Category: Reviews of the Marvel Shows

Hey gang, you know the drill! Recap, followed by My thoughts (jump there directly, if you prefer), Matt’s thoughts, Senses watch, Quotes and Star player.

Recap

We see Dex, in his apartment getting ready for work. The place is immaculate and and the whole scene screams of an overzealous devotion to routine and order. Dex makes sure that the handles on his cups are aligned the same way, and the newspapers are neatly arranged in a perfect pile. Before exiting, we see a picture of Dex and a group of people from what is apparently a suicide prevention center. The camera focuses on Julie, whom we met in episode three.

Next, we see Matt’s ill-fated cab from the previous episode being pulled from the river. With Ben Donovan, in a perfect nod to the exact same phrase from the Born Again comics arc, telling Wilson Fisk that “There is no corpse,” we cut to Fisk’s suite. Donovan tries to smooth things over with a visibly annoyed Fisk, but assuring him that the body was probably swept away, and that a blind man wouldn’t be able to make it to shore anyway. Fisk shows him the footage from the prison, which he has saved on his phone, and his lawyer assures him that all the records show that Matt lost his sight at nine. But, if he can fight like that, he could have made it to shore.

FBI agents, including Dex and Ray show up. They sit down with Donovan and Fisk to renegotiate the terms of the latter’s deal. Donovan reminds them of all the good that came out of the bust against the Albanians, while Ray reminds the other side that they’re holding up their end of the deal by not pressing charges against Vanessa. But, there are apparently still terms that were promised that have not yet been delivers, such as some personal property and a freer range of movement. To keep things moving, Fisk decides to offer up another name, someone who’s made all kinds of criminal dealings on his behalf: Matthew Murdock. Cut to intro.

Dex takes a jog, just a few steps behind his stalking victim Julie. We follow them for a couple of minutes before cutting to the FBI storming Matt’s apartment. The only sign of Matt is a wet business suit on the floor.

Elsewhere, Karen confronts Felix Manning with what she has on him. The encounter does not go as planned at all. It turns out that Manning knows everything about her, including the names of her parents, and what exactly happened to her brother. He even knows where her bedroom was in the house she grew up in.

The rest of their conversation is equally chilling, and we next see Karen walking down the street, throwing nervous glances at people around her. It turns out that she’s right to, because the FBI shows up to take her to Matt’s apartment.

Karen, confused about what’s going on, follows Ray inside where a whole team of agents are busy taking pictures of everything in Matt’s apartment. The box that usually holds his Daredevil suit is – thankfully – empty, though his civilian clothes are still on the floor. Karen is asked about when she last heard from Matt. When she tells Ray it’s been months, he wonders why she’s been paying his bills and didn’t file a missing person’s report.

There are more questions. When did they start working for Fisk? (Never.) What about CGI? (Well, that one time and we didn’t know it was for Fisk.) At this, Ray shows her a photo of James Wesley, and Karen is stunned. She changes the topic, and gives Ray all she has on Fisk, and his connection to Manning, Red Lion national bank and the very hotel that is holding him. Ray is skeptical and asks for proof. Since Karen is not under arrest, she decides to bolt.

Back at the hotel, Donovan gives Fisk a large box full of documents. It’s all very top-secret stuff, sealed psychiatric records and so on. And so begins Fisk’s study of Benjamin Poindexter which is told in black and white with Fisk witnessing a scene between young Dex and his baseball coach. It turns out that he’s got a very good aim, but is considerably worse at playing well with others. When he’s pulled from the game, in the interest of fairness to the rest of the team, Dex responds by killing his coach with a ricocheted baseball.

Next, Dex is having a session with his therapist, Dr. Mercer. They talk about what happened with his coach, and Dex admits that his death wasn’t an accident. He is perplexed when the psychiatrist maintains that it wasn’t his fault. She talks about how alone he’s been, and how his parents died without teaching him everything. She then announces that they’re going to practice empathy, and what you say to someone who’s in pain.

We skip ahead a few years in time. Dex is a teenager, and his therapist is terminally ill. He is very sad and resentful of her illness, but she has tapes all of their sessions that she gives to him. At the suggestion that he see another therapist, Dex becomes very angry and says he wants to kill her to punish her for dying. She reminds him that death can be a beautiful event, never to be hastened with violence. And, that any good person with a decent heart will do, in terms of finding someone to guide him.

Closer to the present day, we see adult Dex at work at a suicide prevention hotline. Julie comes around to check on him, and tells him he’s doing great. When she leaves, he goes off script and asks the man on the phone what kind of weapon he has around, subtly suggesting that the man might consider killing his step-father rather than himself. When Julie comes back, Dex gets back with the program.

Finally, before going back to Fisk’s suite in the present day – and in color – we see Julie, Fisk and Dex under separate spotlights in a pitch black room. Dex and Julie are both eating pizza, but Julie is oblivious to Dex’s eyes on her. In the present, Fisk is looking at a large collection of documents in front om him, including a photo taken of Dex jogging behind Julie.

Donovan interrupts and asks Fisk what it’s all for. Fisk says that, for the moment, he is New York’s scapegoat. The attention that the protesters bring is an impediment to his plan. He concludes that the city needs a new villain, and that he thinks he might have found him.

Dex sits at the bar of the hotel when Julie comes around to ask him if he wants something to drink. He is baffled, and lost for words. With a slight delay, Julie recognizes him and asks if he used to work at the Brooklyn Suicide Hotline. They get reacquainted and Julie says it’s her first day on the job. She was offered double the pay of her last job if she could start immediately. Dex tells her he’s at the hotel because they’re guarding Wilson Fisk and have an office upstairs. She has other customers to attend to, but they agree to meet after her shift.

Foggy is throwing a campaign event at Nelson’s Meats, and his brother Theo is offering the crowd deli meats, over Foggy’s mild protests. Agent Ray Nadeem enters while Foggy talks to an old woman who lost her husband when the bombs when off in Hell’s Kitchen (as seen in season one), and offers her support.

Ray approaches Foggy and, after briefly working under the pretense that he’s there for sandwiches, asks him when he last saw Matt Murdock. Foggy goes on the offensive and says that he won’t back down from criticizing the feds’ love affair with Wilson Fisk. Ray suggests a theory for why Foggy and Matt split ways: Foggy is a decent guy and couldn’t stomach that Matt took on Wilson Fisk as a client. Foggy vehemently disputes this, noting the sole exception of CGI, and defends their practice.

They then talk about the last time he saw Matt and Foggy says that all that happened was that Matt was sorry that their friendship wasn’t what it used to be. Foggy then learns that Matt was the one who stole his wallet, as Ray asks him if he knowingly gave Matt his bar I.D. so he could enter a prison. Ray finishes with an accusation that makes Foggy very uncomfortable: Matt is hiding a double life, Foggy and Karen know about it, and this is why they are no longer partners or friends.

