Daredevil S02 E09: Seven Minutes in Heaven

In the last episode of "Daredevil," we witnessed several revelations, not the least of which was the Punisher's cliffhanger meeting with the Kingpin.  One of the others was just more disturbing than dramatic.  After fighting to release Elektra from under Stick's wing, Matt finally sees her true nature - she's a sociopathic killer.  Love can't change that kind of stuff usually, at least not in the rough and tumble soap opera world of superheroics. 

As we open, it appears this opening sequence at least will go in a different direction, picking up from the end of last season with the incarceration of Vincent D'onofrio's Wilson Fisk.  He is advised by his lawyer to keep quiet, keep his head down, and remembering his performance last season, that's D'onofrio's golden range, silent and menacing. 

When challenged and warned by the 'kingpin' of the prison, an inmate named Dutton played by perennial bad guy William Forsythe, Fisk's instincts kick in and he attempts a coup.  He moves all of his last resources to gain an inside posse, bribe guards, and eventually bring the Punisher to him - bringing us up to date with the criminal mastermind.

Whether it's true or not, Fisk intimates to Frank Castle that Dutton orchestrated the murder of his family, and offers him a chance at closure.  Of course such a thing would benefit Fisk.  Kingpin plays the Punisher like a harp, and although Frank does get in one shot, calling him a 'has-been mob boss,' Fisk is clearly in control here. 

Meanwhile, Matt is busy breaking up.  First there was Karen, who over the last two episodes he subtly and indirectly kicked to the curb in unloving and uncaring fashion.  Now, after fighting for her freedom from Stick, he changes his mind as an afterthought and can't handle her being a sociopath who enjoys killing.  Seriously, this is the first time he's noticed that quirk??

So it's no surprise when Matt breaks up with Foggy too, not caring about either the friendship or the law firm.  Sure, we're watching from the omnipotent outside, but hasn't it occurred to anyone what Matt is really doing?  He's cutting people he cares about out of life, like someone preparing to commit suicide.  Does he really consider going after The Hand a suicide mission? 

Karen, with the law firm in limbo, is becoming more and more involved with the New York Bulletin, Ben Urich's old stomping grounds since Netflix can't use the Daily Bugle.  Her investigative skills have won her the attention of Ben's old editor, Michael Ellison, and he's looking to groom her for a job.  She's that good, but I miss Ben.  Great actor, great character, unnecessary death. 

After a trip to see the medical examiner whose testimony was trashed by Elektra, some pieces start to come together.  Ellison offers up Ben's old office for Karen to work in.  Seriously, it's been untouched for how long?  And how old is that bottle of Pepto-Bismol??  On the desk there's a file on Karen. Last season there was some hint of a dark secret in her past.  In the comics, her father was the super-villain Death's-Head, but here it appears she may have accidentally killed her brother. 

In prison, the Punisher gets his seven free minutes, referencing the episode title with demented glee, with Dutton.  Before Castle mortally wounds him, Dutton tells him of another player who was pulling the strings the day his family were killed - someone called the Blacksmith.  Now there is a Marvel villain called Blacksmith, but he's Skrull, and I really doubt that's where this is going. 

After Dutton, Fisk covers his ass and tries to have the Punisher killed by opening all of the cells in Dutton's block.  It's a free-for-all to kill Castle. Much like last season's hallway fight and the stair fight earlier this season, and even the arrow in the chest combat last episode, it seems like the show wants to keep one-upping itself in fight sequences.  The Punisher taking on and beating a dozen or so inmates is a good attempt. 

Of course when Frank is brought before Fisk later, there's another beatdown that the Punisher is not on the easy end of.  I was never fond of the Kingpin/Daredevil matching as I always considered Kingpin a Spider-Man villain, at least originally, but based on the performances in this episode, I could dig Fisk as a Punisher foe, maybe in the spin-off series? 

The Kingpin decides that the Punisher would be of more use to him on the outside than on the inside, and arranges for Castle to walk free.  That can't be good.  We close on Fisk, hospital bedside with Dutton, eating his dinner, waiting for him to drown in his own blood.  Chilling. 

In the background of everything else, Daredevil makes a strike on The Farm, a Hand facility.  There he finds children in cages with their blood being pumped from them.  It's pretty horrific.  There's also a ninja who nearly beats Daredevil to death.  As he escapes with a pod, possibly containing Black Sky, he unmasks.  It's Nobu Yoshioka. 

