Daredevil Season 2 Episodes Ranked (w/SPOILER Review)

Daredevil Season 2 Episodes Ranked (w/SPOILER Review)

We’re just over two weeks away from the premiere of Daredevil: Born Again. That means we have my episodes ranked/season review for season two of the show. What did I think about it? How does it compare to season one? Let’s talk about it!

• SPOILER Review: I believe the general opinion is that season two is the weakest of the show, while still being a great season. When I’m writing this, I haven’t seen season three. I would say that this is a step down from season one, but it’s still a great season. This season is able to build off of the foundation laid by season one. This season explores how Kingpin’s plan and manipulation affected the city and the criminal underworld in New York City. This causes crime bosses and gangs to rise up which ties into why Punisher is there and how Elektra and The Hand get wrapped up. It just makes for a more complex but also very interesting season. The big stand out here was Jon Bernthal’s Punisher. This was such great casting, probably the third best of this show behind Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio. I was very curious what they were going to do with his character. They set him up to just be a ruthless guy that punishes people. He’s very much treated as an antagonist towards Daredevil. But as the season goes along, they make you sympathize with him. It’s not in a way that ruins the character Or makes him less intimidating. But you see who he is as a person and why he’s doing it. They found a very human way to ground him. He’s helping the city, he’s taking out the evil in the city but he’s doing it in dangerous and violent ways. This causes the city to be split on what to do with him. Some people like that he’s taking out the evil, while others don't like that there’s a guy with so much violence out there. It’s a very human and realistic response for people to have. Even his relationship with Karen I thought was great, it provided a great voice of reason for him. It was another element in which it grounded him to be more human. With the knowledge of Daredevil being more out there, it provides for some interesting dynamics between the government and city as to what they should do with him. Can a vigilante like him be trusted? It explores all of these questions while amping up the stakes which is causing Matt to have to be Daredevil more often which hurts his relationship with Foggy and Karen. Matt and Foggy have a lot of tension for a good portion of this season and you understand where both of them are coming from. On the negative, the stuff with Elektra and The Hand wasn’t super interesting to me. There’s moments in which it’s very cool what they do. Seeing Daredevil and Elektra fight a bunch of ninjas is very cool and exciting. They didn’t seem properly fleshed out and threatening enough that I didn’t understand why Matt is feeling the way that he is about these characters. Maybe that’s because the season has a lot going on. It can’t focus as much time on The Hand as maybe they should have. The performance by Elektra wasn’t bad, it just felt a bit bland. It seems like all of the other performances have something about them that pops. I didn’t feel that way about Elektra. That’s frustrating when Elektra is a very big part of the Daredevil mythology from the comics. My issues aside, this is a great season. There’s a lot of great stuff in here, I loved Bernthal’s Punisher and some of the tension and dynamics in the season. But I do think there’s a few to many things going on that hold it back from being as good or even better than season one. 

13. Kinbaku (Episode 5): Episode four left off on a cliffhanger teasing Elektra, episode five lets us get to know Elektra. It’s fun to see Elektra show up in this show. She’s a big part of the Daredevil universe. It was interesting how they handled it. Where in the flashbacks you get Matt and Elektra’s romantic relationship and in the present we get Matt and Karen’s romantic relationship. You get the sense that maybe these two relationships could create some tension in the show. In the flashbacks how they flesh out Matt and Elektra backstory will show how she’s pushing him to become this killer, this person to avenge his father’s death but in a way that Matt doesn’t agree with. This episode ends with Matt and Elektra in the present setting up the next episode and you know that’s going to be interesting. What I will say about this episode is that it feels like the calm before the storm. The first four episodes with the Punisher had this constant tension and dread. The tension never let up until the end of episode four. Now that the air is out of the balloon, the pacing of the episode isn’t as great as the previous four. This episode wasn’t as exciting as I felt like it should have been. That’s why it’s ranked lower on this list. But overall, this episode was solid. 

