Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Starring Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock / Daredevil), Eldon Henson (Foggy Nelson), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elodie Yung (Elektra Natchios), Scott Glenn (Stick), Jon Bernthal (Frank Castle / The Punisher), and Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple) with Vincent D’Onofrio (Wilson Fisk).
DAREDEVIL: SEASON TWO
Produced by Marvel Television
Originally aired on Netflix
Number of Episodes: 13
Initial Streaming: March 18, 2016
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Daredevil: Season Two Facts
Daredevil: Season Two was the third series produced by Marvel Television for the Netflix Streaming Service. You can read about the history of Marvel Television from its inception as a division within Marvel Entertainment overseen by Ike Perlmutter and run by Jeph Loeb to its incorporation into Marvel Studios and the eventual canonization of Marvel Television’s Defenders Saga into the Marvel Cinematic Universe under the Fun Facts section of my Daredevil: Season One review. That post can be found on the dropdown menu of the site under the MCU PHASE TWO REVIEWS tab.
Daredevil: Season Two introduced two noteworthy characters from the Marvel lore into the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Elektra and Frank Castle / The Punisher.
Elektra was created by Frank Miller, debuting in Daredevil # 168 in 1981, and emerging as a complicated character. Elektra has been written as a love interest and trusted confidant of for Matt Murdock’s and a student of Stick’s, as well as a deadly assassin who worked with the villainous Hand, for the Kingpin, and against Daredevil. Elektra’s most famous comic book story is arguably her death at the hands of the villainous Bullseye, which can be found in Daredevil # 181 (1982), after which she was resurrected by The Chaste. Beyond her ties to Daredevil, Elektra has also been a key figure in the outstanding Wolverine: Enemy of the State series and the Secret Invasion event series in which she was revealed to have been a Skrull for some time. From there, Elektra has been a member of The Thunderbolts and an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In 2005, Marvel Studios produced an Elektra film starring Jennifer Garner that was distributed by 20th Century Fox. Garner previously played Elektra in 2003’s Daredevil starring Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock / Daredevil. That film adopted the Death of Elektra storyline, as she was brutally murdered by the villainous Bullseye in what is one of the most true-to-the-comics sequences ever put on film in live-action. Both Daredevil and Elektra were disappointments in terms of both Box Office and critical acclaim. You can read my reviews of both films by accessing the dropdown menu of the site under the OTHER MARVEL STUDIOS MOVIES tab.
The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr, and Ross Andru, debuting in The Amazing Spider-Man # 129 in 1974. Frank Castle is what comic book readers refer to as an ant-hero; a character who lacks conventional heroic qualities. Frank Castle takes the law into his own hands and dishes out a brand of justice that would appall more traditional Marvel Heroes. He hasn’t been imbued with cosmic rays or bitten by a radioactive spider, nor has he undergone a Super Soldier program. He is instead a decorated soldier from the United States Military who breaks after his wife and children are slaughtered after witnessing a crime in Central Park. The deaths of his beloved family leaves Frank Castle with a thirst for vengeance and an intolerance for bad people and over the years, he has shown in his various stories that he is willing to resort to just about anything to ensure that justice is served, be that kidnapping, extortion, coercion, torture, or even murder. The Punisher is more or less a one-man army, and a deadly one at that.
Frank Castle is truly one of Marvel’s most unique characters. Most of his stories see him fighting crime in his own small corner of the Marvel Universe, but he does crossover with other Marvel Heroes at times; most of whom disagree with The Punisher’s ways. Nonetheless, he’s shared the page with the likes of Daredevil, Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wolverine, and he’s had what were for me, two really memorable arcs in Marvel event series: Civil War and Secret Empire. As for individual runs, there are some fantastic ones to find out there, including those written by Greg Rucka (Punisher: War Journal), Jason Aaron (Punisher: MAX), and Garth Ennis.
Marvel Studios brought The Punisher to the big screen twice prior to the character’s MCU debut in Daredevil: Season Two. The first time was in 2004, with Thomas Jane portraying Frank Castle in a film that was distributed by Lions Gate. The second was Punisher: War Zone starring the late Ray Stevenson in 2008. Both Punisher films were Rated-R, and both were box office bombs. You can find my reviews of both films by accessing the dropdown menu of the site under the OTHER MARVEL STUDIOS MOVIES tab.
Upon the MCU (Sacred) Timeline, Daredevil: Season Two takes place after Ant-Man and before Luke Cage: Season One.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
My Daredevil: Season Two Review
Bang – Directed by Phil Abraham. Written by Marco Ramirez and Douglas Petrie
The first episode of the Second Season of Daredevil picks up with Wilson Fisk having been put away. In the fallout of the downfall of the Russian, Chinese, and Japanese Yakuza contingents in Hell’s Kitchen, we learn that the Irish Mob is attempting to rise up in their stead, as are other Cartels. Enter The Punisher! Several high-ranking members of the Irish Mob are violently gunned down in such a precise and complete way that local authorities attribute the carnage to an army. The lone survivor of the Irish massacre: Grotto seeks out Nelson and Murdock for council – and protection – at a local bar. Matt and Foggy reluctantly take the case and Grotto is admitted to the hospital due to the wounds he suffered during the massacre. Karen Page steps up to oversee Grotto’s care, but things get extremely intense when The Punisher invades the hospital in search of Grotto. Meanwhile, Foggy investigates a similar massacre of a sect of the Dogs of Hell biker gang, deducing that the Irish massacre and the Dogs of Hell massacre were carried out by the same army; a one-man army as it were. From there Matt suits up as Daredevil and confronts The Punisher, taking a bullet to the head for his troubles.