Dex is having dinner with Julie. It gets off to a good start, with the two of them comparing jogging routes and Dex joking about how she might be stalking him. Things go from good to awkward, and from awkward to worse, when Dex reveals that he knows a little too much about her life.

Julie is starting to feel uncomfortable and makes an excuse to leave, saying she has to feed her dog. When he accuses her of not having a dog, she gets scared and gets up to leave. Dex pleads with her, but only makes things worse by grabbing her arm,  and she bolts for the door.

Karen shows up at Nelson’s Meats to talk to Foggy. Karen says she thinks Agent Nadeem can figure things out, and Foggy first thinks that she told them Matt is Daredevil. That isn’t the case, but Foggy gets worked up, and says he shouldn’t have let Matt tell her his secret, or get her involved, and that he’ll take the fall for her if it comes to that.

Karen interrupts, and says what she did was worse and that she needs attorney-client privilege before she can go on. Karen, trembling, tells Foggy about how the FBI think Matt had something to do with Wesley’s disappearance. If they keep investigating, they’re going to find out that she killed him.

Dex goes back to his immaculate apartment and punches a hole through the wall, and bloodies his shirt with his cut knuckles. He tries to clean the blood off and then goes berserk, throwing a knife at the picture on the wall, straight through Julie’s face. He gets one of his therapy tapes out and listens to it to calm himself down.

With just a few minutes left of the episode, we see Matt stagger in through his loft door, his suit drenched. He struggles down the stairs while undressing, and lays down on the floor. The next morning, we see him wake up on the couch as he hears the approaching FBI team outside. He manages to escape to the roof before they enter, and listens in on their conversation. Somewhere, on a police radio, he hears that Matthew Murdock is to be considered armed and dangerous.

My thoughts

One thing that all seasons of Daredevil have consistently done better than any other Marvel show is craft episodes that are distinct, in that they put a different character under the spotlight, or focus more on a particular story within the story. I’ve actually watched all seasons of the various Marvel shows more than once (except Jessica Jones, season two), and I don’t think I can remember separate episodes of any of them.

It may be the case that I just pay more attention to Daredevil, very plausible given my own niche interests, but I don’t think it’s just that. For me, season one has “the Claire episode,” “the Fisk episode,” “the Foggy finding out about Matt episode” and so on. In season two, the episode with Daredevil and Frank stands out, as does the episode where Matt goes on a date with Karen and comes home to find Elektra. The following episode, where Elektra features heavily, also stands out. There are many more moments within these and other episodes that stand out as well.

The same is very much true of season three. In this way, Daredevil has mastered its format in a way that few other binge-watchable shows have. Its seasons are at once both an 11+ hour movie and a string of not-quite-episodic television “chapters.” Building a narrative that combines the best elements of these two very different structures is really hard. I think many of the pacing issues of the other Marvel shows (most of which I’ve still very much enjoyed) can be attributed to treating each season too much like a movie and not paying enough attention to the architecture of each episode.

This is clearly not the case with this episode of Daredevil. It leans into its unique premise in a way that really pays off, and shows just how much these creators trust their own method.

The show’s main character appears in just a few short minutes at the end, and instead we’re treated to a cinematically unusual and very memorable spotlight episode of how Dex came to be who he is. The way this is done, with the near-constant presence of Wilson Fisk, also ties these two men’s stories together while heightening the sense of Fisk being this great mastermind who gains access into people’s most intimate moments.

The creepiness of all this is evident in his henchmen as well. We get our first real look at Felix Manning, and he is truly terrifying. Everything he knows about Karen gives her a feeling of being completely exposed and unable to hide. Fisk hovers above it all like a near-deity.

People have had somewhat mixed views about how this episode treats the topic of mental illness. Since I’m no expert on this, I can’t really say to which degree Dex’s story and current behavior lines up with his diagnoses (plural). I fully understand that even people with the exact same condition can experience and express that in different ways, and can certainly understand people who may feel stigmatized or misrepresented.

On the other hand, creators should not be barred from telling fictional accounts of people with mental health problems. Part of the point of this episode seems to me to explain to the audience why Dex might be unusually susceptible to Fisk’s machinations, without actually making a monster of him. I think it succeeds in that regard, and I also think that most audiences members are smart enough to understand the nuances of this topic.

There is one plot point this episode that does seem questionable to me though. When Fisk gives the FBI Matt’s name, why does no one ask, or give the appearance of knowing, that he was the one that took down Wilson Fisk? Karen brings it up at Matt’s apartment, but it’s as if the FBI won’t seriously entertain this piece of information.

That Matt would have served Fisk in any way seems far-fetched. And, because of that history, Matt also has to be viewed as someone Fisk might have a personal vendetta against, and he should be challenged on this point. At this point in our story, I guess it could be construed as the FBI simply being extremely thorough.

Another character who has an amazing episode this time around is Karen. Holy crap what an emotional roller-coaster she goes on. I was so impressed that I’m declaring her the star of this episode. Hence, more on her below.

Matt’s thoughts

Well, Matt is barely in this episode, but I will say this: I choose to believe that it’s a sign of something that he goes back to his apartment after (somewhat mysteriously) dragging himself out of the river, and not back to the church. Is he beginning to associate at least some measure of comfort with his old life. For a guy who claims to want to shed “Matt Murdock,” he sure seems to have a thing for Matt Murdock’s apartment.

Senses watch

Well, since Matt doesn’t show up in this episode much, there’s not that much to report. But, I’ll take this opportunity to voice a very strong preference I have for not taking Matt’s sense of hearing too far. Now, this season is relatively down to Earth in this regard, so there’s not too much for me to complain about. We can see Matt hearing things through thick walls – and other structures – and that’s mostly fine by me.

In real life, and I kind of need people to get this, there’s a reason besides not having super-hearing that prevents us from hearing the way Matt does. We call that reason physics. Physics puts limits on just how thick a wall can be and still let some sound through, and how far a sound can travel without spreading into literal nothingness. The Daredevil comic, and this show, obviously push all kinds of limits in this regard. And they kind of have to – yes, even I admit that – because it’s a superhero show, and a little sci-fi magic does us all good.

However, I do prefer when writers of either medium give an indication that they are at least somewhat aware of the difference between poetic license on the one hand, and suspension-of-disbelief-breaking absurdity on the other (Daredevil is not Superman). The way Matt finds Fisk, who could be anywhere within a several-block radius (inside a moving van), in the last episode of season one feels really overblown to me. And I don’t care that he’s done similar things in the comic.

I’m thrilled that there is actually very little of this kind of stuff in season three. Which is also the reason I’m choosing to believe that the police radio Matt listens to in the roof scene at the end of this episode is coming from a police car on the street below, and not some ridiculous distance away. It’s a choice. I’m making it.

On the flip side, I still say that Matt’s sense of smell is underused and underestimated. So there. 😉

Quotes

Felix Manning: “I don’t fix problems. I make them disappear.”

Dex: “That’s hard. That’s really hard.”

