After a fight, Daredevil is found in a dumpster by Claire, a nurse who takes him in. Daredevil is mum about his personal details, but informs Claire on his battles with the kidnappers and how he needs to rescue the kidnapped child. Meanwhile, there are flashbacks about Matt dealing with his father being hired to take a dive by mafia. Elsewhere, Karen and Foggy are having a night of bar hopping.
Much of this episode is slower, but effective nonetheless. The scenes between Claire and Matt are good at building suspense and establishing the character. Introducing a new character is good way of being a third person perspective to introduce Matt’s powers as we see him hone his incredible hearing skills. We also learn about Claire and she is a good character. She’s caring but no-nonsense as she wants to learn about Matt. She also holds her own when dealing with the criminals.
The flashback scenes between Matt and his father. Matt’s father shows some tenderness when helping Matt with his blindness. He is also faced with conflict when presented with the choice of taking a dive. He wants to set an example for his song, but he knows the mafia won’t take kindly to that. He eventually stands by his guns and it costs him. With a little character development, we feel the pain at his death. The B-plot of Karen and Foggy hanging out may sound like filler, but it does help flesh out Foggy’s character as a goofball.
While most of this episode is an effective character building episode, there is one terrific fight scene when Daredevil confronts the kidnappers. The fight is successful in its bare bones approach. Rather than a big sprawling fight, this is a fight that takes place in an enclosed hallway. The fight is brutal. Daredevil does not just dispatch these guys with no effort, he has to wail hits just to knock out one guy. Also the whole fight is done in one take (or at least appears that way). This works because the raw technique makes us feel more absorbed in the fight.
Overall, this was another great episode. It was set up to establish characters and have an intense fight scene. “Cut Man” succeeded in both.
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