Daredevil gasps, as do the viewers, "you're dead!"  To which Nobu simply states, "There's no such thing," and disappears into a downward elevator. Cue closing credits.  Well, Stick did say they'd discovered the secret of immortality.  How can Matt stop The Hand, when he can't even beat one of their ninjas?  With Matt alone, and Elektra, the Punisher, and Nobu all on the loose, these last four episodes should be interesting...

Next: The Man in the Box!

Daredevil S02 E08: Guilty as Sin

In the last episode of "Daredevil," the Punisher went to trial, from which Matt was absent, Elektra tampered with a witness, and Foggy and Matt had it out finally.  Oh yeah, and Daredevil and Elektra discovered the Yakuza guarding a seemingly mysterious bottomless hole about forty stories deep.  As we open, they're beset by ninjas, and this is only the beginning. 

Just before the ninjas nearly take them out, Daredevil and Elektra are rescued by Stick.  Cue opening credits.  As they try to escape by car, wave after wave of ninjas attack.  This is, no doubt, The Hand.  Badly wounded, they go to Matt's apartment where Stick does some wacky holistic voodoo on Elektra to save her.  Then the revelation comes that not only does Stick know her, he trained her. 

Obviously, Matt doesn't show up for the trial the next day as Frank Castle's former commanding officer takes the stand.  Colonel Schoonover is played by perennial heavy Clancy Brown, formerly The Kurgan, the voice of Lex Luthor, and most recently General Wade Eiling on "The Flash."  He tells a gripping tale of Castle's heroism on the battlefield, adding more pieces to the secret origin of the Punisher. 

While The Kurgan weaves war stories, Stick tells a tale of a different war, an ancient one involving The Hand.  These 'pieces of shit,' as Scott Glenn's Stick calls them, learned the secret of immortality in ancient times and used it to run rampant over much of Asia and the rest of the world.  They seek power and weapons, specifically something called Black Sky, which Daredevil ran across last season in the form of a child. 

The Hand has only one enemy, The Chaste, those warriors trained by Stick to oppose them, to fight them without mercy.  And Elektra is one of them.  Hell's Kitchen is to be ground zero for the battle between The Hand and The Chaste.  Matt treats this tale as a fiction, a power fantasy of Stick's to excuse his homicidal sociopathic behavior.  Unfortunately it's all he's got right now. 

Sigh.  This isn't the Daredevil series I want.  Yeah, it's good, very good, but rather than the Punisher, and Elektra, and The Hand, I think I'd rather have Gladiator, the Owl, the Stilt-Man, hell, even the Jester.  I guess I'm too old school for this stuff.  If they wanted to do a Punisher series (which is already on the schedule) or an Elektra series, why didn't they just do it? 

Frank Castle meanwhile is going to take the stand, supposedly in his defense.  Knowing they will need Matt to question him, Foggy sends Karen (perhaps deliberately?) to tell Matt.  She does, and gets a full view of not only crazy old blind man Stick, but also the dying/recovering Elektra in Matt's bed.  Kiss that relationship goodbye. 

In court, Matt makes a good case for both a mentally ill Frank Castle and the Punisher as the kind of hero we need, and then Frank starts talking, seemingly prodded by a guard.  Screaming that he's guilty, that everyone he killed deserved to die, and that he'd do it again - Frank effectively buries anything his defense was trying to accomplish. 

Back home, Matt throws Stick out after convincing Elektra to stay with him, and stop killing.  As soon as Stick makes his exit, a ninja of The Hand attacks and puts an arrow in Matt's chest.  Despite this obstacle, Matt and wounded Elektra finally subdue him.  The arrow made this fight for me, another wonderfully choreographed combat. 

And then Elektra kills him.  Just because she can, or wants to.  Elektra has a problem, a bad habit.  It would almost be funny if it wasn't so serious.  She's a killer, a sociopath, a psychopath.  All Stick did was channel her sick energy toward his goals.  I doubt Matt can do the same.

The mic drop of the episode is at the end where the suspicious guard takes Frank Castle through the prison to a gym area occupied by one man.  He turns around and we see him - Vincent D'onofrio as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, mentioned several times but unseen since the season one finale.  Cue end credits.  Now this should make things interesting. 

