I was avoiding watching this series for a while, because I had heard how bloody it was.  Curiosity eventually took over though, and I gave in to watching this.  Despite the fact that it is indeed bloodier than I am personally comfortable with, I’m glad I took a chance on the series.  It was very well-done.

Daredevil is one of those comic heroes I never really followed growing up, so there’s nothing I can really compare this series to, so my comments are solely limited to my experience with this series.  I’ll start off by saying that I’m glad Netflix posted this all in one go.  I tend to be terrible with the waiting game for the next episode of anything, so it was nice to know I could finish the series in one go if I wanted to.

I think I spent about the course of a week watching this series in its entirety, and it did not take long for me to get invested.  I would have to say that I was captured immediately from the haunting opening theme and eye-catching graphics.  I think all the actors did a terrific job in their respective roles.

There are definitely certain points in the series that still stick out in my memory.  Particularly the relationship between a young Matt Murdock and his father.  A movie is far more likely to make me cry than a television series, so the fact that this series was able to bring out of me a few tears I thought was fantastic.  I think Charlie Cox plays his character just right so that there’s this balance between drawing out a viewer’s sympathies and also showing that Murdock can hold his own pretty well, despite his vision impairment.

I was surprised to see Elden Hensen in this series (I don’t think I’ve watched anything with him in it since Ashton Kutcher’s The Butterfly Effect (2004)), but I thought he was great as Foggy.  He always seemed to lift the mood in the series at just the right time, which I appreciated.

Also memorable was Nikolai Nikolaeff as Vladimir Ranskahov.  I don’t normally root for the bad guy, so to speak, but this character grew on me over time.  Again, I can’t comment on whether or not Nikolaeff was accurate in his portrayal of Vladimir, but I thought he was perfect in the role.  Part of me wanted him to survive and show up again later, but alas, it was not meant to be.

On the other hand, while I think Vincent D’Onofrio did a fantastic job as Wilson Fisk, I had no similar feelings towards his character.  I will say though, he and Ayelet Zurer (as Vanessa Marianna) had great chemistry on screen.  With the way things turned out for him in the end, I’m wondering if Zurer’s character is going to play a key role in the next season.  Perhaps some sort of revenge plot?  That could be interesting.  Then again, not sure if something like that would really give enough material for a full second season, so if that sort of storyline is considered for season two, then maybe it’ll be more of a side-story like the Russians were in this one.

Truly though, I think the character that stood out the most to me was James Wesley (played by Toby Leonard Moore).  I really think he stole the show, and it was a painful blow, how his character turned out, because the way Moore portrayed him, I thought there was so much potential there.  I found him to be the most interesting character of them all, because he was altogether a strange mix of classy, loyal, protective, calculating, and subtly funny.  He constantly reminded me of Colin Firth in some British spy role, and I loved every minute of it.

I could be wrong, but this first season seemed to be doing a lot of stage-setting, so I’m quite interested to see what’s in store next season.  As far as I know, the only thing that’s been confirmed is that we’ll see a second season in 2016, so I’m looking forward to that, and I will be keeping my eyes peeled for a confirmed air date.