Top 3: Best Things About Daredevil Season 2 [Spoilers]

© Netflix | Source: ComicBookMovie

I know what you did last weekend. But don't fret, I won't hold you accountable for it. Why? Because I did exactly the same thing. The second season of Marvel's acclaimed Netflix series Daredevil is out for us to shamelessly binge-watch since 18 March and, by now, we should all be through with it. I mean, we're only human, right?

First reactions to the brandnew 13 episodes have been lukewarm at best, though. With the original showrunners Drew Goddard and Steven S. DeKnight gone and Vincent D'Onofrio's charismatic villain, the Kingpin, sidelined, many critics seem to have lost interest in the latest escapades of the vigilante in crimson spandex.

I, however, had a sheer blast watching the show, thinking that its few flaws and weaknesses simply cannot outdo the general thrill and excitement. So, what's to love? I tell you in my compilation of Top 3 Things About Daredevil Season 2.

3. The Karen-Matt-Elektra Love Triangle

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Granted that this narrative device is as old as the hills, I still dig how it's put to use here. After having a brief romantic fling with nurse Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) in the first season, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) - lawyer by day, Daredevil by night - now finds himself between two love interests. Number one is his legal assistant Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), a woman known for her kind nature and sense of justice. Their romance is sweet, pure and full of hearts and bubbles and candy cotton. Number two is his recently returned college darling Elektra Natchios (Eoldie Yung), a woman with sinister drives and a troubled past. Their romance is laden with sexual tension and profound shared experiences - not always of the good kind. What we have here is a beautifully Dorian Gray-ish set-up in which two opposite poles struggle for one man's soul. While Karen's (presumed) innocence gives Matt the chance to try and be his best version possible, Elektra allows him to embrace his vigilante nature and self-destructive tendencies. While for Matt it could be a fresh start with Karen, it's Elektra's acceptance that makes him feel good about his real self. 

Besides giving us some cute, lovey-dovey scenes on the one hand and some sizzlingly sexy ones on the other, this triangle opens up the possibility of digging deeper into the three characters involved. I love how Matt is incapable of choosing between the two ladies. Every time he feels closer to one of them, he simultaneously feels the loss of the other. He can never let one go completely. This has us witness Matt's struggle between the light and dark sides of his nature: his endorsement of the legal system and religious values vs. his need to roam the streets as a masked vigilante taking justice into his own hands, struggling with the question of how far he can go in punishing his enemies. I personally am of the persuasion that Elektra is the one for him. But since he now believes she's dead and we really don't know in which state of mind she'll return... Who knows.

Karen, as the embodiment of everything that's good in Matt's eyes, has her own struggle to deal with amidst all of this. We know from season 1 and a few hints here and there that she's not as pure as Matt would like her to be, having taken a man's life in self-defence and all. Now, she still struggles with her demons and finds herself not completely rejecting the Punisher's (Jon Bernthal) revengeful killing ways. I love the scene in which Karen speaks her mind to Matt and deconstructs the high pedestal he's put her on. 

Elektra, in the meantime, seeks to win Matt's love by abandoning her murderous desires - and barely succeeds. The show has done a marvellous job introducing her character as a perfectly complex woman who's not entirely evil and yet miles away from being good. Besides, Yung's performance endows Elektra with the necessary coolness and vulnerability to make her completely engaging.

To wrap this up, Matt's affection for the two women really isn't about them, it seems. It's much more about him. They appear like mere projects in which the goal is to keep the one pure and innocent, and to refine the other. The triangle gives us a close look into Matt's psyche and what we find there isn't always pleasant. There are quite a few moments in this season in which I just want to slap him in the face and tell him to get a grip. And that's what I love about this show and this narrative device in particular: it's not afraid to portray its characters as deeply flawed and, yes, unlikeable. And it raises questions without presenting easy answers. Human beings are complicated and not always proceeding on noble intentions. Or sometimes they can get lost following those good intents. Season 2 manages to show all this and still have me invested in the fate of its characters.