I'm ambivalent about the return of D'onofrio and Fisk.  While admittedly one of the most interesting characters and intense performances of the Marvel Netflix Universe, I would like to think his arc is done.  This is television, not comics where villains return every two months.  Still, I'm game to see what happens. 

Next: Seven Minutes in Heaven!

Daredevil S01 E13: Daredevil

We open this final episode of the first season of "Marvel's Daredevil" with the funeral of Ben Urich. His death last episode makes the bloody credits sequence all the more poignant. This was a shocking death as Ben is still alive and well in the comics. And if you don't cry when Karen meets Ben's wife, I just can't help you.

Later in this finale written and directed by Steven S. DeKnight, Fisk confronts Owlsley over recent events. He knows he was behind the poisoning. The Owl thinks he has leverage but Kingpin doesn't care, and throws him down an elevator shaft. I guess I was right about Owlsley's son quite possibly being the real Owl. And Fisk, wow, between Urich, Owlsley, and Vanessa, he's got quite a mommy complex.

On the positive side, it's good to see Charlie Cox and Elden Henson bringing that great chemistry they have back to Nelson and Murdock, and Deborah Ann Woll's Karen just completes that triangle. This works, I wish it didn't have to break before it works again. With most of the cops on the take, the FBI is brought into the equation, and in that way, the good guys win the way Matt wanted it - through the law. Even Senator Cherryh is brought in. Only Fisk remains, and thirty minutes in, they have him too.

It's nice that the good guys win, but where is the superhero action, and especially the kind of action that has highlighted this series from the beginning? DeKnight knows this kind of action even when he doesn't show it. One of the more intense fight scenes is shown only in the subtle reactions on the blood-spattered face of actor Daryl Edwards as crooked cop Hoffman. We see nothing, but we feel everything.

After Wilson Fisk, in custody, on his way to confinement, tells his two guards the story of The Good Samaritan, all hell breaks loose. Vincent D'Onofrio, channeling Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction, speculates on which character from the tale he is. He used to think he was The Good Samaritan, but now he feels he is the ill intent that befell the man. That's when the NYPD ambushes the FBI... and we find that the Kingpin owns people everywhere.

With a showdown approaching and armed men in the streets, Matt goes to retrieve his body armor finally from Melvin Potter. In payment, he promised to keep Melvin's Betsy safe from Fisk. I've a feeling this might not be a promise Matt can keep and we'll be seeing Gladiator in the future especially after getting a glimpse circular saw blueprints. Either way, finally, it's our hero as he's most recognizable.

I don't like the costume. After seeing the lycra outfit that is so flexible and easily movable in, this plated body armor looks bulky, fake, and distracting. I had trouble believing he could move well in it. I don't believe leather and metal can bend like that. And I would have liked some explanation of the billy club, what it does… and how he got so good with it. I know I'm the guy who always wants the superhero trappings, but here, after a dozen episodes in simpler more believable garb, I just don't buy it. I should like it, but I don't.

Fisk has an escape plan, and a countdown to a meetup with Vanessa where they'll leave the city together. I don't think Daredevil will let him get away that easily. The combat is intense, but I have to say I was distracted by the costume for much of it. Besides Fisk, there are happy endings all around yet no explanations of how the police force was cleaned up, if it was, or any of that mess. I guess we'll have to wait for season two, and perhaps Fisk's trial.

At this point all we really know about season two is that there is one, sometime in 2016, and that Elodie Yung will be playing Elektra, and Jon Bernthal, formerly of "The Walking Dead," will be playing the Punisher. As someone likes the Punisher even less than Daredevil, I don't care much about that last one. There have been rumors of Bullseye too, but I already saw that in the Ben Affleck film. Personally, if I get Gladiator and the Stilt-Man, as teased in this series, I'll be happy.

If the rest of these Netflix series are as good as "Daredevil," I will be very happy. I really really dug this. Highly recommended.

Daredevil S01 E12: The Ones We Leave Behind

Who is Karen Page? If I'm being honest, and I always am with you readers, I don't know. I can't say that I have ever read a comic book with her in it that has stood out. I mean I know who she is, but I don't know who she is, ya know?

