I finally finished. Great start to the season, weak ending. Everything up to episode 9 was great.
Spoiler:
The whole Hand/Black Sky plot fizzed out. Elektra is the terrible weapon centuries in the making that they've always worshipped? Why? Because she's bloodthirsty? So's Frank. I guess he's the Black Sky too. I was expecting some sort of mystic doomsday device. Lame reveal. Elektra herself wasn't that great either. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't stand out like Punisher or Kingpin. Thats not the Elektra I know. She seemed too childish and emotional. Not as cold, controlled, and terrifying as she usually is portrayed. She's more enjoyable if you think of her as an original character though. He death also didn't really have any huge weight to it either. We haven't known her long enough to leave any great mark, and its Elektra so anyone who knows anything about her knows she'd be back. It would have had more impact if they kllled her in the next season and gave Bullseye his big scene. This took a pretty big moment from him.I also didn't like Murdock crossing the line and just deciding to murder. What happen to his entire speech to Castle? "You've lost people? So what? That doesn't give you the right to kill." Then he just tosses Nobu off of the rooftop. Nobu ended up being a weak villain too. Typical one dimensional ninja assassin.
The Blacksmith plot also ended up fizzing out. Weak end. They spent the entire season hyping up some great big conspiracy, but it just ended up being a crazy Colonel back from the war with his unit of killers for some reason and somehow selling the purest drugs on the market. And they killed Castles family because... he didn't want to sell drugs with them? This entire ending wasn't explained at all. I was expecting some huge Punisher villain to be revealed at the center of it all. A new crime syndicate lord like Jigsaw. That would have been a badass reveal, and could have led into Castles own series. Instead, it's a crazy war hero. Shoot him in the head, end of plot line. What a weak ending.
They never even explained what the deal was with the 40 story hole in the ground the Hands been digging. Wtf?
They also never explained why they were draining blood from the victims, or what they put inside of them. This never led anywhere.
We never learned Karens past that somehow made her identify with the Punisher.
Matts radar sense was also weirdly inconsistent. We've seen how he sees the world through his eyes in season 1. A world on fire, with sounds bouncing and radiating off surfaces. It doesn't matter if these ninjas can somehow stop their heart, he should be able to see them just fine. I mean, he was able to see the sword slashes on the wall when he went to save Karen, and thats an inanimate object. He was able to see Nobu just fine every time they've fought. Him not being able to sense the ninjas was weird and lame.
Kingpin somehow ended up being the best part of the season, again. Castle came in second place. Stick came in third. These three stole every scene they were in. Still, the main plot line was crap. Save all that mystic bull for Iron Fist and keep Daredevil grounded in the future IMO.
Another plus was the deteriorating relationship of Nelson, Murdock, and Page. This was actually pretty good drama. I remember one of these episodes being constant stress and hits from all sides on Murdock, and it actually felt claustrophobic. They did good here. Foggy was awesome. Paige wasn't bad, though she was annoying sometimes. All three of them together though, was great.
Despite episodes 4 and 9 being the best in the series, season 1 was better. It ended in a bang, were as this fizzed out. Here's to hoping next season centers on Fisk and Bullseye.