This is (almost) the last thing I have to do in order to get the full context of whatever the fuck is going to happen in Daredevil born again, not really because unfortunately Defenders exists and it exists before this season and after the previous.
I... WHY IS FOGGY SO HIGH CLASS??? WTF HAPPENED??? WHERE DID DAREDEVIL GO TO HAVE A BUILDING DROPPED ON HIM??? HUHH???
Yeah after all that because I skipped the Defenders because I had to watch Jessica Jones and Luke Cage for that, and while they are both undeniably considered good shows, I don't have brain space currently.
Yes, finally, I realize what problems people have with getting into the MCU right now.
But it ain't that bad, I think I will catch up soon.
But accepting all of the things that I didn't know I had to accept, I finally can say, this season of Daredevil may not be the best, but it is the Darkest Daredevil has been, and it perfectly shows the threat of Kingpin, and now I realize why people hated Echo and Hawkeye so much.
Marvel you better get Daredevil right.
And white Tiger.
And the Punisher.... And Kingpin and....
You get the point.
But for a super Dark season, it begins in a pretty bright place, of except for the fact that Daredevil can't hear in the beginning, and he is ready to just give up.
The only thing that he wants to do now is fight fate, fight destiny, and fight against God and be Daredevil, he doesn't want to be Job the best devotee of god or something(I'm sorry I am not Christian, I mean no offense.)
And I understand this feeling, there is a name for it, it is called being a Rebel with no cause, you just want to defy, you just want to go against everything because everything appears bad, and maybe it is, maybe it isn't but unwitting Defiance leads to unnecessary hurt, for everyone involved.
Add to that the fact that Daredevil no longer has his Armor and so can be hurt way more easily and has lost one of his senses, yeah this is Definitely the Iron man 3 of Daredevil, which is funny because this is also Season 3 of Daredevil, but unlike Iron Man 3, we see a lot of Matt in "the suit" even though it is a newer version of the older Suit and not the iconic Red one.
Part of me thinks they made this change precisely to go back to the roots, because I do hear the second season of Daredevil and the Defenders and all that wasn't great... yeah, well the Suit ain't the issue fam, the issue is a lot of things, and for me personally, not having a reason to go back to the old suit, it feels like... Superficial?
But in this season of Daredevil the main focus is the theme I mentioned, the theme of larger systems that rule us, institutions such as religion, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Law on various levels, and even the world as a whole.
Cause in a sense, all these things do is give us a set of rules that we have to accept, and hence can feel like a cage, and maybe they are one, but then there are people like Fisk who game every system, and use it to their advantage.
And they convince themselves that they are doing it for the greater good, even as millions of people die, actual criminals like Poindexter get to go free, and continue to hurt people.
And at the center of all of this, lies a simple truth, you are the most vulnerable when you think you are in control, when you think you are at the top of the world when you feel in charge, because that is the moment where if the world blindsides you, it is most likely to go unnoticed.
We see how this is true in Special Agent Nadeem, who thinks he has finally found his golden egg laying hen, he thinks he is in control, he is rising up the ranks, and yet for someone who feels in control, his life is surprisingly bleak.
So he is in the worst place to be weary of manipulation, not only does he feel in control, he is too distracted by shit to notice what is right in front of him.
So, what is the way out? The way out is to be focused and realize how little control you have, but hey, that is special Agent Ben Poindexter.
And he... he is... a stalker, a murderer and a lot of other not so nice things.
Surprisingly he is the one who is gamed the most by Fisk, because the Truth is, anyone set enough in their ways can always be manipulated.
That is why systems and institutions cause people to be manipulated more easily as the try their best to escape their proverbial hells, because when you are part of a system, you are in some sense set in your ways, and manipulation need not come from an external source, it can come from within, you can manipulate yourself.
Nowhere is this more clear that with Sister Maggie, this season reveals that she is Matt's mother, she had him with Jack Murdock, she went away from the life of a Nun when she was a novitiate, and then her post partem depression convinced her that she was moving away from god.
And in her words she replaced one sin with another, she abandoned her child.
The only way that remains is to keep questioning, to keep investigating, but that is a dangerous path, precisely because the people who want to game the system realize how vulnerable they are to it.
And so do the people running the system, because when you get close, you see the flaws and for people too attached to a system or the ones running it, that's a challenge on their world view, and that they will fight with all their being
And for the very same reason, Unwitting rebellion against the world is a bad idea, because as it should be clear, the world is just a big a system.
But unfortunately this is the only way for the Truth to prevail.
But once again, that makes you vulnerable, the one thing that makes you invulnerable to being manipulated makes you vulnerable to subjugation and then destruction.
Ray's(Special Agent Nadeem) story is the Quintessential example of this, he begins the story by being in a bad place, as a result he is manipulated by Fisk, thinking he is actually saving people.
He starts questioning, tries to stick it to the big guy, go with the system, but the big guy controls the system.
So it all goes to hell, even if he had survived, his life was hell, nothing was left anyways...
But in a twist of cruel Irony, the ones gaming the system thinking that they are in control actually expose themselves to be blindsided really hard.
And they get it precisely at their happiest moment, for the one thing true for all those in power, is they always have a target on their back.
And now for Daredevil born again.
But... hold on, what about Bullseye? Or Rather special Agent Poindexter, is he simply an example of Control failing, and then an attempt to add Drama by creating a fake Daredevil who will also go on to become the famous villain Bullseye?
Well I mean I went the whole article without mentioning the Fake Daredevil, what gives?
Well, the basic Idea is already covered with what I said, but the Fake Daredevil thing is something that would have worked perfectly, but it didn't, for one single reason.
Daredevil has people he Trusts, people he let in close enough to know him properly.
Because if he hadn't no one could have vouched for him, he is behind a mask, which is necessary for his work to be separate from his identity, for him to be a symbol, a symbol is incorruptible, in all ways.
If someone finds his identity, not only will they get a corrupt message due to whatever history or relation they form with him, but also people will go behind his back to get leverage over him.
And also it is necessary to protect his personal life, separate the personal and the professional no?
But this same want to protect those close to you can drive people like Daredevil to isolationism, it almost does multiple times, but while it will seem like the right option in the moment, it will lead to exactly the problem above, when your true identity is hidden from everyone, anyone can pretend to be you and sully your name, tainting your legacy and hence your work.
But as well, it is specifically when you isolate when you are open to manipulation as you become a closed system, you get stuck in never ending loops, that is how Poindexter is manipulated by Fisk, he isolates him.
But that is why those you trust, you put in danger.
But unlike Poindexter, Daredevil's friends are willing participants, and completely capable of defending themselves, and they learnt it from him and others like him.
Somehow not being alone also makes you more invulnerable, as any blow to you gets distributed to everyone else. so all of suffer a lesser damage together rather than devastating damage alone.
The final thing I will say is the way Fisk is defeated is very important, Daredevil makes a deal with him, and threatens the one person who is the closest to him, he beats Fisk at his own game.
In doing so, Daredevil becomes the exact same as Fisk and Poindexter(someone who murders to please people and doesn't get that its wrong), at least in terms of what he can do, but... he chooses to be different, because the one in the red suit isn't the real Daredevil.
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