One aspect that stood out during the first season of Marvel's hit Netflix series "Daredevil" was the internal turmoil Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock had to overcome. Yes, the fight scenes were awesome as was Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk. But it was the tragedy, loss, and struggles with faith that humanized the Man Without Fear and really drew audiences in. That realistic approach proved to be a winning formula with fans and critics alike, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Marvel Television President Jeph Loeb admitted that season two will provide similar mental and emotional hurdles for our protagonist as well as physical. That means that Jon Bernthal's Punisher and Elodie Yung's Elektra will be much more than obstacles in Daredevil's way.
"In introducing the characters of Frank Castle and the character of Elektra, it was to be able to push and pull on Matt," Loeb told SlashFilm. "It wasn't just to have those characters join the ongoing ensemble cast. It actually was to have Frank on the one hand who sees justice in a very black-and-white kind of way, whereas Elektra lives more in the gray or says she lives more in the gray."
It's good to know that iconic characters such as these will have some actual depth to them, as opposed to being used for one-sided fan service. We want them to have an actual impact on Matt beyond just the occasional brawl. Good TV will come from their conflicting ideologies and not just their conflicting physicality.
It will be interesting to see how "Daredevil" handles the introduction of Elektra. While Punisher and Daredevil will be meeting for the first time this season, Elektra is a character from Matt's past. How will that play into their present relationship? How will it impact Matt? Here's what Loeb had to say.
"I think one of the things that's dynamic about Elodie's performance is that you never quite know if Elektra's telling you the truth. Matt, who has this sort of ability to be a human lie detector, because he's emotionally attached to her, it skews his ability to be able to know whether or not she's telling the truth or he's being manipulated, or is she actually not manipulating him?"
Ambiguous motivations, passionate feelings, uncertain choices...Sounds like season two is shaping up to be pretty interesting.
"Daredevil" will return to Netflix for season two on Friday, March 18.
