Set after the events of Marvel’s The Defenders Netflix series, the latest season of Daredevil might be the series’ best season yet. This season of Daredevil’s (Charlie Cox) story focuses on the theme of origins, particularly notable for Daredevil and his soon-to-be-supervillain counterpart, Agent Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter (Wilson Bethel). Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) also rises to power and puppeteers the plot throughout the season.
The season focuses on Daredevil’s character as he tries to stop Kingpin while protecting his loved ones, his morals, and his relationship with God.
Poindexter captivates every scene he’s a part of. The contrasting between him and Daredevil works wonderfully for a battle of good and evil. A less obvious but equally enticing antagonist is Agent Rahul “Ray” Nadeem (Jay Ali). None of the villains in the story fall short from keeping the next move unpredictable, which makes them the best out of all Daredevil seasons.
To add to villain chemistry, the choreography of the fighting scenes is one of the greatest highlights in the season. The showdowns between Daredevil and Dex Fisk constitute some of the best action I’ve seen on television.
It is refreshing to see well-thought out action scenes in a superhero television show and not your typical blunt punching and kicking (or blasting). The amount of effort they put in producing these scenes was instantly clear, like scenes from Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies.
For a character that has received some mixed reception in past seasons, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) is redeemable with her willpower and ferocity. She forces her position in the game of chess between Daredevil and Fisk. Franklin “Foggy” Nelson (Elden Henson) is the anchor for Karen, between dealing with Daredevil’s “death” and saving her from falling into Fisk’s dangerous waters. There’s a spotlight on Foggy standing up for himself and what’s right. Foggy takes it upon himself to put Fisk down by the book and behind bars. In addition, the nun Maggie (Joanne Whalley) and Father Lantom (Peter McRobbie) are endearing – even entertaining – supporting characters to Daredevil’s when he needed the support.
This season is riveting with secrets, twists, and filling the plot holes to the parts of Daredevil that people have always wondered. Comics-wise, the elements of season 3 are inspired by Frank Miller’s “Daredevil: Born Again” and Kevin Smith’s “Daredevil: Guardian Devil.” One thing that I can say, is that you can watch season 3 without the context of previous seasons and The Defenders. The pacing of the episodes starts off slow in the beginning, but that’s expected. Skipping an episode is not recommended for the greatest production yet from Marvel’s Netflix series.
