In the midst of Marvel-Netflix cancellations, Marvel’s Daredevil released its third season. Daredevil was marketed with the seasonal tagline “Let the Devil Out”, and the season definitely delivered. Just like the season delivered on its gritty style, this article will deliver on spoilers, so beware.

The season picked up where The Defenders left off, with Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) having a building dropped on top of him. The first few episodes focused on Matt’s recovery from his near-death experience while the rest of the season focused on Matt trying to take down Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), who once again took the mantle as the season’s villain.

Daredevil seemed to have lost its way in season two among trying to set up The Punisher and The Defenders. Without the pressure of worldbuilding, the season soared and went back to basics. Matt donned the classic black suit from season one. It really showcased Matt’s desire to abandon his old life and embrace this newfound darkness inside of himself. Leaving behind Matt Murdock really forced the Devil out of the show’s protagonist, to the point that viewers were suspecting that Matt was the true villain all along. In a way, he was.

Bullseye, or Special Agent Ben “Dex” Poindexter (Wilson Bethel), is a popular comic adversary of Daredevil. Fans rejoiced when they heard the celebrated villain would be making his way onto the Netflix series, and his arrival wa soothing short of amazing. Dex made his debut as a troubled soul in need of structure to prevent psychopathic tendencies. When his world beings crumbling, Fisk helps turn the FBI agent to the dark side and has Dex impersonate Daredevil. Bullseye was a perfect match for Matt for two reason. The first reason is that Dex is the kind of person Matt could have grown up to be had Matt not received compassion at a catholic orphanage. The second reason is the physical attributes of Bullseye. Bullseye got his name for being an expert marksman, something the season displayed often. It made Bullseye a deadly force and a true challenge for Matt, who is much better at hand-to-hand combat that throwing things from a distance.

Another character was introduced this season that made it amazing. Special Agent Ray Nadeem was placed in charge of Fisk’s detail from the FBI. At first I was wary of this new character. I watch a lot of shows that the new guy on the scene is secretly evil and I expected something like that to happen here, but it turned out that Ray was actually a really nice guy who ended up giving his life to protect his family.

While the season had two breakout characters, old and beloved characters still packed a punch. Franklin “Foggy” Nelson (Elden Henson) had his own arc as he ran for District Attorney to oppose Fisk while the audience received backstory on Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page. The audience also saw a new side of Fisk, as his primary motivation this season was to make a better world for his girlfriend Vanessa Marianna (Ayelet Zurer). It was interesting to see new sides of characters that the audience has known for so long because we got to see them in different environments that what we’re used to. Fisk’s arc also made him more human. However, Matt had one of the best storylines of the season since it focused on his morality and his internal struggle of trying to balance life as Daredevil and Matt Murdock.

This season, Matt shed his daytime persona and focused on the darkness of Daredevil. He decided to let the devil out to end Fisk once and for all, but in the end it didn’t quite work out how he had planned. Still, the audience saw Matt go down a dark path and it was heartbreaking to see him neglect his friends so much, even though they stood by his side through all of the lies.

Overall, the season was fantastic. It was as dark and gritty as the new showrunners had promised, bringing the show back to its season one roots. The one criticism I have, though, is the hallway fight. While every season has an amazing hallway fight scene, which is now a staple of the show, season one still has the best. Season three’s comes close, but nothing can beat season one’s. The hallway fight scene of season three sees Matt fighting not as Daredevil but as Matt Murdock trying to desperately escape a prison riot. It changed up the format by having a break in the middle of the scene for Matt to negotiate with the head of the Albanian mob. The fight still packed a punch, though (pun intended), as did the entire season.