Okay guys, this is gonna be another long one. How much can I possibly say about like 45 minutes of television? Apparently quite a lot....
Fisk’s grief over Vanessa immediately turns to violence as he takes out his feelings on the surgeon. Admittedly, doc kinda had it coming because he literally would not shut up, just kept spouting off trite platitudes: “They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies.” “Even in her final moments she was the brightest of lights.” “Gone to the beautiful darkness that awaits us all.” I feel like even I would be irked if a doctor started talking to me like that while I sat at a deceased loved one’s bedside.
The doctor holds out his arms to embrace Fisk and Fisk squeezes him to death. This is totally predictable. How much more interesting would it have been if the audience thought Fisk was going to kill that guy, but instead was overcome with his grief. Actually hugged him back? Cried uncontrollably while the doctor comforted him– while being a little alarmed at the depth of his response? Now THAT would have shown Fisk totally helpless and transformed by Vanessa’s death. Instead his reaction was… business as usual? Crunch some bones as his emotional release, as we have seen him do over and over and over.
Buck is left to clean up the murder scene. They close the door and, as always with this show, we aren’t shown what he does. This is one case where, okay, we don’t REALLY need to see it, but I admit, I am curious— how do you cover up the sudden disappearance of a renowned surgeon at a hospital, let alone smuggle his body out? Like, what does the rest of the staff think happened to him? That he treated the mayor’s wife and then mysteriously disappeared?
Vanessa’s funeral is in latin which I think is a cop out from any other character having anything poignant to say about her. Everyone from Fisk’s office is there along with most of the ATVF.
Now we get a little montage: Karen sends a text message while a handcuffed Dex jerks in his sleep. Mr. Charles walks into Red Hook, eating an apple this time, and finds all the weapons have been moved. Powell and the Task Force unload all their goods in their new warehouse and says “Thank you, Mayor Fisk,” as if their patrols had been short on arms before? Karen and Matt sit opposite each other, their discussion still incoming.
Fisk lays a red rose upon Vanessa’s casket. I do like that he stayed silent this entire episode until the end. That is how I ultimately have come to imagine Matt was at Foggy’s funeral as well. Which brings me to my biggest issue—- this is the THIRD episode dedicated to Vanessa’s character’s send off. And at this point, it’s getting downright offensive because FOGGY GOT NOTHING. He died in the street like a dog in less than 5 minutes and then we skipped 12 months into the future.
This scene should have been intercut with a montage of FOGGY’s FUNERAL. A funeral where we got to mourn and say good bye for him. With it happening in s2, they should have hired back as many actors as they could– his parents, brother Theo, Marci. I don’t care about the logistics, it should have happened. We deserved it. It doesn’t matter if (and at this point it’s a big IF) Foggy is actually alive. Matt and Karen have been living for TWO YEARS under the impression he is dead. We deserve to know he was honored and that people CARED. Matt should have been the one sitting there, catatonic, in sharp contrast to how he was able to collect himself enough to give a eulogy to Father Lantom. Karen, meanwhile, should have spoken— about how Foggy was like a brother to her, how he always supported her at her lowest moments, about how much fun they had together from the time they first hung out and drank an eel in tequila. It should have been as powerful a monologue as her “be your own hero” speech— because Foggy WAS that hero. He had no powers but he fought for truth and justice just as hard as any vigilante. He was noble not for his saintly mercy but for his humanity. Just….. ARG!!!
If it is a big deal that Vanessa Fisk died and Vincent D’onofrio wanted to showcase Fisk mourning her, we should have gotten that for Matt and Karen mourning Foggy too. Instead the closest we have come is a “Foggy knew all of you” speech, and Matt and Karen staring into space and thinking about missing their old life, without saying much. This is downright shameful. And I get that Matt IS grieving. He never stops grieving. Karen is grieving too. But the point is, the show never gives them time or introspection about it. It comes out in little moments like Matt not being able to hear Foggy’s name. It’s just not the same. Foggy deserved better and honestly Elden Henson, who had a much bigger impact on the series overall that Vanessa’s actress, did too. This is bullshit and I’m not happy about it. If they had given us even a fraction of the time Vanessa got, I really would have no complaints. But they didn’t even try.
