Holiday Horror: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's A Midwinter's Tale

A Midwinter's Tale is a holiday episode that takes place right after the end of the first season. Sabrina has signed her name in the Book of the Beast and essentially turns her back on her mortal life. The winter solstice is when the veil between this world and the world of the dead is thinnest, so witches huddle around their yule logs, lit all day and night to stave off supernatural threats. Sabrina decides to have a seance to contact her mother trapped in limbo, but Madam Satan extinguishes their Yule log at the same time to expose her and her family to dangerous creatures.

A Midwinter's Tale is a fun interlude between the first and second seasons of the show that deals with the fallout of the season one finale and draws from various dark Yuletide mythologies. Susie and Roz are still being awful, shunning Sabrina even though they had hidden powers they didn't tell her about. Sabrina is equally terrible because she still arrogantly solves Harvey's problems with magic even though she knows he wouldn't want that. He rightly sets a defined, specific boundary against Sabrina using magic on or around him even though he already made his feelings clear. I'm excited to see more of this confident Harvey in the next season.

The Church of Night celebrates Yuletide in their own way with pentagram wreaths, Yule trees with Satanist ornaments, sharing ghost stories, and an ever burning Yule log to stave off evil spirits loose in the world. It's charming and a wonderfully dark version of the holiday. Sabrina decides to use this dangerous day to have a seance to contact her mother trapped in limbo. Madame Satan decides to sabotage the effort because Satan ignored her victory in getting Sabrina to sign his book. It's disappointing to see Madam Satan being so insecure and vindictive after being the grand manipulator of the first season.

Two figures from Christmas folklore make an appearance. The first is Gryla called upon to collect her Yule lads, mischievous spirit children who have invaded the Spellman home and played some dangerous tricks. When alive, she made a pact with another witch to eat their own children to survive. Gryla ate her child, but the other witch didn't, so she has spent over a thousand years collecting children. The Icelandic myth has her eating misbehaving children, so the show takes some liberties. However, I enjoyed the tricky way the Spellman's dealt with her. The second figure is Bartel, a demon who collects beautiful people and encases them in wax a la House of Wax. In actuality, he's the Austrian version of Krampus, but his embellished method of punishment is nightmarish. These figures are tricky for the Spellmans to navigate around and brought a fun horror flavor to Christmas.

A Midwinter's Tale is only one episode, but it made me excited for the next season of the show. The biggest take away for me is the stark difference between Sabrina and Zelda. Sabrina is willing to risk everyone else to get what she wants (as observed by Zelda) while Zelda is willing to have Leticia raised by other witches for her safety. Other than that, I did love some of the developments with the seance and Sabrina's mother. This holiday special ended with a bang and showed promise for further episodes.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1

Sabrina Spellman is part of two worlds: the witch world and mortal world. As her sixteenth birthday nears, she has to decide if she sign her name in the Book of the Beast during her dark baptism which will mean she serves Satan and leaves her mortal life forever. Her home is steeped in magic with her aunts Zelda and Hilda, who have raised her since her parents died in a plane crash, and her cousin Ambrose being witches. Her best friends Susie and Roz plus her beloved boyfriend Harvey are part of her regular, mortal high school and in integral part of her life. How can she choose between two such integral parts of her life?

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina started out as a pitch dark 60's style comic book reimagining of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The adaptation to television changed quite a bit, making it more appropriate for teens, dialing back the horror elements, changing many characters entirely, and setting the show in present day with a retro flare. The show is a bit of a mixed bag with some unique elements and some that fall flat.

The world of witches is extremely entertaining with its over the top and dramatic nature, rituals, and long list of rules. They worship Satan and seem rather evil, but most situations with anything truly dark are played off comedically or pulled back before anything horrific happens. For instance, cannibalism seems to a typical part of their rituals and done just for fun, but it's either stopped before it happens (even though this particular ritual happens every year) or in a dream and so over the top it isn't taken seriously (even though the meal is a child). There is also an added element where the show says that witches can't love, but we see plenty of witch characters expressing love: Zelda and Hilda for Sabrina, Ambrose and his boyfriend, and the High Priest for his wife and child. I love the aesthetics and creepiness of this brand of fictional Satanism, but the tone is confused and doesn't seem to know if it's supposed to be evil, good, or somewhere in between.

