Netflix has been having a rough time with its original Marvel-comics-related properties. Roughly three years ago, the entire idea of having another universe set within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe came around. Jeph Loeb and Ike Perlmutter commissioned Drew Goddard to come up with something that was continuing from the path “House of Cards” had started two years before: to craft a season of television around the character of Daredevil that had the look and feel of a rated-R, gritty street drama.

Lo and behold, in March 2015, roughly two months before the Marvel movies would wrap up their second phase with “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Daredevil was released directly to Netflix. It was a tremendous success, with particular praise going toward its cinematography, style, fight choreography (particularly its affinity for tight space fighting) and performances from Charlie Cox (“King of Thieves”) as Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Death Wish”) as Wilson Fisk.

The experiment continued, as the first season of “Jessica Jones” followed later that year in November, which was similar to “Daredevil” in its scope but vastly different in its subject matter, tackling issues of rape, abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. After that, a second season of “Daredevil” was released in March, this time furthering this tiny “pocket-verse” within the greater MCU by introducing such figures as The Punisher (Jon Bernthal, “Shot Caller”), Elektra Natchios (Elodie Yung, “The Defenders”) and the Hand.

Then, the first season of “Luke Cage” came around. While critically praised for its first seven episodes, dealing with racial tensions and police brutality, the show quickly fell off after its seventh episode with the death of fan-favorite villain Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali, “Roxanne Roxanne”). Then, “Iron Fist” happened, and it was basically over, as that series was criticized for its poor choice in a lead character, bad writing, a flimsy plot and story and an over-reliance on the mystical, something that seemed to be dragging the Netflix series down the more it went on. It was so damaging that the big crossover event between the four heroes at that point, “The Defenders” was all but critically panned. Did the TV side of Marvel fail where the movies had succeeded too well?

To put this into perspective, the individual seasons of a Marvel TV show would usually correlate with the release of a movie. “Iron Fist” premiered a few weeks before “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2,” “The Defenders” premiered around the same time as “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and the newest spin-off, “The Punisher,” aired a few short weeks after “Thor: Ragnarok.” To say the least, the movie side had a much better time in 2017 than the TV side.

2018 was looking to be very similar, as the second seasons of “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist” received mixed reviews. It has now even gotten to the point that Netflix has cancelled both “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage,” in part due to the pending release of Disney’s streaming service.

Fortunately, not all is lost with the Netflix-verse, as the third season of “Daredevil” premiered on Friday, Oct. 19. Against all odds, the season has proved to be a return to form for the Netflix-verse. Every episode of the 13-episode season was pristinely plotted out. They are filled to the brim with tension and action but, above all else, focused on character. Matt Murdock, at the end of “The Defenders,” was a broken man. A building collapsed on top of him, killing off his love Elektra once again and leaving him damaged, hopeless and angry at God for his slights. To top everything off, Wilson Fisk, his ultimate enemy, has brokered a deal with the FBI in order to get out of jail.

With this season, Netflix solved a fundamental problem that had been afflicting most of its content so far: it doubles down by focusing on the individual story and characters and regrounding it in a world that makes sense. It helps to give the overall story much more stakes and, by default, makes the audience care more about the characters.

Besides Murdock and Fisk, supporting players Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll, “The Punisher”) and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson, “Luke Cage”) get much more individual screen time, finally getting to thrive without being in Matt’s shadow. Karen, in particular, gets a solo episode that not only justifies her guilt that she carries around constantly but also shows a darker side that makes viewers understand her as a person even more.

The breakout star here, however, is the man who almost became Captain America himself, Wilson Bethel as Agent Ben “Dex” Poindexter, whom many comic book fans will recognize as the alias of the character Bullseye. The introduction to this character is interesting enough, showcasing his incredible prowess of hitting with pinpoint accuracy. The show goes one step further, peeling him back layer by layer, revealing that not only has he been dark from an early age, but he was in a way that can make people sympathize with him, which is always a sure-fire way to have a rich character. Bethel’s performance is also fantastic because, even during his freak-out moments, he maintains a very strict composure that makes him so interesting.

Overall, the third season of “Daredevil” had many hurdles to overcome, but it did so with grace. Regardless of what the future holds for this micro-verse with Disney swooping in and scooping up every superhero property under the sun for itself, Netflix can relax knowing that, of the four efforts it put out this year, one of them was a tremendous success. “Daredevil” season three is most definitely a must-watch.

Image from Netflix via YouTube