Fisk exits the church with twitching thumbs and enters a bright white light as his life without Vanessa begins.
Another let down for the fandom— the white farmhouse is not the safe house we theorized Foggy was being kept at from the comics. It is Jessica Jone’s house. Marketing once again spoiled that Jessica Jones has a daughter, so the clever storytelling of seeing the little girl and just her mom’s socked feet walking around has no identity to be revealed. We know everything. Her daughter looks like she is 5-6 years old. A pipe bomb gets tossed inside as some goons yell “there she is” and begin an unseen fight outside with Jessica. Dani picks up the bomb and waltzes around in her fairy wings, waving it like a magic wand. Jessica finishes up her business just in time to remove the bomb— “this is not a toy”---- before it explodes. Cute scene but would have hit harder if there was any surprising factor.
I am someone who NEVER has an issue with knowing plot spoilers from following along on Daredevil twitter for leaks and stuff. For me, seeing how these things play out in execution is where the real magic happens. And that is why, once again, I have an issue with the marketing revealing too much by including Jessica saying “they came to my house. With my daughter there,” in all the trailers. Now the scene carries less weight because we already know what’s going to happen before it happens from the clips. As with the “saw or shovel” line in the last episode, they removed all the tension!
The person Karen was texting was Soledad. I forgot she’s a nurse. Part of me likes that they found a way to give her something to do, but of course, I am still disappointed that Matt’s “I know a nurse” line was not a reference to Claire. They could have just had Matt shutting the door and saying, “thanks Claire,” if they didn’t want to hire Rosario back for this season. In DDs1 Claire came to treat Matt’s injuries at his apartment with Foggy in a scene that happens off screen. We later see BB is texting “Ellison” and it’s not acknowledged. I wish we could have just pretended Claire was there, even though it would have been unsatisfying. I miss her so much!
Soledad says if Dex can avoid infection, he should be fine. Because gun shot wounds are just no big deal for anyone except Foggy in this universe.
Matt says taking Dex to the hospital would sign his death warrant. Karen scoffs “Maybe we should.” Matt gives her a reprimanding “Karen” yet again. Karen doubles down, “He should be dead or in one of Fisk’s dungeons, not here.” Matt ignores Karen’s feelings with just an “understood.”
Angela says the city is “popping off” because of what Dex did, but Matt insists it was an accident. Again, I still don’t get why Vanessa was not Dex’s target from the get go. WHY would he not want to shoot the woman who hired him to kill and then got him sent to prison? Why is he only trying to kill Fisk? It makes no sense. And sure, Vanessa died by accident, but I guess the lives of all those Task Force officers he also killed at Fogwell’s count for nothing??? Not that they will be missed, but is this not hypocritical?
Angela gives a status update on New York: Some people are mourning the mayor’s wife, other people are pissed and not even at Fisk. They are upset because “the raids and people disappearing are worse than ever.” Again, we are being handed everything as heavy exposition. Why would people not be mad at Fisk since I assume he is the one in charge of ordering raids? Or at least Powell has his stamp of approval to select whatever targets he sees fit. Who is getting raided? There seem to be no vigilantes in this town besides Daredevil, Swordsman, and Jessica Jones. So the raids are just against any normal people perceived as wrong doers… doing what exactly? And where are they disappearing to? The concentration camp at Red Hook had only 19 prisoners and now has been compromised. So how many are missing and where are they being held? What are they charged with? This does not make sense. We need to be SHOWN these things happening. I get that the Task Force serves an ICE metaphor in the show, but it would hit so much harder if we saw the deeper impact they were having on the local communities besides one convenience store raid.
As an additional nitpick, Angela saying “people are pissed” repeats what Karen said in episode 3 during the Swordman’s trial. WHAT PEOPLE??? WHO???
