Disney really is on a roll with there TV show finales as we've just had Maul: Shadow Lord kill it with it's first season finale and now we have another show it's final episode. With this episode also being really good as it more the pays off everything that was set up in not only this season but the first season as well and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the episode that really does change the game with the episode in question being called simply "The Southern Cross" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is with Karen still in court Matt must do what he can to prove that Wilson is evil and expose him for all of his crimes even it means doing something drastic. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To put it frankly this episodes plot works so well even if you remove the fact that it's a Marvel show as it is just such a well written plot that does get you invested in what's happening on screen and it keeps you hooked all the way to the very end of the episode. With the thing that makes this episodes plot work as well as it does is the fat that both this season and the first season where originally commissioned as one big season order before it was decided to split the episode count into two separate season with allowing the makers of this show to tell one whole story over two seasons with this episode of course forming the final chapter of that story with this helping the episode due to the fact that it's now given us the audience alot more longer to become in vested in these characters and in this story, while yes this episodes plot could have been alot more stronger in some places as not everything that you wont to see get resolved gets resolved the things that the episodes plot does well it does really well with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin. Also starring in this episode is Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Poindexter / Bullseye , Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page , Matthew Lillard as Mr. Charles , Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn , Lili Taylor as Marge McCaffrey , Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie , Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman , Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera , Genneya Walton as BB Urich , Clark Johnson as Cherry , Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones , Hamish Allan-Headley as Connor Powell , Ruibo Qian as Angie Kim , Jeremy Isaiah Earl as Cole North , Camila Rodriguez as Angela Del Toro / White Tiger , John Benjamin Hickey as Benjamin Hochberg , Ashley Marie Ortiz as Soledad Ayala , Annie Parisse as Ariana Iacovou , Alexis Frias as Javi Espinosa , Roberto Lopez as Berto , Deirdre Lovejoy as Alicia Waters , Dustin Tucker as Grimes and John Hedges as Luna.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. It's not really all that surprising that this episode has some really good acting in it as not only are a bunch of this episodes actors some really good actors in there own right but this show and by extension the first Daredevil TV show did always have some really good acting in it with this episode of course being of no exception as all of this episodes actors really do bring there A game to this episode something which they really didn't need to do. With the best actor in this entire episode being Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin as he really does go through alot of emotions in this episode and may god do you see it all in his face as you see him go from calm to kind of playful in the scenes in the court but when the ace in the hole gets played you see him go from happy to anxious at the drop of a hat and then you see him go from anxious to down right angry and that is when that character is at his most dangerous and yet even then it doesn't stop as he goes from angry to sad and then from sad to at piece and all of this is something that Vincent does in not only his facial expressions but his body language as well and that is something that really does make you see just what this character is thinking and feeling at any given time and that is something that does come through in his performance. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say te lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is the legends and the greats thar are currently over at Ingenuity Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank this episodes CGI was alot more better then what it really had any right to be as while the episode does make alot of use of digital doubles for it's characters especially during the third act there not as bad as have been in more recent productions as they do still move like real people with the only major thing being that they are doing things that the actors just can't do or it's unsafe for them to do them. While this show doesn't really use CGI all that much as really it's only used for extended the set and creating digital doubles of certain characters and that's really it the episode does take the time to add in things like buildings in the background or in the case of this episode some CGI light coming in the windows in some of the courtroom scenes and while alot of this is understandable as you might have to hide certain things like the camera or crew for example there really wasn't any need to add in some CGI light as you very easily could have shone a light through the window and created naturally and while the CGI version isn't that bad it is somethin that does stand out as everything around it is done for real and while it might have been added in in post to make the scene be more visually interesting this is something that should have been thought of while the episode was in production, yet to be fair to this episode alot of the hidden CGI in this episode does work really well as you can't tell what was added in later as opposed to what was done there on the day and that is exactly how CGI should be as it should always blend in and enhance the scene and not stand out and take away from it.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Out of alot of the things that are in this episode one of the things that people are going to be talking is the fact that we get the return of Mike Colter as Luke Cage. With him appearing in the final few moments of the episode just to confirm that he and Jessica are now parents this a huge bombshell moment as even tho the two of them got together in Jessica Jones by the time that that show ended and Luke Cage began as a TV show he has dating someone else entirely and yet here he is not only back with Jessica but now a dad this is something that does change the game for those two characters as now there little girl could very well end up having superpowers of her very own. With both Luke Cage and Jessica Jones pretty much all but confirmed for the next season of Born Again it would be interesting to see where the show takes those characters given the fact that this episode ends with the family setting up a new version of "Alias Investigations" and given the fact that the two of them do now have a kid of there very own it would be more then interesting to see where the show goes with there characters and given the fact that this show does firmly love the Netflix shows so much it would be interesting to see them brining back in alot of the side characters from both shows just to see how those characters would react to seeing both Jessica and Luke back together again let alone seeing that there both up to there old ways of being super heroes once more as this is something that could lead to an interesting plot for the characters like maybe there daughter doesn't know that her mom and dad were former superheroes and has to come to terms with that over the course of the next season or they could do a one off special like that there doing with The Punisher: One Last Kill.
