Judgement

This was a big week for television enthusiasts. Last Sunday saw the return of Mad Men, Monday brought us the finale of Better Call Saul and tonight sees the premiere of season five of Game of Thrones. Sandwiched between those blockbuster, monster shows, Netflix also released the first fruits of their partnership with Marvel Entertainment; Daredevil. By making all thirteen episodes public in the same week as the Better Call Saul finale, Netflix has managed a smooth transition from one popular show to another, keeping its subscribers hooked for another few weeks. Or at least a couple of days.

The story of Marvel’s Daredevil, in case you’ve blocked the Ben Affleck adaptation from memory, focuses on Matt Murdoch, a small time lawyer operating out of Hell’s Kitchen who was blinded by radioactive materials as a child. Borrowing from the popular myth, instead of blinding the kid, the loss of his sight elevates his other senses to the point where he can hear a person’s heartbeat just by standing nearby. His enhanced balance also allows him to execute martial arts techniques flawlessly. Murdoch, following the death of his boxer dad who refused to throw a fight, uses these newly developed abilities to fight crime and clean up Hell’s Kitchen.

So, Daredevil plays into a lot of the superhero tropes that we’re all familiar with by now; powers caused by exposure to an outside source, dead parent. But the Netflix series is very aware of that. While the show opens with a scene depicting Murdoch as a child having his sight destroyed, when we catch up to Charlie Cox as the adult superhero, he’s already fighting criminals and stopping human trafficking deals. It’s clear he has only just started but this isn’t his first outing in the costume. Which is nice. By now, viewers are getting bored with origin stories. It’s in the best interest of superhero media to show the origin in as succinct and concise as fashion as possible, which Daredevil does.

“It’s ok, I just bit my lip.”

Later episodes do develop Murdoch’s relationship with his father but in some senses this show was made for fans of the character. It doesn’t dwell much on the origin and comic book readers will recognise some of Daredevil most anti-heroic actions from Frank Miller’s run. But then it baffles me why Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin is treated as a secret for three episodes. Fans of the comics, especially those reading post-Miller, will recognise Kingpin as Daredevil’s biggest and most notorious foe. And Marvel already announced that he would be in the show. Therefore the only reason to hide his face is to make Vincent D’Onofrio’s appearance a surprise. But it’s just not. We’ve already seen D’Onofrio bald as Private Leonard Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. And Wilson Fisk just looks like Gomer Pyle stole a few too many donuts.

Along with the lack of focus on audience, there is also a lack of focus on character. While the show is predominantly about Matt Murdoch and his adventures as Daredevil, he also has to share screen time with Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Debrorah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Fisk’s romantic storyline with Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna. It’s good to develop supporting characters, and I actually like Foggy because he manages to be Murdoch’s partner without playing a wholly comic relief role, but at 50+ minutes, the episodes could benefit from being trimmed back slightly.

It’s not that I want the characters to be two dimensional or every scene to include Charlie Cox. However, I am sitting down to watch a show titled Daredevil so I do expect the character to be at the centre of the show. Instead I’m watching Fisk court his future wife. Yes it gives him a human side so that he’s not just evil for the sake of evil but it still detracts from the main character. Daredevil suffers from this in the same way that Fox’s Gotham devotes a lot of screen time to The Penguin and Fish Mooney as well as Jim Gordon. Gotham at least has the advantage of being about an entire city rather than just one man, but the problem is the same. I don’t want to see what the bad guys are doing. I want to see the good guy figure it out.

Not shown: a lot of recurring side characters.

Daredevil also suffers from a second structural issue but it’s one that seems to plague other Netflix original programming too. Daredevil, like House of Cards, and other shows that have all of their episodes released at once, episodes tend to lack a hook to entice the viewer to watch the next one. It doesn’t seem like a big deal if the viewer doesn’t watch another episode right away when all of the episodes will be available for months. But they’re looking at it wrong. Not watching the next episodes reflects a lack of interest. I can tell you now, if HBO released all of Game of Thrones at once tonight, I’d have the entire season watched by sunrise.

With Daredevil, I’m just not that eager and I don’t feel that the show is demanding to be watched in the same way other shows do. Even if the episode itself isn’t exciting a hook can still entice the viewer. Person of Interest does it all the time. A particular case might be dull but often the episode will end with a revelation or twist that will make me desperate to tune in next week. On demand shows are relegating this device, treating it as a remnant of weekly televised shows but its not. It’s a tool to draw the viewer into the next episode. Remember, there’s only a few seconds between episodes. The hook only has to stall them for that long and then the next episode can do the rest.

