With two seasons of Daredevil out, and one of Jessica Jones, the Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe moves on to Luke Cage, third of the original four announced series. I’ve enjoyed Luke in most of his comic incarnations, and thought Mike Colter did a great job on the Jessica Jones series, so I was happy to see him stand up as the star here. I really enjoyed the opening episode.
Daredevil’s second season comes to a close with “A Cold Day in Hell’s Kitchen.” The show starts with Nobu caressing the stone box we keep seeing the Hand with, while a woman with red hair reports to him. They have plans afoot to regain the Black Sky, no matter what Elektra or Daredevil want. Whatever they are plotting doesn’t sound like it’s going to be good for anyone.
Things have been going not really well for the cast of Daredevil this season. So the penultimate title, “The Dark At The End of the Tunnel,” seems grimly appropriate. Continuing the fairly recent trend of hero shows almost being required to have flashbacks, this episode’s series of them focus on a much younger Elektra, as well as her early relationship with Stick. Let’s just say that she didn’t have any of the sort of kind, gentle training the famous Mr. Miyagi gave Daniel in the Karate Kid movies.
On the newest Agents of SHIELD, we finally get to do what they were hinting at in the season premier, as we “Meet the New Boss.” In the opening, it’s what seems to be a typical “kid having a nightmare” scene. Except the kid’s father ends up seeing the ghost that’s troubling the boy, and then Dad ends up seeing visions much like the Asian gangsters and even Agent May did last episode. Clearly, there’s more going on than a child’s bad dream.
Continuing the trend of beginning one episode right where the last one ended, “.380″ starts with Daredevil on the roof of Metro General, with far too many ninjas scaling the walls. Daredevil is good, but this is long odds even for him.
Gotham continues the new “Mad City” season with “Burn the Witch.” I’m sure this wasn’t at all what they intended, but that title keeps making me think of the old Monty Python sketch. That’s somehow fitting, considering how absurd things are getting in Gotham these days.
“The Man In The Box,” which wasn’t at all about what I thought it would be, opens with the police going through the strange underground area that Daredevil found last episode. Of course, somehow or other, the responding detective is Mahoney. He is starting to feel like the only cop who really works in Daredevil’s New York, all the rest being extras who just fill space in the background. Daredevil shares some information with him, suggests they keep the victims off the grid for now, and then limps off, looking horrible.
Daredevil continues the success of its second season with the ninth episode, “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” A good bit of the episode shows how we got to the point the last one stopped at- the meeting of Wilson Fisk and Frank Castle. It does a fine job of showing how manipulative and ruthless Fisk is, and how incredibly dangerous Castle is.
The eighth episode of Daredevil’s second season, “Guilty as Sin,” shows things getting worse on just about every front for everyone. As seems to be happening a lot of late, the episode starts exactly where the last one, “Semper Fidelis,” left off. Daredevil and Elektra stand next to their discovery, a truly impressive hole.
Appropriately enough given his background, the episode dealing with the start of Frank Castle, the Punisher’s, trial, is titled “Semper Fidelis.” That is, of course, the motto for the Marine Corps. The opening is a montage of Castle getting ready for his trial, the jury pool being interviewed (and they have some very sharply differing opinions on the Punisher), and the attorneys getting ready. Reyes and Tower are prosecuting the case, Reyes no doubt hoping to grab some good press out of it, and Nelson and Murdock, of course, are the defense team.
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