By Joshua H. Stulman

Daredevil Season 3 continues the Netflix series’s reputation for great storytelling, compelling characters, and exciting cinematography. If you’ve never watched the other Netflix Daredevil seasons, don’t worry. Netflix Daredevil seasons feel like self contained maxi-movies that are very accessible to new viewers.

This season’s story is based on a mixture of classic Daredevil stories from the comics. The season introduces the Daredevil villain, Bullseye, and delivers a new origin story that shows his manipulation by the Kingpin into his personal assassin. The love story between Kingpin and Vanessa continues and becomes a larger focus towards the last few episodes. Enough cannot be said about the Kingpin as a master manipulator and tactician, while Daredevil continues his dark descent as he struggles with the pain of being a masked hero.

Unfortunately, it is becoming harder to view this series as a comic book superhero show because there simply are no real costumes. Somehow Netflix has decided a dark gritty comic book story can’t be taken seriously if the comic book heroes and villains wear their traditional costumes. This is carried through all the Marvel Netflix series. This sentiment couldn’t be further from the truth as exhibited by movies like Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and more recently the Titans TV series. I wish the filmmakers would embrace the medium more.

That being said there are many subtle references to costumes made throughout the series. They are so slight that it’s almost as if the directors are trying to hide their embarrassment of working on a comic book show. We finally get to see a fight between Daredevil and the Gladiator, who at least wears his shirt. Daredevil returns to his Frank Miller inspired “Year One” black mask and even has some pretty accurate Matt Murdock looks from the comics. The Kingpin wears a ton of all white suits, which is a fitting update on the classic. However both Daredevil and Bullseye are not featured in their comic book costume, with Bullseye never appearing in his iconic look. (Although he does wear a bullseye imprinted baseball cap in a flashback sequence, that’s pretty much it!)

As far as the story for season 3, we see a pastiche of many classic Daredevil stories being made reference to, without any serious attempt at adapting them from the source material. If you are new to comics or have never read the classics, this will not interfere with your enjoyment of the show. However, if you are a devoted fan of classic comics, especially Frank Miller’s groundbreaking work on the series, prepare to be frustrated.

For comic fans, the woes of butchered classic stories like Elektra’s Death from season 2 continues. This season mixes and matches parts of stories from Frank Millers earlier work on Daredevil as well as his Born Again story. Other stories like Daredevil #181 and #200, which deal with Bullseye and Daredevil’s relationship are completely rewritten. If you come to terms with understanding that Netflix Daredevil has no intention of adapting the comics, you will find the series very enjoyable. There are some great psychological and cinematic aspects that make this season a must watch.

Vincent D’Onofrio’s compelling characterization of the Kingpin continues as he creates a version that is both cold and calculating but deceptively warm and sympathetic. Kingpin is shown to be physically strong with brute strength, although never to the degree of his comic book version. In the comics, he’s actually a mutant more powerful than Daredevil himself due to his overdeveloped muscles.

Wilson Bethel’s role as Bullseye is also well portrayed. His twisting madness and chillingly cold personality is fantastic. There are many great displays of Bullseye’s powers without any real need to give an origin to them (thankfully, yes not everything needs to have origin stories to be accepted by the viewer). Charlie Cox continues his dark and tortured portrayal of Daredevil. It’s still disapointing to see no distinction between Matt Murdock and Daredevil’s personality. To have a humorless Daredevil is a bit morose. Granted that this particular storyline is intentionally dark, the impact in change of personality would have been more effective if Murdock had been characterized closer to his clean cut and rigidly moral comic book persona in previous seasons.

There are two very different and great moments that I enjoyed during the season. The first is Matt Murdock’s escape scene from jail. Similar to season 2 biker gang fight scene, here viewers are treated to an 11 minute non stop action that is impeccably timed and coordinated. The camera pans from inside the prison (where we get a small cameo by Marvel comic legend Roy Thomas) and continues into the halls, down stairwells through multiple rooms and finally outside to the cab that he originally came in to get away. It’s a remarkable display of choreography that is a real treat to watch.

The second is a more subtle and quieter moment regarding the Holocaust origins of Kingpins much beloved painting. As the Kingpin rebuilds his empire, he pines over a specific painting that was sold during his time in jail. After many failed attempts to purchase the piece, he finally visits the owner, an elderly holocaust survivor. She explains how the painting belonged to her family, and how it was confiscated by the Nazis. It is all she has of her family, who was in turn murdered during the Holocaust. While this provides a touching scene of the Kingpin questioning his own selfishness, it also helps raise awareness for the depth of evil that the Nazis committed as well as the modern complication of restoring artwork from museums to the families of its rightful owners. This is still an important issue today that continues to affect Jewish Holocaust victims and it is nice to see it addressed in the entertainment media.

Viewers and comic fans of all kinds will have something to enjoy in Daredevil Season 3. It is a “must watch” for even the most casual of fans. While it lacks in comic book accuracy, it excels in vivid storytelling that will have you binge watching in no time!

Overall Grade: 8.5/10

Comic Accuracy: 5/10

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Joshua H. Stulman, Owner

BrooklynComicShop.com