Ron Does Stuff

The first episode doesn’t hit with as much of a wallop as the first episode of the Netlfix Daredevil, but maybe that’s just because I’m viewing that show with rose-colored glasses since that was all the way back in 2018 and before the pandemic. But it does hit enough for me to still be interested in seeing where this whole thing goes!

Fisk is now the mayor of New York City and now we get a mention of the known New York heroes so far — Daredevil, Punisher, and Spider-Man. Spider-Man! Wild! Fisk promises a return to the rule of law during his term but we all now that the rule of law can be flexible when it comes to certain individuals, whether in comics or in the real world. Hell, the rule of law is often more inflexible in comics than it is in the real world.

We are then introduced to White Tiger, who in an unfortunate turn of events kills a New York police officer by accident. I haven’t actually read it, but I know the trial of White Tiger is an acclaimed storyline in the comics so I kinda want to hear what comic book readers think of this adaptation.

We don’t get to dive into that immediately though, as we are first shown how Fisk is adjusting to political life. He’s longing to have Vanessa with him but there seems to be a disconnect between the two of them and I honestly can’t remember if this is new to the show or something that was touched upon in the Netflix version. Am I going to have to rewatch all the past seasons just to get a better appreciation of this current one? The camera also makes a point to show the wounds on Fisk’s hand, which tells me that he may just have killed the Adam that Vanessa talked about in episode 1.

Not gonna lie, Fisk isn’t just bringing Trump energy, he’s also bringing Duterte energy with populist stunts like the pothole-filling thing. The optics — the episode title, by the way — is very much on his side while the optics for Matt is very, very bad as he has decided to represent White Tiger in court. And that court case is going to bring Matt and Fisk in conflict, as pointed out by BB Urich when she gets a chance to talk to Fisk, because the retirement of a beloved police commissioner has resulted in parts of the police force turning against him. So having a cop go to jail because of Matt isn’t going to be a fun time for him, especially since the beloved police commissioner has already told him he’s going to make sure that his time as mayor doesn’t last long.

BUT apparently I underestimated Fisk or forgotten how cunning he is because he’s found out that the police commissioner has a child in Philadelphia who he indirectly threatens if he decides to push through with his plan to resign. And if that wasn’t enough, he also threatened no raise, no overtime minimums, and no expanded cadet class on top of that.

Meanwhile, Matt is finding it difficult to build a case for the White Tiger’s defense because you can’t just say you know that he’s not lying because you can hear his heart. They still haven’t found the guy that the two police officers were assaulting and his new love interest, Dr. Glenn, is now the couples counselor for Fisk and Vanessa. That doesn’t have anything to do with the White Tiger case but I fell like that’s going to be relevant further down the line.

When it finally starts looking like Matt has a break in his case because he’s found the person the cops were harassing, he runs into a bit of trouble because the cops — with a tattoo I don’t recognize but must be important because the camera focuses on it — also show up to kill the witness. Unfortunately for the cops, Matt has been bottling a lot of anger and they just happen to be the ones to receive the brunt of it.