2. Jon Bernthal as The Punisher

© Netflix | Source: ComicBookMovie & Flickering Myth

Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher is much more than just another character to embody Matt's psychological struggle. Having lost his wife and two children in a shootout involving the police and multiple criminal gangs, he takes vigilantism to homicidal heights. Unlike Daredevil, he is out for blood and, once face to face with the enemy, mercy is something that never crosses his mind.

While, on the one hand, his presence naturally serves to make Daredevil question his own moral/religious code, The Punisher, right from the start, develops his own dynamics. Castle is deeply flawed, out of his mind, blinded by hatred and pain - and still he's probably one of the most beloved characters of the new season. What could have been a mere brute with a murderous agenda becomes a man of compelling ambivalence and heartfelt humanity in Jon Bernthal's capable hands. The underrated actor evokes a kind of sympathy that goes beyond the clichéd stereotype of the father unable to protect his loved ones. He brings subtle and honest emotions to the table and pairs them with repulsiveness, violence and ruthlessness. Just like Daredevil, we, the audience, are forced to face our inner demons: what does our moral code say about The Punisher? Can we condemn him? Do we applaud him?

On a different note, Castle's military background, that is his skills as a sniper and in single combat, is handy when it comes to sprucing up the screen with badass action fare. But here the character also walks a fascinatingly thin line between oozing coolness and conveying a brutal, frightening intensity.

Perfectly complex, emotional, physical, intense - this Punisher has won me over.



1. The Stairwell Fight Scene

A while ago, I already celebrated the Hallway Fight Scene from season 1 in our A Scene to Remember section. Now, the makers of Daredevil went out trying to top that for season 2. 

And. They. Did. 

In what appears to be a five-minute one-take sequence in episode 3 the camera follows Daredevil down a dimly lit stairwell while he tries to fight off a bunch of thugs. The whole thing had me drop my jaw. It's just thrilling and mind-blowing mayhem, yet precisely orchestrated and artistically staged. 

While this scene probably is the masterful standout, I'd like to take it as a representative of all the fantastic stunt work showcased within the entire series. Daredevil refrains from wearing out CGI effects. It much more relies on well-choreographed fights and skillful cinematography. It lives from the fact that it is not about flashy heroes in flashy costumes performing flashy tricks. It's about down-to-Earth characters facing real danger. Their brawls are exhausting and demanding. They're adrenaline-fuelled and cool to look at, yet scary - and they leave scars.

Matt Murdock's reality is a grim and threatening one, and this reality is evoked not only by the wonderful set and costume design, the sound department or the motivated ensemble cast. No, it's also thanks to the camera people and the extraordinary stuntmen and -women that the show is able to convey such a unique, gritty atmosphere. Kudos to that!


That's it. Let us know what you like best about Daredevil season 2 in the comments below.

Film Review & Theme Park: What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

© Netflix | Source: Indiewire

USA; 101 min.; documentary, biography, music

Director: Liz Garbus

Cinematography: Igor Martinovic

Interviewees: Lisa Simone Kelly, Al Shackman, Stanley Crouch, Gerrit De Bruin, Dick Gregory, Attallah Shabazz, Ilyasah Shabazz 

“It’s just a feeling. It’s just a feeling. It’s like how do you tell somebody how it feels to be in love? How are you going to tell anybody who has not been in love how it feels to be in love? You cannot do it to save your life. You can describe things but you can’t tell them. But you know it when it happens. That’s what I mean by free. I’ve had a couple of times onstage when I really felt free, and that’s something else. That’s really something else! Like, all... all... Like... like... I tell you what freedom is to me. No fear! I mean, really no fear. If I could have that half of my life... No fear.” – Nina Simone 

March is Women’s History Month, and we over here at BSP thought, why not discuss movies that celebrate the life and work of some strong, intelligent, creative and all around fascinating women. Of course, we always like to discuss these kind of movies because we simply love us some tough gals all year round. But since this special occasion deserves a shout-out, Squuls, Nata Lie and I have decided to each pick a movie dealing with a real-life woman and review it for you this month.

I chose the late musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone. Not only is she at the centre of a very recent Hollywood scandal – Zoe Saldana, the lead actress of the upcoming biopic Nina, came under fire for her performance in blackface – no, she’s also the star of this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?.

