Daredevil – Cut Man

• Title: Daredevil – Cut Man
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“Cut Man” opens with a battered and bruised Daredevil (Charlie Cox) found by nurse Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) who has heard the stories of a masked vigilante fighting for justice in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen and decides to attend to his wounds. The severity of the his wounds and Daredvil’s unwillingness to share anything about himself to his savior mean it takes quite some time before the second episode fills in the gaps as to what led Matt Murdock to be left in a dumpster for Claire to find.

Daredevil’s injuries, the severity of which seems rather inconsistent throughout the episode (especially during the final battle), come from the kidnapping of a young boy by the Russian mob the vigilante has been bothering over the past few weeks. Using the boy as bait, the mob lures him (but for some reason doesn’t kill him?). “Cut Man” (named after a boxer’s corner man whose duties Dawson’s character steps in to provide) also offers the best action scene of the series so far in the safe house of the mob where Daredevil takes down multiple targets before walking out with the scared young boy. Far cleaner than the quick-cut scenes of the first episode, this sequence showcases Daredevil’s agility, reflexes, and unwillingness to surrender against superior odds.

Flashbacks in this episode showcase Matt struggling to learn to live with his blindness following the accident and the aftermath of Battlin’ Jack Murdock‘s (John Patrick Hayden) final fight when the boxer refuses to take a dive eventually leading Matt to find his body (which is very similar to the sequence from the 2003 film). Helping to balance out the darkness of both Matt’s storyline and the flashbacks, the episode’s B-story follows Foggy (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) on their bar-hopping night that never ends as Foggy works to put his new secretary at ease with the city following her recent troubles. The show continues to tease a possible relationship between the two but, as comic readers know, Foggy wasn’t the law partner Karen preferred so I’m interested to see how long before the show gives more time to Matt and Karen.