Where the last episode was lacking in Kung-Fu action, this one tries to make up for it by opening and closing with sequences where Matt and Elektra take on the Yakuza.
This isn't the easiest alliance, however. Matt only agrees to it because she wants to deal with the Yakuza, who she reveals have been biding their time while the Devil of Hell's Kitchen took out their competitors. Yes, the enemy of his enemy is his ally, but more importantly, Matt wants Elektra to GTFO of his city. I'm not sure how she's supposed to join the Defenders if he's taking this attitude, but it would be a pretty drastic turnaround if he were suddenly up for a vigilante team up given their history.
Speaking of vigilante, Frank Castle re-enters the narrative. He's still in custody, but the DA is gunning (get it?) for the death penalty. You'd think that this wouldn't be a problem as New York doesn't have the death penalty, but Foggy discovers that some of his crimes took place in Delaware, allowing for a deal to be made ensuring Frank's death.
As such, Nelson and Murdock step up to make his case. It does seem like a drastic turn around considering he and Matt had spent several episodes pummeling each other senseless (it should be noted that Foggy is adamantly against the idea for multiple reasons), but Matt doesn't want him to die and Karen is convinced that there's still more to the story.
This does allow Frank and Karen to bond as the vigilante reveals a bit more about his family and the circumstances behind their death. He also channels his inner Superman by letting her know that if he had wanted her dead, she would have been. Oddly, this doesn't come as much comfort to her.
Nevertheless, she and Foggy manage to come up with a surprisingly reasonable deal considering the body count that he had racked up. It's strongly suggested that the DA doesn't want this to go to trial, lest her own misdeeds come to light, but it becomes moot as Frank goes rogue and pleads not guilty.
I have to say, this season missed a huge opportunity. With Foggy's last line to Matt being something to the effect of "Clear your schedule, because the people vs Frank Castle starts next week", you'd think that "The People vs Frank Castle" would have been the title of the next episode, focusing on his trial. Yeah, it's meta and doesn't really make a whole lot of sense given Netflix's "load the whole season in one go" set up, but I still think it would have been funny.
The real focus of the episode, though, is Matt and Elektra's efforts to steal information from Roxxon. In order to do so, they infiltrate a posh party and use their skills to make their way to the safe. It gives the episode a different tone. As TvTropes notes, the episode is more like a spy thriller, but it still works well.
Even out of combat, the two do make a good team and it does seem like Matt's stance is starting to soften, though that could change.
Whether the two are on good terms or not, both Cox and Young play well off each other. Of course, that was true in the last episode, but it really does help make this episode work the way it does.
We do get our first hint that something strange is afoot as Elektra notes that the ledger they stole details various drug and weapons shipments, but has other transaction notes that are encrypted. Even Matt notes that its odd and wonders what sort of thing would be coded when those sorts of activities are described clear as day.
That was nice and all, but the head honcho's line of "who said we were Yakuza" was the bit that packed the most punch. I have a feeling that the next episode will be where this section of the plot will really kick into high gear, though that could be jumping the gun on my part.
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