Fisk: “Fortunately, the public is easily distracted. Which makes the solution for my problem quite simple.”

Agent Nadeem: “I think Matt Murdock is hiding a double life. Lawyer by day and criminal by night.”

Star player

The spotlight character this episode is Dex, who is given an interesting origin story that give us reasons to both care and be very, very concerned. I’ve already mentioned why his story makes this a strong episode, while also showing us Fisk’s elaborate and manipulative brand of evil. And, I will also add here that I thought his scenes with Julie were really strong. However, another character who has a real “oh shit!” episode here is Karen, which is why I’m making her my star player.

Karen really starts this episode on top. She’s got intel on Felix Manning, and she knows where to find him. She has everything she needs for a big showdown, only to have Manning flip the whole thing around and reduce her to panic and paranoia. Of course, you’re not being paranoid if someone is actually following you, and minutes later Karen is picked up by the FBI.

If she thought things couldn’t get worse, she was sadly mistaken. Now Wesley is back to haunt her, and at the end of the episode she has an important and very intense scene with Foggy in which she finally has to come clean about this huge secret she’s been hiding for two seasons. These are some huge moments for Karen, and they are played to absolute perfection by Deborah Ann Woll. 

Time for another review. This one’s another long one, but I’m having fun writing these, so I hope they’re not too painful to read. As always, you can skip directly to the review portion if you wish.

If you’re wondering why I even bother with the recaps, it’s not just the reasons I mentioned in my previous post, I also find writing them a good way to think more about the individual scenes and what they mean, and I also refer to the recap regularly while writing the review. 

Recap

Matt, obviously still a bit fuzzy (or at least intermittently so) is back at the church the morning after his street fight/suicide attempt. Sitting with his back against the wall, he listens to the church bells and breaks into a dry sob, looking oh so inconsolable.

We very briefly check in on a very determined-looking Wilson Fisk before cutting immediately to the FBI carrying out a raid against a large mansion full of people caught doing all kinds of things they weren’t supposed to.

Ray Nadeem and his fellow agents are met with applause back at the office. One of the people they took down was an Albanian mob boss known as Mother Teresa, along with a couple of judges, a district police captain, and a deputy mayor. Ray and his fellow agent talk about how Fisk is a gift that’s going to keep giving.

This takes us back to Fisk who enters the prison’s weight room and finishes a couple of bench presses before his spotter stabs him in the torso, as payback for the raid on the Albanians. Fisk looks like he’s about to break the guy’s ribs and finish him off with a weight plate before having second thoughts. Prison guards show up and we cut to the intro.

Back with Matt, who has now collapsed into a pile on the floor, his hearing sounding pretty bad at the moment. Maggie wakes him and asks him where he went the night before. Matt tells her to go away, but she refuses. She chastises him for going out and picking fights and gives him his pills. She pleads with him to give himself time to heal before he gets himself killed, before realizing that that’s what he wanted. Maggie tells him that she’s impervious to his bad attitude and won’t go anywhere.

Matt asks Maggie why she became a nun. When she confirms that it was something she was called to do, Matt wonders how she would feel if she couldn’t be one anymore. Maggie understands where he’s going with this line of questioning and says that she wouldn’t lose faith, and would find some other purpose. Matt responds that if she could be anything else, it was never really her calling.

And wouldn’t she grieve if she could no longer be a nun? When Maggie responds in the affirmative, he asks her to leave, but she instead brings up a story of a time when she had felt lost, and how she’d left the order for a while before taking her final vows. She had considered a very different life and struggled to know which one God had intended for her. In the end, she just had to figure it out. Matt says that the difference between the two of them is that he no longer cares what God wants.

This takes us to a flashback scene of young Matt doing tricks with his cane on the door steps outside. He is joined by Father Lantom who has learned that he’s not behaving in catechism. Lantom asks Matt to sit and asks him about how many fights he’s been in. None of the kids he beat up wants to admit they’ve been beaten up by a blind kid, but Father Lantom doesn’t need any proof. He sees that Matt is angry, and that it’s understandable, but not sustainable.

Lantom says Matt is good at deflecting, but that he needs to find a way to deal with his anger, and harness it. Or else it will destroy him. Matt shrugs it off, because, if so, then that’s God’s plan. Father Lantom then stresses that humans have been given free will and that one of the reasons you pray is for help in making good decisions. Matt, upset, insists that he does pray, but that God doesn’t talk to him. Lantom says that God is subtle, and that God speaks in whispers

Back at FBI headquarters, Agent Ray Nadeem and one of his colleagues are going through the evidence collected during the raid. The latter tips him off to the fact that two of their fellow agents are talking to their boss, trying to take advantage of the situation. Ray rushes in and insists he take the lead on handling Fisk. His boss, Tammy Hattley, says that his financial situation is still an issue, but Ray pushes on and says that none of what they did would have been possible without his unexpected connection to Wilson Fisk, and that she needs to pass that on to the higher ups. Tammy finally relents, but also stresses that he can’t allow the information coming from Fisk to run dry.

We cut to Karen at the Bulletin. Her boss, Ellison, brings her a new story involving the attack of a real estate developer and his reality TV celebrity daughter, but Karen has other plans. She’s found out that the incidence of respiratory illnesses has gone up in the area around Midland Circle. Ellison points out that Midland Circle is clearly not just a story to her. He insists that, in spite of the high quality of work she’s done on those stories, they need to be done with it, and that he’s assigning her the story he brought her. He says that she might be able to empathize with a young in the middle of a family crisis.

Agent Nadeem visits Fisk in prison, after learning about the attack. Ray is obviously concerned about what happened, but doesn’t seem too worried about Fisk’s health. Fisk, on the other hand, insists that this is bigger than one person, and that everyone now knows that he’s cooperating with the FBI. He has now become a target, and can’t help the FBI – or Vanessa – if he’s dead.

Matt, who has apparently been able to dig out a worn jacket, baseball cap, new sunglasses and a proper white cane, looks ready to venture beyond the confines of the laundry room and visits the upstairs chapel. There are people there, and he remembers – through another flashback to his younger years – what it was like to sit there and listen to people’s prayers.

Back in the present, he is joined by Father Lantom who is glad to see him. Matt tells him of all the prayers he used to hear, of people pleading for help, or justice, and how he thought that God let him hear those prayers so that he could answer, and that what had been trying to help people. But he is not who he was and can’t do what he used to do. He had believed what he was hearing was God’s voice, but that the only thing God had to offer any of them was silence. Father Lantom asks if he believes his calling was a mistake. Matt says that he was deluding himself, in thinking God had anything to do with it. And, that while he may not be as capable as he once was, he doesn’t get to choose who he is: “I’m Daredevil. Not even God can stop that now.”

Matt goes out on the street, and stops by an open dry cleaning van (remember, the van the would-be kidnappers used last time had freshly dry-cleaned clothes in it). He tells the guy in the back that he’s looking for a dry-cleaner, but is told they’re not doing pick-ups at the moment. Matt awkwardly confesses that he’s looking for a different dry cleaner that he got a whiff of last night, one that had more of an herbal smell. The guys says he knows the place.

