The Netflix Defenders are in free fall! Within the past week or so, both Iron Fist and Luke Cage have been cancelled! It’s quite the shocker! I always pictured these four shows — along with Daredevil and Jessica Jones — as being a package deal. And does Netflix really cancel shows? Is that how they work?

Whatever the case may be, the third season of Daredevil arrived to remind us all that these shows can be damn good!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Daredevil remains the standout show of the entire experiment. With the exception of the season 2 finale, I’ve loved everything about the Daredevil show, so I’m quite pleased at another exciting season. Though if I’m being honest, Daredevil isn’t among the best TV of the year for me. It’s fun and exciting, but for me, it falls just under the radar of being must-watch television. Still good though.

Join me after the jump for my thoughts on the latest season. Except FULL SPOILERS for the whole season. And feel free to share your own reviews in the comments.

6. I really enjoyed the season and everybody was great

Yeah, it’s an enjoyable season of television from start to finish, and an excellent superhero TV show. The Kingpin is a phenomenal villain, played by Vincent D’Onofrio, and he creates such an epic monsoon of corruption and evil for our hero to go up against. I liked Matt’s struggle to do the right thing versus just killing Fisk (even if the question of whether or not Matt should kill the villain has been the defining trait of every single season so far), because Matt Murdock is an awesome character on this show. I also enjoyed the return of the black suit. I like his Daredevil costume just fine, but there’s just something cooler about the black suit and the black mask.

It was especially cool in that big climatic shouting match with Kingpin, probably the best scene of the season.

I don’t personally understand the concept of ‘Catholic Guilt’, but it turns Matt into a pretty compelling character. And church iconography is always a hoot in drama. Sister Maggie was especially cool and a good foil for Matt.

I also really enjoyed Karen and Foggy’s subplots this season. Karen finally gets fleshed out to a full extent, and Foggy is just a cool guy doing cool business. I also really like Marci as a character. She’s a great advocate for Foggy, but has her own life to worry about.

I think the show could have used more Vanessa. She was such an important part of Kingpin’s motivations, yet she only really gets involved in the last episode or two, and then Matt’s threat to Kingpin hinges entirely on a quick decision she makes in those final two episodes. I think the subplot of Vanessa wanting to fully be a part of Kingpin’s criminal empire should have kicked off much earlier in the season, really building up to that wedding and giving more weight to Matt using her as a bargaining chip in keeping Kingpin alive.

5. It needs more big moments

I don’t really know the best way to verbalize this, but it’s a complaint I’ve quietly had with every Netflix Defenders show for awhile now: they need more big moments. They need big, heroic, memorable, stick-with-you moments. The sort of moments and scenes you remember several years later and find on YouTube just so you can relive them. Moments where the music swirls, where everything has clearly been building to this. Where the dialogue is perfect and compelling. These shows need badass hero moments.

There have been some. I really liked the first telephone call between Matt and Kingpin in season 1. Or that moment in the season 1 finale, where Daredevil reveals himself in costume to Fisk, and Fisk realizes just who is responsible for his downfall. Matt shouting at Fisk in the season 3 finale is an OK scene. But largely, I dunno, there just aren’t a lot across the shows.

I’m talking moments like where Peter Parker reveals himself to Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2, and then Mary Jane sees him as well. Or any number of speeches in Doctor Who. Or the ‘Big Damn Heroes’ moment when Mal and Zoe rescue Simon and River from the crazy townsfolk in Firefly. Or the “That’s my secret Cap…” scene in The Avengers, when Hulk punches the Leviathan.

Daredevil and the rest of the Netflix Defenders shows need more big, awesome hero moments.

4. It’s kind of a repeat of season 1

As great a villain as the Kingpin is, there’s not much that you can do with him. He uses all of his money and ruthlessness to take control of pretty much everyone around him, including mob bosses and law enforcement officers, and he goes after the innocent people in Matt’s life. That’s his whole deal. It’s what he did in season 1, and it’s what he does in season 3. He can’t be allowed to just exist, like he does in the comics, because Matt has to take him down, and because Kingpin will find ways to try and kill Karen and/or Foggy. So he can’t be allowed to stay in power. And Matt can’t kill him.

So both seasons 1 and 3 are about Matt, Karen and Foggy circling around Fisk from the bottom, with Fisk always winning, until they find a witness who will testify against Fisk, and that somehow takes him down and sends him to prison.

How did that work out for you guys in season 1? Fisk took control of the prison and had the power to overturn his criminal convictions. What assurances do we have that Fisk won’t do the same this time?

Honestly, why does Fisk become a criminal anyway at this point? His wealth apparently has no limits, even when he’s in prison. And he managed to get his Season 1 charges overturned on a perfectly legal appeal. Why not do that again and then use his wealth to go into legitimate business? Then he can be rich and be with Vanessa. Unless it’s about the brutality and ruthlessness for both of them…

3. They should have gone full Bullseye

Ben Poindexter was a good henchman villain. He’s ruthless and dangerous and provides a great antagonist for Matt, with his own backstory, wants, dreams, hopes and flaws. And I liked that his unerring accuracy was treated almost like a real super power. It was neat.

But they should have gone full Bullseye. By that, I mean he should have had his own costume and been using the ‘Bullseye’ name by the end. Having him pose as Daredevil to discredit him for most of the season worked just fine. But by the end, by the time he’s turned against Fisk, he should have taken it upon himself to mess up his Daredevil costume somehow to turn it into a Bullseye costume. Paint it black, draw little white bullseyes on it, whatever. The show should have gone there.

I realize the Netflix Defenders shows are afraid of superhero costumes for some reason, even all these seasons deep. But c’mon.

2. I’m never going to get that Stilt-Man cameo

I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the Stilt-Man legs Easter Egg the first season actually pay off. We don’t need much. Just one scene where Daredevil takes down Stilt-Man. It could be a cold open. It could make for its own insane standalone episode! This show can’t just be Matt Murdock chasing after Wilson Fisk. Give him some proper street-level villains to beat up! Like Stilt-Man!

I don’t think it’s too much to ask. I mean, it is too much to ask for this show. But I don’t think it should be.

1. I have no idea what happens next…

Iron Fist and Luke Cage have been cancelled. Disney has their own streaming service in the works. And there’s been no word on a fourth season for Daredevil yet. I have no idea what’s going to happen next and I’m a little scared. This is a great show, and a great way to include Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (even if the connections are tenuous at best). We know that Jessica Jones will get a third season, and that the Punisher will get a second season. But who knows what’s next.

I hope Daredevil gets a fourth season. But I would also be OK with Netflix canceling the show and Disney’s streaming service picking it up. I would also be totally OK with Disney starting up a Heroes for Hire show on their streaming service, along with a Daughters of the Dragon show. Warner Bros. and DC are going nuts with TV shows these days. Did you hear there might be a Secret Six show? Heck, they’re legit filming a freakin’ Doom Patrol show! If those are a success, then maybe Disney will go even more nuts with their own shows.

I don’t know what the future holds, but right now, I’m more fearful than hopeful at the future of Daredevil.

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