I think I would have prefered 8-10 eps more focused on the Punisher storyline better. I don't feel like the Elektra storyline was fully developed, and the Punisher stuff started out strong and then kind of got pushed on the back burner. In terms of plot they never really came together, so much so that it seemed odd that Castle even showed up during the Foot showdown.

Of course, thematically they had the opposite problem, they were too similar. I think it would have worked better if Elektra had shown up for a few episodes, to setup her own storyline next season and more subtly reinforce the no killing moral dilemma theme from the Punisher storyline. Kind of like what Stick did in the first season. Instead it ended up feeling like DD was just repeating himself with his conversations between Elektra/Punisher.


I also felt a bit of distance from Murdock this season. It was intentional in some ways. They were setting up his isolation, and I certainly understood Foggy's POV during the season. The issue is that I didn't feel like I ever got back on Matt's side. Part of that is because Matt himself didn't know the extent of and was often outright dismissing the threat of the Hand to the city, while still using it to justify his erratic, vigilante behavior.

It also relates back to the central theme of his moral crisis over killing. Even though he eventually slips with the "maybe this one time" offer, I never really felt he was struggling with the dilemma. There was a lot of stuff going down this season in regards to his faith in the legal system. This kind of came bursting out in the "one time" scene, mentioning Fisk running the prison, etc, I just wish we had been shown that frustration along the way since the entire season was about those systems failing over and over and DD conflict of working outside the system but trying to support it at the same time.

but not him personally. His men did. They were his men from when he was a colonel.

Kingpin