For one reason or another when it comes to there series finales Disney has been really on fire recently with both this show and Maul: Shadow Lord not only having great first and second outings in there own right but also having fantastic final episodes. This is something that should always be the case as plenty of TV shows have been ruined by having a bad finale and while both of those shows are confirmed to be getting new seasons the fact that they managed to have episodes that stick the landing as it goes is something that will make people look back on those respective shows alot more fondly yet if you were to take a look at something like for example Game Of Thrones which had several good seasons but it fell apart when it's final season was ending and therefor people don't look back on that show as fondly as they know where it's leading to. However with this show and this episode what it's leading to is a great episode where we get to see Matt Murdock reveal himself as Daredevil in the ultimate move to get Fisk to reveal to the whole of New York that he's a bad guy with it being done in a way that not only makes sense but also works for both characters as Matt calls Fisk to the stands and after several questions shows him the video that confirms that Daredevil was in the right with him saying that he is daredevil to back that up essentially all the while Fisk is almost daring him to do it as he knows that if Matt does go through with it that he will be locked up from the crimes that he committed as Daredevil with them both playing chess basically and daring the other one to make the wrong move first, that is somethin that does work well for both of these characters as Matt would of course do anything to help his friend and in this case his client and Wilson Fisk would do whatever it takes not only to clear his own name but to make sure that the people see him as being in the right the whole time.
Speaking of Matt and Wilson they get one of the best scenes in the episode together with the episode itself proving that a hero doesn't always need to punch his opponent into submission to get his to quit. With this episode having Matt talk Wilson into accepting an offer to step down as mayor of New York willingly and move away and never come back this is something that does prove that words can be just as effective as a punch to the face as while it would have been totally justified for Daredevil to beat the ever loving daylights out of Wilson all it would have done is prove him right and that all vigilantes are the bad guys yet by taking the opposite approach and having him use his words and using logic to get him to do it all willingly he is proving that not only to Wilson but to the people surrounding them both that violence isn't always the answer. This is something that works so well in the episode as while the Kingpin in his current frame of mind would be capable of rational thought due to the fact that he's just lost the only person who could ever hold him back he and Matt know this dance to well to know that the other won't quit whilst the other is still standing and therefor the only logical choice was him to accept the offer and willingly leave New York and start his life over again somewhere but even so it could be argued that Kingpin does get the last laugh as unlike Matt he is still free to do whatever he wants meanwhile Matt is now in jail for the crimes that he committed as Daredevil essentially leaving alot of New York without someone to protect it which does mean that Fisk or any other street level villain could swoop in and do alot of damage and Daredevil wouldn't be there to stop them and while we do see Karen putting the Muse mask there's tell on if she'll become a vigilante n Matt's absence.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty one minuets and nine seconds. With this episode being one of the more longer episodes of this season of the show which is something that does make sense as this episode does essentially have to wrap up two seasons worth of stories and therefor it did need the extra running time to do exactly that but at the same time tho this episode could have done with loosing a few minuets around the middle of the episode as that's where the episode did start to drag a little bit not so much that it hurts the episodes overall pacing but enough so that you do start to notice it a a little bit with the episode on the whole having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet in saying this tho the episode really doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't fully develop its plot which in all fairness it really doesn't have to do that given the fact that this is the final episode of the season and therefor it wouldn't make sense for them to fully develop this episodes plot but at the same time tho the episode does spend time on a prolog scene with Matt being arrested and sent to jail and then showing a clearly distraught Karen putting on the Muse mask when all of that is something that could have been covered in a montage at the end as we don't need to see whole scenes explaining all of that as all that does is eat up screen time that could have been spent on developing the episodes plot. The episode kind of doesn't even fully develop its characters either which again isn't that big of an issue in this case as it doesn't have to do that in the final episode but they don't even reveal who Mr. Charles really when that's something that could have done as that would have added something of interest to his character but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is ana action how that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The fact that this episodes action is as good as it is isn't something that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone as people who have watched this show will know that when this show gives us a really cool action scene it is something that is worth talking about and that is very much the case with this episode as even tho the episode only has the one action may god is it one that's worth talking about. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the attack on the courthouse as that scene is just so well done as we get to see Fisk punching and headbutting innocent New Yorkers all the while his own task force is hunting down and trying to kill Matt , Jessica and there friends which leads to both Matt and Jessica having to take out entire waves of them on there own with the whole sequence being very well edited and put together as we do get to see just how desperate that both sets of characters are with the thing that makes the whole thing wrong being the fact that it was something that was built up in another episode of this same season as earlier on we had an entire episode where the people of New York had finally had enough and were trying let there feelings beard and Fisk's task force got violent with them and yet here when they do it again the people don't back down and they are et into the building and that one thing is something that makes that whole scene work with the rest of the episodes action just as good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall next week Punisher special has alot to live up as this episode no scratch that this whole season has just been so good that we are now closer then we have been in the past several years to finally saying that the MCU is back on track as this episode gives us a satisfying ending to a really good second season in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the god and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very show really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 9.5 out of 10 and the episode earns itself a 9.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all pf the images tat I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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