This review might need a bit of a backstory. I'm currently on vacation in Costa Rica (it's great, check out the photo I took of a sloth at the bottom of the post!), and I just managed to squeeze in a first viewing of the episode at 4 am this past Wednesday morning (it drops at 3 am in my part of the world), before jumping in a cab to go to the airport at 5.15 am.
What I'm getting at is that my morning felt rushed, and groggily disjointed. And while this episode, "Isle of Joy," sure helped wake me up as much as the coffee did with that undeniable adrenaline rush, I was perhaps not in the best shape to make sense of what I'd just watched. It was almost as if the speed of it was just a little too much. Though I was happy to discover that I was genuinely surprised by where this episode went, having dutifully stayed away from the spoilers online. I don't know what I'd expected, but this wasn't it. And that was a good thing.
A few days later, with a second chance to watch, the episode also feels much smoother. Though I have to say, there's still a sense of urgency at play here that feels as motivated by the need to craft the tail end of the season to line up with the vision of the (current) post-overhaul creative team as it does by the natural momentum of the story itself, up until this point in the season.
This was the first time that the seams of the show being stitched together from two distinct parts was noticeable to me. I'm not entirely sure I can put my finger on why, but giving Heather no time to breathe since her attack, and setting her up for a conflict with Matt over Daredevil felt forced to me – though the conflict over the dangers of being in Fisk's orbit considerably less so.
I'm also not sure why Wilson Fisk would have Bullseye moved from protective custody to general population out of nowhere, unless this is also Vanessa working through Buck (whose contact with a man on the inside reveals to the audience that this was supposed to end with Dex dying rather than escaping) and that everyone talking about it just assumes this is the mayor and his office at work, as opposed to the mysterious first lady of New York. Vanessa suddenly being in a confessing mood about her dealings with Dex when the news of his escape reaches the ball certainly gives added weight to that theory, though I'm still a bit unclear on the 'why now?' Up until that point, Matt was nowhere close to figuring any of this out.
With that said, and the apparently necessary stage-setting out of the way, the episode as a whole is very strong. There are three scenes that stand out in the episode. The first being Matt's confrontation with Dex, that has Matt coming off equal parts restrained and violently unhinged. And yes, I'm aware of the contradiction there, but that contradiction is also very much the purpose of the scene. And did Matt really intend to set him free by sending him to the doctor's office with a loose tooth? Yes? No? I kind of love how ambiguous it all is.
The second scene to highlight is pretty much everything Matt does after arriving at the mayoral ball. From Matt's sequential reading of the room (which is not without its challenges, great senses writing there), to his juggling an attempt at semi-normalcy in front of an increasingly concerned Heather on the one hand, and his focus on Fisk on the other. Then there's the tense double dance with the Fisks, and Matt spectacularly taking a bullet for his arch enemy. I have no idea how they're going to have the time to tie this up next episode, even with what I would expect to be a cliffhanger ending. Oh well, that's for next week. I'm here for it.
The final scene I wanted to give some extra attention to is the one where Vanessa is given the choice to either let Adam go, or kill him. It's just such an insane scene. While she appears to resent her husband for putting her in that position, at least initially, she still chooses to kill Adam, probably realizing that they could never live with such loose ends. It is also portrayed as the act that saves their marriage. Her past lover becomes the sacrificial lamb that allows them to turn over a new leaf and find their way back to each other. It would be romantic if it wasn't so deranged.
On a final note, I find it interesting that all of the best scenes we've seen out of Kirsten this season have come from the overhaul creators (who, as a reminder, had complete creative control of episodes 1, 8, and 9), despite her being a pre-overhaul casting decision. And what a treat it was to get a full scene with Josie! We also finally get a sense of BB Urich's big game plan, catapulting her from a character without a clear purpose to someone I'm very interested in watching.
This all adds up to what I expect to be a very exciting finale!
In this episode, I really love the cinematography work in three places:
* Matt’s whole prison visit to Dex plays out basically the same as his season 2 visit to Fisk in prison, but he’s now in Fisk’s position while Dex is in his old position. This becomes apparent once Matt slams Dex’s head against the table.
* The way they position the camera during the Fisks’ headbutt so that Adam’s corpse is in the gap between their bodies.
* The fact that when Dex is taking his shot at Fisk, and Matt gets hit instead, they very much recreate Foggy getting shot by Dex. We get an identical close-up of Dex looking down his scope, Matt’s in Foggy’s position, and Heather’s in Karen’s position. The fact that Matt got shot in the same location also lends further credence to Foggy’s survival (if those The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson references weren’t proof enough 😂😂).
Heather’s starting to make me really question her sense of judgement. Especially her comparing Daredevil to Muse. It rubs me the wrong way, as is the fact that she’s inclined to believe in Fisk despite him blatantly stealing the credit for Muse’s defeat. But maybe those things just showcase how she and Matt are very much incompatible compared to say, Karen. 🤔