Marvel Television

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Laws of Nature

  • Title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Laws of Nature
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Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Laws of Nature

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. opens its Third Season with a better than average episode focusing on the new mission of Coulson‘s (Clark Gregg) team in a race to track down burgeoning mutants Inhumans (seriously, other than the gas which causes their mutation is there any difference between them?) before a mysterious, but equally well-funded military force, gets their hands on them. From the premiere we learn that S.H.I.E.L.D. is officially dead (which makes you wonder just who is funding Coulson’s army and providing them with top-of-the-line tech such as their new flying stealth ship). Daisy (Chloe Bennet) has adopted her birth name and made great progress in controlling her powers leading a team to rescue a new Inhuman (Juan Pablo Raba) from the forces of Rosalind Price (Constance Zimmer) who Coulson mistakenly believes is responsible for the death of five Inhumans in the past few weeks.

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Daredevil – Nelson v. Murdock

  • Title: Daredevil – Nelson v. Murdock
  • wiki: link

Daredevil - Nelson v. Murdock

The temporary split between law partners and best friends begins here as Foggy (Elden Henson) discovers Matt‘s (Charlie Cox) brutalized body along with the number of secrets his friend has been keeping from him for years. Interspersed with flashbacks showing us various stages of the pair’s friendship from their first meeting as college roommates to the discussion of Matt’s Greek girlfriend to going into business together, “Nelson v. Murdock” paints a picture of a strong bond which is immediately shattered because of Matt Murdock’s lies (not just about his work as a vigilante but the larger lie about the true aspects of his blindness). The split is, of course, temporary, but it does allow each character to work towards taking down Fisk separately while eventually providing Matt another confidant he isn’t forced to hide his abilities from any longer.

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Daredevil – Speak of the Devil

  • Title: Daredevil – Speak of the Devil
  • wiki: link

Daredevil - Speak of the Daredevil

“Speak of the Devil” begins with one of the season’s better fight sequences which will be quickly interrupted by flashbacks and later returned to near the end of the episode. Maneuvered into place by the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), Nobu (Peter Shinkoda) sets a trap for Daredevil (Charlie Cox) not realizing that Fisk plans on taking out both thorns in his side in one fell swoop. The episode is also notable for the only time Matt Murdock (unmasked, as himself) and Wilson Fisk share a conversation which will lead Matt to the dark realization that the would-be Kingpin of crime needs to die.

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Daredevil – Shadows in the Glass

  • Title: Daredevil – Shadows in the Glass
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Daredevil - Shadows in the Glass

For a show that’s shown us only glimpses of the main character’s past I have mixed feelings about devoting nearly an entire episode to examine the past of the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). One of the lessons of Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight is that we are given multiple possible origins for the Joker but the truth of his past isn’t important to who the man is today. Wilson Fisk is our bad guy, he’s the head of organized crime in New York with plans of branding himself to the public as a philanthropist. What happened in his past to create the man he is isn’t necessary information for Daredevil (Charlie Cox) to defeat him. Of course the fact the Arrow already did the exact same storyline with Brother Blood (murdered his father as a kid, attempted to take over the city as a shadowy figure, pretending his mother is dead while hiding her away in a private institution) makes the episode feel like slightly under-heated leftovers.

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Daredevil – Stick

  • Title: Daredevil – Stick
  • wiki: link

Daredevil - Stick

“Stick” introduces an important character from Matt Murdock‘s (Charlie Cox) past whose introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe raises questions the series either can’t or isn’t willing to answer at this point. Although I’ve enjoyed Daredevil the more I watch the show the less it feels a part of the same universe as the various Marvel films and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Stick,” both the character and the episode, is a good example of this as Stick (Scott Glenn) doesn’t fit within the rules the previous Marvel Cinematic films and series have set-up. Stick can’t be a mutant, he obviously isn’t an Inhuman, and unless he’s a product of the Super-Soldier program or a some variation his abilities cannot be accounted for in the shared world that still has yet to introduce mysticism as an aspect of this shared universe.

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