So, there is a lot of stuff going on in this episode and that made it sort of fly by. I loved seeing Matt in his full Daredevil costume acting as a Guardian Devil and watching over the people of Hell’s Kitchen. The robbery sequence and Daredevil chasing down each of the perpetrators was awesome, and I also liked the dynamic between Matt and Foggy here! We see Foggy still having trouble accepting Matt’s superhero life, but at the same time, sincerely trying to accept Matt despite it. The scenes from the previous season between the two after Foggy found out that Matt was the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen made Foggy come off as a prick, but here, his issues come across as concern because he cares for Matt so deeply and doesn’t want to see him get hurt. This was a great improvement, for this series works best when Matt and Foggy are getting along!
Meanwhile, Nelson and Murdock are having trouble affording being lawyers due to their refusal to turn anyone away. It’s noble, but it isn’t easy, and we get some nice interactions with the “Avocados at Law” and Karen, including a little playful flirting between Karen and Matt.
Pretty much a perfect opening episode to the Season here. I enjoyed it a lot.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Dogs to a Gunfight – Directed by Phil Abraham. Written by Marco Ramirez and Douglas Petrie
Daredevil has been shot in the head by The Punisher and Foggy begins a frantic search for his best friend as news of The Punisher’s hospital invasion seizes the headlines. To his horror, Foggy finds Matt unconscious atop a roof. He rushes Matt home where he tends to him as best as he can. A bloody Matt, his life saved by his horned helmet, soon regains consciousness and debates with Foggy the importance of rushing out and finding the assailant over getting the rest and recovery that he desperately needs. Matt agrees to lay low for a bit; a decision that he comes to accept much more easily when he realizes much to his horror that his senses are all out of whack. Karen soon visits him and checks up on him, expressing her grave concern for his well-being and ensuring Matt that he can trust her and that she deeply cares for him.
In the meantime, Foggy works on getting Grotto a Witness Protection deal from DA Samantha Reyes (portrayed by Michelle Hurd as seen in Jessica Jones). Foggy’s refusal to be intimidated by Reyes impresses Karen, but Reyes still plays hardball and enlists Grotto to wear a wire in a sting operation. Said operation ends up being a setup by the deceitful Reyes however, as she only wanted Grotto to serve as bait to lure out The Punisher. Foggy and Karen are both appalled, but there’s not a lot they can do at that point, as The Punisher has already arrived upon the scene! Matt (having visited Melvin Potter for a suit repair) engages The Punisher in combat, prompting Foggy into a panic. Again, it was really sweet how carelessly Foggy was willing to throw himself into danger in an effort to assist Matt. I adore their friendship!
So, let’s talk about The Punisher for a bit. I am a big fan of the character. I am not a militant person that fancies the idea of taking the law into my own hands in the real world, but if someone like The Punisher did exist in the real world, I would be cheering for him. Really, really sick, perverted, and messed-up things happen to innocent people the world over every day, and sadly, a lot of the perpetrators of these atrocities get away with it for years before ever getting caught, while others never get caught at all. It’s gross and it’s disgusting and I don’t know … it’s kind of the reason I love superheroes as much as I do, that feeling that it would be really nice to have a “gifted” person doing what they can to protect the innocent and to avenge the helpless victims that have been afflicted by evildoers. Of course, Spider-Man swinging in to web-up criminals for the police is a lot different than The Punisher blowing people away with guns. What The Punisher does is a lot more grounded in the real world and that’s probably what makes him such a controversial character. Radioactive spiders that bestow superhuman abilities upon people don’t exist … guns do. Nonetheless, that scene in this episode at the pawn shop where you see Frank freeze in his tracks after that guy behind the desk offers him up a pornographic video with an underaged kid when you just know the hell that Frank is about to unleash on that sick bastard … yeah, man, I’m applauding The Punisher and I’m smiling while I do it! But maybe that’s just me.
I do love the overarching MCU narrative here though between this Season of Daredevil and the First Seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Daredevil: Season One revolved around Matt’s inner struggle over deciding whether or not he should kill Wilson Fisk. He ultimately decided that he shouldn’t. Jessica Jones on the other hand revolved around Jessica’s inner struggle, not so much over whether she should as it was over whether she could kill Kilgrave. She ultimately found the strength and the resolve to kill the creep. So, both shows address the morality of vengeance and of course, I cheered for Jessica when she snapped Kilgrave’s neck, and I rolled my eyes at Matt deciding to let Fisk get locked up. So, I guess you know where I stand, but Daredevil: Season Two physically manifests that moral debate through Frank Castle! His vendetta goes far beyond a personal grievance. Frank HATES crime. Frank HATES criminals. Things for Frank are very black and white. The guilty don’t deserve to live and the innocent deserve to be avenged. Period. And Frank’s character is so perfect for this show, due to ways that characters in this show respond to his emergence. In the eyes of many (including Karen) Frank’s emergence is due to the emergence of Daredevil and the public’s perception of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Though Matt is not a killer, he is a vigilante and slapping a seal of approval on Daredevil is more or less an endorsement of The Punisher. Both fall under the same banner of debate in this Universe, and said debate serves an extension of the debate that is explored in Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War … should heroes be allowed to do what they see fit without oversight or regulation?
And the things I’ve written here more or less tell you why I was on “Team Cap.”
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
New York’s Finest – Directed by Marc Jobst. Written by Mark Verheiden.
This episode of Daredevil kicks off with Reyes and her forces scurrying and with Daredevil wrapped in chains atop a roof by The Punisher.
We are treated to an intense philosophical debate with Matt pleading with Frank to stop taking lives while Frank, with just as much passion and sincerity as Matt is speaking with, telling Matt how ignorant Daredevil’s methods are in comparison to The Punisher’s. The hard line between their two stances is that Matt believes that people deserve a chance for redemption. Yes, even the worst people. This is more than anything else, the Catholic in him. Though we saw him wrestle with his faith in the previous Season, he never quite lost it. The same cannot be said about Frank. He admits to being a Catholic too … once. Frank lost his faith a long time agon, and he insists that his way is better because his way leaves nothing to chance. Daredevil sends criminals to prison where they live to commit crime another day, sometimes after their release, and sometimes before. The Punisher kills who he kills and in killing them, he knows for certain that his victims will never hurt anyone again. Never.
