Where were we? Oh, right, big hole in the ground. I know, it's been a while; but with 'Legends of Tomorrow' wrapped up, I can finally dive back into 'Daredevil' and close this particular book.
It seems that The Hand aren't particularly happy about their hole being discovered and go on the attack. It's a solid fight. While the mooks don't make as impressive a showing as Nobu did, they still manage to get the upper hand against the two seasoned fighters. Granted, a lot of that is due to both Matt and Elektra making a lot of dumb mistakes at crucial moments, but still, a win's a win. Elektra ends up wounded and Matt has to retreat with Stick, who shows up out of the blue.
I knew he was coming back, but it was still great seeing him again. Sadly, Scott Glenn doesn't look like he's in much condition to fight, but he still presents the character as a snarky hardass. He also (finally) has the chance to follow up on those cryptic remarks he made back in his first appearance last season.
Credit where it's due, Scott Glenn delivers a mean exposition dump. Between that scene and Clancy Brown taking the stand at one point during Frank's trial, this episode really does provide a feast for the eardrums.
Really, the episode's a blast all around. I've been looking forward to the budding war and this episode gives us the most information on that to date. Matt's skepticism is a bit odd, considering he and his ex-girlfriend had just been attacked by ninjas. Clearly, something is up. Early on, you could argue that Stick was just nuts. Honestly, that would have been an interesting story to play out, but so far it seems like he was on the money in regards to the scope of the threat.
At the same time, Stick's rebuttal citing Christ when Matt scoffs at the dead returning doesn't really make a whole lot of sense given...you know, divinity and all that. Oh well.
The plot line regarding Frank's trial also moves along rather nicely. We start to see some form of conspiratorial corruption at work as Frank appears to have been strong armed into tanking his own case for no discernible reason. While he claims that he wasn't crazy, couldn't his outburst be seen as proof that he is? I mean, he becomes borderline feral and turns on a dime with no provocation. That doesn't exactly scream "sane person" to me. Besides, the doctor provided medical evidence. If anything, you could argue that he just made their point.
I did like how Matt's speech somewhat ties the two arcs together. He notes that the city is in trouble and needs heroes (which it does), citing Frank as one. It wasn't an official request to join the defenders (how could it be? they don't exist yet,) but if you read between the lines, it seems like the offer was there.
On a similar note, the episode hints that Elektra may become an ally after all. In fact, one of the central components is her conflict between following Stick's more ruthless ideology and Matt's tough but merciful approach. It worked rather well as a way to give her an arc even though she had limited screen time and spent a lot of it recuperating in bed.
By episode's end, the ability for either one to do so is left in the air, but that's to be expected as we still have several episodes to go.
I do have to wonder who Stick intends to recruit. He cites both Matt and Elektra as amateurs, but it seems like they're still relatively big guns all things considered. Given his line regarding getting the band back together, I'm guessing that he doesn't have other costumed fighters in mind. People who are more well versed in "Daredevil" lore probably have a better idea of who he's talking about. Alas, I have only a cursory knowledge of his goings-on.
For all the strong points, this episode does have some weak spots. As noted, both Matt and Elektra make some bad decisions in their fight. On top of that, some of the character drama seems really forced. Karen jumps to the conclusion that Matt is sleeping around when she sees Elektra in bed. The woman is clearly ill and Stick is standing around in the apartment, not exactly ideal conditions for sweet lovin'. This never occurs to her and she doesn't give Matt a chance to explain.
To his credit, Foggy's snippiness towards Matt is somewhat more justified as he's still miffed regarding their bathroom argument.
In any event, the wedge between Matt and his friends seems like it's only getting wider. Even if some of the steps taken to get there didn't make a whole lot of sense, the end result is still pretty dire.
While not without flaws, this episode was still something of a highlight. The stakes were raised rather effectively, the character conflicts (for the most part) worked and it was very well paced. At no point did the episode feel like it was dragging. The one time I did check to see how much time was left was done more for curiosity's sake than any desire to see things wrap up.
With only 5 episodes remaining this season, I have a feeling that things are only going to get more intense from here. It should make for interesting viewing.
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