A lack of foresight is a rather ironic complaint to have about a show featuring a blind vigilante, but not that Daredevil finally has a clear goal, you can’t fault the writers for trying to make up for lost time by hurling everything but the kitchen sink at the remain episodes. While the result thus far has been a decidedly scrappier second half, you can’t deny that all the rampant fast tracking, fan service and staggeringly violent fight sequences have provided enough genuinely kickass moments to carry the season through.
Yes, you could argue that the heart of the show is maybe not as apparent as it once was now that Matt has split from his friends Foggy and Karen and that the late arrival of this season’s big bad has been diluted by the fact that Nobu just isn’t that interesting when compared to Jon Berthal’s Punisher or a cameoing Vincent D’Onofrio making a triumphant return as the Kingpin. However, the show still has some pretty gnarly tricks up its sleeves – such as a long overdue stare down that proves that the show still hasn’t lost that hefty right hook.
With all of the players now seemingly scattered to the four winds, Daredevil and the people trapped in his crime fighting orbit just seem stuck playing defence as life, the criminal element and a secret ninja cabal take turns taking potshots at all they hold dear.
While on the trail of the resurrected Nobu and his freaky machine than needs human blood to do whatever the hell it does, Daredevil has a whole host of victims left in the Hand’s wake nearly all drained dry of their precious fluids, but with Claire Temple on call at Metro General hospital, Murdock gets them sent there in secret in case the Hand has further, fatal, use for them.
Meanwhile, his day life as laywer Matthew Murdock is also getting ever more complex when DA Reyes, obviously freaked out by the recent escape of the Punisher, comes clean about her involvement in the police sting that led to Frank Castle’s family getting shot to bits. However, her admission isn’t enough to prevent her getting ventilated by a sniper while Matt, Karen and Foggy look on in horror and after Nelson also takes a trip to Metro General after catching a bullet, Karen doubles down on getting to the bottom of things.
Elsewhere, a spurned Elektra is in the midst of hopping on a plane out of the country when she’s waylaid by a very charming assassin who tries to kill her, but after she settles his hash with a couple of sai daggers, she’s rocked by the knowledge that the killer wasn’t sent by the Hand, but instead came from her mentor, Stick.
While Karen runs into Frank who assures her that he isn’t responsible for this new spate of vigilante shootings, Murdock attempts to get to the bottom of things by trying to get answers from the horses mouth – that’s right, months after he was incarcerated by Nelson & Murdock, Wilson Fisk gets to look Matt in the eye when he visits the Kingpin in jail. But when the finally Hand manage to locate all those drained teens, it doubtlessly looks bad for anyone stuck in that hospital at the wrong time.
So it seems that we’re now in that section of every superhero TV show ever made where the writers frantically move everyone around in ordervto get as many arcs to align as they can in time for the season finale and thanks to the increased size of the cast (plus cameos), some characters are unavoidably left by the wayside in the rush to link everything together. For a start, both Nobu and Stick are both mentioned in conjunction with major plot points (the former has suddenly graduated to main villain while the latter has put a surprise hit on Elektra), but neither Peter Shinkoda or Scott Glen’s are even in the episode, which is a little weird and the plot thread of Michelle Hurd’s DA Reyes also comes to a sudden stop after receiving a long distance, semi-auto back massage while in her office which also happens to sideline Foggy after he catches a stray round.
Karen Page manages to escape a similar fate thanks to the fact that her crusade for truth has left her oddly immune and not only does she have a new lead to trace in the form of a mysterious string puller named Blacksmith, who may have had a major hand in the killing of Frank’s family, but Castle himself shows up in a single scene to lead her to safety.
Also managing to get some scraps from the plot table is Elektra, who manages to get something to do despite not actually being in the city anymore. But after thwarting an attempt on her life with those iconic sais of hers (yes!) and getting that shocking revelation about her mentor, she’s still basically in a hanger far away from all of the actual action.
However, probably getting the most attention he’s had in a few episodes is Daredevil/Matt Murdock himself who takes on numerous tasks during the episode and even gets one of the standout moments of the season. Acting as detective, guardian and ally at various points, it’s good to see a Daredevil that’s a little more in the mode of the first season for a change and it’s a great excuse to get Rosario Dawson’s Claire back too as our hero could really use someone to talk to while we wait for the Nelson & Murdock band to get back together. Also, this whole thread concerning teens being pumped full of chemicals to incubate something in their blood to power the Hand’s mysterious machine is nice and freakish and adds a nice horror tinge to the still rather nebulous threat of the Hand.
However, the true meat of the episode comes from a long awaiting reunion that fans have been practically aching to see and for the first time since Daredevil managed to thwart Kingpin’s escape at the climax of the first season. If you thought that the conversation between between the Punisher and Wilson Fisk last episode was something of a powerhouse moment, then baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet and the sense of threat and expectation that hangs in the air as Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio lock eyes across a prison table is electric beyond belief.
Considering the nature of the game means that these two only rarely get to share the screen aside for special occasions, the show really does need to make their meetings worth it and The Man In The Box may actually be their best face to face yet primarily because it just doesn’t go the way you expect it to go. Even though Fisk is in jail and Murdock starts strong with some cocky jibes, pointed accusations about the Punisher’s escape and the subsequent shootings.and out and out threats when it comes to blocking the visa of Wilson’s beloved Vanessa, the Kingpin actually manages to win the match by resorting to some good, old fashioned violence and threats – never fuck with Vanessa people. The result of watching Matt writhing and gasping in Fisk’s grip as he screams threats at him is not only shocking because our hero can’t do shit about it, but to see Matt rendered so utterly vunerable by a villain who isn’t even the main focal point of the season makes us instantly terrified for him and as he leaves, visibly shaken, it puts him on the wrong foot for whatever is going to happen next.
It turns out that “whatever” is going to be an all out Hand assault against Metro General while Daredevil is staked out on the roof, waiting to protect it like a medieval siege – but after getting his ass casually handed to him by his arch enemy, is his mind in the game enough to persevere?
Talk to the Hand.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 