Just when you think Marvel has pretty much been destroyed thanks to the release of several failed projects including the more recently released Captain America: Brave New World they then go a head and release the first two episodes of this awsome show. With the new Daredevil show having just dropped on Disney+ you all just knew that I had to check out the first two episodes of this show just to see if it's any good and so then join me as I give my SPOILER FILLED first impressions of the show that may leave fans of a certain character feeling really upset with the show in question being called simply just "Daredevil: Born Again" enjoy.
The plot of these first two episodes is after a major incident forces Matt to reconsider everything an old foe emerges from the shadows and runs for mayor of New York. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these first two episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these first two episodes was in all honesty really good with the plots being more in line with the Netflix show then anything that Disney+ has been putting out which is quite frankly really quite refreshing as it would have been seen as an insult not only to the character but to the fan of Daredevil as a whole if they gave this character a more lighter in tone plot as that's just not who that character is and yet they don't do that infact they o the opposite way and give him a more darker and more mature plot then anything that your going to be finding on the main Disney+ section which was in all honesty something that Marvel Studios really didn't have to do as they could have gone with the version of the character that showed up in the failed She-Hulk: Attorney At Law show and called it day but the fact that they went with a plot that's not only alot more serious but also alot more grounded in reality then alot of there other projects does show that they really do have alot of respect for this character with both of these episodes plots also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in these episodes is Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin. Also starring in these episodes is Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn , Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page , Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson , Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Poindexter / Bullseye , Kamar De Los Reyes as Hector Ayala / White Tiger , Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera , Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie , Genneya Walton as BB Urich , Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman , Clark Johnson as Cherry , Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake , Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk , Cillian O'Sullivan as Devlin , Victor Verhaeghe as Carlo , Gino Anthony Pesi as Viktor , Patrick Murney as Luca , Ruibo Qian as Detective Angie Kim , Susan Varon as Josie , Becky London as Judge Maribeth Hillson , Katherine Renee Cortez as Diana Montoya , Jeffrey Grover as Roger Cressna , John Benjamin Hickey as District Attorney Benjamin Hochberg , Andrew Polk as Judge Jerry Cooper , Nick Jordan as Nicky Torres , Johhny M. Wu as Forrest Tam , Michael Gaston as Commissioner Gallo and Ashley Marie Ortiz as Soledad Ayala.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. Which is something that's not really all that surprising as alot of the actors that are in the first episode are reprising there roles from the Netflix Daredevil TV show but it's also something that does indeed carry on over in the this shows second episode as well with the shows newer actors more then holding their own when it comes to acting against the actors who have played these characters before now and are so well beloved by fans and even then alot of those actors haven't really played these characters full time since the Netflix Daredevil TV show ended after it's third season and they all just step back into character as if they had never stopped when it comes to filming this new version of the show as that's just how good the acting in these episodes is both from the returning actors and from the shows newer actors as well with the acting that's in these very episodes also really being helped by the fact that the scripts for these very episodes is just so good that all these episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them more naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in these first two episodes.
Doing the CGI for these first two episodes is the legends and the greats that are currently over at RISE Visual Effects Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time it wasn't something that's all that good either as the original show mainly stayed away from using CGI with them more often then not using practical effects which helped to make the shows version of Hell's Kitchen feel more real and grounded where as here the shows uses alot of CGI and because of that the world that this show takes place in doesn't feel real as instead t feels like something that was made in a computer and while yes there are some really good CGI effects in these first two episodes no one is going to ever question that but when your doing a show that is basically a sequel to a show that that firstly alot of people really loved and that secondly had it's own unique style and look to it and really didn't use that much CGI in it's episodes then you owe it to that show and the fans of that show to try and match what they did on that show and part of that does yes include not having that CGI and if you are going to use alot of CGI then you better make sure that it's all really good looking CGI because if not the fans will notice and they will pick it apart because of it.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
To be more then frank when I first started watching episode one of this show I went into it with the idea of making this one a spoiler free post but that then very quickly changed when they killed of Foggy Nelson. Which was quite honestly such a shocking move to make as you don't expect them to kill a main member of the supporting characters and yet not only do they do exactly that but they also give him a big role in the first episode and make his death the key factor in Matt Murdock choosing to give up his life as Daredevil which was such a shocking move and while this is something that could very easily split the fanbase as there bound to be people who love Elden's take on the character from the Netflix show killing him off inn this episode was a great to say that this version of daredevil is going to go places that you never thought off and is going to do things that the previous show just didn't do and part of that does involve killing off Matt's best friend and while it is something that would have been much more better served if it happened at the end of the episode as it does make for a great cliffhanger ending having happen within the first twenty minuets of the show and having the rest of of that first episode be just about the fall out of this characters death and seeing how Foggy's death effects his friends does go to show you that the makers of this show knew how to defy your expectations and do something that nobody had every thought that they would do and because of that his death is really something that does work in the context of this episode.