Speaking as a person who, beforehand, only knew Simone from some of her more popular songs such as “Feeling Good”, “I Put a Spell on You” or “My Baby Just Cares for Me”, it was interesting to be able to take a closer look at the woman with those enchanting, unconventional vocals and mad piano skills. I guess that, especially for a person who’s new to Simone’s biography, the documentary directed by Liz Garbus is going to be helpful in understanding what made the musician tick.

Garbus mentions Simone’s youth in a Jim-Crow-dominated North Carolina, her first piano lessons and her desire to become the first black female classical pianist playing at Carnegie Hall. She covers her rejection from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia based on racial prejudice, her jobbing at bars in Atlantic City and her big break with her debut album Little Girl Blue in 1958.

But, most importantly, the documentary wonders what made a celebrated, gifted pop star such as Simone fall into oblivion after making it big. What happened, Miss Simone? is the initial question here, and Garbus finds possible answers in Simone’s dedication to the civil rights movement and her frequent calls for violent opposition, leading to her fall from grace with white audiences and the white music industry. Furthermore, if only marginally, Garbus explores Simone’s struggle with bipolar disorder, a condition that led to heavy mood swings and destructive behaviour, alienating her closest friends and, above all, her young daughter Lisa Simone Kelly.

The documentary mixes new interviews, for example with Lisa, Simone’s dear friends Al Shackman and Gerrit De Bruin or the two Malcolm X daughters Attallah and Ilyasah Shabazz, with rich archive footage from Simone’s abusive husband Andrew Stroud or civil rights activists such as Lorraine Hansberry, Martin Luther King Jr., Stokley Carmichael and Malcolm X. Last but not least, Simone’s presence in the film is created with the use of engaging concert scenes, photographs, insightful interview footage and personal notes from her diary. All the pieces taken together manage to create a beautifully complex image of Nina Simone as a strong, yet lost soul. A dedicated activist, an eruptive force. Smart and reflective, yet very emotional and physical. A masochistic woman in love with her violent husband. A sadistic mother, but also a good mother. A troubled mind shaken by disease. A misanthrope. A woman in touch with her heritage and in love with her people. Most importantly, a genius musician.

Just like this year’s Oscar-winning documentary feature Amy about the late British singer Amy Winehouse, What Happened, Miss Simone? draws a link between different stages in Simone’s life and her songs. The 1959 hit single "I Loves You, Porgy" is focused on when the film deals with Simone’s rise to fame. “I Put a Spell on You” is incorporated to describe her ambivalent relationship with her husband. “Mississippi, Goddam” accompanies her frustration with racial injustices and “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” celebrates her love of herself and her fellow African Americans. While this mode of narrative becomes slightly predictable after a while, it is still realised so skilfully that it never has an exhausting effect. It rather goes to show how much of Simone’s soul seems to be entangled in her songs and thus gives a possible reason why her performances always feel so real and true.

Partly produced by Lisa Simone Kelly, it is refreshing to see how openly this documentary deals with the musician’s more unpleasant aspects: her moodiness, her psychological cruelty, her illness. Still, Simone Kelly is also far from condemning her mother for her actions. Director Garbus is given the possibility to approach Nina Simone from different angles which turns What Happened, Miss Simone? into an intriguing viewing experience. Granted that there’s certainly room for a more in-depth exploration here and there, this documentary still does a beautiful job painting the portrait of a complex woman and the time she lived in.

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TV Show Review: Sense8 Season 1 (2015)

©Netflix | Source: fishsticktheatre.com

USA; 12 episodes; sci-fi, drama

Channel: Netflix

Creator: Andy and Lana Wachowski, J. Michael Straczynski

Cast: Aml Ameen, Bae Doona, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton, Max Riemelt, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Brian J. Smith, Freema Agyeman, Anupam Kher, Terrence Mann, Naveen Andrews, Daryl Hannah

