This series just keeps getting better and better.
This particular episode was much improved for a number of reasons. Chief of which was the lack of flashbacks. I understand an origin story is important to establish the character and why he does what he does, but it was my least favourite aspect of this new show, so I'm rather glad it appears to be over.
More fleshing out of the nefarious Wilson Fisk (or Kingpin as he's known in the comics, played here by a very heavy Vincent D'onofrio), his hired associate and the criminal empire they are trying to build around him. We even get to have a brief scene with Fisk right at the end of the episode. Too early to tell how well D'onofrio will inhabit the role, but it looks promising from this quick peek.
Most important, however, is that this episode was much more nuanced than the two that came before. Yes, we still had an over-the-top fisticuffs battle towards the end of the show with a very shaky conclusion, but the rest focused on the hard choices Matt Murdock is going to have to make to be both a good lawyer and a good hero.
It was nice to see some further progress with the story that brought Karen Page into the fray. Unlike most episodic series that would have likely dropped it after the premiere episode, Karen is still dealing with emotional fallout of waking up to a dead man in her apartment as well as all the chaos that she caused when she leaked her story to the news media. News reporter Ben Urich (played by longtime character actor Vondie Curtis-Hall) is a welcome addition to the cast with his ties to Karen and her corruption story. I'm genuinely interested in where this is going to go.
My only real beef with this episode was the courtroom case itself. I spent a lot of it not really understanding what was going on and I'm still kinda clueless how it played out at the end. I'm going to have to brush up on my U.S. judicial system knowledge, I guess.
All in all, a step in the right direction. The ball is finally rolling with Fisk and our hero is having to make some tough calls and juggle some moral issues. More episodes like this, please.
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