Karen visits the hospital for her story and sits down with victim’s daughter, Neda Kazemi. She is initially very reluctant to talk, and doesn’t want her story in the papers. Karen says she knows what it’s like to not be able to control what people say about you, and that not saying anything will not prevent the story from being in the papers. It just means that people will make up a story and that will be what people talk about. This leads us to our first real sense of what Karen herself has gone through. She says that she doesn’t know what it’s like to grow up with paparazzi but that she grew up in a small town where word got around,  and that people think she killed her brother. And, that the story around it grew, got darker and stuck.

They go ahead with the interview and Karen learns that two men had tried to grab Mr. Kazemi and put him in a van. They only got away because another man attacked him, one that had a black mask over his face. Karen looks completely stunned at this revelation.

We check back in with Agent Nadeem who is at a meeting with his boss, District Attorney Blake Towers and the Police Commissioner. The two FBI agents plead for Fisk’s release into house incarceration. The others are very reluctant to go ahead with what the FBI is asking for, but Ray raises some very convincing arguments in favor of agreeing to Fisk’s terms. They were able to do more with Fisk’s intel than they had in years working with traditional means. He is sure that the deal will save lives and that Fisk will give up others.

It’s time to check in with Foggy who is on his way to a family event at Nelson’s Meats. He is greeted by kids shouting “Uncle Foggy!” and joins the party in the back. His mom takes him aside and explains that his father’s arthritis is getting worse and that she worries about him working at the store. She thinks forty years of slinging meats is enough, and that maybe it’s time for Foggy to come home. His brother Theo can’t do it alone, and Anna is asking that he put his brain to work for his family. As if catching herself, she reminds him that she’s not telling him what to do, just that she wishes he’d think about it.

Foggy goes to talk to his dad, who jokingly gives him a hard time about bringing expensive wine. His dad says he’s proud of him, living the life he always wanted. Foggy, on the other hand, isn’t so sure, but his dad reminds him of when he was a kid telling everyone he owned the store.

Back with Fisk who is being fitted with an ankle monitor by Ray Nadeem, who seems mildly disgusted by the deal Fisk’s lawyers have managed to negotiate on his behalf. Fisk is then lead out of the prison by a heavily armed FBI patrol.

We are back with Matt (and it’s getting dark, has he been wandering the streets all day?) who stops by yet another open dry cleaning truck, and sniffs around. It appears he’s found the right place, and enters the nearby shop, pretending his doesn’t notice the line. The clerk, initially annoyed, gives him a break when he sees the cane and asks if he’s picking up. Matt claims to just like the smell of the place and asks if they have a brochure. He is given a coupon and the camera zooms in on the clerk’s missing middle finger. Matt now knows he’s found his man. (With this, I actually had to go back and check, and yes Matt feels the man’s missing finger while fighting him in the back of the van in the previous episode.)

He puts the mask on, and goes into the back of the building, making sure to hide from the people there. He walks around for a bit, spotting the place where they were probably going to hide Mr. Kazemi, along with a lot of weapons. Matt turns off the main switch, luring the clerk downstairs and zaps him, while fighting off two other guys. He punches them until they stay down, and calls the police.

Foggy is still at his parents’ shop, talking to his brother. Foggy is grateful his brother is taking over the business. Theo says that, for a long time, he’d wished that Foggy would be taking over, but acknowledges that Foggy has a head that’s good for other things, and that he should continue living the dream. Foggy, again, isn’t so sure he’s living the dream. That he had an idea of how things were going to go, and how he and Matt had talked about their plans. Without Matt, Foggy isn’t so sure who he is. Foggy and Theo toast each other before Karen rushes in.

Foggy greets Karen with a joke, but she hugs him and whispers that she thinks Matt’s alive. They go outside and Karen tells him about the man in the mask. Foggy insists it could have been anybody. Foggy also wants to believe that it could be Matt, but says that he knows Matt is gone. If he were alive, he would have reached out to them. Karen is upset that Foggy’s not more willing to find out, but Foggy is certain that Matt is dead. Karen runs out the door in anger.

Matt, wearing the black mask, shows up at the hospital to tell the Kazemis that the people who attacked them have been arrested for another crime, and where she can go to identify them. Neda Kazemi thanks him by saying “Thank God, for you.” “He didn’t help you. I did,” Matt responds.

Fisk is en route to his new home. The agents are laying down the law, when Fisk gets personal and starts talking about how he discovered love with Vanessa, and how love is the perfect prison. There are always ways out of a physical prison, but love is inescapable. Consequently, he is always in prison. The chains that hold him are nothing to him so long as they help him protect Vanessa.

Suddenly, the car in front of them explodes, and then their own car is flipped over, with everyone but Fisk either dead or unconscious. Then there is gun fire. Fisk hides and the agents outside are taken down by their attackers. The Albanians start firing and cut open the car, until they themselves are taken out by someone else. An agent with infallible aim who ends his spree by killing two of the attackers, even as they are surrendering. He finishes by aiming his gun at a visibly impressed Wilson Fisk, preventing the latter’s escape.

Matt, now in his street clothes exits the hospital just as he notices his hearing coming back. When he gets to the curb, ambulances start gathering around the hospital entrance. He overhears talk of how there are multiple gunshot wounds and how the Albanians killed everyone but Fisk. A police officer right next to him confirms what is already clear: The FBI let Wilson Fisk out of prison. And, on that happy note, we end this episode.

My thoughts

I really enjoyed the first episode, but in many ways, I think this one might be even better. A lot of chess pieces are being moved around the board here, and we get some great scenes with all of our major characters. 

Ray Nadeem finally gets his big breakthrough at work (and it’s got that “be careful what you ask for” vibe all over it), and if you know how the story ends (don’t worry I’m not going to spoil anything aside), there is a lot to appreciate as you go back and carefully study everything that happens in his story.

Deborah Ann Woll gives a perfect performance as a slightly off-kilter Karen who is frantically chasing clues about Midtown Circle and is all too willing to pounce on the news that there is someone out there who just might be Matt. She so desperately needs it to be Matt, and she needs Foggy to believe it too.

Foggy, meanwhile is struggling with family responsibilities. I find it quite heartening to learn that Foggy has people in his life that care about him, and it’s a great to have these new additions to the family. I will say, though, that I really wished there was a Candace Nelson as well. For those of you unfamiliar with the comic, Candace is Foggy’s sister (and only known sibling) and she actually had quite a few guest appearances of the years. On the other hand, she may be lurking in the background as Foggy clearly has nieces and nephews that are not the children of his brother Theo.

It does pain me a little though, to see Foggy’s mom plead with him to come back and work at the store. I’ve never had that kind of expectations from my own family (this is in part a cultural thing), and don’t think I could handle it if I did. I’d feel awful knowing that I was letting anyone down. Although, Foggy’s father seems more supportive of Foggy stepping out on his own.