I hate to take more screen time away from Matt, but some sort of storyline following her and also following BB in their home lives and being denied access to places because of Task Force jurisdiction, or seeing the officers harassing people was really missing. And I know this was filmed before the Minneapolis protests turned violent this year, but showing regular citizens standing up to them and being punished in a more developed way would have made it at least believable that the city is turning against Fisk.
Angela continues, “There’s a lotta talk about the vigil at City Hall. Like people, our people.” Soledad says, “Sounds like trouble,” and Angela responds, “Si, titi.”
Karen makes Angela promise to stay low and stay safe— totally vague and fairly meaningless advice but I guess she cares. Angela and Soeldad leave, so Matt and Karen can finally have their disagreement. That they have held off until now already speaks volumes. Matt came home carrying Dex and Karen was forced to help him whether she wanted to or not.
Matt asks if there’s any news from Christofi. Karen says no, so I guess neither she nor Kirsten have tried to follow up with the US Marshalls or any of their contacts? Wouldn’t not hearing anything immediately be a red flag? Karen also says her “source” should drop the Red Hook testimony soon. I hate how Karen keeps saying her “source” Why doesn’t she just say BB? It’s so impersonal, instead of suggesting they know each other and plan to orchestrate things together.
Matt says the Red Hook testimony will help with the hearts and minds. This is a repeat of what was said a few episodes ago as well. Karen responds, “We’ve got those, the Resistance grows every day.” UM? WHEN WHERE HOW WHY???? WHO, even?? Who is in this growing Resistance? We are not seeing any of that! This half of their conversation is so dumb, I can’t stand it. This show just wants to tell us what’s happening and how to feel about it, not bother to earn anything.
Karen says they need more than people getting mad when someone gets locked up or disappears. Matt has no idea what she’s talking about. Karen inhales deeply as she’s about to spill her true feelings.
Karen: Do you remember that night at the Clinton Street Church. He killed Father Lantom and then he hurt you so bad, I actually thought I’d lost you for a minute.”
Matt: Yeah. Yeah, I remember.
Karen: So you told me that you were gonna kill Fisk and I told you not to. That I knew how—
Matt: yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember.
Karen: What if I was wrong.
Matt: Karen, please stop it. Can’t you see that is what separates us from him?
Karen: Are we really still that separate?
Matt: Yes, we are! We are separate. It is not up to us to take a life.
Karen: I know, I know! I pay every day for what I did to Wesley. I still have fucking nightmares. But the difference is I don’t regret it. It was him or me. And what if that’s what it’s like with you and Fisk. Him or you? What if this doesn’t end until one of you goes down?
Matt: I can’t think about it that way.
Karen: Well, you’re gonna have to. He has proven that he will not hesitate!
Matt: This isn’t— it’s not— this isn’t you. It’s not you.
Karen gets a text– and says “It’s her.” Before we get into it, I’ll just say this is annoying to me because a normal person would just say “It’s Jess.” Karen speaking so vaguely in ep 1 about asking “her” to investigate the ship and talking about her “source” instead of naming BB—- it’s just another WEIRD ass way that this show subtly removes Karen from having connections to other women. WEIRD!
Karen: What do we do about him?
Matt: Vengeance isn’t justice Karen.
Karen: Yeah.
Matt: I won’t be long.
Karen: Hey—
Matt: *stares at her and then leaves*
Oooookay. So overall, I did enjoy this scene because, God, I have been waiting for Karen to get to express her feelings. Also, this scene has nice lighting and you can see everyone’s faces, especially Charlie Cox, who looks all doe-eyed and melancholy. But while Karen gets to absolutely SHINE like a queen here, Matt is written pathetically subdued and dismissive to the point where it makes me angry on his behalf, even as someone who already doesn’t like his relationship with Karen.
Here is Karen, expressing her deepest concerns— voicing that she thinks they have come to a line that needs to be crossed, where they can no longer abide simply through passive resistance, and Matt won’t even listen to her, overrides her at every turn as the moral arbitrator.