Karen Page began life as a typical Stan Lee supporting cast player, the mutual romantic interest of both Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock. At this point in 1964, she was interchangeable with other Lee women like Pepper Potts, Betty Brant, and even Sue Storm to an extent. She didn't really become interesting until Matt told her he was Daredevil and they split up.

Disappearing for short periods of time, she bounced around the Marvel Universe as an actress, spending some time with Ghost Rider, but eventually returning to Daredevil. Her father was revealed to be the super-villain known as the original Death's-Head, so in the comics her background wasn't always squeaky clean. Later she starts working in porn, abusing drugs, and sells Daredevil's secret identity to the Kingpin. At the end of her downward spiral, she is murdered by Bullseye.

After the events of the last episode, killing James Wesley, it seems as though TV Karen might not have that pretty a past or future either. She tries to drink away the memory but is haunted by nightmares of the Kingpin, one particularly scary one in the pre-credits opening sequence. Her fear is compounded by both her drinking, and the fact that her law office is now just three people that don't talk to each other any more.

The plainclothes Matt parkour chase scene was impressive. And it leads to something even more impressive. The blind sweatshoppers making Madame Gao's heroin took their own eyes, because they have faith in something beyond this world. I had suspected that perhaps Gao might be from K'un L'un, a mystical land associated with the training of hero Iron Fist. And did Gao knock Daredevil across the room with the power of an iron fist? Da da dum.

Madame Gao makes one last appearance, to confer with The Owl, sans translator. As it turns out, it was the two of them who poisoned the Kingpin's benefit, trying to pull his attention away from Vanessa and back on business. I liked my Wesley theory better. Gao says she is going home to reflect on the situation. Owlsley asks if home is China, but she replies, not for the first time in the series either, that her home is a considerable distance further. My bet is on the otherdimensional K'un L'un. I'm sure we'll find out for sure when Iron Fist gets his Netflix turn.

An interesting tidbit came out of a talk between Urich and Daredevil. The heroin marked with the sign of the Steel Serpent, that we know from the comics as such, is actually called 'Steel Serpent.' More Iron Fist links.

Just as we had been punked in the opening of this episode with Fisk showing up in Karen's apartment, only to be revealed as a dream, it actually does happen to Ben at the end of the episode. Determined to print the entire story of Wilson Fisk in the Bulletin, they fired him. Still unharried, he decides to blog it online when he gets home. As he starts to type, Fisk is there.

What follows is a conversation worthy of Quentin Tarantino, and then the most brutal of the Kingpin's kills. It's true, we have seen him lose his cool serious more than few times, but this is entirely a whole new level. Do not mess with Wilson's mother.

Next: finally, Daredevil...

Daredevil S01 E11: The Path of the Righteous

As Matt continues to recover from his battle with Nobu, and Fisk worries over the poisoned Vanessa at the hospital, we have what seems to be a waiting game. Rather than the one-minute break between boxing rounds, it seems we're getting two or three episodes. I want to see our opponents back in the ring, don't you? Enough foreplay!

Who poisoned the guests at Fisk's benefit? The signs point to Nobu's clan, but didn't Madame Gao say they would have their hands full with other matters? Owsley didn't seem to know at first the drinks were poisoned but caught on quickly, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't him. That pretty much leaves Gao to blame... or Wesley.

Fisk's right hand man has very recently been sidelined by Fisk when dealing with Gao and Vanessa. This would not be the first time I've questioned the exact personal nature of Fisk and Wesley's relationship. Is there more to it than business? Is it perhaps more twisted like that of Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers on "The Simpsons"? Could this mass poisoning be both an act of sabotage and that of a jealous lover?

However we may never know. When Wesley gets wind of Karen snooping around Fisk's supposedly dead mother, he decides to take matters into his own hands. At first it seems he's going to kill Karen, then he offers her a job, which was puzzling. Why does he refer to Fisk as no longer his employer? What is going on here? Sadly this is Toby Leonard Moore's weakest work so far, and it's his last. I guess he's better in small doses. And what did Karen mean about this not being the first time she's shot someone?

I was happy to actually see Rosario Dawson return as the Claire Temple/Night Nurse hybrid character. I honestly felt cheated last episode when appeared only off-screen in a casual mention. Here unfortunately she is just more foreplay, preluding Matt's further discussion with Father Lantom who implies that sometimes the devil is a good thing, a lesson, a symbol, an inspiration to others.