Most of the problems are structural. The acting is good, with Charlie Cox as the clear standout, and the choreography is great. It’s a joy to see a fight scene where the camera doesn’t move with every punch. I can actually see what’s happening. I like the neo-noir theme too; it fits the moral quandaries of the character. I’m hoping that the problems are due to producers or writers, as the series is created by Drew Goddard, the man who will direct the next solo Spider-Man. Otherwise I’m expecting good fight scenes but I’m a little worried that Aunt May might end up with as much screen time as our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Network

The so called biggest party of the summer is upon us. The second of the big four PPV’s, bridging the period between Wrestlemania and Survivor Series, is here and with it comes Brock Lesnar. The rumours about John Cena defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Brock Lesnar that I talked about back in July were true. The Beast Incarnate looks to pick up his first WWE Championship title in a decade and the only man standing his way is the Hulk Hogan of our era, John Cena. Lesnar Vs. Cena is but one match on the card, albeit possibly the most intriguing match. Other matches will see Dean Ambrose finally get his hands on Seth Rollins in a lumberjack match, Randy Orton will battle Roman Reigns and Brie Bella attempts to take Stephanie McMahon down a peg or two.

Before that though, let’s discuss the WWE Network. A lot of critics and fans have denounced the WWE Network as a failure simply because it didn’t bring in as many subscribers as Triple H and the McMahon family had hoped. Maybe they did overestimate the immediate appeal but I have no doubt that, over time, the WWE Network will prove to be a success. While the WWE may have given up a sizable amount of money by moving away from the pay-per-view system, the network is a much more contemporary and innovative model for delivering their product. The days of sitting down in front of a television and either pre-paying or purchasing a show from box office are bygone. Streaming and on-demand are now the premiere ways of watching and catching-up with your favourite shows and sports. Almost every television network and channel in the western world now offers some form of on-demand content.

The United States, Australasia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Spain and the Nordics can all watch SummerSlam on the WWE Network.

The WWE Network may seem unproductive at the moment but it places the WWE a step ahead of other sports such as MMA and boxing which haven’t quite moved towards this modern concept of show distribution. And that’s not to say that MMA or boxing are lagging behind. They’re doing what works for them at the moment and at the moment MMA is probably still more popular than wrestling. But I think within the next decade we could definitely see MMA and boxing move in a similar direction and by that time WWE will have profitable and flourishing delivery system for their shows already in place.

It is just this modern culture of immediate gratification that says we should have seen notable results from the network by now. People forget that netflix didn’t become what it is today overnight either. It started by offering a good service and titles people wanted to see. Then it started offering something that people wanted but couldn’t easily find. Breaking Bad was one of the big shows that really promoted Netflix so much so that by the final season of Breaking Bad the episodes were going up on to the British site faster than they were going up on the American page because it was in hot demand. Once Netflix had established that fanbase, then they began creating their own shows such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. It was a step by step process and it’ll be the same for the WWE Network.

Given the WWE’s existing fan base it is understandable that they thought they could perhaps skip a few steps but their fans aren’t sheep. They aren’t going to fork over $9.99 on blind faith. WWE has to offer quality. Part of that is getting their own shows in order and producing consistently great episodes of RAW, Smackdown, Main Event and NXT. However, it would also behove the WWE to invest in a show that wrestling fans can’t easily get. Had New Japan Pro Wrestling not recently partnered with Jeff Jarrett’s upcoming Global Force Wrestling promotion I would have suggested that NJPW could have been their Breaking Bad. NJPW shows are available on stream but the WWE Network could offer them better exposure, better advertising and better quality streams all across America. Maybe there’s still an opportunity to do something with Pro Wrestling Noah or Consejo Mundail de Lucha Libre. Either way, working with other promotions in the same way that the WWE worked with ECW in the late 90’s could benefit the WWE Network by attracting unconventional viewers who might then be hooked on to WWE content. Then WWE could begin developing original shows such as Legends House and Tough Enough.

Is conquering John Cena best for business?

Maybe that’s just not possible. Netflix and the WWE Network are different so the same format might not work for both. Regardless of how WWE want to handle the network the one thing that will continue to be paramount is the wrestling. Great wrestling with provocative storylines will continue to engage fans and so far the build up to WWE Summerslam has been hit or miss. The Brock Lesnar Vs. John Cena storyline was at it’s strongest when the competitors weren’t on the show, oddly enough. The aftermath of the pay per view will be more of a reason to watch than the match itself.

Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon has been second most heavily promoted match on the card, with Randy Orton and Roman Reigns hot on their heels. Orton will be Reigns first real test as a singles star, whereas Bella vs. McMahon is mostly just a grudge match. The build up for the latter feud has been a little over the top and cheesy at times but it’s mostly been saved by Stephanie McMahon’s presence, such as her adopting the Yes chant to rub Bella’s face in Bryan’s alleged affair with his therapist. If anyone had been told in 2000 that 14 years later Stephanie McMahon would be as entertaining as Vince McMahon they would have called shenanigans. But it’s true.

Ask fans and they’ll tell you that they’re looking forward to Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt. Both promise to be classics for the modern era. Heck, even AJ Lee vs. Paige, Rusev vs. Jack Swagger and The Miz Vs. Dolph Ziggler have the potential to be great matches. A full prediction post will go up on my tumblr account later tonight. If you’ve been following along, I’m 22 for 31. Can I maintain my above average track record or will SummerSlam have some surprises in store? The only way to know for sure is to tune into SummerSlam tonight.