A dark room with high ceilings and colored glass windows, maybe an old church or an abandoned train station... Where are we? Amidst rubble lies a woman in a white gown. But, just like the mattress she is bedded on, the dress is dirty and stained. In a shot that resembles the production of a one-woman play, said woman is at center stage moaning and squirming in obvious pain. Who is she? Suddenly, in a desperate gesture, she stretches her arm upward as if reaching for someone or something – and a man supportively grabs her hand. He protectively encloses her in his arms and seems to coax her toward something. What does he want? The woman zones out and, saying she can see them now, is transported to a bunch of different places. In various locations she focuses on a single person and just stares at them. Who are they? Back in the dark, high-ceilinged place we get a long shot of the woman crouching on the mattress by herself. Yet, she still seems to be talking to the guy who grabbed her hand. Where is he? Suddenly we can see him again and he is urging her to do the right thing. She is struggling, and all of the sudden a man appears at her other side, very close as well and telling her to do the opposite of what she has been told before. Where did he come from? The men, it seems, can't communicate with each other, so we have to believe it is the woman who holds the connection – perhaps only in her head? Her mind seems to be made up now, and from somewhere she takes a gun into her mouth and shoots herself. What the hell?! The second man that appeared in what we assumed was the woman's imagination bodily approaches the scene of violence and we are left to wonder what we just witnessed. Maybe we don't have to understand, but just experience in a way we didn't know before... Sense8.

© Netflix | Source: Mashable

The pilot episode of the Netflix original series Sense8 starts off with some serious challenges for our brain cells. But who expected anything less from a series by the masterminds behind The Matrix. The Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski created, wrote, and executively produced this new 12-part science fiction drama that takes us into the minds, emotions, and relationships of eight different people from around the world. If the show can fulfill the expectations I got from this promising set-up, I’ll tell you in this TV Show Review.

Technically and stylistically Sense8 makes a lot of unexpected and unconventional choices in film making that underline the general confusion we are meant to feel because of the plot. The opening credits serve as a stark contrast to the introductory scene I described before. Instead of dark, destroyed places we see a montage of sunny and bright skylines and vivid scenes of odd and everyday within different cities. What starts as a relief in suspense quickly picks up speed again with quicker cuts, moving people, and increasingly urgent music. Then the bright colors abruptly end with the start of the next scene. Additionally, the use of mostly non-mainstream music or strategically

© Netflix | Source: fishsticktheatre.com

placed extremely mainstream music and silence gives the show a certain edge. A lot of close-ups and semi close-ups clearly demonstrate that Sense 8 is a show about people. We learn a lot about the random everyday lives of these people and see them in very intimate situations. It appears there is nothing that can't be shown. The eight people are also the fix-point during scene transitions. A person from one storyline will appear in another and take the viewer with him or her. There are also hard cuts from one scene to the next while cross-fading the sounds that rip you out of the action and transport you to another place without really being there, just as it is happening to the characters.

What makes Sense8, in my opinion, are the characters or sensates as they are called here. The show’s creators gave birth to a complex and diverse group of people whose personal struggles and interactions keep the show going at any point. There is Riley (played by Tuppence Middleton), an Icelandic DJane, who left for London because she believed to be cursed. Will Gorski (Brian J. Smith) is a cop in Chicago with a criminal past. Jamie Clayton plays Nomi Marks, a transgender woman based in San Fransisco, who finds solace in the arms of her girlfriend Amanita. Capheus (Aml Ameen) is a Kenyan bus driver and passionate fan of action star Jean-Claude Van Damme. Max Riemelt plays formerly East-German Wolfgang Bogdanow, who cracks safes with his best friend Felix in Berlin. Kala

© Netflix | Source: fishsticktheatre.com

Dandekar (Tina Desai) is an Indian woman unhappily engaged to a Mumbai entrepreneur. Then there is also Lito Rodriguez (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), a Mexican actor, who can’t find the courage to publically stand by his boyfriend Hernando. Finally, Doona Bae plays Sun Bak, a business woman in Seoul, who goes to prison for her brother to save her father’s honor. The nationally, racially, and gender-wise diverse storylines seek authenticity by using actors from similar origins as their characters and by letting directors and film teams familiar with the settings create the different storylines. This works really well. As does the look into the deep, dark secrets of the characters’ psyches.