If nothing else, these pep talks knock some sense into Matt, and he gets back into gear and seeks out everybody's favorite snitch, Turk Barrett. This time however, Daredevil isn't looking for Fisk, instead he wants something sensible - body armor. It would seem that the beating he took from Nobu and Kingpin did knock some sense into him. Turk sends our hero to the workshop of Melvin Potter.

Just in case you need a reminder of who Melvin Potter is, his Gladiator chest symbol is on the wall of his shop as Daredevil breaks and enters. As before, the simple armorer gives our hero quite a pounding. Nerdgasm when Potter threw a circular saw blade at DD. Again, enough foreplay, I want to see a full-on full-comic-dress fight between Daredevil and Gladiator. Did anyone else notice the Stilt-Man armor was missing since last we saw the workshop?

If nothing else, I suspect we'll finally be getting the traditional red Daredevil costume from the comics next episode. This was a slow one, highlighted by Night Nurse and Gladiator, with hopes of better coming.

Daredevil S01 E10: Nelson v. Murdock

The best friend is usually the last one to know. In the comics it seems that friendships and relationships outside the superhero business are kept in the dark far longer than those in the business. Oh sure, there are exceptions, notably employment situations as with Alfred Pennyworth and Batman, but for the most part, for every Thomas Kalmaku and Happy Hogan, there are dozens of James Gordons, Jimmy Olsens, Harry Osborns, and Etta Candys. And then there's Foggy Nelson.

Now as I've said before, I'm not a big Daredevil fan and the gaps in my comics knowledge of the character are large, but to me the character of Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson seems much more soap opera than the usual early Stan Lee fare. While Foggy is Matt Murdock's best friend, his law partner, and at the best of times, his conscience - the early comics portray him as almost a nebbishy comic relief sidekick, more of a Doiby Dickles than a Rick Jones. He was forever caught in that humiliating love triangle with Matt and Karen Page when he hopelessly pined after her while she was always in love with Matt.

And like a 1950s Lois Lane, he stupidly fell for Matt's ruse of having a twin brother Mike, to help cover up his secret identity. As lame as that trick was, I did dig the homage made in this series when Matt tells Night Nurse to call him Mike. Let's not even get into Karen's character as she also fell for Mike Murdock, and hard. But even as a kid, I looked at Foggy and I would never hire Nelson and Murdock - what if you got the dim half?

As the years go by, Foggy continued to be portrayed as ineffectual, and certainly various comics creators put him through hell. Bad marriage, unemployment, an on again/off again friendship/partnership with Matt - none of these things helped to strengthen his character. It's a sad state of affairs that he actually learns Daredevil's secret identity along with the rest of the world when he is outted by the press. And then, Foggy doesn't even believe it until he finds a beaten and battered Matt in costume, just as he did in our last episode.

I think the real turnaround for Foggy Nelson was in the much-maligned 2003 movie, and his portrayal by future founding father of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jon Favreau. A more gregarious personality and snappy aware dialogue saved him and made cool. And it's this version that Elden Henson mines in his Netflix version. On an interesting sidenote, Favreau also invigorated the similarly hated Happy Hogan in the Iron Man franchise. If I had my way, he'd play Steve Trevor in the upcoming Wonder Woman movie the same way.

In the last moments of "Speak of the Devil," a drunken Foggy came across the horribly beaten Daredevil in Matt's apartment, and is shocked to find its Matt under the mask. Well, at least it's better than reading it in the newspaper. We open as Matt wakes up. Night Nurse has been and gone, and Foggy is understandably angry. "Are you even blind?" launches us into the credit sequence and an "Arrow" style flashback.

Then, they were college roommates, fast friends with common backgrounds, and for Foggy, someone to look up to, and the perfect wingman. It's easy to see how betrayed he feels. The noose tightens when Karen calls and Foggy is forced to do the thing he hates Matt for - lie to someone he cares about.

Meanwhile Madame Gao, who along with Owsley is now all that's left of Fisk's legion of doom, takes a park bench meeting with the Kingpin. She delivers a warning and poses a question. Nobu's clan, who we almost certainly know is The Hand, has a long memory and will be taking their vengeance on Fisk. That's one, but more directly, Gao wants to know when Fisk will turn on her. She says he must decide if he is a savior or an oppressor, for he cannot be both.