Karen reminds Matt of the emotional and physical cost Fisk’s violence has inflicted on them. Matt repetitively says “yeah, yeah, I remember” and it comes across more as a dismissal than a real acknowledgement, cutting her off before she can fully articulate her arguments. When Karen broaches the subject he disagrees with— that is what wrong to let Fisk live—- and suggests that her moral framework has changed due to the circumstances they now face– Matt immediately shuts her down, literally telling her to stop talking and policing her way of thinking. He is the arbitrator of the boundaries that separate their side from theirs, and he sets everything in a rigid binary. Karen asks, “are we really that separate?” and again Matt responds with pure moral absolutism “yes, we are. It’s not up to us to take a life.”
This immediately activates Karen’s guilt, as she knows she has already broken that boundary. The oddest choice in this scene is also that neither of them has ever acknowledged that Karen shot someone during the Red Hook liberation battle. But *shrug* I guess at this point, we just have to assume it was a flesh wound because neither of them seem to be harboring any concerns over it at all.
Karen says she pays every day for what she did to Wesley— an act that totally changed her as a person. How much more powerful would this scene be if we had actually seen Karen still having nightmares about him? Back when I was reviewing Episode 2, I specifically said that I wished instead of the cuddling in bed scene, they had paralleled Vanessa Fisk’s nightmare scene with Karen having her own nightmares. In my vision, she should have been dreaming about Foggy dying again and giving Matt an opportunity to comfort her again.
I think that would only go to show that she has nightmares about BOTH the immense trauma she experienced from taking a life, and also the absolute agony she lives through daily after having her best friend die in her arms, literally bleed out all over her as she helplessly watched, just because the person in front of her was never stopped. Karen hates what she had to do to Wesley, but she is also firm on one thing— she has no regrets. If faced with the same situation again, she would not hesitate to kill him again. Interestingly, she says “it was him or me”--- but looking back, that isn’t actually what happened. She told Wesley to hurry up and kill her, but he declined, saying that he needed her to live and become an agent for Fisk. Instead, it was her family and her loved ones who would die first. So it wasn’t only a choice of “him or me.” It was a choice of him or letting this man do harm to others. And in the face of THAT moral conflict— Karen has no remorse. She made the right decision. And she knew it. She wanted him dead and he deserved MORE.
Karen then extends this reasoning to her desires to protect Matt— “what if this doesn’t end until one of you goes down?” This conclusion is what has always been unacceptable to Karen. No more lives lost on her watch. She’s done losing people. And if the adherence to non-lethal force is going to result in just that— she is beyond moral justifications. Karen is not advocating for violence casually. She is grappling with the possibility that Matt’s moral code is inadequate in the face of reality.
Matt clings to his beliefs saying– “I can’t think about it that way.” This is not even a rebuttal to Karen’s lived experience and trauma, but total refusal to even engage with it. He frames Karen’s way of thinking as totally invalid and then continues to reduce her point of view even further, culminating in his line of “This isn’t you.” This one line of dialogue is so patronizing, paternalistic, and down right offensive. Matt speaks as if he has more control over Karen’s perspective than she does. Outright denying her agency and saying he doesn’t just disagree with her stance, but that she should be incapable of even holding it. This is so problematic. Matt is basically saying he has the authority to determine who she “really is” and what she is allowed to believe, instead of her forming a valid ethical stance based on her experiences.
Karen has a nuanced, morally complex ideology that is extremely grounded in reality— if they don’t kill, these killers will just continue to kill, until one of them is dead too. Matt says "vengeance is not justice,” which is a direct call back to their Study Date argument from DDs2, during which Matt expressed shock that Karen would ever support Frank Castle’s methods, even in the face of when the justice system has already failed those it is supposed to serve.
Karen’s response is “Right or Wrong, you can’t deny that it works.” Matt replies, “You don’t really believe that,” and Karen backtracks— yes, no, and then ultimately admits her deep down feelings—- maybe. That “maybe” is what everything hinges upon. Of course Karen doesn’t agree with Frank’s war overall, extolling revenge upon everyone even peripherally involved in crime. But in some situations she does. Karen asks, “what’s more important? Saving people or preventing them from needing to be saved in the first place.” This is the crux of the matter— the two camps that these two vigilante men have fallen into, and Karen is in the middle. She is truly the gray area. She knows what’s good and right, but sometimes what is right is also not the best solution. What works for Matt does not work for everyone else and people in the middle are the ones getting killed for it.