What does not work, however, is the development of comprehensible connections between the different personas. Unfortunately, there is a lack of logical storylines. These eight people go from being shocked and overwhelmed by the sudden connection with seven other people in the pilot to suddenly being entirely comfortable with switching consciousnesses with each other and collectively tackling situations a few episodes later. By itself this might work, if by that point we’d have gotten some sort of explanation for what is happening to them, which we have not. What is even more shocking is that there are only some sensates who actually do try to solve the mystery of their

© Netflix | Source: fishsticktheatre.com

connection. The rest is simply comfortable continuing their lives as they were. There is no denying the chemistry between different sensates, like Riley and Will or Wolfgang and Kala, yet the build-up to their relationships is sloppy in plot development.

This rings true for the majority of the show. It seems like the creators cockily envisioned a multi-season gig instead of embracing the 12-episode-format. By the end of these episodes there is only slightly more clarity than after the first hour of the show. In Matrix-style there is a dark organization behind it all that is trying to control and kill the sensates and that the 8 minds have to escape from. But how and why? This conspiracy is not thought through and, in between desperately trying to build up romantic relationships between different sensates, seems rushed. While the last episode goes back to the fate

© Netflix | Source: fishsticktheatre.com

of the woman, who killed herself in the pilot, there are many questions left unanswered. This characteristic of not being able to narrow the plot down to 12 hours is also reflected in the characters personal storylines. There is a clear imbalance between the different characters’ screen time. The Mexican actor Lito and San Fransisco-based Nori get a lot of attention. As do the budding relationships between Riley and Will and Wolfgang and Kala. Because of that a lot of other strings of storyline are neglected or forgotten. That Sun Bak vows to bring her brother to justice or Capheus’ quest to help his sick mother is mentioned, but not continued. It seems there are clear favorites among the characters and some of the other sensates are mere providers of skills (like Sun’s martial arts) to help these favorites.

© Netflix | Source: fishsticktheatre.com

While a lot of choices on how to realize the show are innovative and exciting, it sometimes takes things too far. We get it, ‘heey it’s Netflix and not network television and we get to show all the nudity and violence we want!’. Good for you! But why?! Yes, some of these network restrictions are archaic and prudish and I don’t oppose nakedness and action-related blood spatter per se, but there has to be a point to it. This is really what irritated me most about the show. While of course the show has a clear sci-fi angle to it, you don’t just drive by a locksmith’s shop in central Berlin and shoot someone with a bazooka without anyone taking notice. No. Don’t aim at realistic settings and plausible character traits then. I know pop culture and television are all about constantly upping the ante, but if you want to be edgy and fresh, sometimes less is more. Also, nudity is great! Yeah, go for it if it fits the storyline, but in a way that makes sense, please. It seems Max Riemelt is in the nude any time he is not shooting something. Trying to relax and work out at a public pool – naked – or interrupting Kala’s wedding – naked – are just a few of the very plausible situations for his exhibitionism. The final montage of episode 10 features a way too close and personal view of the different sensates birth and there is also too much sex for sex’s sake in Sense8 for my

© Netflix | Source: fishsticktheatre.com

taste. If you want to show how close the characters are or how passionate, fine, go for it. But to me it should add to the plot in some way at least, since I did not decide to watch senseless porn, but a show with a storyline. Also, as the sensates are all mentally connected, if one is having sex all are having sex. This culminates in an orgy-like scene in one episode, where all of them devour each other. Aesthetically maybe choreographed nicely, but the involuntary nature of this connection and choice of partner(s) sort of leaves a weird and bitter taste behind… 

With Sense8 Netflix tries to jump onto the popular sci-fi wagon with the help of the brains behind The Matrix the Wachowskis. While the show does have an excitingly edgy feel to it and a mentally challenging and promising idea behind it, Sense8 can’t live up to its expectations. Not even the very diverse cast, characters, and storylines can make up for the lack of logic and perseverance in the story. With the show’s fate still in the air, I am torn between wanting a second season of something that holds a lot of promise and having enough of a failed attempt at being clever and innovative. If Sense8 does get a second chance, there have to be some serious changes made in drawing up logical storylines that bring some degree of clarity and reward to us viewers.

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