Favorite Characters: Foggy Nelson (Daredevil)

Foggy!  As far as non-powered best friends in Marvel shows go, he’s way up there.  Whenever all the Netflix properties cross over in The Defenders, can we get a scene of Foggy and Trish in a bar, commiserating over how messed-up Matt and Jessica are?  I’ve already covered that side of things, so today, we’re looking at the man himself (some Foggy-related spoilers.)

I’ve loved Foggy since the pilot, when, trying to turn Matt off of a beautiful woman, says, “…And she kind of told me she thinks blind people are ‘God’s mistake’?”  He’s provides some stellar (and much-needed) comic relief with irreverent comments like the above, along with flashes of goofiness, a self-deprecatingly-false cocky routine, and fantastic reactions to insane situations.  In a lot of ways, he functions as an audience-insert character, commenting on the absurdity when the other characters get embroiled too deeply in it.

And comic relief is great, but the best comic-relief characters bring more than just that, and Foggy has plenty to offer.  As I’ve said, he’s fiercely loyal to and protective of Matt, but he also doesn’t blindly get in line and do what the superhero tells him to.  Matt has major issues, and Foggy’s not afraid of using tough love or truth bombs when his friend puts himself in danger.  His long history with Matt also helps ground our hero.  Their easy banter, irritated bickering, and hard-truths shouting matches hit all the right notes.

A lot of this is down to Foggy (and former Bash Brother Elden Hansen, who plays him) – he tends to work great with whoever the show puts him with.  He and Karen together have variously felt like Scoobies, legal comrades in arms, and friends against the world, and I love his scenes with Claire.  There’s just something about Foggy and the way he plays off of other people.

Did I mention that he’s a pretty awesome lawyer?  He goes up against some awfully big fish with very few resources and, given Matt’s penchant for leaving him in the lurch due to superhero business, often very little help.  But Foggy works it out.  He gets the jump on powerful people, he can find the smallest thread to cling to and keep a case alive, and in season 2’s big case, he pulls out some incredible lawyering practically on the fly.  As Matt lets Nelson & Murdock down time and again in a huge, high-profile, enormous-stakes case, Foggy just keeps on doing his job

I also like that he gets really nervous about all this stuff and that his confidence in his abilities can be shaky.  First, it shows that, even though he jokes around a lot, he’s very invested in his clients and wants to do right by them.  Second, it reminds you just how hard all of it is – what Foggy’s pulling off is no cakewalk.  And finally, it makes you root for him that much harder when he digs deep and pulls off an amazing save. 

In a genre where the hero’s everything tends to overshadow everyone else’s everything else, Foggy – as a friend, a professional, and a person – is pretty great in his own right.

Relationship Spotlight: Matt Murdock & Foggy Nelson (Daredevil)

Realizing that Marvel has too much for me to only talk about in periodic write-ups, here’s a new regular feature:  Marvelous Wednesdays!  The MCU has a real way with depicting relationships between a superhero and their nonpowered friend.  Jessica and Trish, Steve and Bucky in the first Captain America, Peggy and Jarvis (although, in their case, the “super” part isn’t required,) and here, Matt and Foggy.  Much love for these two, who might get the deepest examination of this type of relationship.  Some Foggy-Matt-related Daredevil spoilers, including season 2.

The early episodes of the series quickly and clearly set up Matt and Foggy’s dynamic.  They’ve been through the trenches of law school together and are now ready to take on the world as defense attorneys looking out for the little guy.  They’re quite the “little guys” themselves; even though they know their stuff and aren’t afraid to mess with the big dogs, their operation looks decidedly ramshackle, what with their tiny, bare offices, their sole employee, and their zero dollars.  Still, they’re undaunted by what they don’t have and instead focus on what they can do.  Both give each other the sort of hard time that only best friends can, but both also know how to buckle down and give it their all when it comes to helping out someone in trouble.

However, Matt and Foggy are different from the other duos mentioned above in a key way:  at the start of the series, Foggy doesn’t know that Matt puts on a mask at night and fights gangsters.  He’s completely in the dark about Matt’s superpowers, and when he accidentally discovers the truth in the middle of season one, it’s rough.  He’s of course hurt by all the secrets Matt has kept from him, he’s naturally concerned for Matt’s safety, and he worries about the drive within Matt that makes him dish out such a brutal, self-determined brand of justice.  The revelations knock him over, and it takes time for them to get to any sort of good place again.

Even as Foggy struggles to reconcile Matt’s secret life, however, he can’t stop caring.  He gives Matt raw diatribes on how much his ever-present worry for Matt is tearing him up, but he still rushes in whenever Matt is hurt, dragging his bleeding friend home and helping to patch him up.  He puts himself in incredible danger at times to make sure Matt is safe.  Part of it is simply the depth of their friendship, but I imagine that part of it is also the fact that Foggy can’t shake the impression he’s developed over the years of Matt being slightly more in need of looking after.  Not that Foggy ever really patronized Matt or treated him with kid gloves due to his disability, but it’s clear in the little things that he’s accustomed to “helping out.”  Matt holds Foggy’s arm when they walk down busy sidewalks together, and Foggy frequently serves as his informal audio describer, filling him on visual details like someone’s facial reactions.  Although Matt’s powers essentially nullify his blindness and then some, I think Foggy’s gut still thinks of Matt as that guy, the one who needs an extra hand.  (In truth, I think any friend of a superhero would display much the same level of concern, but I think this particular detail gives the show more room to explore it.)

By the end of season two, I’m not quite sure where things will go moving forward with Matt and Foggy.  Their friendship has been put through the ringer, personally and professionally, and as much as Foggy still cares, he realizes he can over take so much of Matt putting himself in danger.  I hope things work out for our favorite avocados at law, and I suspect they probably will in the end, but it might be a long time coming.