Sabrina is a frustrating character who throws herself into dangerous situations without a thought to who might get hurt or what could go wrong. Her selfishness extends to how she treats her boyfriend and uses magic on him or around him to solve problems. She even goes as far as to commit murder as long is it can be magically reversed. Her main goal is to defeat Satan even while she draws power from him to do magic. Sabrina is more selfish and arrogant, thinking what she's doing is good even as it blows up in her face and hurts everyone around her. The worst instance is when she brings back Harvey's brother from the dead after he died in a mine accident. She didn't know that his soul has be brought back as well and doesn't want to take responsibility for her huge mistake. This chosen one story is a bit of a let down when the person is one of the worst on the show.

The best characters on the show are Zelda and Hilda. Zelda and Hilda are co-dependent and very different from each other. Zelda is completely devout in her faith and strives to be what Satan and the High Priest want her to be. At every turn, she panics that Sabrina is being led on the wrong path. She seems to hate and resent Hilda, but deep down she truly loves and depends on her. Her snarky comments, constant smoking, and fashionable black outfits improve every scene she's in. Hilda is the most sunny and cheerful of the whole show. She's completely supportive of Sabrina and doesn't let her church, her sister, or anything change her at her core. When she becomes excommunicated from the church, she goes on with her life and takes steps to become more independent. I'm eager to see more of these two in the next season.

Other favorites include Sabrina's cousin Ambrose and Madame Satan. Ambrose has so many more problems than Sabrina, but she can only come to him when she needs something instead of thinking of solutions for his house arrest or offering any help at all. His relationship with Luke is the most adorable of the show and the one I care the most about. He's one of the most intriguing characters of the show and he's criminally underutilized at this point. Madame Satan, on the other hand, is in almost every episode behind the scenes, pulling the strings to get Sabrina to turn towards Satan. She takes the form of Mrs. Wardwell, but killed her and essentially puppets her form. Madam Satan saves Sabrina at almost every turn, acting as one part fairy godmother, one part master manipulator. Michelle Gomez infuses the character with confidence, attitude, and a healthy dose of evil.

Sabrina, Susie, and Roz are best friends for years, but Sabrina has been keeping her witch background a secret. Her friends wouldn't really understand her background and make assumptions about it based on the whole Satan thing while her witch family and acquaintances don't understand why she can't let go entirely of her mortal life and friends. Susie and Roz have their own awakenings to latent abilities, but still treat Sabrina poorly when she finally tells them. Her boyfriend Harvery is the only one with a reasonable reaction of betrayal when he finds out how Sabrina continually manipulated him and made his problems worse with magic. Ross Lynch is an amazing actor and he hasn't really been able to show it on the show quite yet.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina isn't as chilling or horrific as I would like. However, it has an aesthetic and characters that keep me watching despite the very many flaws. Some have complained about the scenes with blurry edges, but I think it gives the show a distinctive style. The colors are absolutely beautiful and the fashions are on point. In every episode, numerous subtle horror film references are in character's clothing or the backgrounds or in set pieces, like the Suspiria skylight in the Spellman home. I hope further seasons will fix some of these problems and let characters shine that didn't get the opportunity quite yet.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Santa Clarita Diet Season 2

Sheila and Joel are in pretty bad shape at the start of the season. Sheila is locked in the basement due to her lust for flesh eating and accelerated rate of decomposition while Joel is in a 72 hour psychiatric hold due to trying to steal an old Serbian woman's bile. This season has them discovering new zombies, finding out more about zombie lore, trying to live their lives and succeed in their real estate business, and stop the spread of zombie infected clams. Their daughter Abby and her friend Eric help them along the way.

