Murdock makes a near fatal error while trying to save a kidnapped boy, and finds an unlikely ally when he needs saving himself.
"Cut Man" builds on the creative momentum that the premiere started and manages to culminate in its most thrilling action sequence yet. It would be easy to overlook just how strong this episode is overall because of that magnificent battle shown in one continuous shot at the end. That sequence is very impressive. But the episode does a lot of strong things elsewhere as well. Sure, those elements are still introductory plot beats helping the audience understand the characters of the show. And yet, it is all still being told an engaging way that showcases who these characters are through their actions.The episode opens with Daredevil bleeding in a dumpster. It's the aftermath of some other battle that the audience doesn't get to witness. That episode-concluding fight is more than enough fight choreography for this hour. Instead the hour opens with Matt dealing with the wear and tear on his body after the fight. As he and his father say so many times in the flashbacks, the Murdock boys get back up after they get knocked down. That's an aspiring thought of perseverance that has helped shape Matt into the man he is today. He needs to keep fighting because that is the nature of the situation he has put himself in. He has effected the organization of criminal activity in Hell's Kitchen. People have started to notice and that makes his mission even more perilous.
He meets Nurse Claire Temple who pulls him out of the dumpster and to her apartment to treat his wounds. Her character is important in the grand design of the show because she is presented as a character opposite Daredevil and not Matt Murdock. The distinction between the two is one of the most powerful internal conflicts of the character so far. She knows what he has been doing for the community. As a nurse working in the E.R., she has heard stories about a man in black saving people from criminals. She understands and respects the work he is doing. That's why she doesn't take him to the hospital and goes along with everything he says afterwards. She has a willingness to make a difference in the world around her. And yet, she's also a pair of fresh eyes on his crusade and his skill set. She doesn't quite comprehend his amazing sensory abilities. He doesn't offer any kind of explanation either. But there's still that developing trust and intimacy between the characters. One where he is grateful to the healing she does and she honors the physicality and brutality of his vigilantism.
When a corrupt cop for the Russians comes knocking on the door, Claire does her best to protect Matt and he subsequently renders the man unconscious. It's a brutal moment watching as he waits to drop the fire extinguisher on this new enemy. It's even more brutal once all of them are on the roof and Daredevil needs to get the information he needs about the kidnapped child - by any means necessary. Torture, killing and violence have become tropes of the genre devoid of meaning. As presented by Daredevil though, they have incredible meaning. There's the practicality of it all. Daredevil needs to fight in order to safe the good and the innocent. But torture has to weigh on his soul too. When he hoists the Russian over the top of the building, he proclaims that he needs to do this in order to get the information while also saying that he enjoys it. Much like Claire and the Russian, the audience is suppose to be unsure if Matt really means that. Fearful for his life, the Russian complies and tells Matt what he wants to hear - and is still flung from the building, somehow managing to survive. Claire doesn't believe that Matt enjoys the violence as much as he says that he does. And yet, that's still the main struggle for Matt and the Daredevil.
The Daredevil is actually quite good at fighting and taking a punch as the next scene showcases quite well. He is fighting to reunite a kidnapped boy with his father. It's all told very thematically with Matt's own past and the relationship he had with his own father. Matt is fighting to honor his father who didn't want to keep sticking to the criminal status quo and ultimately paid for it with his life. Jack's last act was for his son; to show him that he needs to stand up against the criminals and the oppressors of the world. That's exactly what Matt is doing now. He walks down a hallway just like his father did before his big fight. And yet, Matt's fight is in the hallway while Jack's is in the ring.
Director Phil Abraham does a phenomenal job of setting the scene up. It starts simply enough with a shot of a dim and long hallway. At the end of it is the room with the kidnapped boy and on both sides are rooms with a handful of Russian gangsters in them. Matt then appears ready to take them on. He enters the first room as the camera pans back so that we hear the chaos happening but don't see it. Then as one Russian is flung through the door and the gangsters from the other room check to see what's going on, it breaks out into a big action sequence in the middle of the hallway. It's exhausting for both sides of this fight. Matt uses the environment around him to his advantage but he still faces the daunting task of subduing several men who want to stop him from rescuing the child. It's intimate in a way that shows what the toil of this battle does to everyone fighting it. Matt is successful in knocking all of them unconscious. It does leave him slightly defeated though. But he's still able to pull himself together to keep pressing forward. And then, when it comes to the actual rescue, Matt pulls back his Daredevil mask to reveal his true face to the boy. It's in that transition that makes the whole action set piece and internal struggles of Matt Murdock worth it. He recognizes that he needs to be seen as a man to the scared and traumatized child not just another person hiding behind a mask. He needs to earn that trust and only Matt can do that. Daredevil can flip and fight to get to that door but only Matt can get the child to accept his embrace and rescue.
Some more thoughts:
- "Cut Man" was written by Drew Goddard and directed by Phil Abraham.
- So, Jack Murdock decides to teach his son a valuable lesson by standing up to the criminals by winning the fight but at the cost of young Matt losing his parent? That seems like a horrible trade-off.
- Foggy and Karen spend the whole night together hitting the bars and streets of Hell's Kitchen. It's meant to bring levity to the episode around it while also building character history and intimacy between the two. Plus, it's also deeply rooted in the trauma that Karen just experienced in the series premiere.
- Matt tells Claire that his vigilante outfit is a work in progress whilst a young Matt is telling Jack in flashbacks that red works because then people can't see you bleeding.
As noted in previous reviews from this series, every episodic review was written without having seen any succeeding episodes. Similarly, it would be much appreciated if in the comments section, the conversation would only revolve around the show up to this point in its run.