12. Regrets Only (Episode 6): After a weaker episode with episode five, I thought episode six was a good step-up, but still not a great episode. There’s a lot of reasons for that. The thing that really stood out to me about this episode was the stuff with Foggy, Karen, and Punisher was super interesting. This was the first episode where we really saw the non-villain side of Punisher. We get him pleading not-guilty, which sets up his trial for the rest of the season. Even those conversations between Karen and Punisher in the hospital were a lot more compelling and interesting then I thought it was going to be. I didn’t expect the conversations between those two characters to be one of the big positives of this episode and the season. You see the humanity in Punisher through these conversations. You also get Matt and Elektra doing their thing after it was set up in episode five. I thought their dynamic worked a lot better in this episode than the previous. Even having them sneak around at this fancy party, being spies and manipulating security all of that was fun. It balanced the tension of the Punisher stuff with the Matt and Elektra stuff. A solid episode. 

11. Penny and Dime (Episode 4): What I thought this episode did a fantastic job of doing was creating a set of villains that make you sympathize with Punisher. The previous episodes set up Punisher as this threat you want to see taken out. As soon as these new villains threaten his dog. You constantly want to see them defeated and Daredevil and Punisher beating them up. This episode delivers on that, the final third of the episode is payoff after payoff these villain characters getting beaten up and killed. We do get more Punisher later in the season, but the first few episodes have Punisher as the main villain. This episode closes that out, but it leaves the door open for Punisher to return. It also sets up a new storyline with Elektra being our cliffhanger. Another thing that’s sort of been teased up to this point was romantic chemistry between Matt and Karen. This episode leaves off with them planning a date and it’s payoff, because of where we first met Karen in the first episode of the show. There’s still more story with them after this episode, but there is a sense of payoff in this episode. This episode is still very good, I really dug the episode. But I don’t know if the individual pieces here are as great as the previous three episodes. For whatever reason, this episode didn’t draw out as many big emotions for me as the previous three episodes did. 

10. Semper Fidelis (Episode 7): This episode is essentially the mid-point of the season and I thought it was a great middle episode of the season. There were a lot of great moments and elements of the episode. You get some of the awesome Daredevil action, it’s fun to have Daredevil and Elektra together fighting. Both of them are athletic acrobatic characters, having two of them take down goons is great. It continues to show just how impressive the fight coreraphy in this show can be. Beyond that, you get some courtroom moments with Foggy, Karen, and Punisher. That’s so impressive when some of the best moments in a superhero show are people talking. When the showrunner comes out and says that they don’t believe Daredevil was good when it was talking is stupid. It’s episodes like this that show that the dialogue is just as good as the fight scenes. Beyond that you also get Matt and Foggy’s relationship falling apart and there being conflict between them. Matt’s working with Elektra that’s pulling him away from Punisher’s trial. It creates this conflict and dynamic between the characters that feels earned. You know why Matt is doing what he’s doing but also why Foggy is frustrated. 

9. The Dark at the End of the Tunnel (Episode 12): I didn’t feel this was necessarily one of the flashier episodes of the season, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Since this show is very consistent, there was a lot in this episode that I enjoyed. Having The Hand capture and torture Stick provided this motivation for Daredevil and Elektra. They both have a relationship with Stick, it might not be the healthiest relationship but that’s the reason why they found each other. The torturing sequences for this episode were pretty gnarly. This show has always done some pretty gross and gnarly stuff, some of the stuff here is next level. They show Stick as being weak, that’s not something that we normally see from him. He’s normally a very strong character, this episode he’s not. I also loved the stuff with Karen in this episode, starting her journalist career with the paper. How they tie that into what Punisher is doing and if she’s too emotionally connected to Punisher. It shows that Karen very much is the voice of reason for Punisher, she’s the angel on his shoulder. Like I said earlier, this wasn’t one of the more flashier episodes of the season or show. But sometimes that’s ok and this is a pretty good episode. 