Santa Clarita Diet Season 2 has everything the first season has and more. It's hilarious, heart warming, and gory as hell with the perfect mix of horror and comedy. Sheila and Joel are an adorable couple. I didn't think I would like Joel anymore after the events of last season. He essentially rejected Sheila and admitted her only supported her because he thought she would return to the meek human woman she was before she became a zombie. This season, he got some perspective and accepts his wife for who she is. Their relationship greatly improved when his ego stopped getting in the way of Sheila's new attitude and outlook on life. They unite even further as real estate agents against another couple desperate to take any success from them with Sheila as the driving competitive force. They also investigate the zombie disease spreading and do what they can to save the general public from turning into zombies.

Sheila has a lust for life now that she's a zombie that has intensified from the first season. Her worsening condition caused her to become more prone to give in to her hunger, anger, and other desires, but she's stabilized and channeled her bloodlust into jogging and chasing animals in the desert at superhuman speed. Unfortunately, her condition still brings some surprises such as her blacking out and eating someone she doesn't remember, chewing off her fingers when nervous, and having to choose the right people to eat. There is a particularly funny scene where they befriend some Neo Nazis in order for her to eat awful people without guilt. Joel, on the other hand, drags his feet for everything and lets his pride in a negative Yelp review hold them back from investigating the origin of the disease at an Italian restaurant. His priorities are a bit skewed at times, but he comes through for Sheila and his family.

Secondary characters shine this season, especially in Abby and Ramona. Abby goes from sullen, sarcastic teen to superhero. She realizes that societies' rules don't always dictate what's right and she decides to fight for what she believes in even if it may fall outside the law or societal norms. Her efforts are channeled into protesting frakking in Santa Clarita and being who she really wants to be. I always liked Ramona as the clerk who always caught Joel and his family at odd moments staring at cleaning supplies trying to deal with their new and overwhelming living situation. Her character is fleshed out and we see more than just the few one liners she delivered the previous season. Ramona experienced something similar to Sheila and left her old job as an auctioneer to the sardonic, slow speaking drug store clerk she always wanted to be. She takes up a relationship with Eric where she essentially uses him to get human flesh. He's so meek that he just goes along with it until Abby intervenes for him. I enjoy how the women have the power in this show unlike most sitcoms like it.

The zombie lore has expanded. The virus originated in Serbia and came to the US in a pair of carnivorous red clams, infecting Sheila and who knows how many other Santa Clarita residents. The ball Sheila threw up when she turned grows eight legs and seems to be a living creature. Its purpose isn't known yet, hopefully something explored next season. The infected will become completely feral and inhuman if they don't have the weird Serbian bile serum, as seen with an elderly veteran. A couple seem to be zombie hunters, having a similar double life of shady actions and illegal activities to Sheila and Joel to a very different end. This tradition also seems to be continued from the medieval era according to the family's research. It's like the start of answers are there, but the threads have yet to be connected. I'm interested in seeing how it will further expand in future seasons.

Santa Clarita Diet Season 2 has a wonderful balance of family drama, comedy, zombies, and over the top gore. At turns, it's effectively heartwarming, funny, and disgusting but all with an undercurrent of heart. Drew Barrymore and Timothy Oliphant especially shine as the central couple. Barrymore has wonderful comedic timing and infuses her performance with optimism. Oliphant is more bumbling and unsure since his relationship has been upending and he's forced to do stomach turning things to feed his wife. Joel changes from the last season in that he accepts his wife and their unconventional situation much more. I can't wait for next season to find out what happens next, how the lore will expand, and how many other zombies will be revealed in Santa Clarita.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Ash vs Evil Dead Season 2

Ash returns in the second season of Ash vs. Evil Dead after he cowardly accepted Ruby's offer to live an idyllic life in Jacksonville while she takes over the world with her demonic, powerful children. Ruby and Pablo are pretty miserable while Ash enjoys no responsibility and many many drinks. For once, no one recognizes him at all, just a face in the crowd, until a deadite shows up. Ash returns to his home town in Elk Grove, Michigan with his friends to fight Ruby and face his metaphorical demons from the events in the first and second Evil Dead films where all his friends were killed.

