I suspect there weren't many people who watched the Daredevil film that preceded this series more than a decade ago to go in fresh. I did, and when Matt Murdock opened this episode by going to confession just like the film's beginning, I momentarily thought the series would follow roughly the same course as the film. That's not the case, and based on that fact alone, it at least gives those in charge here more freedom to run and play with the Daredevil character within the larger context of the Marvel universe.


That's a surprising thing here: Like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter before it, Daredevil acknowledges in passing that it belongs in a small corner of the MCU. Beyond that little nugget for Marvel fans, judging the series by only the first episode doesn't really give a sure impression of what feels like a larger, darker world that's out there.




That last statement might sound like a criticism or give the impression I'm down on the series. I have only gone as far as the first episode for the purposes of this review. Daredevil is much different from standardized television shows due to the unrestricted nature of Netflix streaming. The New York depicted here is much darker, with rather pointed emphasis on a grittier, more dangerous world. It's really an aesthetic that worked in reviving the Daredevil comic books from writer Frank Miller in the 1980's. So this means there may be no limit to the nudity (of which there is little in the first episode), profane language (also very little), and especially violence. That last aspect is where the show almost drowns itself in. The fights veer into the unnecessarily violent type, with lots of blood and hearing the sound of bones breaking. While this reflects reality in a stylized way, it's not always fun to watch.



The creator of the series seems to want to show that Daredevil is the most physical of all the Marvel superheroes shown so far. That Murdock has mastered the rough and tumble fighting styles to survive in Hell's Kitchen without having his sense of sight. The fighting is a combination of that survival instinct and his drawing inspiration from his boxer father. The episode also teases Murdock's enhanced other senses in an interesting way. Mostly, it focuses on his super hearing, but the visualization of that power comes in the form of a slight glow or aura around the subject. Murdock uses this power mostly on Karen Page, his newest client in need of representation after she was wrongly accused of murder. He has to determine if she's lying or not by detecting her heartbeat as well as listening to the story she tells about what happened to her.




There are snippets of a larger plot at work within the episode's framework. The show is being sneaky and deliberate about it all, much like how Murdock keeps both his powers and his identity as Daredevil (a name which is never mentioned in the episode proper) a secret from the rest of the world. None of the people he interacts with do really question how he is so self-assured despite his blindness, probably chalking it up to his accumulated adaptation to losing that sense. There were a couple of instances where, at least to me, Karen might have figured it out or had tiny suspicions about both of Matt's secrets, but she might be in too distraught a state at the time to actually act on them.





There's a conscious effort to keep the bigger player on the criminal pyramid out of the spotlight, but long time fans who know the Daredevil mythos can easily surmise that it's Wilson Fisk, aka the "Kingpin", who is behind all of the machinations with Union Allied Construction. There looks to be human trafficking along with being steeped in illegal drugs within the larger operation of taking advantage of the destruction left behind from the Battle of New York in The Avengers. Karen, Matt, and Matt's associate Foggy Nelson have only taken one step into dealing with that larger world, and the thinking is that the series will spend the rest of the season developing that.




For now, "Into The Ring" functions as an introductory episode much in the same way that many pilot episodes do. The advantage is that, like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter before it, they are a smaller part of a world that goes beyond Earth and even this dimension. Keeping it small scale, however, is key to enjoying what the show has to offer. The episode advances largely in a procedural way, with Karen's accusation of murder being the impetus for how Murdock and Nelson get off the ground as a (very small) law firm and for how Daredevil has to fight crime within Hell's Kitchen and New York City. Obviously, she's being framed for the crime. It's very easy to follow, even with the show's rather strained efforts to keep everything opaque. Fisk's right hand man threatens the security guard guy with harm to his daughter, which connects to trying to kill Karen while she's in jail, and when that goes wrong, the right hand man has to take measures that go beyond the usual. The corruption with the pension fund looks to be connected to the real estate scam that involves the Chinese. 




From the looks of the final scenes, the Chinese are planning some kind of takeover/renovation/repurposing of Hell's Kitchen. It's great that the show uses Murdock much like a detective rather than a lawyer, with him trying to slowly, methodically piece together what the true purposes of the criminals really are. He's working the problem instead of jumping immediately to conclusions. Most shows would rather skip those steps and get right to the hero kicking some ass, then taking names. He's just not aware right now of the larger world he has stepped into with taking on Karen's case. That goes to prove that Daredevil and those behind the scenes have something different in mind.