First off, we will likely get more college flashbacks, because Elektra was Matt's college girlfriend, so the show will have to really flash back to give us the context on that which I am super excited for. Her arc in the comics is one of the few instances there where we do see a lot of college Matt, so I have high hopes.
Second, here is my plausible and complex theory for S2 based on characterization from S1 and certain things in the trailers and images released so far:
In S1, we see one key difference emerge between Matt and Foggy, personality-wise that I suspect (hope) will be the engine that drives S2. Foggy believes that all people are innocent until proven guilty and that even the innocent deserve good representation and support no matter what they did, and his knowledge of all of the men in the bar and their backstories tells you that he is non-judgmental towards the criminally-inclined or hard up and likely feels empathy even for people who make bad choices. Matt is much quicker to judgment and gives anyone who breaks the law absolutely no empathy, likely because he overcame his own tragic backstory to pick himself up by his bootstraps and also his Catholicism. He has a much more absolute view of who is a good person and who isn't and is insistent with Foggy that they only represent people who he deems "innocent".
SO imagine a scenario in S2 where Frank Castle has been in operation in the background even of S1. And either someone Foggy knows directly is killed by Castle in his quest to take the law into his own hands, or someone indirectly who he knows shows up at their office begging the lawyers to help investigate - a wife and child of one of Castle's victims, for instance.
Matt refuses to intervene, because he, not personally having encountered Frank yet, figures that he doesn't have to care about what happens to criminals - they're asking for it and his views are somewhat aligned with Castle's early in the season.
This just adds to the distance between him and Foggy following Nelson v. Murdock, because Foggy has a very different view of how a hero should behave. Foggy starts investigating himself despite Matt's objections, and gets himself involved to the point where maybe Frank even knows who he is and assumes that Nelson and Murdock are a crooked firm involved with the wrong people, defending criminals. Foggy's involvement pulls Matt into conflict with Frank, because Foggy gets Frank's attention and wants to stop him. (Hence why apparently based on set photos one of the scenes shot involved Foggy and Frank together at a warehouse).
Over the course of the season, Matt is forced to confront a different moral dilemma that builds off of his struggles last season - he is very clear that killing a criminal personally is wrong, but what about if it's his own inaction that indirectly leads to death. Should he intervene to prevent the deaths and suffering of those he deems guilty, even if they are not being killed by his hand?
Things with Elektra complicate this further for him because she's also a criminal who kills but he loved her once.
And so both Foggy acting as an external conscience pushing him to confront his beliefs AND Elektra put Matt into a direct conflict with Frank and force him to face what being a hero and symbol means and what his obligations in that respect are. The show still portrays he and Frank as similar in the way it did with he and Fisk, but in a different way, Foggy gets lots to do, Elektra's arc makes sense alongside Frank's, and the show really pushes everyone's arcs forward in a relevant way.
It explains also why Matt is asking Father Lantom in the church "Why do I still feel guilty?" He's referring to feeling guilty about a criminal dying even when he didn't cause the death himself and even when the person was horrible and guilty themselves.
I imagine that his relationship with Karen will play into this because she's also slowly sliding down the slippery slope towards guilt and sin and maybe at the beginning of the season he takes refuge in her because she (unlike Foggy) agrees with his side in things on account of what happened with Wesley.
So yeah... if S2 isn't this, I still think it's the best way to repeat the best elements of S1 but push them further, keep Foggy and Karen central to things while introducing new characters, and bring the pain for Matt (which, lets face it, is really what we all want).
We'll see! But I wanted to share to see what people think of that theory. :D
Re: if you could write something into the season two script what would it be
First off, we will likely get more college flashbacks, because Elektra was Matt's college girlfriend, so the show will have to really flash back to give us the context on that which I am super excited for. Her arc in the comics is one of the few instances there where we do see a lot of college Matt, so I have high hopes.
Second, here is my plausible and complex theory for S2 based on characterization from S1 and certain things in the trailers and images released so far:
In S1, we see one key difference emerge between Matt and Foggy, personality-wise that I suspect (hope) will be the engine that drives S2. Foggy believes that all people are innocent until proven guilty and that even the innocent deserve good representation and support no matter what they did, and his knowledge of all of the men in the bar and their backstories tells you that he is non-judgmental towards the criminally-inclined or hard up and likely feels empathy even for people who make bad choices. Matt is much quicker to judgment and gives anyone who breaks the law absolutely no empathy, likely because he overcame his own tragic backstory to pick himself up by his bootstraps and also his Catholicism. He has a much more absolute view of who is a good person and who isn't and is insistent with Foggy that they only represent people who he deems "innocent".
SO imagine a scenario in S2 where Frank Castle has been in operation in the background even of S1. And either someone Foggy knows directly is killed by Castle in his quest to take the law into his own hands, or someone indirectly who he knows shows up at their office begging the lawyers to help investigate - a wife and child of one of Castle's victims, for instance.
Matt refuses to intervene, because he, not personally having encountered Frank yet, figures that he doesn't have to care about what happens to criminals - they're asking for it and his views are somewhat aligned with Castle's early in the season.
This just adds to the distance between him and Foggy following Nelson v. Murdock, because Foggy has a very different view of how a hero should behave. Foggy starts investigating himself despite Matt's objections, and gets himself involved to the point where maybe Frank even knows who he is and assumes that Nelson and Murdock are a crooked firm involved with the wrong people, defending criminals. Foggy's involvement pulls Matt into conflict with Frank, because Foggy gets Frank's attention and wants to stop him. (Hence why apparently based on set photos one of the scenes shot involved Foggy and Frank together at a warehouse).
Over the course of the season, Matt is forced to confront a different moral dilemma that builds off of his struggles last season - he is very clear that killing a criminal personally is wrong, but what about if it's his own inaction that indirectly leads to death. Should he intervene to prevent the deaths and suffering of those he deems guilty, even if they are not being killed by his hand?
Things with Elektra complicate this further for him because she's also a criminal who kills but he loved her once.
And so both Foggy acting as an external conscience pushing him to confront his beliefs AND Elektra put Matt into a direct conflict with Frank and force him to face what being a hero and symbol means and what his obligations in that respect are. The show still portrays he and Frank as similar in the way it did with he and Fisk, but in a different way, Foggy gets lots to do, Elektra's arc makes sense alongside Frank's, and the show really pushes everyone's arcs forward in a relevant way.
It explains also why Matt is asking Father Lantom in the church "Why do I still feel guilty?" He's referring to feeling guilty about a criminal dying even when he didn't cause the death himself and even when the person was horrible and guilty themselves.
I imagine that his relationship with Karen will play into this because she's also slowly sliding down the slippery slope towards guilt and sin and maybe at the beginning of the season he takes refuge in her because she (unlike Foggy) agrees with his side in things on account of what happened with Wesley.
So yeah... if S2 isn't this, I still think it's the best way to repeat the best elements of S1 but push them further, keep Foggy and Karen central to things while introducing new characters, and bring the pain for Matt (which, lets face it, is really what we all want).
We'll see! But I wanted to share to see what people think of that theory. :D