Ash is arrogant as ever, but the only people who admire him are Kelly and Pablo. The rest of the townsfolk call him Ashy Slashy because they think he went crazy and killed his friends and his sister (which he kind of did). Would you believe someone claiming Kandarian demons possessed their friends and you had to kill them to save them? He's under a microscope now and every little thing that goes wrong is blamed on Ash. I especially enjoy that Ash has to face his past and faces people who have no idea about his heroic deeds. It grounds him a bit and shows a different side of him. A few people from his past confront him, namely his Deadite sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss returning from the original Evil Dead), his best friend Chet, and his somehow even more racist, ill tempered, and lecherous dad who has nothing but contempt for him. Ash still has crackpot ideas that do more to amuse him than actually work, but he somehow successfully fights against evil.

This season sees old villains somehow changed and introduces new villains. Ruby's demon spawn are back, more numerous and fully grown. They have a slew of abilities at their disposal including elongating appendages, regeneration, and the ability to blend into shadows. They turn against Ruby, taking away her immortality. Ruby sees that her children are out of control and teams up with Ash and company to dispatch them. Through the season, Ruby becomes a solid part of the team even with their rocky past together. Baal is the big bad of the season, a demon more powerful than seen on the show. He can wear people's skin, manipulate emotions, and his only weakness is the Necronomicon. Baal really raised the stakes of the show and proved to be a formidable enemy. Meat puppets, the remains of those skinned by Baal, are Baal's minions like Deadites, but with no personality or humor. This season brings variation to the villains and of course regular Deadites are every present with their sick sense of humor.

If you thought this show couldn't get anymore ridiculous or over the top or gruesome, you thought wrong. The gore, blood, vomit, and other bodily fluids flow freely. One scene has blood filling an entire room from geysers. A corpse fights Ash and his head is inside its body cavity in a crazy, hilarious scene. Ash's car becomes possessed and starts brutally killing people like Christine. A puppet version of Ash attacks him when he goes to a psychiatric facility. This episode was on of my favorites because it's premise is so similar to the episode Normal Again from Buffy the Vampire Slayer that calls the entire concept of the show into question. This show surprises me in some way with every episode. It's a wild ride and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it or have reservations.

Ash vs. Evil Dead is an incredible show led by Bruce Campbell's charisma and charm. I can't help but like him no matter how awful he can be. His sidekicks Pablo and Kelly get more badass with each passing season. Pablo gains powers and becomes the Necronomicon for a bit while Kelly doesn't put up with anyone's bullshit and becomes more capable fighting the forces of evil. The group truly cares for each other and it's the heart that drives the show. I can't wait for next season and I'm upset it's coming out so late supposedly because executives didn't want to compete with other horror shows during October. This is THE horror show and I'm sad I'll have to celebrate Halloween without it.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

The Walking Dead Season 7

Another season of the Walking Dead! I consider it the best out of recent years, but it does still have some fundamental problems. It seems like they learned from their cliffhanger mistakes which is a step in the right direction.

The Good

* Negan

Negan is the most interesting part of the show. He goes from casually affable to in your face homicidal on a dime. One scene in particular is chilling when Negan comes over to Rick's, plays with Judith, and contemplates slaughtering them out loud without upsetting her. Intelligent and aware, he knows how to manipulate people with the right facade. Rick and company try multiple times to undermine or overthrow him, but he always seems two steps ahead, aware of their thoughts and motivations. Negan shows his power often, but also adheres to his own rules, keeping his underlings in line and not expectin them to do what he won't. On the other hand, punishment is swift and unforgiving of mistakes. He is the source of almost all the tension and fear on the show, especially when he visits Alexandria.

* The Saviors and Sanctuary

The Saviors are one of the most frustrating parts of the show in a good way. They are awful, taking more than they need from Alexandria and treating everyone like garbage under Negan's orders. They are very clear antagonists, but things are different in Sanctuary. Daryl and Eugene get very different treatment when they arrive. Daryl is locked in a cell and given dog food until he submits to work for them. Eugene is welcomed with open arms, given gifts, and treated pretty well. He turns out to work for the Saviors for comfort while Daryl eventually escapes. Getting a look at the inner workings of Sanctuary was illuminating. Everyone has to work to earn goods and they need to follow the rules. It's not as brutal as one would think as long as everyone works together.

