Stream-An-Run: Daredevil, "Shadows in the Glass"

            Episode 8...

            This episode turns its focus directly on that bald, awkward, gravelly-voiced big baby himself, Wilson Fisk, and his attempts at keeping hold of the criminal empire he's forged. We get more flashbacks here, this time of the young Fisk himself, and his tumultuous relationship with his abusive father, played by The Wire's Dominick Lombardizzi. Fisk is easily just as much the main character of this story as Matt is, what with his similar goals of saving Hell's Kitchen from itself, so the deeper glimpse into his life is appreciated, but we can definitely start to feel the momentum slowing from all the build-up of the previous episodes. Matt is brought into the inner circle of Karen's plight against Union Allied, but that's about as far as that particular story strand goes this outing. As Daredevil, Matt meets up with Ben Urich to provide enough evidence to put Fisk's name in the public sphere and out him as the mastermind of all the criminal goings-on, but their plans turn out to be for naught as Fisk himself comes out in a dubiously-themed public appearance, establishing his role as the hero of Hell's Kitchen while demonizing the man running around in the black mask. All of this rather basic stuff has played out time and time again in superhero fiction (the CW's Arrow has fallen back on this at least three or four times), so seeing it play out here is especially disappointing considering how good the series has been up until now. I guess it's to be expected that any long-form narrative will start to run out of steam when it reaches the 3/4 mark, so hopefully this is just a necessary bump that must be endured before we the story ratchets up again and gets back on track.

            As for Fisk himself? I'm still trying to get a read on D'Onofrio's performance. There's no question the actor is giving it his all, but I'm starting to grow a little tired of the temper tantrums he throws when things don't go his way. The Kingpin should be the most terrifying mob boss there ever was, like he was built up to be in Daredevil's opening episodes, so I'd like to get back to a place where he's more in control and making proactive moves to further his own goals. Hopefully, with his throwing down of the gauntlet at this hour's end, we can get back to more of that and less of the crybaby.