Overall, the show has just been going in circles with them regurgitating this Study Date conversation and there’s only so many times you can chew it up and spit it back out before it starts to become totally unpalatable. What the fuck is happening? Karen sounds like herself but Matt comes across as simultaneously pathetic and yet also a total asshole who I can’t stand. I feel like Charlie did a good job acting it out— you can hear the total desperation in his voice as he pleads with Karen, “I can’t think about it that way.” Meanwhile, Deb totally crushes it as she snaps back, “Well, you’re gonna have to.” She dominates the scene even as Matt’s dialogue completely seeks to undermine her.
Who wrote this?? And why did Charlie agree to it? I’m sorry— I have to question him a little bit. It sounds like quite a bit of stuff is also getting cut from this season, so I feel like some of Matt’s arc has suffered from that. But I just watched an interview with him where he was praising the writing and saying he rarely asked for changes because he agreed with how Matt was being written. I genuinely am shocked that in the big year of 2026 we got a scene so deeply rooted in misogyny that the main argument to counter the woman he supposedly loves is to tell her flat out “this is not who you are” and therefore I know better. It’s not even a proper moral confrontation, it’s a rhetorical silencing of Karen’s legitimate concerns. It makes me want to tear my hair out. I love for Matt and Karen to fight. I love to see cracks in their relationship because lord knows, I can’t stand them as a couple. But this just goes on to confirm everything I didn’t like about them and make it 1000 times worse.
The scene ends with Karen almost calling him back, then saying nothing. Matt doesn’t speak either and leaves without an exchange of I love you’s.
Yeahhhhh. Yikes. Big Yikes, guys. I’m probably not even articulating this super well, but there was just so much wrong with how this conversation went down. We’re gonna be talking about it for years, no doubt.
Fisk stares out a window at Vanessa’s wake. Someone tries to offer condolences but he just walks away. The governor tells Sheila she was (stupidly) relying on Vanessa to keep Fisk reined in. Some guy from the governor’s office tells Buck “this is not a monarchy” and he responds “are you sure about that?” No Kings wanted indeed. The governor tries to get Sheila to consider pushing for higher office.
BB is the worst funeral guest ever and wishes Daniel a happy birthday with a big smile. He says (understandably) that he’s not really feeling the birthday this year and that he wants to be there for Fisk. BB pushes him to go out with her that night, and when he won’t, implies he’s only going out with his male friends. Daniel admits no, he’s going to his mom’s house and BB finds this surprising and sweet. She invites herself along.
Buck pulls Daniel aside and talks him down from cracking from the pressure of their little “nature walk” aka burying a body together. He then pushes Daniel to test BB’s loyalty and prove if she is a leak or not by feeding her false information. It’s pretty silly that BB is not suspect number one for all of Fisk’s team anyway. Yeah, she’s doing the BB Reports that honor Fisk, but she has the closest access to everything.
Mr. Charles is mad that Fisk stole all his stuff. Fisk just hangs up on him. What was Mr. Charles' plan? Why didn’t they move the goods out of Red Hook sooner? They made it seem like that would be a big operation, nearly impossible to do, but then the Task Force accomplished it all in just a couple hours?
Mourners are putting flowers on the steps of City Hall for Vanessa. I imagine a LOT of the public would be swayed to feel sympathetic for the Fisks after her death. The protestors show up and say “Vanessa Fisk is part of the problem! Don’t cry for her. How many of our neighbors have disappeared at the hands of Fisk and his pigs?” Gee, I don’t know because we haven’t seen any of them?!
Matt is on the roof, looking down at the warehouse Fisk has moved the weapons to. I guess even if Mr. Charles doesn’t know where his stuff went, Jessica Jones does! They have this exchange:
Matt: You hurt?