* Rick and Creepy Carl

Rick is in shock for the first half of the season, trying as hard as he can to appease Negan and survive. He has a complete turnaround by the end and seems like a man possessed with nothing else to lose. Carl, on the other hand, seems to not fear Negan at all. He's seen so much as a child that growing up in this era has produced a new generation of people who consider it fairly normal. He genuinely scares Negan because of his lack of fear.

* Midseason Finale

I was so impressed with the midseason finale: unexpected deaths, Rosita making a huge mistake and other people paying the price, reuniting the core group except for Carol, and a strangely uplifting ending. It's a huge turning point for Rick's group that decides to redirect their energy into banding with other groups essentially enslaved by Negan and overthrowing him.

* Hilltop and The Kingdom

The Hilltop scenes feature Maggie and Sasha putting that mayor in his place when he tries to be a misogynistic ass which I love. The Kingdom is a such a bizarre place that is inspired by medieval or Dungeons and Dragons style. The King rules with his trusty tiger and puts on this odd accent to inspire his people. Although he's a self admitted fraud to Rick's people, he has the gravitas and dignity needed by such a leader and he turned out to be one of my favorite new characters.

* Father Gabriel

Father Gabriel is FINALLY an interesting character. He discovered the error of his ways, found a sense of humor, and got pretty sassy. More of this please!

The Meh

* The trash heap people and the settlement of only women

These people living in a trash heap could have been an interesting addition to the show, but they just came off as bizarre. What's with the way they talked? I get having different social interactions, but language couldn't have eroded that much. The settlement of women had all their men killed by Negan and successfully escaped the Saviors. However, they refuse to kill them once and for all and don't want to allow people to leave their location. I didn't care enough about their drama and grew annoyed with them.

The Bad

* Two deaths right at the beginning

Everyone has known because of the comic that Glenn is going to die, so the writers threw Abraham in as a twist to keep viewers interested. Glenn's death is tragic and incredibly sad. Abraham's death is barely a blip on anyone except Rosita. Putting a major and fairly minor character death together doesn't have the same impact. Plus we waited months to see who died and it wasn't surprising in the least.

* The pace

I'm not sure what it is with the writers, but everything moves so very slowly. I literally can't watch episodes week to week. I have to bingewatch them in bundles of at least 3 to get through the series. Please take some notes from the We're Alive podcast and speed the pace up just a little bit. It doesn't seem as long as other shows because so many episodes are just wasted. One problem is that one character or set of characters is usually the focus of each episode instead of bouncing around within episodes. It's supposed to create tension and keep you watching, but it's pushed too much and becomes annoying.

* Morgan

Morgan is annoying with his whole pacifist stance and forcing that on other people with pious, arrogant flair. Last season, he wasn't afraid to call out Rick, but he both takes his agenda too far and completely goes against his own philosophy.  He keeps information from Carol to stop her from returning to being violent when her people truly needed her help. Totally manipulative and uncalled for. Then, he turns around and kills an ally in front of everyone, completely destroying everything he built for himself. He's insufferable and a huge turnaround from what I thought of him last year. At least the trauma of losing his son came up, but that's the only interesting thing that happened with him.

This season was more than decent and I'm eager to see how this whole Negan situation will pan out.

The Returned

In a small French village, people's lives go on as usual although many of them have experienced tragedies and trauma. All of their lives are overshadowed by someone who has died, whether they know it or not. When the dead come back exactly as they died, the sleepy town is thrown into chaos. If that weren't enough, brutal murders occur, eerily similar to unsolved cases of years ago. The town's scars are reopened and raw. Only time will tell who will be strong enough to continue, who will die, and if the dead are here to stay.

When the novel opens, the cast of characters are stuck in some aspect of their lives or on the cusp of moving on. Jerome is separated from his wife Claire because both of them never recovered from her daughter's death. Jerome pushed everyone away and now lives alone, clinging to a psychic for solace. Claire is with sanctimonious, creepy Pierre. Their remaining daughter Lena throws herself into drink and drugs to forget. Adele is about to get married when her previous lover died on the day they were supposed to be married. Julie throws herself into work and rejects her former girlfriend after being attacked years ago. Toni continues to be haunted by his past choices and his mother's judgment for them. While their day to day lives are fairly normal, their pasts are with them every single day.