Ben gets the bad news about his wife's care and decides to pack it in, giving all his notes to Karen. Under the premise of finding a home for Ben's wife, she has him drive her to a place far away, where she knows Wilson Fisk's mother is. This was a bit weird to me. Why didn't she just tell him, and save them both a lot of time? Speaking of Fisk, his benefit goes very bad very quickly. Poisoned champagne, with more than a few casualties, including possibly Vanessa. Somebody is going to pay...

We are also given, through the flashbacks, the last few pieces of Daredevil's origin. I was left wondering just how good friends were Matt and Foggy. At least how good a friend was Matt, while he's been lying to him for years. I have to admit to liking secret identities done realistically for once. Foggy's reaction to the truth is exactly what it should have been. I just wonder where this leaves their friendship as Foggy tosses their new firm sign in the trash.

As scenes change to address each member of the cast, one can't help but remember the last filler episode "Cut Man," where Matt was also incapacitated. This is a trick that works perhaps once a season, more than that, especially in a series meant to be binge-watched, it's a cliche. As we speed toward a conclusion, this is a solid STOP sign as opposed to merely a speed bump. Much happens and there's lot of good stuff here, but the trick is old and we can see the man behind the curtain.

There are some interesting tidbits in this episode. In Ben's office, among the newspaper clippings on his wall are those about the 'Battle of New York' and the 'Harlem Terror,' referencing the Chitauri invasion and the Hulk's rampage in Harlem, both from the Avengers movies. And in one of Foggy's flashbacks there is a case involving Roxxon, the oil corporation featured in both Iron Man 3 and "Agent Carter," which is constantly on the side of evil in the comics.

Daredevil S01 E09: Speak of the Devil

After the end of the last episode, Daredevil and the Kingpin (both as yet unnamed thus, so let's call them as we've seen them - the Devil of Hell's Kitchen and seeming philanthropist Wilson Fisk) are officially at war, and the man in the shadows, the mystery head of the house of cards, has played his hand in the bright sunshine. Things are not looking good for Daredevil, even with his new alliance with Ben Urich. And I'm not just talking about that blow he takes in the opening seconds of episode nine.

The opening fight sequence is between Daredevil and a ninja in red, the latter a master of martial arts fighting skills and weapons. It's pretty intense, and our hero is on the losing end for most of this pre-credits scene. Could this be the first real appearance of so-far-only-speculated Hand? It could be, as this episode is written by show staff writers Christos Gage and Ruth Fletcher Gage. The former is also a Marvel Comics writer who has in the past impressed me with his knowledge and respect for the Silver Age, something rarely seen in today's deconstructionist event themed comics.

Speaking of the Silver Age, there's been a recent hubbub about artist Wally Wood getting credit on the show and a possible lawsuit brewing as well from the comics creator's estate, the fires fanned of course by the rabble-rousers at Bleeding Cool. I think a lot of this comes from the show credit of 'created by' being followed by the names Stan Lee and Bill Everett, and not Wally Wood.

While it's true that almost everything we associate with Daredevil - the red costume, the billy club, the chest symbol - all came from Wally Wood's early redesign of the character, of that there is no doubt, how far should we go with this? I'm on episode nine here and the only reference to the Wood work so far is in the credit sequence itself. In actuality, and I hate saying this, if anyone really deserves any extra credit for this series so far it might just be Frank Miller, stylistically and principally, from his Man Without Fear story.

I know I'm making a lot of folks mad here, especially writers, but all that comics work back in the day was work for hire. Lawsuits decades later are ludicrous. By the same token that Wally Wood gets credit for creating Daredevil, Bill Finger and Gardner Fox and Jerry Robinson should have their names above Bob Kane's for creating Batman - because they really created Batman, and I'd add Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams to that list as well. Those five men made Batman more than Kane ever did. As far as I'm concerned, Bob Kane knew his way around a lawyer's office better than he ever did a drawing board. Just my opinion, so you know where to send the hate mail.

The fact is this - comic books are a collaborative artform in a shared universe created via work for hire. Maybe the credit should read, and read accurately, 'created by Marvel Comics,' and be done with it. I'm not begrudging Wally Wood or his estate what is due, but this just gets in my crawl. Enough is enough.

