"Best damn avocados."
Episode 9 - "Speak of the Devil"
Throughout the series, Matt has been dealing with some heavy ethical issues, namely the question of whether it's ok to kill a bad guy or not. When turning this over in his mind, Matt, naturally, goes to church for answers. Father Lantom tells Matt a story about how he came across the Devil, which he had previously dismissed as rather inconsequential until that point. Of course, Matt is searching for a justification to kill Fisk, but even in this conversation, it's not as if he gets a go-ahead. He's left with a rather ambiguous view on the whole thing, though their conversation a little later leaves no wiggle room. It's clear from his actions later on that he decided he would kill Fisk, given the chance.
Listen to the TV Soup Podcast - Daredevil "Speak of the Devil" and "Nelson v. Murdock" Review
This episode, like most in this series, has a good time playing around with the timeline. Instead of traditional flashbacks, you get a beginning, middle, and end of a fight between Daredevil and Nobu (in full ninja garb). I love when a story is able to be told in a non-chronological order, and Daredevil pulls this off with the best of them. It doesn't do it too much of it, like Lost used to do, and it's not strictly a one-way timeline, like Game of Thrones.
As the team at Nelson & Murdock start putting together all the connections in the case (and they are getting somewhere), they get word that Elena Cardenas was mugged and stabbed and died from her wounds. This is the emotional button that Fisk pushed in order to lure the man in the mask into a trap. The trap was excellently executed by Fisk, putting the icing on the cake with his news conference, all but calling out "the mask". This was really a trap for both Nobu and Matt, as Fisk really would have preferred if they killed each other, but he was going to be very happy as long as at least one of them died.
Side note - this show has amazing music placement, especially at the bar. In the background, you hear "The Thrill is Gone" as they're mourning Elena. They lost their friend, they lost their connection to this case. When he leaves the bar, Matt, through the encouraging words of Karen, has made up his mind about killing Fisk. You hear the song ending, and the words are:
You know I'm free, free now baby,
I'm free from your spell
Matt has basically given in to the dark side and decided that he must kill in order to accomplish his goal, and he's even smiling about it.
Matt does seem to get lured into Fisk's traps too easily, but at least it's an excuse to pull him into the best fight all season. This show has a rather high production value, and while I'd like to see a few more sets, it's clear they have spent a lot of money on both the actors and the action sequences.
The fight with Nobu does seem rather one-sided, but of course our hero comes out on top in the end. After that devastating fight with Nobu, when Matt gets his chance against Fisk, it's like trying to fight an elephant and he barely is able to escape alive. I do love the reveal at the end of Foggy learning his secret. In some shows they might have found a cheesy way to get around that, but this definitely complicates the story a whole lot.
Episode 10 - Nelson v. Murdock
So, Matt is unmasked, patched up by Claire, and Foggy wants some answers. The first question of "Are you even blind?" is painful for Foggy, feeling as if he's been betrayed their entire friendship. We then get to see the very beginning of their friendship, complete with music and hairstyles befitting the time period (early 2000's?).
So far, Daredevil has been strong when telling its back story. Getting the entire progression of Matt and Foggy's friendship in one episode is the kind of pacing that would have been good earlier in the season with the stories about Matt's father. You're even given a glimpse into Matt's first taste of masked combat, which, as I suspected, wasn't too long before the start of the story.
Fisk, trying to be a good citizen, must be a great supporter of rooftop gardens. Seriously, the one he meets Madame Gao in was damn impressive. A small park in a forest of buildings with the sounds of the streets strangely distant. If Fisk wasn't a ruthless murderer, he would be exactly what the city needs. (Well, that's a stretch...)
Foggy's interrogation of Matt channels all of the watcher's questions. When Matt says he just knows things, Foggy demands specifics, and gets them. Weirdly specific, onions two days ago. I wonder how long garlic lingers. Foggy actually sees most of this as an invasion of privacy, which is an interesting angle I hadn't thought about. I'm not sure I see it that way, as Matt is just putting together clues like some supernatural blind Sherlock. It's all there in the open, you just need to know how to perceive it.
Karen, still seemly careless enough to leave her door unlocked (foreshadowing anyone?), manages to locate Fisk's mother. She's in a nursing home, conveniently enough to convince Ben to come along to "check the place out". Of course, what she has to say could be pretty important, but I have to wait until next week to know what that is. You, of course, don't - yay Netflix!
Fisk and Owlsley are getting ready for prom and Fisk has girl problems. Basically - Leland, go deal with the girl who doesn't like my new girl! But with threats thrown back and forth. Everyone seems to be pointing out to Fisk that he's been knocking off members of their group. I suspect this is a one-way ticket to "you're next" land.
This episode with Foggy and Matt seems to turn the whole series up to this point upside down. Everything was built on Matt being the more honest one, the foundation of their partnership in trying to help the little guy. To Foggy, being a vigilante completely violates all of these standards. Foggy sees through the BS and calls Matt out, telling him it's all just an excuse to hit somebody. It will be interesting to see if they're able to fall back on their shared experiences, or if this will be the real end of Nelson and Murdock.
Please wait...