Jessica: I’m pissed. They showed up at my house, Matt. With my daughter there. You said this wouldn’t touch me.
Matt: It shouldn’t have, Jess. That’s way outta Task Force jurisdiction.
Jessica: Wasn’t Task Force. After you called, I did some digging. Found out who’s been running guns with Fisk and giving him all this cover.
Matt: I’m assuming a dozen different warlords in half a dozen countries?
Jessica: Or certain segments of the US government.
Matt: Oh really? No shit.
Jessica: A while ago, this guy called. Obviously agency. Obviously sketchy as hell. He was interested in people like us. I told him to fuck off. Not everyone I know did.
Matt: Oh.
Jessica: Turns out Charles is mighty cozy with Mayor Fisk. And either I’m rusty or he’s really good because his entire wet team showed up at my house this morning. They’re worse off than I am.
Matt: The way you’re breathing, you might have cracked a rib.
Jessica: I’m fine. Shit happens.
Matt: No. No, it doesn’t. Not to you.
Jessica: I don’t know. After Danielle, it just drops out sometimes. Then comes back. I don’t think there’s an owner’s manuel for this shit.
Matt: How’s she doing?
Jessica: She’s good. She’s a handful.
Matt: Yeah? Look, I’m sorry.
Jessica: Look you owe me.
Matt: I’m guessing that’s why you wanted to meet here.
Jessica: He moved the guns from the port.
*Matt listens and can hear the watch he planted being loaded inside as they speak*
Matt: These guns, Fisk was running them for this guy, Charles?
Jessica: Yep.
Matt: But then his Task Force took ‘em?
Jessica: Yep.
Matt: Okay.
Jessica: So, do you wanna cause a little trouble?
Jessica saying “you said this wouldn’t touch me,” is greatly disappointing because it sounds like she has been helping him reluctantly. I understand staying on the sidelines because she has a child now, but again— how is Matt building a vigilante army against Fisk when NO ONE is joining him? Frank basically served the same purpose in s1. Matt came to see him and he wouldn’t help. It was only when Karen asked him to, did he get off his ass and do something for him. Then they rescued Swordsman, but he immediately ducked out, rather than staying to support the cause. And Jessica Jones is basically only doing it as a favor as well? Are we sure we’re even supposed to be on Matt’s side anymore? Why does no one care? What even is this war for the city?????
Matt’s response is that Jessica should have been safe because she is outside of Task Force jurisdiction? Maybe this just means Jess lives outside of NYC– the house was in some suburbs somewhere? Does she live in New Jersey now or something? And this is Fisk we’re talking about. Why would you EVER assume that he would respect ANY sort of boundary and not intervene with LETHAL force if he thought you were a threat to him. What a stupid thing to say? If Fisk thought Jessica was poking around where she shouldn’t, he’d try to eliminate her.
However, Jessica says it wasn’t Task Force, it was Mr. Charles’ men. I guess he sent them because she found out the US Government ordered the guns? And they got their butts kicked. Matt’s reaction is just kind of like “oh shit.” Instead, shouldn’t this be even bigger news? That Fisk was collaborating with government agencies? Basically that means his gun running was practically State sanctioned at that point. How convenient that Fisk has only now decided to claim the guns for himself, or Matt would likely have to be trying to expose a whole plot that the CIA is arming Guinea-Bissau, though honestly what American would even be surprised by corrupt shit like that nowadays?
