One of the things they do so well on Daredevil is the gradually widening of scope. Matt has been continuing his crusade, but he’s really only come up against random street crime and the Russians. He has no idea what he’s truly up against, and that keeps working against him. 

Continuing where the last episode ended, “Condemned” opens with Daredevil on the street with an array of cops pointing their guns at him. He was so focused on trying to beat answers out of Vladimir that he let himself get caught. And as we’ve already seen, not all the cops here are on the up and up. Although even the ones that are honest would probably have something to say about a guy in a mask beating the hell out of someone.

At the New York Bulletin, Ben Urich and the rest are finally getting word of the explosions that rocked Hell’s Kitchen last episode. Most of the staff are either confused or terrified, but Urich manages to put together what’s going on. Ben’s also got his version of the crazy wall map of conspiracy that has gotten so popular on various shows in the last few years. Ben has his own spins, not using string to connect things, and using playing cards to take notes on. That seems like a really odd way to go, and it could be a good character insight, but they never explain why he uses the cards.

Fisk and Wesley are trying to contain the situation as best they can, but they keep having these pesky loose ends, like Daredevil and Vladimir being on the loose. Even in this chaos, Fisk is worried about disappointing Gao. Clearly, she’s more than just another member of his international cabal. As Fisk and Wesley scheme, their corrupt cops are stalking through the rubble of the blown up buildings, killing any survivors.

Daredevil (again, using the name for convenience) finds a building to hide out in for a while with Vladimir. Vladimir still thinks Daredevil killed Anatoli, so he’s not inclined to cooperate, even after DD saved him from the first few rounds of cops. They end up verbally sparring for a while, and Daredevil gets off some great lines. I think my favorite was Vladimir calling Daredevil a fool, to which he replied, “Yeah, and you’re bleeding out, so here we are.”

In a nicely executed scene, two parts of Matt’s lives collide, and no one realizes it. Claire is working at her hospital, flooded with casualties from the explosions. This is where Foggy and Karen take the badly wounded Mrs. Cardenas. All of them are crossing paths, and none of them know they’re connected. Claire ends up ducking out to take a call from Matt, and gives him the best advice she can over the phone for treating Vladimir, exposing some myths about caring for gunshot wounds along the way.

The treatment is painful, and Vladimir’s screams attract attention. It puts Daredevil in a difficult spot, as the cop he ends up capturing is actually an honest one. He’s not working for Fisk, which is good, but he’s not going to work with a masked vigilante. This ends up attracting even more attention, as a platoon of cops show up, led by the crooked Detectives Blake and Hoffman.

The scene spins out of control, and word gets out. Urich shows up, trying to get a story. He apparently knows Blake, and knows Blake is bent. They report to Fisk, who decides that it’s time to up the game. If he can’t control Urich, he can drown him out in a sea of reporters who do answer to him.

Vladimir is impressive in his capacity for hate. Next to dead, and he still manages to attack Daredevil again. The fight is ugly, both of them wounded and exhausted, but it turns out the building gives out before they do, dumping them down several floors in as painful a way as possible. I’m not sure how they survived that, let alone kept going afterwards. Daredevil and Vladimir swap quips while Karen and Foggy worry at the hospital. Karen’s actually worrying more after it turns out that Foggy was wounded too and didn’t realize it at first.

Matt and Fisk finally meet, sort of. Fisk has gotten a police radio, and contact Daredevil via the radio he captured off the honest cop. They verbally spar, and both have some good lines. Fisk claims to admire what Matt’s doing, and there may even be some truth to it. After Daredevil refuses a deal from Fisk, Fisk takes some steps that make things much worse for the masked hero. The increased news coverage includes some footage of DD fighting cops, and Karen recognizes him as the man that saved her from the assassin.

Vladimir finally ends up helping Daredevil, more as a way of getting back at Fisk than anything else. The two badly wounded men stagger through the obligatory tunnels below New York (legally required in every action movie set in the Big Apple), until Vladimir realizes he’s not going to make it. Vladimir gives Daredevil the information DD’s been after, and then covers DD’s retreat. There’s another action sequence in the tunnels. Daredevil is slowly changing his fighting style in the episode. He pulls off a lot more acrobatic, showy moves in some of these fights. It still works, it’s just a change worth noting. Daredevil finally gets away, leaving Vladimir to an unpleasant, but deserved, fate.

What I liked: Daredevil is a gritty, street level hero who is finally starting to realize how far out of his depth he is. He’s not perfect, he doesn’t have all the answers, but he’s doing his best. The scene with him and Fisk on the radio was a great study in contrasts. The fight scenes continue to be amazingly well shot and staged. Foggy and Karen manage to shine even with reduced screen time.

What I didn’t: They are slowly slipping in some elements that are more towards superhero than vigilante, and some of them are a bit much. The several floor plunge by the two men who are already wounded and then go on fighting pushed the suspension of disbelief a bit. And it’s really starting to seem like Fisk has contacts literally everywhere. He’s a smart man, but he shouldn’t be omnipresent.

I’ll give this one a high 3.5 out of 5. I don’t like a few of the changes they’re drifting towards, but they’re still handling them well.