wilson Fisk pulls the rug out from under Matt and Ben when he announces himself at a press conference. He gives a RousingSpeech about how much he loves Hell's Kitchen and wants to make it a better place, thereby painting himself as TheHero and Matt's secret identity as TheVillain. Not only does he OutGambit Matt's plan to expose him, but also renders pointless all of Matt's efforts to dig up information about him from the beginning of the series.

* When the show re-enacted the SadisticChoice from ''ComicBook/WelcomeBackFrank'' where Frank had Daredevil chained to a chimney with a loaded gun taped to his hand, telling Daredevil that the only way to stop Frank from killing Grotto is to shoot Frank. Rather than the controversial moment from the comic [[spoiler:where Daredevil fired only to discover that the firing pin was removed]], the show instead opted to TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler:Matt shot the chain holding him to the chimney, allowing him to break free and charge the Punisher]]. The look of shock on Frank's face is what really sells it. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Grotto, he was too late]].

* Right from the start, Matt unleashes the devil on a pack of sex-slaver scum. The NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of Turk Barrett at the end of the fight is [[PayEvilUntoEvil satisfying]].

With heightened drama, compelling characters and terrific [[TheOner one-shot hallway fights]], this show proved that Creator/{{Netflix}} and the mainly light-hearted [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] could mix.

* Matt calling out and pointing out all of the holes in Frank's ideology. How he takes the law into his hands, never giving anyone a chance to reform.
* Frank, in turn, [[JerkassHasAPoint pointing out the major flaw in Matt's methods]], [[CardboardPrison the simple fact that they allow scum to keep hurting innocents where Frank's ways stop them for good.]] In fact, he has a comeback to everything Matt says, (albeit some of it just being mockery) up until the point where DD ultimately finds him beyond reasoning, and calls him insane. [[BerserkButton Frank, at this point is equally fed up with him,]] and [[TalkToTheFist takes him out with a]] WrenchWhack.

** The same has been done with ThePunisher. Commonly viewed as nothing more than a one-dimensional action hero that is impossible to sympathize with, the excellent writing and Creator/JonBernthal's portrayal have completely reversed the perception of the character. And unlike Daredevil, who has always been a beloved character within the comics community, the Punisher has often been snubbed by comic fans for the last twenty years with his titles being low sellers. His appearance on ''Daredevil'' is not only winning the general audience over, it appears to be winning the comic community over as well.