Vincent D’Onofrio goes full Wilson Fisk in this episode. A schemer with the air of a diva who doesn’t hesitate to lecture, at some length, about his views on love. He’s making himself vulnerable, superficially, but you always know that everything he says is for a purpose that benefits no one but Fisk himself. He likes to dress his cruelty up in poetry.

I also have to admit that I cheered when we saw Skylar Gaertner (who is now conveniently three years older than the last time we saw him) is back as young Matt in two flashback scenes. With Matt’s youth still very much a mystery, any look back at how he grew up helps flesh out the character overall. It’s also a really nice touch to see young Matt overhear someone complain about their lawyer not being good enough. Nice way to plant a seed for a later to career!

Of course, as many have pointed out, learning that Matt and Father Lantom go way back does mess with season one canon to an extent, as we got the distinct feeling that theirs was a new acquaintance at the time. I don’t mind it too much though, and as a reader of the comics (any long-running comic, really), you’re used to that sort of thing.

What about adult Matt? Well, much more on his inner journey below, but as far as his physical journey goes, he finally tires of sitting around a church laundry room. Looking very much like a sad Stick knock-off, he goes chasing down clues to who was behind last evening’s kidnapping attempt. I’ll pick apart the sensory aspects of this bit of detective work below (short version: it’s good overall, if a bit contradictory at times), but before we get to that, I want to take the opportunity to discuss something I promised to get back to in my last review that’s relevant to this episode: What are some valid reasons to carry a white cane that you don’t actually need for mobility purposes?

In this particular situation, one might argue that he’s still not quite himself in terms of his senses, but that doesn’t really hold up. He successfully fought off kidnappers the night before, and gets into another successful fight before the day is over. There are also no secret identity reasons for him to use it out and about the way he does here. In fact, if he’s trying to lay low and bury Matt Murdock then he’d be less recognizable if he decided to go without it. (I know that season one plants the idea that people don’t pay attention to blind people, but realistically, it’s human nature to notice anything and anyone who stands out, for any reason.)

So, what lead to the creative decision to give “on patrol” Matt a cane? I wouldn’t know for sure, but I’d be impressed if it’s for the reason that makes the most sense, i.e. that the cane sends a signal to anyone he’s talking to that puts a proper context to his questions, and let’s them know how to best respond. I’m not just making this up. There is a reason that white canes look a particular way, and some people use them exclusively to signal to other people that they have a vision impairment (though such canes tend to be shorter).

Just think about it. Matt’s question about where he can find the dry cleaner with a particularly herbal smell might have sounded really strange to the guy he’s talking to, if he hadn’t realized that Matt can’t see. And while we never hear his exact response, this realization would have also lead him to a better answer. He might give an exact adress, or its proximity to some particular landmark (perhaps even a smelly or noisy one), as opposed to “go to ‘x’ and look for the sign that says ‘y’.” It simply makes for more efficient communication.

The same goes for his next stop. This scene is actually a very interesting mix of the same phenomenon and a very obvious ruse. Matt benefits from playing up the “blind act” to get the information he needs, but it’s also a short cut to eliciting information specific to the sensory modalities that suit him best, and avoiding getting information back that he can’t use. And, if we imagine a similar real-life scenario in which he isn’t working a case, and is actually inquiring about their dry-cleaning, he’d get a much better answer to questions like “What do you charge for a suit?” than “Our prices are on the sign in the window.” And then he’d be back to having to disclose a vision problem of some kind anyway, and quite possibly rouse unwanted scrutiny.

Matt’s thoughts

Matt starts this episode pretty near the bottom, but there are – at least to me – some minor signs of acceptance that suggest he’s at least moved on from the bottom of the pit the previous episode. He is grieving, but also recognizes the grief for what it is to some extent.

One important scene is the one with Sister Maggie about what it means to have a calling. Matt obviously has a very single-minded, all-or-nothing view, of what a calling is, in that he doesn’t seem to consider that there are potentially more than one way to live out ones perceived purpose. (A purpose should probably ideally take the form of a “what?” or a “why?” as opposed to a “how?”). Either way, Matt now makes it clear that he doesn’t care what God wants, which seems like a reasonable protest in the face of feeling robbed of one’s purpose.

One thing I noticed at the beginning of this scene with Sister Maggie is how she insists that she isn’t going anywhere. That she’ll stay right where she is. When I rewatched this show, that bit really stood out to me. The way she is subtly telling him that there is nothing he can say or do that will lead to her withdraw her support is huge for a character who, whether he realizes is or not, has a history (when in pain) of treating people like he’s daring them to go away.

The flashback scene with Father Lantom also gives some insight into how he deals with his anger. The last time we saw Matt as a boy, in season one, he came across as quite resilient considering everything he’d gone through. Not that there is much material to go on, but he seemed to be dealing with his accident as well as could be expected, and after his father died, he seemed eager to open up to Stick and was very willing to learn from him.

In this scene, which we know takes place after Stick left, you get the sense that everything that’s happened in his life has caught up with him, and that Stick’s abandonment must have really stung. No wonder he’s angry. And lonely. Add being a teenager on top of that, and you really understand his search for some kind of higher meaning behind it all. Here, Lantom brings up the word “harness,” in connection with Matt’s anger, and you have to wonder what kind of seed that may have planted. If you apply your anger toward a higher purpose, it becomes meaningful and allows you to put off actually dealing with it.

Another interesting thing, that echoes in the present as well, is that Matt really doesn’t think he has much say in the matter. If he’s angry, that’s because it’s something that’s a part of him. You notice this in adult Matt’s conversation with Father Lantom in the chapel.

When he stresses that he is Daredevil, he talks about it as if the choice has been made for him. But while he used to believe it was God, he now apparently sees it as some deeply ingrained part of his very nature. And, rather than simply being a positive conduit for his anger, which had been the case in the past when he wasn’t only Daredevil, it takes over. And, with no God to sanctify this “compulsion,” it becomes only that. Ugly and meaningless.

Still, Matt does go out to tie up the loose strings left from the night before. And this too is some small sign of recovery. He may be partly running on auto-pilot (remember, he’s “Daredevil” now, whether God or even Matt himself likes it), but at least he’s able to find some short-term goal in essentially working a case and seeing it through. That’s a few steps up from suicide. And of course, he is given an even clearer purpose at the end of the episode when he learns that Fisk is no longer in prison…

Senses watch

So, at least some things to talk about here. If you’ve read my “first thoughts” post, you may recall that I mentioned that Matt has a habit of just showing up places with little to indicate how he got there, and on what information. While I’ve come around completely on Matt’s arc this season (I now find it both intriguing and emotionally compelling), I still stand by this one single criticism.

This phenomenon is by no means new to this season. To be fair, it’s probably less prevalent this season than in the previous two. However, because of how flawless the rest of the storytelling is, it becomes more noticeable. No other appearance  or action by any other character at any point in this story seems off or in need of an explanation.

