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Marvel Cinematic Universe


Mister Jack
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Part of what sets Marvel stories and characters apart from DC is that they're set in a recognizable and realistic world (or America, at least).The poor, Irish Hell's Kitchen of the 50's and 60's is a central facet of the Daredevil character. But that Hell's kitchen disappeared by the mid-80's. It's been gentrified for the entirety of the MCU Matt Murdock's life. A Matt Murdock who grew up in the 90's and went to college and law school in the 00's would have zero experience of the Irish ghetto Hell's Kitchen was 60 years ago. 

 

I think the sort of hand-waving regarding the setting apparent in Daredevil undercuts some of what makes Marvel's stuff interesting. I think they should not have tried to pretend that NYC is anything like it was back in the 60's but rather updated the character and setting so that it makes sense. I know Queens is usually Spiderman's beat, but that had a vibrant working-class Irish immigrant community until fairly recently, and Queens is also where a lot of the kind of organized crime DD opposes goes down. I do admit "the Devil of Sunnyside" is less evocative than "the Devil of hell's Kitchen."

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The only thing that bugs me about Daredevil is that a lot of the scenes just go on too long. It's bizarre because sometimes the writing can be really good, plus they're not even trying to fill out a slot in a TV schedule. An episode can be as long as it needs to be.

 

I must say that Bernthal did a great job with that whole, long back story speech in "Penny and Dime" (episode 4, I think).

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Marvel is a recognizable world but doesn't mean it should exactly match ours. Part of the premise of the first series is that Hell's Kitchen got pretty fucked over in the aftermath of Avengers, which I'd guess if they had had any gentrification would have all vanished. It would be much easier to just assume Hell's Kitchen, which has the name for it, is a bit of a shithole and "change" that in the MCU than the suggested "Devil of Sunnyside" change. Most people aren't exactly intimately familiar with the housing market of NYC for it to matter much. Same as the lawyering. Just say enough latin words and hey presto does for most folks. We're all aware of folks "making a GUI in Visual Basic to hack an IP firmware" to know TV shows usually aren't overly concerned with technical aspects.

 

@HH: Punisher is growing on me with Penny & Dime. Bit too much just shooty bang bang for the first few episodes. Elektra is currently annoying instead, though more Matt's acting around her (as in character, not Charlie Cox's acting). I'm up to the party/13th floor gate crashing episode which is her "just one more thing", and I can tell from upcoming episode thumbnail that there'll be another thing too.

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The legal stuff doesn't bother me or really affect my enjoyment of the show; I expect movies and TV to grossly simplify and misrepresent the work of the legal profession. I'm just amused at how DD goes about the simplification, as well as having the Bronx courthouse stand in for the Manhattan courthouse. 

 

I still think the hand-waving about Hell's Kitchen goes against the sort of verisimilitude that has been one of Marvel's strengths, but it's not a huge problem for me, either. Just an interesting one.

 

The real problems I have with DD season two, as a whole, are behind the spoiler tags:

 

 

Fuck the whole dumb Dark Sky macguffin. And the 40-story hole they discover and then is never mentioned again. The overarching plot, after Elektra shows up, makes no goddamned sense, which is a pity since the Punisher plotline works for all it's comic book zaniness. The whole mythos of the Hand and the Chaste is just underdeveloped enough to feel super duper hokey and lazy. I can tell the showrunners wanted to keep that stuff mysterious and instead dole out revelations about the Punisher's backstory through Karen's investigation, which worked until the very end when the colonel turned out to be the bad guy behind the death of Castle's family all along with very little foreshadowing or even a point. It was nice that Elektra and Punisher both got complete character arcs, more or less, but insanely frustrating that Murdock didn't really grow during the season nor did he uncover any actual information of substance about the Hand and the Chaste and the attendant nonsense.

 

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I guess they kinda hand-wave it with the "DA wants to fast-track it, Frank agreed" thing.

 

You'd have preferred them just leave that whole bit for next season? :P

 

 

I've actually finished the season now.

 

First minor gripe: did the S2 writers forget that all of his remaining senses are superhuman now? I know it was rarely acknowledged in S1 but I seem to recall it being referenced at least once.

 

 

Like, if he can't track someone by sound then he could probably smell them, right? Or is it weird tracking people by the scent of blood or sweat? Or if they're ninja running through sewers, they must really honk.

 

 

Overall, I really liked some elements but was also a little disappointed in others.

 

I'd guessed Elektra was a "black sky" way before they revealed it, and that she'd die, but they never even explain what it is so we never know the stakes anyway. There was that thing with the kid when Stick shows up in S1, but I don't get how that relates now either. It feels like too much is being kept a secret for future stuff. And this fucking "There's still good in you" business just felt lame.

 

 

That said though, I think they did a better job with the supporting cast this time round and there was a lot more interesting dramatic conflict between them.

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To be fair Ethan doesn't get on well with superhero-ing

http://i.imgur.com/W0Wzs9O.gifv

 

Also neither GOH or Ethan are blind, which if the two shows I'm watching atm (Daredevil and Arrested Development) have taught me, is that that is a great trait for a lawyer to have. They probably can't just go for mistrial out the gate n hope for the best.

 

Lawyers by day, Batman Arkham gamers by night.

 

Also a minor irk on the "matt has super senses" thing (up to ep 9):

 

How did no one question that he knew they were going to get shot before they got shot. Foggy was the only one who knows, and he got shot. Like I know you can struggle to hold details in an incident like that but no one questioned how he pushed karen n foggy out the way the split second they get shot at.

 

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Ethan: depends on the courtroom, but most do. I've never seen them used except in federal criminal cases in which a witness is giving testimony (habeas hearings, to be precise) I've sat through waiting for my civil hearing to begin. Most arguments are done from the table or, depending on the judge, up at the bench. 

 

Edit: and appeals courts. Most appellate arguments are made from a podium, but I think one city civil appellate court only has tables.

Why?

Edited by Mr. GOH!
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I was just noticing in Daredevil that there's no podium, and it got me thinking that I can't think of a single legal show set in New York that I've seen where they had podiums, so I wondered if it was accurate or if it was just a TV thing.

 

In our courts here we do everything from a podium.  Or at least everything that involves more than a sentence or two.

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Some photos from Dr. Strange. This looks kinda bizarre but seems like a good main cast and all British people too (Cumberbatch, Ejiofor and Wong).

 

http://geektyrant.com/news/exciting-doctor-strange-set-photos-and-video-show-off-some-action

Taken out of context, this looks like the campest thing I've ever seen.
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