If you haven't watched Daredevil yet, you should.

I know, I know. Typically I leave this sort of thing for a Saturday Ramble and don't link it, rather, I just leave it up so people who care enough about what I think about things to find it on their own. But I will be linking this post so people hear it from me straight... you really, really ought to watch Daredevil.

Now the fact that I like Daredevil is probably no big surprise. I'm unashamed about being a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and so long as it keeps on its current winning streak of great storytelling, I intend to stay that way. But typically I just recommend it and move on. Here, I'ma gonna get a bit preachy about it, because this is something I want to see succeed.

Daredevil is, to date, a 13 episode tv series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and produced by Netflix in collaboration with Disney/Marvel. It tells the story of Matt Murdoch, blinded when he was nine in  a freak accident that, along with removing his sight, enhanced his other senses to superhuman levels. Matt lives in Hell's Kitchen, a poor neighborhood in New York that is still rebuilding after the destruction of the Battle of New York, as seen in the Avengers. Murdoch is going into business with his friend, Foggy Nelson, as Defense Attorneys by founding the law partnership of Nelson and Murdoch. After they aid her as their very first client by proving her innocence in a murder trial, they are joined by Karen Page, who becomes the firm's secretary. Murdoch uses his enhanced senses and martial arts training to distribute vigilante justice at night, while serving as a lawyer by day.

So why should you watch it, given all the other superhero fare out there, beyond me simply telling you over and over again that it's good?

1- Tone: The MCU's dedication to Silver Age joy in their adaptations has provided a great counterpoint to the "gritty realism" of DC's movie efforts, but it has created a certain lightness in tone that could easily be written off to escapism. Daredevil, like other similar projects Netflix and Marvel have planned, deals with more "street-level" issues that wouldn't fit an Iron Man or Thor. Specifically, the big bad of the series, Wilson Fisk (brilliantly portrayed by Vincent D'onofrio) is brutally and ruthlessly pursuing a plan, not of world domination or destruction, but gentrification of Hell's Kitchen. In a world where you regularly see references to the new Gods of this world (the money for funding gentrification efforts is actually largely being taken from charitable donations to rebuild New York after the events of the Avengers) it reminds us that smaller, but darker, issues such as human trafficking and worker exploitation are still a thing... and provides a hero to tackle such problems, not just by punching them, but by tackling them in court.

2- The Women: There are four primary female cast members. Karen Page is played by Deborah Ann Woll, Claire Temple played by Rosario Dawson, Lady Gao by Wai Ching Ho, and Vanessa Marianna as played by Ayelet Zurer. It would have been SO easy for them to fall into stereotypical female traps, but instead each serves as full characters in their own right.

Karen Page was the most likely to become a simple stereotype... after all, the attractive secretary to the two uncorruptable lawyers who saved her life would almost write itself in a standard tv script. But Karen is far more, pursuing her own investigations even when Murdoch and Foggy are spinning their wheels, and often with more success. Though she does get damsel in distressed once, it cannot be ignored that of the three times in the series that her life is actively at risk, SHE is the one who acts to save it, not needing rescue, but allies.

Claire Temple is a nurse who finds a masked Murdoch bleeding out in a dumpster, and becomes his medic when missions go bad, which is often. There is definite sexual tension between her and Murdoch, but again, she is an ally, not a story convenience, saving Matt more often than he saves her. Rosario Dawson's acting chops have been lauded before, but here I feel she is truly outdoing herself.

Gao is a mystery of the show, the elderly runner of a Triad heroin ring and, outside of Fisk, the most respected member of the group, whom even the VERY deadly Fisk feels the need to show extra respect to, showing complete control of herself even as Daredevil brings the empire crashing down around her.

Finally is Vanessa Marianna, the only true love interest of the three and in an interesting turnaround, interested in the villian, Fisk, serving as a capable ally, pulling him into the public spotlight and hamstringing the attempts of the heroes to bring him down, making him more dangerous and aiding him in putting a painful past behind him, and shocking Murdoch when he realizes; "There is someone who loves Fisk, who would mourn his loss."

If you want better roles for women in the Marvel Universe, Daredevil provides the best step forward since The Black Widow in Avengers and Cap 2.

3- The Budget: When you look carefully, it's obvious that Daredevil came to be on a shoestring,  using stark set pieces and careful blocking to keep their production cuts down, relying instead on beautiful cinematography and sound to tell their stories, rather than massive special effects. In Agents of SHIELD, similar attempts led to an odd disjointed feeling between episodes, where the use of movie-quality special effects would mean a few talky episodes to keep price down. Daredevil, on the other hand, keeps a consistent tone and mix of words and action to deliver a great story that hides budget restrictions and delivers a product that is consistently good., even if it lacks the bells and whistles to be found in the movies.

So what, you might think? What that means is that Netflix and Marvel have found a way to keep stories relatively inexpensive to shoot while delivering a good product, meaning that if this model is successful, we can expect a far wider range of similar stories, ones that can take risks without risking making Uncle Disney pack away the movie and going back to safer pastures.

All of this to say, even if Daredevil doesn't sound exactly like YOUR thing, you should still try it. Let's blow up its view count and tell Disney/Marvel (and hopefully DC as well) that this is EXACTLY the kind of thing we are looking for.

Meanwhile, let's look forward to more Daredevil stories, as well as other projects that are slotted to end in a team up with him, including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, to form the team the Defenders.

I know I am.