First Impressions - Daredevil: "Cut Man"

This is by no means a deeply intense dissection of the episode.

It's just my quick comments and notes after seeing the episode only once (a la AoS).
Spoilers after the jump.

You've been warned...

Episode 2: "Cut Man"

The Good:

I have no idea who Claire is from the books...but she was cool! I mean - calling him "Mike"? 

That. Was. Hilarious.

That was AWESOME!

I also think this is also the first time they mention Matt's sense of smell.

The Bad: 

Have I mentioned I don't know Claire from the books?

The WTF?: 

You've got Matt's father fighting Crusher Creel...and we don't get to see it?

That's some lowdown dirty s#!t right there.

I'm not asking for a long drawn out scene with the camera dancing between the fighters, just one scene...ONE SCENE...where Creel's walking to the damn ring. Is that too much to ask?

Okay...onto the biggie. First of all - 

Mrs. Adorkification asked "Why didn't he just cut the lights?"

Now that's a very good question. The most likely answer is the obvious one - so we could see the fight. There was a moment during the interrogation scene on the roof where Cox obviously puled his punch too much, but I don't think this big fight was meant to compensate for that. I think the goal of this scene was to show the visceral fighting style of the show...which it did. The less likely answer to my wife's question is because Matt didn't want to draw too much attention, but I've got a problem with that. 

Before Matt even enters the hallway, we learn several things: the boy is being held behind the door on the far end, there's a door on one side leading to a room with a bunch of guys playing cards, and a door on the opposite side leading to a room with a bunch of more guys watching TV or something.

Why didn't Matt take out the quiet room first?

This falls under the same logic as why he didn't cut the power. With that noise blaring, there would have been no way they would have heard Matt busting heads in the other room. Granted - a gun could have gone off, or one of the guys could have made it to the other room for help - but at least Matt would have shown some "stealth smarts", if there is such a thing, going in. 

Unless they creators were making a point.

Throughout the initial Daredevil series, Matt's sanity was in doubt. It came out most often during Frank Miller's time on the book, but if you go back through the series you'll find places where Miller got the idea. Maybe that's what they're playing at here - Matt feels for the boy, and his anger (along with a S#!T TON of pain) makes him less cautious...which makes sense. This would also explain his methodology with the guy on the roof.

Then there's the fight itself.

This is a disturbing fight to see. The choreographer should get a medal. I mean there's dancing-type fighting you see at a boxing match. There's dirty fighting you'd see in a back alley. There's desperate fighting you'd see in a slasher film. 

This was messy fighting. 

There's no other way to describe it. It was messy...all over the place. It wasn't just Matt fighting messy either. The thugs fought the same way. Everyone looked tired. Scared. Desperate. Sloppy. The doors just sat there for everyone to trip over and slide down. I have to say this was the most realistic fight I've ever seen. No Hollywood glamour here. If I ever found myself standing somewhere watching this S#!T go down, I'd run like hell. 

You just know this is going to be discussed on the Blu-ray commentaries. In detail.

And did those white glove things Matt wore remind anyone else of John Romita Jr's artwork?

Then, when he finally makes it to the kid's door, he takes his mask off...but he's wearing it on the way out.

You hear him speak to the boy, but you never go into that room. In fact, you never go into any room. Which makes the whole thing even messier. 

Adorkification Moment:

That was Stan Lee co-commentating the fight, wasn't it?

Josie's. F**king. Bar.

Pass the popcorn Pepe...this here's the stuff.