After delivering a wonderfully crafted show with Agent Carter, Marvel is back with another one, Daredevil. I am not a Daredevil fan, in the sense that I've never read the comic or care much about the character. The Ben Affleck movie - that I kind of like - is the only reason I know about it and what the Daredevil Netflix series did was to give the movie fans a sliver of déjà-vu, meaning I felt I was getting into something familiar, but at the same time they delivered a brand new show.

The new feel is brought in by a lot of things, some more subtle than others but they all help to distance the show from the movie. The costume is one of them, obviously different but they did one better, they grounded the vigilante's story and abilities. Daredevil isn't hopping from building to building jumping so high that you wonder how is he still human? This incarnation runs, jumps, basically does parcours, and gets the sh*t beaten out of him. His fight scenes and stunts look plausible, realistic, but boy! Does his cracked ribs and black eyes heal quick. It is subtly explained how he seemingly gets back on his feet after a serious beat down but it sometimes - once actually - feels unrealistic or supernatural like.

The familiarity of the show I first mentioned stems from Matthew Murdoch's back story and the people he interacts with but also the sets. They have, in my opinion, very successfully distance themselves from the Daredevil movie but not completely. Some of the sets can easily remind us of the movie. They seem to be inspired by the same thing(s), probably the comics since I never read them I wouldn't know, but the familiarity of stepping into a world we know is there.

I also loved that they showed more than just Murdoch's back story but Wilson Fisk's as well. It gave more depth to Fisk's character and also blurred the lines between him and Daredevil without really depicting Fisk as an antihero. He's straight up evil, manipulative, and dark but the smart thing is Fisk really believes that he is doing a good thing for the city. He's the villain of the show for sure but he's the kind you could maybe root for or at least understand, even if the guy does has the emotional stability of a child. What's the saying again? "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." It looks like it is what they applied to the show by not making Wilson Fisk a one note character. They've first built him up Harry Potter style as the He-who-must-not-be-named to give him some street cred, a menacing persona. Then layered his persona with emotions to make him relatable to finally show us how dark he can be, how far he will go.

Daredevil was so smartly tied to the MCU by subtly mentioning the heroes (The Avengers) and the destruction of New York City in the very first episode and more bluntly in others but the show somehow stand on its own. Tying such a dark show into the MCU feels weird because it means this is happening in Tony Stark's or Spiderman's backyard but I guess they can't be everywhere. It almost seems like Iron man, Spidey and the other are in the big leagues and Daredevil is in the minor league, on the come up, for now.

The Daredevil show is dark, bloody, and addictive, I watched the whole season in two days, that's how captivating it is. The show is definitely an origin story, not just Murdoch's and as origin stories goes this is the best Marvel has produced. It seems that Marvel has learn from their mistakes - Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. - and got right again with this one. @wornoutspines