I use this particular episode review to address this issue, because 1) Matt showing up at the hospital to check in on the people he saved is a perfect example of what I mean, and 2) the sequence of events leading him to discover the would-be kidnappers is a perfect example of the exact opposite. The way he tracked them down makes one hundred percent sense, and is an example of great writing. But, we have no idea of how he found the right hospital room.

Now, you may be thinking, “Hey, he could probably hear them through the wall and track them by scent or something!” And I would say that it’s certainly plausible under ideal circumstances. There’s only a couple of issues here: When Matt shows up to check on them, he seems surprised, even dismayed (oh no, he failed!) to find that Mr. Kazemi is in a coma. Which means that he obviously hadn’t registered his vital signs from some great distance before getting there. And, the daughter probably wasn’t talking. Add to this the fact that it’s never actually been established on this show that Matt recognizes people by the sound of their heartbeats, the way he does in the comic. (He seems to use them solely as a lie detector.)

Well, what about smell? This has always been my favorite way to think about how Matt primarily recognizes people, and I’ve always argued that Daredevil’s sense of smell is woefully underused. Could Matt easily have found the Kazemis by smell, at least as long as he starts off on the right floor? Absolutely, but this opens up a bit of a plot hole in an earlier scene.

Going back to Matt at the dry cleaner’s, he asks for a brochure (and is offered a coupon), and takes the opportunity to feel the clerk’s hand, which is missing a finger, to make sure it’s the same guy from the night before. Why on Earth does he need to do this? Matt should recognize someone he’s met with up close that recently. He’s even heard the guy’s voice before. (By the way, this exact same failure to recognize someone from an earlier encounter will be repeated later in the season.) That he doesn’t peg this guy right away makes it all the more implausible that he’d “sense” his way to the Kazemi’s.

Of course, we know he walked in wearing civilian clothes (because he wears them going out), so he could have just hung around the hospital picking up gossip about the famous patient around the nurse’s station. Absolutely, but a tiny snippet of this would have been nice. Just a few seconds to make sure there are no gaps in the story.

So, for once, my criticism is mostly that Matt doesn’t sense something he should, and that the addition of some kind of indication of how he found the Kazemi’s would have made the episode every so slightly better. 

Easter egg watch

There’s a framed front page that says “Harlem Terror” on Karen’s wall, which is obviously a shout-out to Luke Cage. Quite honestly, I’m having a hard time looking for Easter eggs because I keep getting so pulled into the story. I may just scrap this section for my coming reviews (or put them in the recap if I spot them), but feel free to let the rest of us know if you found anything interesting in the comment section.

Quotes

Sister Maggie: “I have a special gift too. I’m impervious to bad attitude. So you can throw your self-pitying bullshit at me all day, Murdock, and I’ll still be standing right here.”

Father Lantom: “You’re good, at arguing and deflecting and denying you’re angry to other people. But you’re gonna have to deal with your anger, Matthew. Find a way to… harness it.”

Ellison: “It’s one thing to work a story, Karen. It’s another to let a story work you.”

Wilson Fisk: “Those terms guarantee my safety.”
Agent Nadeem: “Beyoncé has fewer demands.”

Foggy: “When he was around, I knew who I was.”

Star player

This is a hard one this time since there was so much quality time spent with all the characters. I’d be inclined to pick Maggie again, honestly, but I’m actually going to pick Father Lantom. Sure, he was only in a couple of scenes, one of which retconned his introduction in season one, but both scenes are really strong Lantom scenes. 

You may think I’m crazy for reviewing an episode that came out over a year ago, but what better way to get caught up, work through my issues with the tail end of Daredevil season two, and prepare for The Defenders?

After just re-watching all of episodes six through thirteen in preparation for this review though, I’ve realized its probably wiser to cover all of the rest of them in a single post, just looking at the major themes and developments. That would be less time-consuming, and help me squeeze in other types of posts as well before The Defenders hit in less than three weeks. If there’s time, I’ll even try to do a post on Luke Cage as well. He’s the only one of the Defenders that I haven’t at least discussed in his own post.

Following the format of all of my previous reviews, however, this one too contains a fairly lengthy episode recap, before I get into the analysis of things. Considering how long it’s been since the episode first aired, I’m guessing some of you might actually need the reminder. If you want to go directly to the rest of the review though, here’s a skip link to My thoughts.

Recap

A bunch of of Yakuza fighters on motorcycles arrive at Elektra’s apartment. They get their guns, enter her building and find a suited-up Matt and Elektra waiting for them and dropping from the ceiling. A long fight sequence ensues. When they’re done, a giddy Elektra asks Matt if he’s hungry.

After the credits roll, Matt and Elektra are seen having breakfast together. Matt is impatient, and annoyed. Elektra is hungry. Matt is wondering what she’s really up to and how she knows about him. Elektra reveals that the Yakuza have ties to Roxxon that in turn is part of the mess on her business side, and that Matt can evidently be identified by the shape of his ass. Matt eventually tells her to get lost, but she gets his attention when she mentions that the Yakuza never left after Matt thought that Daredevil drove them out, and that they should deal with them together. Matt finally agrees, but finds the need to lay down some ground rules: Nobody dies.

Karen, with Foggy present, is questioned by the public defender assigned to the Frank Castle case, a certain Mr. Roth, and he appears to be fresh out of law school. Karen finds a lot of errors in his statement and finally refuses to sign it as is. During this encounter, Matt arrives, and the public defender reveals that the case will be over just as soon as he gets Karen’s signature and Castle pleads guilty. They also learn that he’ll likely be extradicted to Delaware, a state which – unlike New York – has the death penalty.

With the death penalty on the table, Matt immediately becomes interested in taking the Punisher’s case, to at least get a plea. Foggy isn’t too crazy about the idea, or creating a conflict with District Attorney Reyes. Karen, meanwhile, wants to know why Reyes is so eager to see Castle dead. When Karen leaves the room, Foggy is free to speak more openly about why Matt, of all people, should think twice about wanting to defend him. The two have a discussion, and Foggy finally gives in.

The trio go to the hospital and find a sea of reporters in the lobby. When they reach Frank’s floor, they meet a newly promoted Brett who politely points out that the area is restricted. Foggy and Matt explain that they’re looking to represent Frank Castle and that his current legal representation isn’t up for the job. Brett warns them that they’re committing career suicide, but let’s them through.

They all enter Frank’s room, and Matt lays out their strategy. We learn that Frank doesn’t hold lawyers in particularly high regard because of the people they defend, but Matt makes a good argument. They don’t have to be there, and are not taking his case for money, fame or free advertisement. Matt explains that when Frank sustained his original gun shot wound to the head, a do not resusciatate order was placed on him, and Foggy adds the bit about the shoot-to-kill order a few days earlier. Someone in the DA’s office wants him dead, and their law firm wants to know why.

When Frank is still hesitating, Karen walks up to his bedside and shoves a picture of his family in his face. Just as Frank starts asking about why Karen was in his house, DA Reyes arrives and starts making threats. She claims that it would be a conflict of interest for Nelson & Murdock to represent Castle since one of his victims was a client of theirs. Matt very elegantly retorts that it would be hard for her to argue that since their dealings with Grotto appear to have been erased from public record. Brett then shows up to confirm that Castle has now agreed to become their client.

Matt, Karen and Foggy go to a nearby room to start drawing up a legal strategy when Matt is called away by a driver sent over by Elektra. Matt is forced to come up with an explanation, that he forgot a meeting with the new mysterious client. When Matt goes to leave, he gives Karen a kiss on the cheek and Foggy becomes wise to the fact that Karen and Matt have something going on. Karen walks Matt to the elevator.

Matt finds Elektra in her car outside, and she immediately insists he put on a change of clothes and accompany her to a gala where they are going to steal a secret Roxxon ledger. Matt, who was ready to get out of the car, immediately changes his mind as Elektra describes the strategy. Their way in is a Roxxon accountant without fighting chops. They need to get his keycard to access a secret floor.

Back in the hospital, Karen and Foggy are going through Castle’s case and they’re finding the charges against their client to be worse than they’d imagined. The arraignment is a couple of hours away, and Foggy is visibly distraught at the magnitude of what they’ve gotten themselves into. The two of them go to speak with Castle, and get confirmation that Castle is ready to plead guilty, but he will only speak to Karen alone. Frank wants to know how much Karen knows about his family, and Karen reads from the fake police report that was written up after his family was killed. To proceed, Karen needs more information from Frank himself, and he probes his memory for details, placing the Irish, the Mexican cartel and the biker gang at the scene. When Karen gets up to leave, Frank asks her to stay.

Matt and Elektra have arrived at the gala, and enter the bar area, where Elektra draws attention from the crowd. They chit-chat, grab some drinks and are approached by a Mr. Hirochi, a man of obvious importance at this event. Elektra then identifies their target, Stan Gibson, at the bar. What should have been easy, becomes less so when Elektra goes to pick-pocket Stan’s key card, and Matt, just in time, overhears some radio traffic indicating that Stan is under surveillance. When Elektra concludes that they have to get him alone, Matt comes up with a clever idea to grab a glass of wine, and “accidentally” spill it all over Stan who has to rush to the men’s room to get it cleaned up.

Back in the hospital, Frank assures Karen that she was never in any danger and that he “only hurts people who deserve it.” If Frank had wanted her dead, she would have been dead. The two have a conversation about why he wanted Karen to say, and Frank reveals that he never went back to the house after his family was killed. He wants to know what she saw there, and Karen relays her observations, each bringing new memories for Frank that he shares with her. She gives Frank the photo of his family, and he gratefully accepts, thanking Karen for helping him remember.

Once Stan is in the men’s room at the gala, Matt follows, takes out his security guards, Stan himself and gets the keycard. He and Elektra take the elevator upstairs, where Elektra puts a device on the surveillance system that will erase the recordings and loop the footage on the security cameras. Matt, quickly realizes that floor is crawling with security guards and leads the two of them down a staircase until the nearby men can pass.

Foggy is back with Karen and Frank and brings good news from the arraignment: The death penalty is off the table since the state of Delaware doesn’t have the evidence to charge and get Frank extradited. He’s also pleaded with the DA to get the sentence down to one life sentence with the possibility of parole in 25 years. The bad news is that the DA insisted that Frank be put in general population, which is more upsetting to Karen than Frank. Thinking this is the best deal they’re going to get, Foggy gets Frank to agree to take the deal and plead guilty.

In the next scene, when the DA and a judge are brought in, Frank has a change of heart and, after a long pause, angrily declares that he’s pleading not guilty. Confused, Foggy asks Karen what changed since he agreed to plead guilty three hours ago. Karen says that maybe he just wanted the truth about the cover-up. As she does so, they see the reporters outside and realize that they’re headed into “the trial of the century.”

We’re back with Matt and Elektra who make their way through the building, ducking behind corners as needed, while Mr. Hiroshi is beginning to wonder about Stan Gibson’s whereabouts. Assured that he’s in the men’s room, he waits a while longer before becoming concerned. Finally at the right location, Elektra points Matt to a safe that he opens before sitting down at the desk. Elektra doesn’t find what she’s looking for and frantically searches the room. Just as Gibson is discovered in the men’s room, Matt identifies a strange sound coming from a wall, which leads them to a hidden switch leading to a hidden room. Matt points her to the most likely drawer, and she finds the ledger, just as Matt hears trouble coming. Knowing they’re about to be caught, they have no other option but to hide in a conference room, await company and fight their way out in an amazingly sexy fight scene, made even more exciting by the fact that we can only catch their shadows through the faded glass.

They sneak down one level, and hide out. When they’re spotted they pretend to be a drunk couple making out. The guards, suspicious of the two take out a flashlight and shine it in Matt’s eyes, to determine whether he really is blind. With this confirmed, the two are able to escape. (Though Matt can thank his lucky star that he doesn’t have light perception, or he would have been royally screwed by that flashlight test…)

Back in their car, Elektra starts reading through the ledger. She finds evidence of drugs, weapons and human trafficking, but something, presumably even more sinister, is written in code. Matt is intrigued, wondering what they could possibly be hiding. When Elektra asks, “Same time tomorrow?” Matt responds with an amused snort.

Our poor friend Stan Gibson is called into Mr. Hirochi’s office where he’s questioned about his involvement in the evening’s events. His guards are killed while Gibson pleads for his life, swearing that he has nothing but respect for the Yakuza. Hirochi, very ominously asks him. “Who said I was Yakuza?”

Matt returns home and finds Foggy waiting for him. Foggy tells him about everything that’s gone wrong, with Frank pleading not guilty, and Reyes pulling strings to get a speedy trial. With Frank agreeing to this, they’re set for a trial that starts the following week. After telling Matt he hopes that his schedule is clear, Foggy storms off and leaves Matt to ponder this turn of events.

My thoughts

All in all, Regrets Only is a very solid episode. It’s well paced with well-written dialogue, and plenty of dramatic moments, all beautifully packaged.

Beginning at the end, though, this episode is in many ways the beginning of the end for Nelson & Murdock, and Elektra is the one who sets things in motion with her promise of excitement that Matt finds impossible to resist, even when he knows that means ignoring other responsibilities. Up until now, Matt has seemingly been able to somewhat balance the two sides of his life, even though we all sense the lingering tension between Matt and Foggy from last season’s Daredevil reveal.

Later in the season – more on that in my next post – Foggy has to own his part of the blame for escalating the conflict and finding himself unable to really accept that Matt needs to be Daredevil, or even listen to him, but at this point, it’s pretty much all on Matt. He was the one who talked Foggy into even taking on the Punisher case, but when there’s actual work to be done, Foggy is the one who has to carry it all by himself. That’s not to say that Matt’s intentions weren’t good, or that what he and Elektra are doing isn’t important and worthwhile, but if Foggy feels more or less abandoned at the end of this episode, no one can blame him.

