*Spoilers Ahead*
Things aren’t looking great for Matt Murdock by the halfway point of “Condemned.” He’s holed up in a derelict building with Vladimir, after saving him from the corrupt cops Fisk sent to off both of them, and is surrounded by police outside. To top all that off, Vladimir refuses to give him any info regarding Fisk.
Much of this episode focuses on Matt and Vladimir as they attempt to make it out of this scenario alive and for the first time in the series there isn’t any huge action setpiece. Matt gets ample time to show off his repertoire against a seemingly never ending supply of police but there isn’t anything close to a big brawl. Instead, the big showdown this week revolves around the first actual meeting of Daredevil and Kingpin.
The show plays it cool and has their first encounter occur over a radio. Kingpin says they’re the same and Matt, naturally, disagrees but unlike when most villains use the line Kingpin is mostly right. They both want to save Hell’s Kitchen and are using dubious means to do so. Fisk eventually sets Daredevil up as the man who caused the explosions in the city and even has a sniper take out some of the cops to blame it on him as well. Fisk has stacked the deck against our hero but Matt refuses to give up.
Vladimir, meanwhile, remains distrustful of Matt for a good portion of this episode despite the numerous times he saves his life. After the conversation with Fisk though, Vladimir finally comes around to Matt’s side. Together, the duo manage to get out of the building using the access tunnels below it. The cops remain hot on their trail however, prompting the, increasingly weak, Vladimir to sacrifice himself to let Matt escape. He doesn’t let Matt leave empty handed though, he gives him the name Leland Owlsley, the man who handles the accounting for Fisk and his associates.
Elsewhere, the rest of the cast gets a few small moments to showcase what they are doing in the middle of all this chaos. Ben Urich is right outside the building Matt is in attempting to gain some info in his ongoing look into Union Allied. Claire proves to be just as heroic as Matt by heading to the hospital and taking care of the wounded. Foggy and Karen grow closer when Foggy is hospitalized due to injuries from the explosions. In fact, the only people seemingly unaffected by the fallout are Wesley and Fisk, who spend the entirety of this episode in Fisk’s van watching the madness unfold.
The episode also takes the time to wrestle with the prevailing theme of this first half of the season. Are Daredevil’s methods any better than the people he fights? Kingpin forces Matt to confront this by twisting his actions against him and making the media brand Daredevil as not just a vigilante but a terrorist and cop killer. It isn’t immediately clear how Matt will adapt to this new circumstance but we all know he’ll have to. Both sides are now aware of the other and while Fisk has won the first round I have feeling Daredevil is going to come out of the next one swinging.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- So the sniper that kills the cops was Bullseye, right? I don’t really have anything to base that on I just think it would be cool.
- Matt using a flare to cauterize Vladimir’s wound was about as MacGyver as this show will probably get.
- “It’s not as easy as it looks in the movies, you know?” “I don’t really go to movies. I like records though.”
- “Problems are just opportunities that haven’t presented themselves.”
- “That’s what makes you dangerous. It’s not the mask. It’s not the skills. It’s your ideology. The lone man that thinks he can make a difference.”
If you’d like to give me feedback or just chat about Daredevil you can email me at theSuperAlbino@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter @JesseSwanson