After the credits sequence we once again find Matt in front of St. Agnes with Father Lantom. I doubt we will get a Runaways reference for Lantom, but the fanboy in me still hopes for some nod to Skye from "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." for St. Agnes. Either way, this time once again cribbing from Frank Miller, Matt is seeking some sort of therapy through confession. I was pleased that Lantom, unlike Karen and Ben later this episode, has figured out Matt's other identity. It's not that hard.

Merely a plot device in his first two appearances, here Lantom's Peter McRobbie (who had also worked with Charlie Cox on "Boardwalk Empire") has room to play and make an impression finally. Rather than confessional, they chat over coffee, and McRobbie, doing an almost Robert Duvall rift tells a tale of his belief in, and his encounter with, The Devil. Lantom's story is both morality play and warning to Matt. Do not mess with The Devil.

Meanwhile, Fisk revealing himself as a benefactor and savior before being exposed as a devil has hampered if not frozen Ben Urich's investigation. As I mentioned, it kinda lowers my respect for Urich that he can't stand so close to both Daredevil and Matt Murdock and not know they're the same person. So much for the dying art of investigative reporting.

There are some intriguing name drops this episode, most notably Senator Cherryh. In the comics this corrupt senator is close to the Kingpin and has run afoul of Spider-Man, Elektra, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Daredevil - most of the heroes in these Netflix series leading up to "The Defenders."

Speaking of the Defenders, when Matt brings the fight to Fisk by visiting Vanessa's art gallery, she makes mention of putting a Richmond on the guest list. "He won't come but he'll get pissy if he isn't invited." Could this be millionaire Kyle Richmond, longtime leader of the Defenders, also known as Nighthawk? The description unfortunately fits the temperamental and much-dissed hero.

Also, location location location. I keep forgetting about the law offices of Nelson and Murdock, across from Atlas Investments, a possible homage to Atlas Comics, the name Marvel went by in the 1950s, and the Agents of Atlas, the retconned name given to the heroes of that era. N&M's offices are also where Van Lunt Real Estate used to be. Cornelius Van Lunt was the criminal industrialist also known as Taurus, one of the twelve-member cartel called Zodiac - longtime enemies of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.

Back at the art gallery, Charlie Cox shows his first weakness as an actor when putting up a front for Vanessa, but is it bad acting on the part of Cox or of Matt Murdock? An argument could be made for both. When Fisk shows up he is equally uncomfortable. It is almost as if they know each other already subconsciously. Of course they have already spoken as Daredevil and Kingpin in "Condemned", perhaps this meeting is just a formality. And D'Onoffrio's Fisk silently makes no doubt of how he feels about Matt. That final look as our hero leaves says volumes.

Throughout the episode, Foggy and Karen, who are doing most of the heavy lifting, continue to piece together the house of cards with Fisk at its peak. The murder of the tenement woman they had been helping - so soon after Matt's visit to Vanessa has raised many flags. Matt, who has been keeping a low profile as Daredevil, puts the suit back on for a night on the town to release some of his pent up rage on the criminal element.

On this rampage he corners a drug dealer and asks him where he got his product. This product has a symbol on it that we saw Madame Gao's servants packaging in her drug sweatshops earlier in the series. The symbol in the comics is that of the Steel Serpent, an enemy of Iron Fist. Much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper, everything here is connected. Daredevil's tracking of the drugs, and the tenement woman's killer, eventually leads to the ninja, coming full circle to the episode's opening in media res.

The ninja, in what could very well be paraphernalia and costuming of The Hand, is revealed to be Nobu. He knows of Stick, and has some more than human abilities himself like slowing his heartbeat and lowering his body temperature. The battle that follows is intense, bloody, and increasingly one-sided. Daredevil takes the upper hand by luck, barely surviving himself... only to walk into Fisk's trap.

When Fisk offers Daredevil his shot, free punch, in the beginning of a hand to hand combat, our hero is in no shape and is no match whatsoever. Fisk beats him senseless, pummeling his foe almost as he did his father as a boy. When Fisk walks away, telling Wesley to finish him, Daredevil escapes. You might think that's the cliffhanger, but it's not, as it's Foggy who finds Matt near dead, in costume... now things are getting interesting...