When they return, the dead appear exactly before they died and have no memory of what happened. Outwardly, they appear completely normal and coherent. Inability to sleep and an insatiable hunger plague them. Each of the main characters are visited by a zombie who causes secrets to resurface and their entire lives to change. Each person reacts to them differently. Claire sees the return of her daughter Camille as a gift from god while Pierre sees it as the beginning of the end times. Adele sees the return of her late fiance Simon as a psychological vision because she is remarrying. Julie protects little Victor even though she's never seen him before and sees him as abused and broken as she views herself. Toni falls back into old habits with his unstable brother Serge. One man, Michel, sets his house on fire and kills himself. The dead mean something different to everyone and all transform their lives for better or worse.

While much of the story is a drama between characters, some chilling imagery and eerie events take place. When Camille comes home, a torn up rabbit is found in the garbage and all of the photos with her in them are torn to shreds. A few murders are found with signs that parts of the victims were eaten, mirroring those of years ago. Around the underwater city, animals were so scared that they would rather drown themselves than face whatever scared them. Overall, I wish there was much more horror in this book. So much of it was slow and quiet, focusing on the character's relationships and secrets, but I was truly expecting a huge horrific ending that never came.

The Returned is the heartbreaking story of the dead returning to life, opening old wounds and uncovering buried secrets for the living. Although the story undeniably has flaws and some revelations that come out of nowhere, the book was enjoyable. The anticlimactic ending really through me off and it felt like there was something missing. This book was based on the French television show Les Revenants which was remade into an American TV show The Returned. Although the French show is pretty much universally acclaimed and the American show was cancelled, I will check both out to see the comparisons between each other and the book.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

iZombie Season 2

The second season of iZombie has a lot of twists and turns plus it keeps the show moving forward and the characters changing. Liv Moore continues using the visions she gets from brains to solve murders every episode. The brains she eats are prepared in much more creative and delectable looking ways like Her behavior changes drastically to fit the person's brain and visions are usually triggered when she sees or does something similar to the dead person. The most hilarious instances are Old Man Liv and Frat Boy Bro Liv. She decides once and for all that her relationship with Major can't work and finds new love in Drake, a mysterious zombie with a double life. In some episodes, Liv is a little to zealous and uncaring about protocol and stealth, so she learns the hard way that being cautious can be better.

The character that really grows this season is Major Lilywhite. I found him pretty insufferable last season and he doesn't improve at the beginning hooked on drugs and refusing help. Once he cleans up his act, he works as a trainer at Max Rager, the company headed by the new villain Vaughn du Clark. Vaughn forces Major to kill zombies on his list or he will kill Liv. Instead of murdering people, he sedates them and puts them in a deep freeze to be thawed out when it's safe. I gained a lot of respect for his character doing the best he can in a horrible situation and not becoming a murderer. One new ability of his, created when he was cured, is getting goosebumps when zombies are around, making his Chaos Killer (as he is dubbed by the media) duties easier. I hope Major improves in the next season as well.

This season has a few people being cured and then reverting back to being a zombie due to Ravi's experimental cures. It gets a little old after a while, but Liv is never cured, mostly because other people are in a more urgent state than her and the show wouldn't really be the same if she weren't a zombie. The newest cure causes memory loss, resulting in a much more tolerable and nice Blaine, a refreshing change from his Barney Stinson-esque stint running a funeral home while selling brains and dealing drugs out of it. So, after the his legal troubles, Major has to decide if he values being human over having his memories.

Max Rager and its CEO Vaughn du Clark are the main villains of the season. I really enjoyed his weird macho but affable version of evil. The company doesn't care that it created zombies and only wants to destory them to save themselves from being blamed or having to shut down production. Zombies are experimented upon in the underground labs of Max Rager, causing full blown zombie apocalypse situation where zombies are in full mindless rage hunger mode and can't be brought out of it. The ending is a huge game changer as Vivian Stoll bought Max Rager in order to save zombies and make Seattle into a safe have for them. She unfortunately seems to an absolutist view which could prove bad for Liv and company next season.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Daredevil (2015)