8. Seven Minutes in Heaven (Episode 9): It was very cool to see Kingpin again and you see that even in prison he’s still a mastermind. He was the one that corrupted Punisher’s trial to get him in prison. He’s willing to do whatever he can to get what he wants. When the episode was focused on him and his plan, the episode was fantastic. Even having him use Punisher as his pawn in all of this, you see the pieces come together. This episode features one of the most brutal fights of the entire show. The Punisher takes out a whole bunch of inmates. Every single time it’s done in such a vicious and gnarly fashion. This episode shows that they were not afraid to get bloody and nasty with the action. It’s always fun to see Jon Bernthal Punisher some people in some truly gnarly and nasty ways. You also get Karen doing her own investigation trying to figure out what’s going on. She’s partnered with the reporter character and I liked that dynamic of them not fully trusting each other at the beginning, but being partners and working together. Daredevil is doing his own things leading to The Hand and trying to figure out more about that. There’s just a lot of ingredients in this episode that surprised me and moved the plot forward.

7. .380 (Episode 11): At this point in the season, this is where the tension and build up of the season starts to come together and have payoff. In this episode, you get Daredevil off on his mission with Punisher off on his mission. As the episode goes along, you realize the missions they’re on are leading them to the same place. You know what would happen if Daredevil gets their first and you know it’s much worse if Punisher gets their first. In true Daredevil fashion you get some awesome action, the big standout being the opening at the hospital. The way the hospital is designed with the lights flickering creates a cool and unique environment for an action scene to take place. You get Rosario Dawson’s character on her little subplot where you see just how much The Hand has their influence over everything. This causes her to quit her job and you see how dangerous the threat is. This is the episode where I felt The Hand’s danger the most, you see how they’re manipulating everything. 

6. A Cold Day in Hell’s Kitchen (Episode 13): I thought this episode was a pretty solid finale to season three. This episode was the payoff to everything that happened in the season. Punisher’s storyline is wrapped up, The Hand stuff wraps up. And all of the relationships and tensions started in this season are wrapped up. In typical Daredevil fashion, the fights here are pretty fantastic. We get one final fight with Daredevil and Elektra fighting ninjas, awesome awesome stuff. I loved the smaller character moments with Daredevil and Elektra. The scene where they’re talking about leaving NYC is my favorite Elektra scene of the show. They’ve finally connected and realize that they could leave NYC, she dies and it’s heartbreaking. You feel bad for Daredevil because he lost the person that understands him as Daredevil. I thought that was handled so well. Once again, the stuff with Karen’s journalist investigation was interesting and set up her arc in season three. I don’t think this is as good as season one’s finale, but it’s still a great finale that delivered a great experience. 

5. Dogs in a Gunfight (Episode 2): A great continuation from where episode one left things. This episode explores how Punisher’s actions in the previous episode affected everybody, mainly Karen. This causes more of the government and law enforcement to get involved. That kind of stuff in the episode was super engaging seeing that Punisher really is a one man army. He poses a physical and dangerous threat towards Daredevil and other good guys. The scene with Punisher in the store was great, the writing and how intimidating Jon Bernthal can be. You see how he’s using the store owner, we know he’s not a great guy. But as soon as he’s talking about porn with underage girls Punisher turns and beats the crap out of him. Matt is dealing with the effects of his fight with Punisher. That causes his suit to be damaged, he’s maybe starting to lose his powers. I will say that stuff with Matt in the episode isn't as interesting. I felt like Foggy and Karen both had more interesting plot lines going on in the episode. The way Foggy goes toe to toe with the government lady and not backing down. That was awesome, one of Foggy’s best moments. All of the stuff in the episode with the character lead up to this shootout with Punisher at the docs, fantastic sequence.  