Which side makes more sense to you probably depends on if you’re a “glass half-empty” or “glass half-full” person. Do the very worst of us truly deserve penance, redemption, or forgiveness? Or are there some crimes so vile and so repulsive that there is no coming back from them? This is really deep stuff obviously and I really enjoyed hearing Matt and Frank plea their respective cases. Soon, the debate ends when Frank presents Grotto to Matt, on whom Frank has wrapped a gun with duct tape. The Punisher boldly declares that Daredevil is going to have to make a choice: use the gun and kill Grotto or use the gun and kill Frank before Frank kills Grotto. As a beyond frustrated Matt struggles with all of his strength to break free but to no avail, the intensity is really cranked up when Frank forces Grotto to confess to murder. He then announces a countdown for Matt to make his choice while Grotto begs for his life, but before Frank reaches one, Daredevil uses the gun to blast his chains, freeing him. Matt charges at Frank, but The Punisher has enough time to fire a shot into Grotto’s chest, mortally wounding the confessed murderer. From there, Frank launches his planned attack against the Dogs of War, blowing up several bikes and luring them outside. Before he can begin firing however, Matt incapacitates him and is then forced to fight his way through several bikers. This sequence is akin to last Season’s hallway fight in its awesomeness, and I really enjoyed watching Daredevil mow through these men. Matt makes a getaway, but his client Grotto ultimately dies.
This was easily my favorite episode of Daredevil yet up to that point. I just loved everything about it and both Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal really shined!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Penny and Dime – Directed by Peter Hoar. Written by John C Kelley
After the excellence of the third episode of this Season of Daredevil, no part of me as a viewer expected the fourth episode to top it, but in a lot of ways, it did!
We are introduced to a high-ranking member of the Irish Mob named Finn Coley, who has come to Hell’s Kitchen to mourn the death of his oldest son, reclaim the large sum of money that has been stollen from him, and to rally the Irish Mob to a new level of prominence and violence. After murdering one of his own during a wake for the Irishmen that had already been laid to rest by The Punisher, Finn and his men relentlessly track down The Punisher, ultimately finding his apartment and realizing exactly who he is and what has motivated him. All it took to come to this realization was a picture of an outdoors carousel at a nearby park.
It turns out that The Punisher frequently visits this spot to quietly mourn his own losses and he is soon ambushed in the midst of his mourning by Finn and his men. Finn takes custody of Castle and subjects him to torture, having his men mercilessly beat on Frank before taking a drill to Castle’s foot. Frank is hellbent through it all to show no sign that anything he is being threatened with is phasing him until Finn threatens to torture Frank’s dog. Soon, Finn gets Frank to tell him where his money is, but when Finn’s men go to retrieve it, the van it was placed in explodes, having been previously rigged by Frank. Finn now realizes that The Punisher wanted to get caught and the reason for this is Frank wants answers to questions that pertain to that carousel.
Finn isn’t exactly forthcoming, and a freed Frank violently blows Finn’s face off. In the meantime, Daredevil has arrived and is taking the fight to the Irish. Daredevil and The Punisher team-up in a unique battle against the Irish that sees Matt, while fighting, prevent Frank from taking anyone else’s life. With the Irish defeated, Matt takes Frank to a nearby cemetery where he props Frank up against a tombstone and the two share a heart-to-heart conversation.
Frank drops all of his defenses and lets Matt in, speaking about the immense love he had for his family, most specifically his precious little girl, who he paints as the person in his life who most held him together. She was his strength, and she was his salvation and when she was taken from him, he broke. Completely. I just cried and cried throughout this sequence as Frank told how he resisted reading his daughter her favorite story the night before her death because he was too tired and how he now recites words from that book: “One batch, two batch. Penny and dime” before he takes out his enemies. It’s absolutely gut-wrenching and Jon Bernthal is incredible throughout this conversation with the man that he somewhat affectionately calls “red.” If you’re not won over to feeling sorry for Frank Castle after seeing this scene, I don’t think you have a soul, and Matt himself came out of this conversation with a new kind of empathy for Frank.
For Frank Castle’s daughter – his entire family in fact, were murdered on that carousel in a hit that should have taken Frank out as well, but he managed to survive through sheer resolve. I think back to the conversation on Hawkeye’s farm between Tony Stark and Nick Fury in Avengers: Age of Ultron when Tony is explaining his vision to Fury and Stark admits to seeing that his teammates had been killed and the worst part about that scenario was the fact that he lived …. that’s the horror Frank is living with every day. The guilt. The grief. The rage. All Frank Castle has at this point in his life is revenge. The Punisher wasn’t born. He was made.
Throughout this episode, Frank’s backstory is furthermore explored through Karen Page. She has discovered that a great deal of covering up has been done when it comes to The Punisher, with roots that go all the way to District Attorney Reyes. Karen visits Frank’s family home where she deduces that he is a decorated former Marine and that his family were killed right in front of him during a shootout between the Irish and the Dogs of War (and a Mexican Cartel) and that Frank should not have survived. But he did survive and with the truth about the details of that painful day being glossed over and covered up, The Punisher’s quest for vengeance goes all the way up to Reyes herself.
Karen is more than just a little curious to expose the truth.
Also in this episode, the Grotto wake at Matt’s church carried out by Matt’s priest was really well done, and there was a terrific hospital scene where after seeking out Claire, Foggy helps end a gang fight in the ICU, and I should also note that in the middle of all of this Matt and Karen finally share their first kiss in what was a pretty beautiful scene. Sadly, Matt comes out of that kiss looking happy and that’s sad because when he returns to his apartment, he discovers none other than Elektra waiting there for him. His reaction shows that this is not necessarily a good thing.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Kinbaku – Directed by Floria Sigismondi and Written by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich.
After they shared a passionate kiss in the rain, the Fifth Episode of the Second Season of Daredevil sees Matt Murdock and Karen Page finally go out a dinner date! After an awkward initial setting at one of Hell Kitchen’s finer establishments, the emerging couple settle on an Indian restaurant that Karen is fond of, and they have a nice little time together. After Matt walks her home, Karen invites him to come inside, but Matt resists, noting that the evening had been perfect as it was. I think the chemistry is there between Charlie Cox and Deborah Ann Woll and the slow build to romance between the two characters had been perfectly paced up to this point and everything with Matt and Karen were my favorite parts of this episode.
As for the rest of the episode … not so much. After four episodes that got better and better with each passing one, this is the first negative thing that I’ve had to say about this Season, but the whole Matt and Elektra thing did not work for me at all! We get a series of flashbacks throughout the episode that show us their past relationship. We see the time that they first met and their curious interactions with one another and we see them make out in the gym where Matt works out and Elektra is established as a rich, manipulative, seductive, and unhinged “bad girl” character that seems to always get her way and a thrill-seeking person that is constant in search for a rush.
The most important flashback sequence shows Elektra take Matt to the home of Roscoe Sweeney, the man that murdered his father. Elektra presents Sweeney as a gift to Matthew, offering him up for the kill so that Matt can avenge his father, but Matt refuses, of course. If we know anything about Matt Murdock in the MCU, it’s that he refuses to kill. Elektra is disgusted that Matt will not capitalize on this opportunity that she arranged for him, and she walks out on him, not to return for 10-years.
Back in the present, Elektra has stepped back into Matt’s life to request his help in her dealing with the Japanese arm of the Roxxon Corporation. Matt turns her down but can’t resist following her in order to witness her meeting, where she plants a bug in their system, making her a target from the reemerging Yakuza. From there, Matt confronts Elektra, still haunted by her walking out on him a decade earlier and she basically tells him that he and she are the same, which Matt rebukes. Knowing that trouble is imminent, Elektra presents Matt with his Daredevil suit and requests a team-up, which Matt, quietly troubled that she knows he is Daredevil, realizes was her true intention all along.
So, my problem with Matt and Elektra is that I just don’t believe in whatever it is that is supposed to be between them. It’s not love, and it isn’t quite obsession either. It’s more so this sinister attraction with Elektra appealing to Matt’s inner dark side; the part of himself that he tries to keep in check. Frank Castle had taunted Matt with a line that suggested that Daredevil was just one bad day from becoming like The Punisher, and that’s the darkness that Elektra tried to tap into 10-years earlier and is still trying to tap into here. That premise makes since from a narrative standpoint and I don’t deny that. I guess my problem with the whole thing is that I don’t like seeing Matt get so easily manipulated. This character has been presented with such a pure heart and a distinct nobility, and when Elektra is involved all of that is tainted. Because of this, Elektra comes off as extremely unlikable and while their dynamic from a narrative standpoint is as old as the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah and even Adam and Eve to a lesser extent, I just don’t like the person that Matt Murdock is when he is with Elektra, and the fact that he is the titular hero of this series, it hurts the overall show for me.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Regrets Only – Directed by Andy Goddard. Written by Sneha Koorse
Thank goodness The Punisher returned in this episode, providing some highlights, but I’ll start with the ongoing Matt and Elektra stuff. After dispatching of the Yakuza, Matt and Elektra go out to eat together and Elektra is in full-on bitch mode here, basically taunting Matt the whole time that he tries to say the right thing while playing coy about her true intentions. She wants Matt to continue teaming up until the threat of the Yakuza is eliminated and he allows himself to be strung along by her the whole way.
In the meantime, some very intriguing things occur pertaining to The Punisher as after a very concerning meeting with the Public Defender that has been assigned to defend Frank Castle, Matt and Foggy decide to visit Frank and offer to take him on as a client. Foggy is reluctant about the whole thing, but he follows Matt’s lead nonetheless due to the public defender’s revelation that she would be seeking the death penalty for Frank, and due also to his own concerns after getting information from Marci that suggests District Attorney Reyes (Marci’s boss) is targeting vigilantes, with Marci even name-dropping Jessica Jones. Foggy knows how bad this could be for Matt, and as they venture to the hospital, they take Karen with him.
This entire scenario infuriates Reyes, and she angrily tries to flex her muscle, but Matt shoots down her threats by making a threat of his own to expose the underhanded tactics she’d used during the Grotto sting. Reyes backs down and Frank hires Matt and Foggy with hopes of both sticking it to Reyes and the truth of his story coming out. There is a really great scene between Frank and Karen where she shows him the picture that she retrieved from his family home, and he reflects upon the immense love he had for each of them. He thanks Karen for helping him remember some good times, as he has been consumed by vengeance since their deaths.
From there, Foggy negotiates a plea deal for Frank with Reyes that Foggy sincerely believes is the best possible scenario as the death penalty would be avoided and Frank agrees to plead “guilty” to the many crimes that he is being charged with. However, during the hearing at his bedside, Frank stuns Foggy and Karen both by pleading “Not Guilty”, and staring down Reyes, calling her a “witch” and vowing to expose her. She leaves in a haste and an overwhelmed Foggy desperately tries to contact Matt, but he of course, doesn’t answer. Why? He’s busy running around with Elektra, and here again, I really hate this.
Elektra pulled Matt away from the hospital and they went off to steal a Yakuza ledger from a Roxxon gala. There was a pretty cool fight with unique lighting and a non-costumed Matt and Elektra roughing up their adversaries after cleverly maneuvering themselves into position to take what they want throughout the night, and all of that was fine I guess, but the fact that Matt very obviously enjoyed the evening with Elektra was annoying not only because he is allowing himself to be manipulated, but because of the way he is neglecting Foggy, who really needs him! Matt missed the entire ordeal of Frank suddenly pleading “not guilty”, and Matt was not involved with any of Foggy’s negotiations with Reyes. Foggy has been nothing but supportive to Matt, but the mess that is the Frank Castle case was Matt Murdock’s mess and Foggy has been left alone to clean it up after only involving himself at Matt’s behest. Again, it’s just a bad look for Matt as a lawyer, as a friend, and as a hero.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Semper Fidelis – Directed by Ken Girotti. Written by Luke Kalteux
This episode begins with Matt waking up to the realization that he is late for court where he was supposed to give the opening defensive statement in Frank Castle’s trial. Foggy honors Frank’s wishes to not use PTSD as a defense strategy out respect for people that actually suffer from it with Foggy instead pushing the narrative that the justice system had failed Frank and his family and planning to reveal that the medical examiner falsified the documents pertaining to Frank’s family. Karen is proud of the way Foggy stepped up in Matt’s absence! Matt reconvenes with Foggy and Karen after court and requests that he be the one to cross-examine the medical examiner. Foggy, perturbed by Matt’s unreliability, reluctantly agrees.
The following day, as Matt prepares to expose the medical examiner, the man cuts Matt off and asks the judge if he can make a statement. With the court cleared, the man admits to falsifying the documents but assured the judge that he had only done so then and was only admitting this now under duress, as his life was threatened at the time that the documents were falsified as well as the previous night. The most recent threat came from a mysterious woman. The medical examiner’s testimony was consequently stricken from the record, greatly hindering the case that Matt and Foggy were trying to build. Matt instantly knows that this was the work of Elektra and reveals to Foggy that she had returned to Hell’s Kitchen and that the Yakuza were back, and that his recent lack of focus was due to the importance of stopping the Yakuza. An increasingly frustrated Foggy doesn’t want to hear any of it and sarcastically suggests Matt need not bother showing up for the rest of the trial since he’s been absent for most of the case. Then, in a scene that was reminiscent of Season One, Matt and Foggy both storm out of the courthouse, leaving Karen alone and bewildered.
Matt chastises Elektra for interfering in the case but joins her nonetheless in using the stollen ledger to further investigate the Yakuza. They soon arrive at an abandoned building site and inside find an enormous hole some 40-stories deep.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Guilty as Sin – Directed by Michael Uppendahl. Written by Whit Anderson
At the hole at the abandoned construction site, Matt and Elektra are ambushed by ninjas. Matt has trouble detecting their heartbeats so has to instead focus on their weapons in order to detect their movements. Daredevil and Elektra have quite the team-up until Matt notices Elektra preparing to kill one of the ninjas. He beckons her to stop, and she does in fact hesitate, but her moment of distraction results in her intended victim stabbing her. With the fight getting out of hand and Elektra’s life in danger, Matt’s mentor Stick arrives upon the scene and helps Daredevil and Elektra escape.
Back at Matt’s apartment, Stick treats Elektra in an effort to save her life and as she recovers, he openly talks to Matt about why he does what he does, revealing that he a member of an ancient organization known as The Chaste and that he is at war with another ancient organization known as The Hand. He insists the Yakuza and the Japanese arm of the Roxxon Corporation are merely fronts for The Hand and that his enemies have learned how to reverse death. He furthermore name-drops the ongoing threat of the “Black Sky” (a concept that was introduced in Season One) and he furthermore reveals that Elektra works for him.
An angry Matt questions Elektra and she admits to everything, revealing that she was on a mission for The Chaste when she first met Matt to unlock his dark side and push him into becoming the deadly warrior that Stick has always wanted Matt to become. She also admits however that she really did fall in love with Matt during their time together and expresses regret for betraying his trust in the ways that she did. I will say that Elodie Yung was fantastic with Matt here, expressing a sincerity we hadn’t seen out of the character through her pain and Matt offers to remain aligned with Elektra against The Hand in exchange for Elektra renouncing Stick, The Chaste, and their murderous ways. She agrees.
Meanwhile, Karen arrives at Matt’s apartment to try and get him back in court and Stick lets her in, at which point she is baffled by the site of another woman being in Matt’s bed. Before Matt can begin to even try to explain, Karen leaves in disgust. The following morning, Foggy calls Colonel Ray Schoonover to testify in Frank’s defense, and Schoonover wins over seemingly everyone in the courtroom that isn’t named Reyes with his detailed account of the brave hero that Frank Castle was when they were at war. An outburst by a child of one of Frank’s victims kills Foggy’s momentum though, and Foggy admits to Karen that he needs Frank Castle on the stand and that he needs Matt to question him. Matt eventually brings himself to make it to court where Karen gives him a cold shoulder and where Matt overhears a bailiff whispering to Frank Castle. This gives Matt pause as he fears someone has potentially gotten to Castle, and after delivering an impassioned speech in which he defended Frank’s vigilantism while stressing how badly the city needed heroes and deriding Reyes’ vendetta against such people, Matt’s fears were realized when Castle broke into a shocking obscenity-laced rant where he declared that he didn’t feel sorry for anything that he’d done and that he would happily do it all again, while ensuring everyone listening that he wasn’t crazy and that he was guilty. The court was left in stunned silence, sans a few vocal Punisher supporters.
The case is lost and outside the courthouse, Foggy and Karen both renounce Matt for the way everything has turned out, blaming him for both his lack of commitment and his unabashed love for vigilantism as the reasons the case was lost. Foggy declared that he was happy they lost the case while Karen angrily told Matt that she agreed with him about the city needing heroes, but bitterly told Matt that he was no such thing.
Back at his apartment, Elektra tries to console Matt until a ninja attack occurs. Matt successfully fights off the ninja, but not before being hit with a poisonous arrow. With the fight won, Matt removed the ninja’s mask, only to discover that he was just a kid. Then, Elektra suddenly sliced the young man’s throat, and he quickly bled out. An injured and horrified Matt then falls to the ground in stunned silence as Elektra tells him that this is who she is and asks if he still wants her.
Elsewhere, Frank Castle is admitted into prison where a guard takes him directly to meet Wilson Fisk, who declares that he sees that Frank had gotten his message. It was none other than Fisk that the bailiff whispered to Frank about!
In watching this episode, my anger at Matt Murdock continued to fester and I got to see my emotions play themselves out in the show through Foggy and Karen. I kept thinking back to Season One and how annoyed I was with Foggy for his reaction to Matt after finding out that his best friend was Daredevil, and it’s crazy how differently I felt this time around. Foggy wasn’t irrational or stubborn at all this Season. He had sincerely accepted Matt for who and what he was to the best of his ability and his love and trust for his best friend sort of just kept blowing up in his face through the first half of Season Two. Foggy was completely in the right to lash out at Matt on the steps of the courthouse. As for Karen, she has been purposefully kept in the dark about who and what Matt is, and we’ve seen her still struggling with the death of James Wesley at her hand while trying desperately to move on from that while wrestling with a very guilty concience. In the deepest part of her soul, this is the reason Karen bonded with Frank Castle so easily. She sees them as the same, as unfair as that may be. And this harkens back to an intense discussion between Karen and Matt where she admits to being a fan of Frank Castle’s methods while Matt sticks to his guns about how killing is a line that can never be crossed. Their debate leads to a new kind of awkwardness between the two and Matt encourages her to leave his apartment. The next time she goes back there, she finds another woman in Matt’s bed! I just felt really sorry for both Foggy and Karen and the unenviable places that they had arrived at and to be honest, I didn’t feel sorry at all for Matt Murdock this time around. Again, Matt came out of all of this looking like a bad lawyer, a bad friend, a bad boyfriend, and a bad hero, and I hate to say it, but kind of like an idiot as well.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Seven Minutes in Heaven – Directed by Stephen Surjik. Written by Marco Ramirez and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
I was thrilled to see the return of Wilson Fisk in the previous episode, and Episode # 9 did not disappoint! However, this Season of Daredevil felt like it was trying to be two different things, and some of it really wasn’t working for me. In my opinion, this series is best when it’s grounded in street-level crime and heroics. When it tries to get metaphysical, it doesn’t work so well. Therefore, I really loved all of the stuff with Fisk and Frank Castle in this episode, but the stuff with Daredevil and The Hand? Not so much.
Seven Minutes in Heaven sees Matt getting nursed back to health by Elektra. Once recovered though, Matt asks Elektra to leave after deducing that she kills because she enjoys it and insisting that he just can’t bring himself to be a part of it. She leaves. Foggy Nelson soon arrives to Matt’s apartment and Matt pretty much calls things off with him too, insisting that he is done apologizing to Foggy for being who is (Daredevil) and telling Foggy that if he can’t handle it, he should move on. He leaves.
Meanwhile, after we get some nice flashbacks of Wilson Fisk being incarcerated, we see him meticulously trying to work his way into the politics of life in prison. The self-proclaimed “Kingpin” of Fisk’s prison is a man known as Dutton and he is sure to confront Fisk and warn him against trying to usurp him. Of course, this is Fisk’s quiet goal, and he uses the fact that Dutton was involved in the murder of Frank Castle’s family as bait to lure Castle into prison via the aforementioned bailiff.
Frank isn’t exactly ready to bow down to the king as it were, but Fisk stresses the fact that the two of them can both benefit from a temporary alliance. For Frank, he gets another piece of closure by offing Dutton while Fisk benefits as Dutton’s removal will clear his way to the top of the prison structure. Frank ultimately accepts Fisk’s offer and is armed with a shiv. He is told by the guard that he has “7 Minutes” to get in and get out, and Frank quickly makes his way to Dutton, killing his cell mate and then cornering the villain. After Dutton admits to being involved in Frank’s tragedy and sort of mocks Frank by declaring that he will never find closure, Frank stabs him in the gut. Then, as Frank prepares to exit, the guards lock the door and release the other prisoners on the cellblock. Frank then looks up to see Wilson Fisk watching from above and he realizes that he has been setup. Nonetheless, The Punisher mows his way through each and every attacking prisoner in a very bloody and intense sequence. With his fight won, incoming officers detain Frank.
When Frank awakens, he is confronted by Fisk. The new Kingpin of the prison admits that he did intend for Castle to be killed, but after seeing him in action, he has come to understand that he can benefit from Frank being alive. Frank soon makes his move to hurt Fisk, but Fisk takes everything that Frank can throw at him and rather easily overpowers him. Fisk looks as if he enjoyed the fight, and he orders the corrupt guards that now serve him to release Frank. Not only is Castle unchained, but he is also set free and released from prison. Fisk reasons that Castle continuing his bloody rampage will clear a path back to the top of Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal underworld once his own prison tenure ends.
So, The Punisher is freed. As for Dutton, he lived, but is barely alive and subjected to Fisk’s torture.
Back to Daredevil, he investigates a Hand facility known as The Farm where he comes across several seemingly lifeless bodies that have been drained of their blood before getting into another fight with a ninja. The ninja is revealed to be none other than Nobu, who Matt knew to be dead after he burned alive right in front of him. Nobu makes a getaway and Matt is left in stunned silence as he realizes that what Stick had told him wasn’t bullshit after all.
Karen Page also has a significant role in this episode as she begins working out of the late Ben Urich’s office, refusing to stop digging into Frank’s case and discovering that the massacre of Frank Castle’s family was not a random instance of Frank’s family being in the wrong place at the wrong time … it was a sting operation!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
The Man in the Box – Directed by Peter Hoar. Written by John C Kelly with Whit Anderson and Sneha Koorse
Matt Murdock vs Wilson Fisk: Round Two!
Matt Murdock visiting Wilson Fisk in prison and interrogating Kingpin over the freedom of The Punisher made for one of the best sequences of the Season! There was tension and manipulation and provocation as Matt chastised, insulted, and threatened Fisk. Wilson’s response wasn’t one that Matt was ready for. After confidently promising to keep Fisk’s beloved Vanessa forever exiled, Fisk casually broke his handcuffs and jumped across the table, violently taking hold of Matt and deriding his threats while himself promising to make Matt – and more concerning, Foggy – pay for having ever wronged him. Matt is visibly shaken coming out of this scene, sincerely fearing for Foggy’s safety while Fisk, curious over Matt’s physical resistance, comes out of the confrontation wanting to know more about Matt Murdock. Both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio were incredible here, with D’Onofrio’s energy and intensity especially standing out. Really, really great stuff!
This episode started with a bang as DA Reyes called for a meeting with Nelson, Murdock, and Page where she confessed for her sins against Frank Castle and revealed that she feared for not only her own safety, but for the safety of her daughter now that The Punisher was loose. Before too much could be negotiated in terms of a plan, Reyes was gun-downed (presumably by The Punisher) and killed. Foggy was also shot and injured during the scene.
Matt soon reconnects with Claire Temple at Metro-General Hospital, and it was nice seeing them share the screen again. He confides in Claire that his attempted trust in the law was all for naught, which he now fully realizes after his confrontation with Fisk. She encourages him to stay true to himself and to be the friend that Foggy needs, but before he can make his next move, Hand ninjas close in and begin scaling the walls of Metro-General. They appear to be there for the recently rescued (by Daredevil) victims of The Farm, which Claire discovers when she rushes to the victims, only to discover that they had murdered the father of one of the victims. Obviously, the victims of The Farm are no longer themselves and Matt suits up as Daredevil, preparing to take on a ninja army.
Elsewhere, Frank Castle reunites with Karen and insists that he did not murder Reyes and an attempted hit on both of their lives occurs. Also, Elektra fights off an assassin sent by Stick. Again, this was an episode with some absolutely incredible drama and tension, but it was also an episode that felt sort of goofy and unbalanced. All of the stuff with The Hand and the zombie children or whatever they are and even the stuff with Elektra here just continued to drag the show down for me. The highs were very, very high, but the lows just weren’t very good, and I feared that the show was going to build to an unsatisfying conclusion, though I was admittedly looking forward to Daredevil fighting a bunch of ninjas!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
380 – Directed by Stephen Surjik. Written by Mark Verheiden
The eleventh episode of the Second Season of Daredevil picked up with the ninja raid of Metro-General. This fight was not what I’d hoped it would be, but there was one standpoint moment that saw a ninja casually toss Claire out a high window, prompting Matt with zero hesitation to dive out the window and chase after her, saving her. Loved that so much! Also, Claire’s nurse friend is killed by one of the ninjas and the children from The Farm are successfully taken by the ninjas. After the incident, Claire witnesses one of the deceased Hand ninjas’ boasting of autopsy scars and becomes disgusted with Metro-General when they choose to cover up the details of the incident. This prompts her to quit her job. As for the Farm children, we later see them resubmitting themselves to blood draining for Nobu, who seems to have something big that he’s cooking up for Hell’s Kitchen.
Meanwhile, the mysterious entity known only as the Blacksmith lands on Daredevil’s radar after Karen Page informs Matt that she had recently been with Frank Castle, that he saved her life, and that she didn’t believe he was the person who killed Reyes. Karen was pretty nasty to Matt here, though that’s been earned, and after agreeing to accept police protection, she sneaks away to reconvene with Frank. We get a really nice restaurant diner scene between Karen and Frank in which he calls her out for her love of Matt. You can see the uneasy admiration that Karen has for Frank in every scene that she shares with Jon Bernthal, but her character’s empathy is greatly tested in this sequence as she realizes that Frank lured an attempted hit to them in an effort to extract more information pertaining to the Blacksmith. It wasn’t just the feeling of being bait that got to her, but also the ruthless and merciless way in which Frank disposed of his assailants.
Through Castle’s latest victims and Matt following his own leads (which includes a reunion with Madame Gao), both Daredevil and The Punisher arrive at the same pier on the edge of town. Castle unleashes hell on everyone that he crosses paths with, until Daredevil prevents him from taking the life of a man claiming to be the Blacksmith that Matt knows isn’t. Daredevil and Punisher brawl due to Frank’s frustration, but they also share a great conversation exchange where Matt concedes that perhaps Frank’s way is the appropriate path to follow after all, prompting The Punisher to act almost offended as he sincerely warns “red” against any such a thing, assuring him that it would be something that he could never come back from. Wonderful moment between these two!
From there, Blacksmith’s men close in on the pier, which has already been doused in gasoline by Frank. Daredevil warns Frank that they need to flee imminently, and Castle agrees, but tosses Matt into the water before invoking a bombardment which sends the entire area up in flames.
Elsewhere, Stick prepares to fight Elektra after learning that his attempted hit on her life had failed.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
The Dark at the End of the Tunnel – Directed by Euros Lyn. Written by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and Douglas Petrie
With The Hand storyline pushing forward, this episode gives us several flashbacks to Stick and Elektra’s past together. Young Lily Chee really stands out in these scenes! She was phenomenal, and all of these flashbacks combine to reveal that Stick developed the sort of love and appreciation for Elektra that he tried not to develop with Matt when he was a young boy and beyond that, Elektra is a “Black Sky”; the entity that Stick had been warning about dating back to Season One. The Black Sky is sacred to The Hand and is prophesied to be The Hand’s greatest weapon. Stick felt that making the Black Sky over as a weapon of The Chaste could be a key to their victory, but this was of course, a terrible miscalculation as he has now come to fully realize. Nobu is now consumed by the goal of convincing Elektra to fulfil her destiny, and everything starts to come together when Elektra attempts to kill Stick; a fight that is interrupted by The Hand and Daredevil, and during which Stick is abducted. Daredevil and Elektra seek out Stick, who even through his torture quietly coaches Daredevil to a winning strategy. Elektra is then presented with the opportunity to join The Hand, but Matt urges her to resist. This is all presented in a way to stress Elektra’s inner turmoil to not be a killer, but it continued to not really work for me, as I guess I just wasn’t finding myself connecting with Elektra’s character.
Meanwhile, The Punisher storyline wrapped up in a somewhat anticlimactic way for me. Frank has been presumed dead and Karen is convinced to write his story, prompting her to visit Ray Schooner for an interview. Schooner being the Blacksmith was telegraphed from a mile away and he forces Karen into a car and orders her to drive to a place where he will presumably kill her, but Frank crashes a truck into the car from out of nowhere. Karen is banged up, but relatively okay, and Frank takes custody of the injured Blacksmith. Karen begs Frank not to do what she knows he is about to do, but Frank at long last has the man most responsible for the deaths of his family, and he swiftly puts a bullet in his head with very little fanfare. The Blacksmith is dead, and Karen is appalled, and you just get the feeling that Frank will never stop being The Punisher.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
A Cold Day in Hell’s Kitchen – Directed by Peter Hoar. Written by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez
The Season Finale of the Second Season of Daredevil felt like it had a lot to tie up and not a lot of time to do it going in, and that continued to feel like the case throughout the episode for me. It wasn’t bad by any means, and in fact there were a couple of very satisfying things that I enjoyed, but overall, it just barely missed the mark. Why? Well, it mostly goes back to Matt and Elektra and their … well, I guess you have to call it a love story coming out of this episode.
We open with Matt and Elektra and Stick having eluded The Hand. Matt ties up Stick and defiantly suggests that everything that he and The Hand think about Elektra and her destiny is bullshit. While he does come off as at least a bit naive here given what we’ve seen him experience as viewers, I still completely understood where Matt was coming from and could relate to him. Meanwhile, The Hand raids the local precinct in search of any files pertaining to Daredevil and we soon discover that they have done so in an effort to lure Daredevil and Elektra to them by capturing 20 individuals that Daredevil has previously saved. This of course includes Karen Page.
Daredevil and Elektra now have to rush into war with The Hand and they have to do so with no real plan or strategy. There is some sweet stuff here with Elektra trying to calm down a panicked Matt over the thought of something (else) awful happening to Karen, but it was nonetheless Matt and Elektra and their relationship that the showrunners continued to force, and it worked less for me here than at any other time in the Season! I mean, after Daredevil frees the hostages and shares a brief moment with Karen, Matt (with The Hand closing in) practically pledges his life to Elektra in a declaration of love, promising to run away with her if they survive the coming fight and proclaiming that she is the only person in his life that understands him. He is all in with her here, desperately and quite frankly, foolishly, and it just did nothing for me as a viewer. At no point in this entire Season did I want Matt and Elektra to get together, so all of this was very bland and anticlimactic for me.
So, the fight happens, and somewhat predictably, Elektra sacrifices herself as Nobu is trying to finish off Matt and Elektra dies in Matt’s arms. Matt is beside himself with grief while Elektra brings herself to smile in relief, happy that she has performed a heroic deed and that her death will bring an end to whatever The Hand had planned for her. As Matt regains his composure to continue fighting The Hand, The Punisher arrives and begins blowing away ninjas – this was something that I didn’t expect at all, but I admittedly loved it and with his self-made, true to the comics skull logo shirt and long black trench coat, The Punisher looked amazing, and it was a perfect sendoff for the character, which would move on to his own show. From there, Matt bests Nobu and survives the rooftop fight.
Elektra is buried and Matt and Stick mourn her loss together. Foggy goes to work with Jeri Hogarth, leaving Nelson & Murdock behind. Matt finally tells Karen that he is Daredevil (though we get no fallout other than a stunned look of both disbelief and renewed faith from Karen). Stick beheads Nobu. And The Hand digs up Elektra’s corpse and places it within the Chamber of Blood that they’d been constructing throughout the Season. The Black Sky will be back.
I won’t go too deep into overall thoughts since I’ve been pretty thorough in each of my episodic write-ups. Overall, Season One did a lot of the little things better, but the big things in Season Two are well worth watching and experiencing, for they are extremely well done! Pretty much everything with Frank Castle and Wilson Fisk worked. The established tension between Matt, Foggy, and Karen didn’t work quite as well, but it was at least interesting to follow. As for all of the stuff with Elektra and The Hand? It was a miss for me. As I’ve said before, Daredevil works best – in my opinion – when Matt and Foggy and Karen are getting along and when it stays grounded. Unfortunately, for much of Season Two, neither of those traits defined the show.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Daredevil: Season Two:
Jon Bernthal is Frank Castle / The Punisher
Vincent D’Onofrio is Wilson Fisk
Charlie Cox is Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Philosophical Debates between Daredevil and The Punisher
Wilson Fisk Roughs Up Matt Murdock During Prison Visit
Chemistry between Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal
The Punisher vs Kingpin!
Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple
Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
Punisher courtroom Drama
All of The Punisher’s Punishing
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
Frank Castle / The Punisher and Elektra Natchios.
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