Daredevil S01 E08: Shadows in the Glass

After a brief interlude with Stick and the seeming world of powers last time, episode eight welcomes us back to reality with the Kingpin. In a beautifully crafted sequence written by executive producer Steven S. DeKnight and directed by Stephen Surjik, the latter known for his work on "Burn Notice" and "Person of Interest," we watch Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk in his morning routine. He awakens to the painting purchased in "Rabbit in a Snowstorm," makes breakfast, gets dressed, but still sees himself as an abused child in the mirror. No dialogue, but wonderfully shot, and so telling of his character, without a word spoken. I'll say it again. Beautiful.

We are introduced to young Wilson Fisk's New York via a wonderful sound-sculpture by the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar." I felt the time and the place. We meet the boy's family and see how he lived. Fisk's father, a failed politician, is played by "The Wire" veteran Domenick Lombardozzi, and there is another mention of Don Rigoletto, the Mafia boss who was replaced as a power broker by the Kingpin. In the comics, young Fisk was his bodyguard and eventually killed him. At some point in this series, someone, I forget who, remarks that Rigoletto retired, in pieces. The flashbacks to Fisk's past are a rich tapestry of old New York, and a tribute to DeKnight's filmmaking skills.

In the present as Matt is brought into Foggy and Karen fight against Union, Fisk is having difficulty controlling Nobu and The Hand. If we're all being honest here, since he started romancing Vanessa, Fisk has been having trouble keeping all of his legion of doom under control. This is a weak alliance at best, only held together by a strong leader. James Wesley wonders why Fisk even needs the Japanese after last episode. The casualness between Fisk and Wesley here is warm, unexpected, and disconcerting. What is their real relationship? Is it more than business?

The villains are on the move in this secret origin of the Kingpin episode. Madame Gao comes to Fisk with a warning about keeping control. The villains are restless, but who is she? Just a guess, but could she be some Iron Fist adversary that will carry to his series later next year? As long as we're speculating about the villains, I'm going to throw this out there. Perhaps Bob Gunton's Leland Owlsley is not the Owl as I have suggested. He keeps talking about his son, also named Leland. If he keeps acting the way he's acting, perhaps old Leland won't make it out of this alive, and young Leland returns for revenge, as The Owl.

Speaking of villains, we run across one (or one and a half) classic Daredevil foes from the hero's rogues gallery. Henching for Fisk, Melvin Potter has also created body armor for his boss, but as he fights Daredevil we get to see his wonderful workshop that includes not only the Gladiator armor, but the Stilt-Man suit as well. Comics fans know that Potter is the villain called Gladiator, a particularly nasty baddie with circular saw blades on his wrists, but in his civilian identity, a mild and special soul. I am psyched, hoping to see both of these villains before the series is out.

Like Skylar Gaertner as young Matt in the last episode, Cole Jenson as young Wilson Fisk is an amazing actor. He is the embodiment and verbalization of everything Vincent D'Onofrio demonstrates with gesture, facial expression, and silence. Truly a case of an inner child, and that is what the actor's portrayal has been all about. And now we know what the painting is all about. The wall of punishment, and we see what happened to Daddy Fisk. It's not pretty, it's not happy, but maybe, it's just. Now we'll have to see the rest of the story, how momma's boy became violent man-child.

There is an interesting parallel struck between the childhoods of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. Both men have violent fathers who have lasting effects on them as adults, but it's the way the violence is channeled and the lessons taught and learned that separate them. Still, in many ways, at least on the surface and in the big picture, they are the same. They both think they want to save the city, they both think they have to do it to redeem something their fathers failed at, and they are both very violent men.

Back in the present, Vanessa comes and is his support, his inspiration and his motivation. She becomes the mother to D'Onofrio's childlike Kingpin, and guides him to do what he needs to do - reveal himself, and go public... before Daredevil does. Our hero goes to Ben Urich too late. Yes, he's made an ally, but he's far too late. Daredevil has hit his own wall.

So many folks, following along with me as I review these episodes one at a time as I watch them, have pointed out "Stick" as their favorite of the bunch. I am going to have to buck the majority. "Shadows in the Glass," more the Kingpin's secret origin, is my favorite so far.