Daredevil's concept is essentially a blind lawyer with superhuman senses that fights crime in Hell's Kitchen. It's extremely scaled down from the usual Marvel Cinematic Universe fare that deals with alien invasions and the fate of the galaxy. Daredevil or Matt Murdock is trying to jumpstart his grass roots law firm with his best friend Foggy by day and protecting the city from criminals (and getting his ass handed to him) by night. In all facets of his life, he has a lot to learn. He has no clout or experience as a lawyer and he's just going out in a mask and black clothes to do what he can't in the courtroom. It's refreshing to have a hero that is just a person. He's not inhumanly strong or fast, but he pushes himself to his limits for what he thinks is right. He learns from his mistakes and strives to fix any harm he caused on his journey. I find him much more relatable because he has the limitations of a real person. His background is interspersed within the forward moving plot, detailing how he became blind, how he was trained to fight, how he lost his father. I found his backstory heartbreaking because his father wanted so much to be someone his son could look up to.

My first reaction is how brutal the violence is. Daredevil beats a human trafficker to a bloody pulp, stabs criminals in the eyes, drops them off buildings, and summarily breaks bones and maims the corrupt. Karen is savagely strangled with a bed sheet and she practically scratches the attacker's eye out. The action is less stylized and far from neatly choreographed. The effects of the violence aren't glossed over or sanitized. Daredevil often goes home injured and bleeding. Some episodes have him very narrowly escaping death. Bones are broken and blood is spilled on both sides. People are tortured. One particularly good scene in the second episode has Daredevil battling criminals in an apartment hallway in one continuous take. Not only is it an awesome scene, but it's a nod to the brutal Korean film Oldboy. Both fights are one continuous take and show violence for what it is: messy, tiring, clumsy, painful, and fueled by willpower. Take notes DC; this is what gritty and dark looks like.


Daredevil's Hallway Fight Scene by kimchisuckerdude

The cast of characters that help Daredevil are varied and generally virtuous at heart. Foggy Nelson, Matt's lawyer partner, is Daredevil's foil. He's kind of goofy, kindhearted, and sweet, but he isn't just there for comic relief. He has his own harsh journey to follow on the other side of the law than Daredevil. Karen Paige was saved by Matt and Foggy from being framed for murder and she now acts as their secretary. Her goal is to bring Wilson Fisk's company down for killing her co-worker, framing her, and trying to kill her. Despite her fear and lack of physical strength, Karen uses all of her resources to accomplish her revenge. Claire is the nurse who helps Daredevil occasionally. She puts her job and life on the line to do so and definitely pays for it. She still perseveres and does what's right. I like that Matt doesn't really have a love interest. Claire is more of the voice of reason who tells him things he needs to realize.

Wilson Fisk or Kingpin is the big villain of the season, expertly portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio. Our first introduction to him has a particularly brutal criminal killing himself rather than facing Fisk. This version of Fisk is a bit different than the usual fare. He's often soft spoken and clumsy with his words, but when his temper rises, he unleashes his rage and his considerable strength. His abusive father shaped him, but he strives to be different. His life is spotless and ordered in contrast to his actions and orders. All of his orchestrated violence and destruction is for what he believes to be the greater good. His goal is to make the improve the city and isn't cruel without reason. It's a small but significant distinction to be cruel for the sake of cruelty as opposed to being cruel for a purpose. Fisk has a softer side as he awkwardly but sweetly romances an art dealer named Vanessa. Usually, superheroes feel the pain of their loves being targeted to get to them, but this show turns it around to the villain. He experiences the pain her inflicts on others. His character is so dynamic that I still feel sorry for him when he's in pain despite his monstrous actions, corrupting judges, cops, and other supposedly lawful entities.

Daredevil is a formidable step forward for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At this point, the tone and style are set for the big screens films. This one sets the scene for the small screen ones as realistic and brutal while still keeping moments of levity, compelling characters, and a complex plot. The only real problem I had with it is with the source material. The different ethnic gangs are stereotypical in their dealings, which doesn't really fit in to the style. It's the only aspect that lacks and I hope next season (which is on Netflix now) can move beyond it. I am thrilled for what the next season has to offer.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins