Life has been a whirlwind over the last month. Mostly good, just crazy busy. And… that’s about eighty percent of the reason it’s taken me this long to get this up. I also have to admit that I’ve been putting this off. This post was mostly ready to go two weeks ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to finish it, even when I could have made time for it. Why? Because thinking about Daredevil in general has been kind of depressing for me lately, and the more I kept putting off writing this, the more it turned into a strange and very specific writer’s block.
Season two was mostly great (and spoilers for all of season two coming up, in case you haven’t seen all episodes). Like I’ve said before, I rate it above the first season. But it’s also really, really heartbreaking. I know a lot of fans besides me have felt this way – oh, and if you do, feel free to vent in the comments – but it’s making it harder and harder to get these reviews up when watching the episodes past the midway point brings your mood down, and you’re not in the right place emotionally to feel up to the task. It’s like watching a very beautiful and well-executed story about your best friends’ divorce. There’s no faulting the artistic merits, but it’s also kind of rough.
I decided a long time ago, that running this blog – or watching episodes of Daredevil, for that matter — shouldn’t feel like a chore. When it does, it’s time to take a step back and regroup. I guess that’s what I’ve been doing. What I miss, though, is talking to all of you guys, and a lot of times, the most helpful thing is to get to hear the opinions of fellow fans. That, and I really need to get over this writer’s block. So, with no further ado, let’s dig into this one, and start moving forward.
Recap
Flashback to ten(?!) years ago, and Matt is at a college party with Foggy when he decides to wander off. A beautiful woman at the bar catches his attention. As he approaches her, security is getting ready to take him outside when Elektra (we know who she is) stops them and says that he’s with her.
Back in the present, Elektra is in Matt’s apartment,and he is not happy about it. Elektra jokingly mocks his beer – and his clothes. She claims she happened to be in town and asks for his help, and tells him that she misses him. She then says she needs his help as a lawyer. Matt refuses (and not only because of the ridiculously short notice). When she starts talking about the good old times, he kicks her out.
The next morning, Matt arrives at the office. Only Foggy is there and they talk about how their finances haven’t improved. Karen arrives bringing coffee and awkward conversation, given the events of last night, and then goes through her findings about the Punisher. She reluctantly reveals that she went to his house and gets chastised by both Matt and Foggy. Karen and Matt then have a talk about the previous night when Foggy mentions they have new money in the bank. Matt gets nervous, tells Foggy not to spend any of it and heads for the door.
We’re back in the bar ten (really?!) years ago, and Matt and Elektra order drinks and analyze each others motives. Matt really gets her interested when he suggests that underneath it all, she’s just bored. The two leave together, in a high-end, presumably stolen, convertible.
Back in the present, Karen and Foggy get a visit from assistant D.A. Towers, while Matt’s out on chasing down Elektra business. Towers is asking for all the files on Grotto in exchange for Reyes loosening her grip. Foggy refuses, because it’s illegal without a subpoena, and sends Towers packing.
Matt is at the building where Elektra is about to start her meeting, listening closely, while we go back in time to see Matt and Elektra breaking into Fogwell’s gym. Matt talks about his father, and how he died, when Elektra challenges him, saying she’s noticed things about him. When she attacks, he responds, and soon all is revealed. Both fight, exhilerated, and end their session with steamy sex.
Back outside the office building, Matt has heard enough and sneeks into an alley and starts climbing to get closer to where Elektra is, and listens in on her meeting. Elektra, meanwhile, gets ready to start her meeting, and in the next scene she appears, she’s seen turning on a jamming device which cuts off access to Roxxon’s servers, and, very soon, almost every phone in the room starts ringing.
Karen visits Ben Urich’s old boss, Ellison, at the Bulletin (great to see him back!). She confronts him about the inaccuracies, by omission, in the articles they’ve written about the Punisher. She talks about his military record, his family and his gunshot wound to the head. With Ellison’s interest piqued, Karen asks if she can go through their records. He agrees, in exchange for a Bulletin exclusive on anything interesting she manages to dig up.
At Josie’s, Foggy is getting ready to meet Marci Stahl. She shows up, wondering why she hasn’t heard from him in months. Foggy talks about his work troubles, and mentions that Karen and Matt have something going on. Marci tells him that she has a new job at “H, C &B”. Foggy then talks about their troubles with the D.A. and Marci mentions that Reyes has her sights set on the mayor’s office, and is looking to put pressure on the vigilantes, including a particular Jessica Jones. Next in line is Daredevil.
Meanwhile, Karen is stuck in the Bulletin’s archives, making little progress until Ellison shows up to help. They realize that the event they’re looking for might have taken a few days to get into the paper since no civilians were reported injured. They next discover that Frank’s family was killed in a gang shooting involving the Mexican cartel, the Dogs of Hell and the Kitchen Irish.
That evening, Matt and Karen are having a very awkward date at a fancy restaurant. When Karen excuses herself, Matt grabs a waiter and nervously asks about what wine he should order. It turns out that the waiter has Elektra on the phone for him. After, a brief exchange, Matt tells her to go to hell, and Elektra informs him that he’s fired.
In another flashback, we see young Matt and Elektra pull up to a mansion, and Elektra claims the house belongs to one of her father’s associates. They break in, and dream big about the future while enjoying cheese and wine. Matt wonders whether a life of riches is really all it’s cracked up to be. Elektra says that it is, but that she’d be willing to trade it in for a lifetime of smelling his skin. Next, she starts throwing glasses around and teases him to “get her.” That’s when Matt hears someone enter the house. Elektra promises to take care of it, but when Matt hears more disturbing noises, and goes to check, it turns out that Elektra has the man – his father’s murderer Roscoe Sweeney – pinned to the floor.
When Karen returns, Matt admits that he’s not comfortable in the restaurant they’re in. When Matt promises that Karen is not the problem, she takes him to her favorite Indian place instead, where the two appear to be having a much better time. Matt confesses he’s more comfortable with the cheap stuff, and the two talk about their connections to New York. Karen describes the interior of the restaurant to Matt. It really is something to behold, dripping in light.
The two reach Karen’s place, and sit on the stoop for a while, kissing and snuggling up to each other. Matt doesn’t want to go inside, however, since he says he wants to have one perfect night, without the inevitable disaster. The two part ways, and on the way home, he is reminded of all the crime in the city. Giving up being Daredevil is not something he will be considering any time soon.
We finally flash back to the scene with Roscoe Sweeney, and Elektra invites Matt to beat him up. When Matt starts hitting him, leaving him bloody, Elektra pushes him to go further, and finish off Sweeney once and for all, putting a knife in his hand. Matt refuses, and goes to call the police instead, while Elektra slips out the door.
In the final scene, Matt shows up at Elektra’s penthouse to talk about what happened all those years ago. She had expected him to show up, and even picked up his Daredevil suit so that they would both be prepared for the Yakuza that Elektra knew would be coming.
My thoughts
From reading the two introductory paragraphs, you might suspect that I didn’t think very highly of this episode. That’s not the case at all; in fact, it’s one of my favorites of the season. Elodie Yung puts in a fantastic performance as Elektra, and this take on the character is, without a doubt, the most interesting I’ve ever seen or read. Whether her and Matt’s arc together actually makes sense when you follow it to its conclusion, given who Elektra is when we first encounter her, is another matter altogether (and probably the topic of a separate post), but just looking at this episode, there is very little to complain about.
The many flashback scenes that we’re treated to this episode are mostly brilliant, and very dramatic stuff. When I watched the boxing ring scene for the first time, I have to admit I was relieved that 1) it’s actually Elektra that figures out Matt’s secret on her own (though we’ll learn that there’s more to this story, of course), and that he’s not the one to tell her, and 2) that he says “it’s complicated” when she asks if he can see. I appreciate the first of these points because that holds up with what Matt tells Foggy, after he finds out, in season one, about never telling anyone about his heightened senses. Since it turns out he never actually told Elektra either, that actually confirms his story.
Any longtime reader of this blog will probably know why I appreciated the second point. In the issue, by Frank Miller, that originally introduced Elektra, not only does Matt reveal his secret to her right off the bat, he gives her the explanation that “my other senses more than compensate,” which is an assertion that has always annoyed the hell out of me (pardon my French). “It’s complicated” is a much more truthful version of what is actually going on.
As for the rest of this scene, I have to admit that it’s heartening to see Matt’s joy at being found out and having found a “playmate” with whom he can share his entire life, not just those parts he reveals publicly. It’s very understandable why he would be so drawn to Elektra, dark sides and all, even when he’s often the voice of conscience when he ever so subtly questions their taking off in a stolen car, breaking into Fogwell’s, or someone’s house.
Of course, Elektra is not the only woman who features prominently in this episode. Matt also goes on a date with Karen. It gets to a very awkward start at a fancy restaurant where the two can’t quite get past talking shop, and where Matt finally admits to not being comfortable. We, the viewers, get treated to a small glimpse of Matt showing an unusual amount of vulnerability when forced to confess to the waiter that he apparently doesn’t know the first thing about wine. Karen instead takes Matt to a different kind of restaurant where the two immediately feel more comfortable. Matt telling Karen that he prefers the cheap stuff provides an interesting contrast to the life he dreamed about with Elektra, before she revealed her darkest side. I don’t agree with the people who say that Matt and Karen have no chemistry. They absolutely do. So do Matt and Elektra, but it’s a very different kind of chemistry.
Here’s one thing you do have to wonder about though: What is going on with the timeline in this episode? Ten years ago? Nelson and Murdock has been up and running for about a year when the season starts, and before that, Matt and Foggy did their internship, which supposedly happened when they were right out of law school. I don’t mind all these characters being a little older than that, all of these actors are over thirty and Elden Henson is actually in his late thirties, but it just doesn’t line up with last season at all. And don’t get me started on how quickly the seasons change from summer to winter during the course of this season, because that doesn’t make sense either. 😉
Senses watch
Nothing really stands out, so I’ll take this opportunity to comment on something I think this show accomplishes overall. What I mean is how we’re reminded of the differences in the “hierarchy” of Matt’s senses compared to those of the average person. For an example of what I mean, we need look no further than the very first scene of the episode when Elektra lures him in. Obviously, the makes of this show can’t construct this scene in a way that just has Matt enter the room, notice the hot chick at the bar, and then get to work. Instead, she gets his attention by the clinking of metal when she’s plays with her bracelets. Now that he’s noticed her – and we can safely assume that smell is also a big part of this, though that’s difficult to convey on screen – Elektra makes herself even more intriguing by very deliberately running the tip of her finger along the rim of her cocktail glass.
Without these signals, she might not have stood out from the crowd at all, the way she most likely would to a sighted person. Her visual appearance is striking, but that’s not going to cut it with Matt, obviously. With this character, you can’t assume that a scene or event would unfold or reveal itself in the same order, or through same cues, as it would to the average person. I think this show is generally pretty good at keeping that in mind. (There’s another scene coming up next episode I’ll have to mention when I get to that review.)
I also wanted to briefly mention the scene with Matt and Karen at the Indian restaurant. Knowing that Matt is still hiding his senses from Karen, they do a good job of making Matt’s suggestion that Karen describe the restaurant to him feel sincere. With all the multi-colored lights, and complex visuals, this is the right kind of environment for reminding the viewer that, though Matt can perceive much more than Karen thinks, his impression of the place cannot possibly match hers.
Easter egg watch
Nothing much to report this episode, except for the scene at the beginning that I would still swear is a nod to the 2003 Daredevil movie. The way it’s shot, the way it sounds, I just know it.
There is, however a very clear connection to Jessica Jones. Marci Stahl has apparently started working for Jeri Hogarth’s firm, and even makes a direct reference to her. I guess we’ll be seeing more of Marci in season two of Jessica Jones!
Oh, one last thing. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to take a look at Elektra’s bright red robe and read that as an obvious nod to her comic book costume. She can definitely pull off the color!
Quotes
Matt: “Well, sweetheart, you don’t break into my house and then talk to me about trust.”
Elektra: “You said you were blind.”
Matt: “No, you said I was blind.”
Elektra: “So you can see?”
Matt: “It’s complicated.”
Matt: “I don’t drink anything they don’t serve at Josie’s.”
Karen: “Well, I don’t see swill on the menu.”
Elektra: “Any time you want to drive…”
Matt: “I think it’s illegal, driving under the influence of blindness.”
Star player
This one has to go to Elektra. In this case, it’s entirely due to Elodie Yung’s portrayal of her. She’s perfect in the role, and is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. As mentioned above, Elektra – at least thus far –won’t win a likability contest any time soon, but that’s not really the point of the character. She’s there to create chaos, and she certainly pulls that off.
Im surprised you didn’t mention the scene when Matt listens from across the street and through a thick glass wall to listen in on a conversation that Elektra is having with the Roxxon executives. I always thought that was straining Matt’s abilities and the laws of physics some.
This was a very good episode. Elodie Yung, like Bernthal, is perfectly cast. I loved her performance as Elektra. The flashback scenes were the highlight this episode. I always thought the attraction to Elektra was her wild and darker side. Matt has a darker side too, and he is constantly trying to keep it in check. Elektra is the ultimate temptation. To abandon the self-discipline and go nuts with the adrenaline junkie part of himself. And for a time he was swept up in the adventure, in her. But unavoidably Elektra went to far and to dark and Matt pulled out. The rest of the season is Matt toeing the line between trying to save Elektra and Frank’s souls while trying not to give in and lose his own. In the end Matt succeeds in saving Elektra from herself but I think Matt loses part of himself in the process. He succumbs to his wild side, his darker side, just enough to abandon his normal life and choose Elektra. Its hard to watch in that you want Matt to come out completely clean, but you cant fight in the trenches with people like Frank and Elektra and not lose your way to a certain extent. Especially with Matt constantly having to fight the “devil inside” anyway. It is hard to watch, but at the same time its very understandable. And there was a part of me that enjoyed the thought of Matt just being free with Elektra. Both tempering the other one just enough to find that blissful adventure filled middle ground. But we all new it was not meant to be. It’s part of Matt’s growth. I think Matt realizes this in the end and knows that he has to have the balance of both sides of his life.
Anyway, that was kind of a long train of thought but I wanted to get it all out there. Cool episode and good set up for even better Matt/Elektra stuff to come.
Hey Christine, thanks for the posting. I was wondering about your early comments in the post about being depressed or sour about Daredevil et al? I get the writer’s block phenom (been there) and know you will get over it in time but why are you down on the scene right now? Gordon
I think this was my favorite episode of season 2. (Not surprising since episode 10’s flashbacks were my favorite part of season 1.) I loved the flashbacks with Elektra and the romantic scenes with Karen. It makes sense that Matt would be uncomfortable in an upscale place (even if he hadn’t received a phone call from his ex-girlfriend) because he didn’t have money growing up. His dad would have brought him to a diner on special occasions, not the Ritz. Even less likely would have been going out at all when in the orphanage. The only thing that bothers me about the Indian restaurant they went to instead was how dusty all of the stuff hanging from the ceiling must be. Presumably Matt would be able to smell it.
In the flashback, I knew Elektra was up to something at the fancy house, but I wasn’t expecting Sweeney to show up. Her attempt to push Matt to the dark side was interesting because she did seduce him in that direction to some extent (skipping classes, riding in a stolen vehicle, breaking and entering, and breaking things) but not to kill someone, even his father’s killer. Then she disappeared, just like Stick did previously. In both cases because Matt didn’t react in a way that they wanted. With Stick it was by getting too emotionally close. With Elektra, by not allowing his emotions to rule him. In both cases, they they run away from him and his view of them, to return years later.
By the way, how much school did he miss while hanging out with Elektra? Foggy implies later that it was quite a lot. How did he still graduate with magna cum laude? Must not have missed any quizzes, exams, or papers. Lucky for him you don’t have to attend classes in college if you still do the work.
I can understand your hesitation to delve into the rest of the season. I found it hard to watch too. I’d rewatched season 1 multiple times by this time last year, but haven’t been inclined to this year. (Even though my first pass through was completed by around 1pm the Saturday of opening weekend.) I will come back to it eventually, but not soon and probably not as many times. Take as long as you need. We’ll still be here.
Maybe my favorite episode of the season. Definitely in my top 3.
Matt and Elektra have such palpable chemistry, even when he’s telling her to go to hell. Matt and Karen have such amazing chemistry too. I think Charlie just has chemistry with everyone, Hell last season I was rooting for him and Vanessa to hook up. The scene at Fogwell’s Gym has to be hands down the hottest moment in anything Marvel’s done. Again the chemistry is so palpable you feel it every moment that these two want each other, the fire is burning them both.
Not to jump ahead too much into the season, but I wanted to talk about the running theme of abandonment with Matt. His father abandoned him (in a way), Stick abandoned him, Elektra abandoned him, and depending on what Matt knows or believes, his mother abandoned him. To me that informs a lot on how he deals with people in the present. Maybe subconsciously he expects people to abandon him so he sometimes pushes people away, or doesn’t fight as hard to keep them when they decide to leave. Obviously Matt has many, many, many layers, but this stood out to me on re-watch. That may be a small reason he doesn’t fight harder to keep Foggy from leaving later in the season, or Karen, or Claire. Inside some small part of him expected them to leave, but at the end he of course realizes he needs them and goes to reconcile with Karen.
Matt’s line to Karen outside her apartment was so romantically awesome only to be topped by Elektra’s line about “a lifetime of smelling your skin.” I have to admit though part of me wanted to scream “What the hell are you doing Murdock!?!?! GO UPSTAIRS WITH HER! GO UPSTAIRS WITH HER!” The people that say Matt and Karen don’t have any chemistry… I just don’t… maybe they’re watching Arrow.
The “Ten Years Earlier”
Yeeeeaaaaaah… I don’t know why the writers can’t or don’t have a better grasp on the past timeline. I pointed out last year the weird cluster of inconsistencies with the “Nelson v. Murdock” flashback as far as their college/law school/whatever timeline, but now its totally a mess if you put any thought into it. I think we just have to ignore any actual dates or numbers and pretend it said “Years Ago”.
Also for any who don’t know, Kinbaku means ‘tight binding’.
Great review as always.
I have to say this was probably my least favorite episode of the whole season, with the exception maybe of the last episode. I wish I could put my finger on why – I can’t quite. Something just bothers me about it. Elodie Yung did an extraordinary job and I don’t have anything against Elektra (actually I liked her much better on a second viewing) but there’s something about Matt’s reaction to her that just feels slightly off. Not the chemistry – that is A+ (and I’m afraid I am one of those people who finds Matt and Karen to have close to no chemistry at all, those scenes made me cringe!).
I don’t know, I get the logic of it on an intellectual level and all and I know Matt Murdock is REALLY good at making spectacularly bad romantic choices, but I guess the whole happily breaking into houses and smashing wine glasses and skipping days (weeks?) of school thing was a little too far for me. It sort of goes with how close to indifferent Matt seemed this season about giving up being a lawyer, which is kind of really important to his character. I know, I know, he’s in a really bad place and is questioning everything but…
Honestly I can’t really explain myself well, but those are my (rambling and semi-coherent) feelings about it. It’s like the whole Elektra plotline makes sense to me cerebrally, but not intuitively.
One of the appealing things about Daredevil to me is that he *struggles* to be good, it’s not really natural to him. He certainly does feel the temptation of the “dark side”, and he certainly enjoys beating the crap out of people, even people who arguably deserve it, a bit too much. It makes him a much more nuanced character in some ways than, say, Superman.
In this episode we see him struggling with the darkness. In fact, this entire season is him struggling against the darkness. It’s tempting to settle things with fists, to use his enhanced sense to get an advantage over everyone else, and definitely he enjoys being with someone who accepts that he is both blind AND “enhanced”. We saw that with the pool scene in Josie’s when he sinks two balls with one shot and Foggy calls him a show-off, and Foggy accepting that Matt picked someone out of the crowd at the bar and used his “human lie detector” trick. Foggy both acknowledges Matt is blind AND can do things other people can’t. So does Elektra, and in an upcoming episode that becomes even more apparent when she relies on him to warn her of potential problems, even as she calls him “Magoo”. Matt *loves* being that open with people, yet he finds it almost impossible to be that.
That’s one of the reasons his reveal at the end of the series has such impact – he potentially has yet another person in his life he actually can be honest with. That’s very important, because honesty is one of the things that keeps him on the side of the angels.
Stick is an ally (sometimes) but he’s amoral, or at least he’s operating on different ethics than the rest of the world, and very different ones than Matt’s Catholic Church. Elektra is an ally, but one a certain level she is evil. Very pretty, very seductive, very fun, but she is NOT a good person even if sometimes she does good things. Those two aren’t going to keep Matt on the side of good. Foggy is, though – Foggy has his issues, too, but on a fundamental level he’s a good guy from being a defense lawyer to attempting to beat off a mugger with a baseball bat to taking risks for those he cares about. Foggy does help keep Matt on the side of good. So will Karen, for even if Karen has done bad things she is still at her core a good person trying to do the right thing.
Heck, even Melvin Potter, for all he helped out the Bad Guys, is fundamentally a good guy so far. He’s doing his best to protect Betsy, and to keep this vigilante weirdo safe and effective.
Good allies help keep Matt/Daredevil good. Evil allies not so much.
Wow, getting a bit meta about the whole thing. More specific to this episode – loved the casting for Elektra. She took a character I never cared much about and made her interesting. I agree with the initial paragraphs in this post, that in some ways this season is heartbreaking because of how so many things end, but it’s a well done story.
Whether it’s in the Defenders or an explicit Season 3 for Daredevil (and I think we will at some point get that Season 3) I’d like to see Matt make a journey to good as this season was a bit of a tour of darkness for him. Daredevil is never going to be lighthearted, but I’d like to see the man get at least a bit of happiness at some point.
I don’t think Matt and Karen have chemistry at all. Its all “manufactured” chemistry meaning its set up to be romantic e.g. lights, music and atmosphere but I was cringing through the whole thing. The connection doesn’t feel honest.
I have a lot of thoughts on this episode, and really, the show in general, but there was one amazingly subtle “senses watch” thing I noticed in the flashback to Roscoe Sweeney’s house. Right after they enter (“Welcome home, darling. Dinner’s almost ready.”), Matt snaps and claps a couple of times before remarking about the size of the kitchen. He probably could have figured it out by just them talking, but it was an easy and fast way to reach that conclusion, and Elektra knows about his powers, so it’s not like he was putting on a show, or anything.
It’s wonderful for supporting our “echolocation on steroids” perspective on the radar sense, but even more incredible that it’s performed so naturally that you hardly notice it happening at all. I certainly didn’t notice it on my first viewing; only now, during my second time through the series did it catch my attention – and even then, just barely. A far cry from magically sensing flares and a box’s contents of nails half a warehouse away in Season 1.
You are absolutely right, this is a fine detail. What troubles me, that Matt uses these techniques when he is Matt, but not when he is Daredevil. For example, he does not make a single noise when he investigates the Irish pub after the massacre.
They are strangely inconsistent with it. One example of that is how, in a later episode, he doesn’t realise that the ninja he and Elektra are fighting (whom she subsequently kills) is young until after he unmasks him, as if he’d need to see and couldn’t tell by his breathing.
Now, the massacre makes some sense, since the smell of blood and lack of heartbeats is enough to tell that everyone was slaughtered. But in any case, I do wish he had other little moments of tapping or other such small noisemaking to better survey his surroundings.
Me too. First he listenes, whether he is alone and then he does the magic half a box of nails thing again. I mean when he is alone he can make noises, it would be foolish to relinquish all the information gained by echolocation? And even if he is not alone, the way he did it in episode 5 is so unobstrusive.
I like to imagine that he does a “sound of one hand clapping” gesture (like how Bart Simpson did it) off-camera to quietly get just a little extra bit of surrounding info.
Anyway, since you’ve gotten me going about the episode, I might as well start off with one of my other thoughts about it – namely, the fate of the Fixer. In the comics, of course, he very clearly dies, so scared is he of the yellow devil chasing him down. In the show, his fate is left far more ambiguous. After Matt punches Sweeney’s face into a pulp, he calls the cops, and Elektra vanishes.
I have several questions.
How did Elektra get away? Did she take the car, which would leave Matt completely stranded? Did she leave on foot, and if so, why wouldn’t Matt try to track her down, being that she’s his only point of contact way out in the middle of wherever-they-were? Did Matt get a ride from the cops? Did the cops even show up, and if not, what became of the Fixer?
He made a very clear threat after recognising exactly who Matt is, promising to track him down and kill him. The bloated punch injuries he sustained would likely only further motivate him in doing so. Even if we assume that the cops did show up and arrested Sweeney, we’ve seen plenty of evidence that even caged criminals can have a hefty influence on the outside world. He may not be the Kingpin, but I very much doubt there wouldn’t still be some loyal murderers on his payroll.
The weirdest part about leaving his fate so open-ended is that it doesn’t seem to have been intentional. It’s played as if to say, “And that’s the last Matt Murdock saw of Roscoe Sweeney, never to be hassled by him again.” There’s no indication that the book on Sweeney is anything but closed, and yet nothing about what happened after the flashback cut off is made concrete. Like the writers put a “The End” on the memory without really resolving anything in it.
Oh, I definitely would love to see that story continued! There is still a lose end from season one that might also fit into this general theme. In epidose three John Healey makes a point that Kingpin never stops by killing the perpetrator if someone has offended him but kills the whole family and everyone who is connected to this person. In episode 11 he vows to Vanessa that no one can stop him from taking revenge, yet he only unceremoniously pushes Owlsley into an elevator shaft. There has to be something following with Owlsley junior.
And I like to imagine some off-screen scenes, too. Especially in season one, episode 9 when he finds the map of hells kitchen. I still think, he pulled out his cellphone, took a picture and later asked Claire what he found 😉
I suspect that Owlsley’s son will be the Owl (though I also suspect he won’t call himself that) and be among the rival crime bosses seeking to rob Fisk’s territory while he is away. I don’t expect him to be a major villain in the show – just someone that the Kingpin has slaughtered to reclaim his domain when he leaves prison. Admittedly, however, I think it would be cool if Owl, Jr. proves himself to be a somewhat important figure and a competent foe, before being put in his place by the Kingpin of Crime.
Completely on a side note, but relevant insofar as villain speculation is concerned, I really hope to see the Enforcers in the Netflix universe. I’ve always liked them. But hey, I’ll take Tombstone and Hammerhead, should they ever plan to expand things beyond Kingpin, the Hand, and (presumably in Season 3) Bullseye. Just let me see a little more of that Daredevil rogue’s gallery.
The more I think about it, the more questions I have about the Sweeney flashback scene. I assume Elektra left with the car and Matt had to walk to the next bus stop or something. It happend in the comics, too. It is another inconsistency that Matt could not hear the the very loud engine.
Apart from that, the fact remains that Elektra and Matt committed serious crimes and left their fingerprints all over the place. I mean, there is property destruction, breaking and entering, kidnapping and serious criminal assault. Sweeney was abviously aware of Matts identity. And Matt called the police himself. What happend next?
Exactly! If the police had shown up while he was there, there is no way that Matt wouldn’t have been detained or at least extensively questioned about all the property damage, breaking and entering, Sweeney being tied up and beaten, why Matt was there in the first place, etc.
Your suggestion that he found his way to a bus stop only makes sense if you forget that they’re clearly in the suburbs, if not way out in more rural terrain. Such places have infamously terrible public transportation, if they’re lucky enough to have any at all. No matter how you slice it, this scene begs a return flashback of some sort, or at the very least, a bit of expositional dialogue that the Fixer died in prison, or something.