What not alot of people would have realized is that the first episode of the show that was released wasn't infact the original first episode. As while yes Foggy's death was always intended to be in the first episode the show had a different director and different creative team on board but then for one reason or another that creative team got fired even tho a good chunk of this first season was shot and was pretty much ready to be released and a new team was brought on to overhaul the show and part of that overhaul involved creating the episode that we now see as being the first episode of the show however after doing some digging in turns out that this shows second episode is not only written by the original creative team of Matt Corman & Chris Ord but it's also directed by the original director Michael Cuesta now while it is impossible to tell if episode two of this show was the original first episode only with a few minor edits to it it is weird that Marvel would keep one of there original episodes if the plan was to do an overhaul of the series as a whole but on the other hand given that Michael Cuesta is also due to direct at the very least one more episode this season it could have been that this was just there original second episode and since it didn't really need changing they just chose to keep it and air it as is and have Michael Cuesta direct the next episode as way to show that there's no hard feelings between all of the original creative team either way it does make this show stand out as not alot of shows replace there entire creative team whilst the shows first few episodes are still in production let alone have those episodes come out as good as they are.
In again what could be seen as being a shocking move this show actually references the fact that Kingpin actually played a role in the Echo TV show. With it being a slightly big part of this shows second episode as it's reveled that after he got in shot in the head in that show he spent months in a hospital bed before waking up out of his coma and going somewhere unknown for several months which has now caused a rift between him and his wife and while this isn't focused on that much in episode two as that episode is more focused on reestablishing the Kingpin as someone who could be a threat if he so wanted to be one then it is in dealing with his problems with his wife but given the fact that the show even mentioned that has was having problems with his wife and that he genuinely doesn't know who hired Bullseye to take out Foggy Nelson in the first place it is possible that his wife did it just so she could show all of the other crime families that she's not to be messed but on the other hand given just how good Vincent D'Onofrio as this character and how he has us the audience hanging on his every word it is perfectly possible that he was laying to Matt when he said that he had nothing to do with Foggy's death both options to seem to be rather fitting for either the show or the character as the show from this first two episodes is all about defying your expectations and the Wilson Fisk character is all about thinking three movies ahead before even taking a single step so it is possible that he had Foggy killed of in episode one to get revenge on Matt for something that happen in the Netflix TV show.
Now then episode one of this show has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty eight minuets and thirty three seconds while episode two of this show has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty six minuets and fifty five seconds. While episode one does have the better running time as that episode does have more stuff to set up it's episode two that makes the most of it's running time as while both episodes do have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover there respective running times it's episode to that makes the best use of it's running time and uses it wisely as it shows just what a New York without Daredevil truly looks like which to be fair given the fact that Spider-Man also lives in New York isn't that much of a big deal but seeing New York without one of it's many protectors is an interesting angle to the episode as it means that whoever this shows main villain is can pretty much do whatever he or she wants to do as realistically there's no one to stop them and tell them not to it and while episode one does have some good things going for it from a running time point of view it doesn't make the best use of it's running time which is kind of understandable given just how much it had to do it is an episode that could have done with being just around ten minuets longer as then it could have given both Foggy and Karen a proper send off instead of just having Karen choose to leave the city off screen and it doesn't really allow for New York itself to be a character in it's own right something that the second episode does take steps to do but I really will admit that both of these episode really do have some really good pacing to them tho.
So now then as this as an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / resented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty not that bad. As even tho the action in the Netflix show was more better and more gritty then the action is in these first two episodes the action in these episodes worked just as well as this is meant to be a more experienced Daredevil and so of course he's not going to be all of the things of that he did in the Netflix show because he knows better he's had time to perfect his craft now where is in the Netflix he was basically in his year as Daredevil and not to mention the fact that in the Netflix show he was very rarely if every angry during a fight scene and so we never got to see just how that effected him as a hero and yet that's the first thing that we do see in this shows first action scene and while the second episode does have a pretty cool looking fight scene between White Tiger and a few corrupted Policemen it's the fight scene in episode one that's the better scene because of the story that it told and because of the fact that like the hallway way scene in episode two of the original show it was all done in one shot only with a few hidden cuts thrown in and it is something that still looked really good and while yes the Netflix show really will always have the better action because of it's more grounded take on the characters for this version of that same show the action from these first two episodes really was alot better then what they both really had any right to be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall if you loved the Netflix show then chances are that your going to really love these first two episodes as it's all of the characters that you know and love all back and all played by there original actors with this show also being way more mature for any Disney+ show both of which combine to make a show that could be a hit show for Disney but either way it's a show that's really worth watching in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in these first two episodes in this post and since this is only my first impressions I won't be giving this show a rating however if this post does decently well and if you guys want me to check out another episode then I will do it and that post would then be a review of that episode and that episode only and not a review of the show as a whole.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys an girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very post being the really great the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes with alot of them being better quality then what'd think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.