4. Bang (Episode 1): Simply put, I thought season two started with a bang. This was an absolutely fantastic way to start the season. Season one started a bit slow because it was setting everything up. Season two is able to start and just go for it. We get some great dynamics between Team Daredevil in the episode. It continues some of the Foggy’s concerns with Matt started in season one. Some of the dialogue between the two of them in the episode was great. I love how they introduce The Punisher in this episode, they almost treated him like a slasher. His introduction scene in the hospital treated him like a horror character. From his opening scene, you feel the tension and danger of Punisher. You know that he’s a threat that people are scared of. Even how they set up The Punisher with taking down this mob boss. It’s a great way to set up the character and what his goal for the season is. Daredevil and Punisher fight towards the end of the episode. It shows off the amazing fight choreography of the show. It ends on this cliffhanger with Matt getting injured after that fight. Even showing how Kingpin’s motives in season one really affected the city and the criminal underworld. A fantastic episode. 

3. Guilty as Sin (Episode 8): This episode went in some directions that I was not expecting at all. It starts off with this cool action sequence with Daredevil and Elektra fighting ninjas. Seeing characters like them that are acrobatic is very cool. It leads into learning about Elektra’s backstory and her connections to Stick. It makes you view Elektra in a different way as you realize the circumstances that led them to meet. Because of the scenario in which this happens, it leads to Matt’s relationship with Karen and Foggy to fall apart. Foggy is right to be mad at Matt for not showing up to the court case. The tension between them as Foggy has reached his breaking point causes their company to fall apart. Karen sees Elektra back at Matt’s apartment which leads to their relationship falling apart. You feel bad for Matt as he’s trying to balance everything, but it doesn’t seem to be working. The court stuff in this episode was handled very well. It makes you hate Punisher as they were so close to accomplishing their goal. Foggy and Karen almost won until Punisher said some things he shouldn’t have said. All leading up to Punisher meeting Kingpin in prison. This might not be the most action focused episode of the season, but it’s one that’s very interesting. 

2. New York’s Finest (Episode 3): Episode one and two, set up Punisher’s rivalry with Daredevil. Here we get to see the two of them together. When it’s focused on that, it’s fantastic. It shows how great the character dynamic and the dialogue between the characters are. They flesh out Punisher and we see how he’s the opposite of Daredevil. Both people want to take out the evil people of New York City. But one of them kills and the other one doesn’t. Punisher puts Daredevil in this sequence where no matter what happens, there’s a death on his hands. It makes you hate Punisher, you despise that guy after this episode. That leads into the one shot fight scene with the biker gang and Daredevil, fantastic. I don’t know if this is a hot take, but I think this one-shot fight is better than season one’s. I thought that it shot better and you get the visceral action that we all get from the show. The stuff with Foggy and Claire in the hospital was great, you see how both of them care about Matt but both of them feel conflicted with their feelings. Almost how conflicted Matt is as a person is what makes their relationship with him conflicted. There’s something interesting for them to bond over. Some of those scenes in the hospital are super powerful. I believe this is one of the highest rated episodes of the show and that’s for good reason. 

1. The Man in the Box (Episode 10): What worked so well about this episode is that it kept on going in directions that I wasn’t expecting. Every scene, every character had a twist to what happened. While it was constantly subverting expectations, I also felt that it was constantly progressing the plot forward. You have this scene with Matt, Foggy, and Karen talking with the DA. Up to this point she’s been an antagonistic figure to the main characters. This episode finds the humanity in them, we understand them better and why they’re doing what they’re doing. Leads up to this scenario that puts Foggy in the hospital, the DA is killed. It found a way to escalate the stakes. There’s a mystery surrounding what’s going on that makes you invested in the episode. The conversation scene between Matt and Kingpin was fantastic. The acting from Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio was top notch. You get the escalation in the tension as Matt is saying things that’s clearly getting Kingpin angrier and angrier. We don’t know what he’s going to do next. You get more of this mystery and horror vibe to the stuff with The Hand in the hospital and leading up to The Hand attacking the hospital that Foggy is in. This is a fantastic episode that I sort of loved everything that it delivered.