Still, Matt does get to do at least some lawyering in this episode, in a very memorable scene where he goes up against first the Punisher, and then DA Reyes. In light of this other discussion we’ve been having on the TOMP Facebook page, that touches on, among other things, “who is the real Matt Murdock?”, I would point to this scene as one that, to me at least, virtually screams “Matt Murdock!” The way he uses Reyes’s rather sloppy way of covering her own tracks against her is a pure joy to behold. It’s easy to forget that Matt actually is a good lawyer, and an all-around intelligent person, and has a real eye (no pun intended) for strategizing and manipulating the opposition. When their encounter is over, Reyes is momentarily beaten, and while I’m sure Matt gets a bigger kick out of giving someone a physical beating, this must have felt like a very satisfying win to him.

When Matt takes off to follow Elektra, leaving Foggy and Karen to deal with the Punisher (in Matt’s defense, the intensive work of going through massive amounts of paperwork – of the actual, physical kind – is not really a task he would have been effective at), we get to what is the absolute highlight of this episode: Matt and Elektra crashing a party to go after a coveted Roxxon ledger. Everything about this part of the episode is gold and a big part of the reason I would rank episode six as one of the best of the season.

Elodie Yung delivers an incredibly sexy Elektra, and every step of their plan is well-executed (even when improvised), and downright elegant. There’s Matt’s clever trick to get to the keycard, the perfect division of labor between him and Elektra in keeping watch and digging around, the beautiful conference room fight scene, and the clever trick at the end where the two just barely escape.

What Matt and Elektra are doing tends to overshadow a lot of other things going on in this episode, but Frank also has some interesting stuff going on. He and Karen are starting to form some kind of relationship, so there is that, but my favorite Frank scene this episode is the one where he shouts a very, let’s say colorful, not guilty plea to Reyes.

There’s an interesting juxtaposition between the playfulness of Matt and Elektra’s story and the agonizing trauma that just oozes out of every scene with Frank Castle in it. Not only is Frank suffering, everyone who enters his room somehow gets sucked into all of it. No wonder Karen and Foggy are acting as if dealing with their client is emotionally taxing, even more so than it is hard work. The lighting and, more importantly, the dramatic bass tones of the music help underscore the threat of the Punisher, and his barely contained chaos, when he’s up against Reyes.

Senses watch

The interplay between Matt and Elektra is very interesting in itself, and even more so when looking at it just a few weeks before the premiere of The Defenders. This is the first time we see Matt go into action with someone else, and it happens to be someone with whom he is intimately familiar. There’s no need to explain anything, and the two fall into a pitch perfect division of labor that doesn’t waste a word between them. Matt keeps a constant ear out for anyone passing by and then goes on to crack open a safe, while sitting passively and nonchalantly by as Elektra visually scours the 13th floor office for the missing ledger. When she strikes out, he picks things back up again by noticing a peculiar electrical signal behind the wall, revealing a hidden room. I have to admit I’m a little unsure of how he’s supposed to pick up the contents of the different drawers with such specificity, though. As I’ve mentioned before somewhere, I don’t terribly mind a limited ability to “see through things” on Matt’s part. An empty box, for instance, would reflect sound differently than one filled with dense materials. But for someone to narrow this down to “paper” specifically, there would have to be a scent portion to it as well.

There’s a great deal of inconsistency generally in this show when it comes to Matt rather randomly identifying things, people and the guns they’re carrying through very solid materials or at great distances, on the one hand, but can’t detect the presence of a secret room using the same technique in this episode. All this while only being able to detect ninjas if they make a sound (as we learn in later episodes), a notion that is even more ridiculous in this context than when Frank Miller introduced it in the comics. I know I’m usually the one to point out when Matt’s senses are “too good” to make sense, but I’m just as happy to point out when his senses are portrayed as too week (for anything else he can do to make sense). The latter just doesn’t happen nearly as often. 😉 Anyway, I’ll have reason to return to the silent ninja dilemma, since it’s a little outside the scope of this post.

Back to the good stuff though, because I’m thinking (hoping?) that this level of seamless cooperation will be on display in the Defenders as well, at least as the members of the team get to know each other. Matt has some very vital and unique abilities to bring to any team effort, but should have little trouble deferring to others when needed, especially for information gathering that is highly visual in nature. From what I’ve gathered from set photos from The Defenders (mild spoiler warning), Matt and Jessica seem to be involved in some common detective work in the early episodes of the show. When he can hear, smell and detect things she can’t, and she can see things he can’t, they’ll be more effective together than alone. And then they can go for a beer. 😉

One more thing before we drop this section, is the first scene at the gala when Matt points out that Elektra must look nice (see Quotes below). I’ve written a post before on why Matt being able to gauge attractiveness is not the least bit weird, and why I think he’d go about it exactly as explained in this scene, so check that out if you haven’t read it before.

Easter egg watch

Nothing much to report this episode. There’s more talk about Marvel’s “big evil corporation” Roxxon, of course. There’s also a scene where Matt mentions his taste in music, after Elektra asks him if he likes jazz, and says that he prefers ’90s Top 40. I’ve seen people point to this as an example of yet another nod to the 2003 Daredevil movie, and its rather infamous soundtrack. It may very well be. See my post from last year for more of these nods to the movie.

Quotes

Matt (about the Punisher): “His methodology is clearly wrong, but in his own kind of way, he was trying to do something noble.”
Foggy: “Is this about saving a man? Or saving a vigilante?”
Matt: “He’s a person. Like you, Foggy. Like me. And he shouldn’t have to die.”

Foggy (to Brett, about the Punisher): “So we thought he’d respond to our strategy of, you know, keeping him alive?”

Matt: “You must look nice.”
Elektra: “How would you know?”
Matt: “Turned a lot of heads. Raising a lot of heart rates.”

Elektra: “Not bad, Magoo”

Foggy: “I hope your schedule is clear, buddy. ‘Cause The People versus Frank Castle starts next week.”

Star player

It’s tricky to pick one for this episode. On the one hand, I’m inclined to say Elektra, again. She seems to be the only character who actually ends the episode with an untarnished “win.” Matt has to come home after an evening of fun – and it really was fun for him – and face Foggy. Foggy, on the other hand has had a really shitty day, and has every reason to be incredibly disappointed in Matt. Matt knows this. Later in this season, Foggy will start to come down hard on Matt, even harder than Matt actually deserves, but at this point in the season, Foggy is being about as fair as he can be.

Of course, I don’t usually base these “star player” ratings on the perceived success of the character, but on who has the most star power. In this regard, I think Frank Castle also shows some interesting character development, whereas Karen fills the role of facilitating that, more than anything.

Hm, when all is said and done, I think I’ll give this to Elektra though. She is the big influencer in this episode, and her power over Matt leaves a big mark.