By Jack Ransom - March 21, 2025
TV - Premium TV
Episode 3 - 'The Hollow of His Hand'
After an admittedly slightly mixed bag with episodes 1 & 2, episode 3 delivers an excellent courtroom centric pot-boiler that shines the light on a next-to-unknown Marvel character: the White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes) and takes a cutting look at both the idea and act of vigilantism, as well as the cutting and overbearing intimidation and gang like brute force of the NYPD.
The lack of action and DD suiting up, is made up for with a well navigated trial set piece that showcases the performance talents of Charlie Cox (who really is at the top of his game here), balancing humour and wit and with pure dedication to his client. Said client is played with honesty, nobility by Reyes and shines a light on the idea of vigilantism. The episode wraps with a particularly savage cliff hanger setting up episode 4.
Episode 4 - 'Sic Semper Systema'
Coming off the back of the excellent previous episode. The spotlight shines back on the Kingpin’s quest to change NYC under his new Mayorship. Again, this episode to me is just solid, nothing particularly stands out, but it still keeps interest due to the performances.
Peering more intimately into Vanessa (Ayelet Zura) and Wilson’s relationship past, Matt reeling from episode 4’s finale and the brief return of the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) - which, obviously it’s great to see him, however it does seem a bit of a random placement (feels very much like a reshoot) and their dialogue doesn’t match the rooftop scene of Season 2. Lastly, the glimpses of the mysterious Muse offer a particularly sinister glimpse of what’s to come.
Once again I can’t help but feel somewhat mixed on the show. Episode 3 is certainly the highlight, but a particularly spoilerific moment, whilst shocking, does take away from an interesting character and Episode 4 had me itching for more action (despite committed character work with Fisk and the return of Frank) that hopefully Episode 5 will deliver. That being said, the series has me invested and when the red costume returns I’m sure it will be satisfying.
Episode 3 & 4 streaming on Disney Plus
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