I hate that Jessica has been having fluctuations in her powers since having Danielle. I have seen people saying things like “pregnancy changes you” and blah blah blah, but Dani is not a tiny newborn. Jessica isn’t even a sleep deprived mother of a toddler. That girl is taller than the kitchen island! Definitely old enough to be sleeping through the night and for Jessica to have mostly recovered from pregnancy, childbirth, and the post-partum years, at least physically. Of course Dani is a handful, but that’s parenting. But WHY haven’t Jessica’s powers come back? How are they tied to having given birth? What is draining them? This does not make sense. I have seen conflicting reports if this is a plot from the comics, but I don’t care— I hate it. Why couldn’t motherhood have made her even stronger, rather than inexplicably and intermittently weakening her powers? Hmmm? What kind of misogyny are we dealing with this episode? UG!! Get it out of my face! Parenting in itself should be enough of a source of drama and conflict, why are we tying it to Jessica’s ability to physically manifest her strength? Did Dani steal some of her powers in utero? That does not make sense with how they are cutting in and out. Super hero babies is a fascinating plot to explore, why do we have to be making it into this?
In Fantastic Four, Sue Storm over-exerted herself forcing Galactus through the portal and died to save her baby. Franklin then uses his power cosmic to manipulate reality and brings his mother back to life. And I get that it’s a completely different world and completely different plot, but ultimately we saw a mother doing everything she can to protect her child and then sacrificing herself. Meanwhile the baby had enough strength to turn order upside down and resurrect her. That’s great, but why can’t we have a mother like Jess, whose entire character is structured around her physical strength, be allowed to be the one at the height of her powers? Sigh, just a pet peeve. Again, I’m not saying these are analogous characters, just my own personal wish as a mom for motherhood to be portrayed as empowering women with powers more than being a burden or even resulting in their deaths……
I’m genuinely happy to see Jess back and know that she has her canonical baby with Luke, but also, it’s very disappointing to gather from this conversation that HE is one of the ones who joined up with Mr. Charles. Did he do this to try to protect them or something? Clearly, it’s not working. And why are we setting up the Black male vigilante as an absent father figure?
Anyway, I get that we will have some romantic tension of them trying to get back together, if they start out separated, but dang it, why not just give us them as a couple, functioning well together? We never get to have that— even with this season of full on MattKaren they are FLUNKING that test and doing it with absolutely no chemistry.
Jessica asks Matt if he wants to cause a little trouble, echoing Soledad’s “sounds like trouble” from earlier in the episode, but this time our heroes will be the ones handling it! They also used that sound bite in all the trailers, so it doesn’t have as much oomf finally hearing in the episode. It just feels like aura farming.
Matt and Jess break into the warehouse and the Task Force starts shooting at them. It’s nice to see them team up and since the fight happens in daylight we can actually SEE everything that’s going on for once. Jessica’s powers flake on her right when she comes face to face with Powell who of course runs his mouth before shooting her— just in time for Daredevil to bop him with a billy club. How many times has Matt knocked that guy out?
The Task Force shooting off guns starts a fire and then the whole place blows up. This all happens in 90 seconds. Not even two minutes. The problem of what to do about the weapons being smuggled in on the ship that sank in episode 1 of this season is all resolved in less than two minutes, guys.
I realize that as things have played out they were just background fodder, but this should have been the REAL core of the plot this season. Ep 1 the ship sinks, Ep 2 they look for the captain and the first mate, Ep 3 they investigate Red Hook and find out the weapons are inside, but so are prisoners. Ep 4 onward— retreat and research and build the army, while the Task Force becomes more and more out of control. Matt's army needs to secure the guns as evidence against Fisk and they need all their allies to go inside and rescue the prisoners. It’s not easy. They need to coordinate and plan. Everyone can have a role, Matt leading a team. Karen being an investigator and BB live streaming it or something. Things go wrong or they have an attempt that fails or shit. They hear a rumor that Frank has been trapped in there this whole time. Matt and Karen get everyone out but then go back to look for Frank who wasn’t with everyone else. He’s incredibly weakened after months in Fisk’s private torture dungeon. They get Frank out, but Fisk finds them and they have a huge fight between all of them. Frank’s half dead but if Fisk tries to hurt Karen he goes beserk. He and Matt both fight Fisk together. It ends in some sort of stale mate, but everyone is seriously wounded, included Fisk because of the bloodiness of it all.
They regroup at Frank’s hideout and he’s super confused why everyone and their mom is hanging out there and why they’ve made it their home base. He kicks them out, probably because he is sulky about Matt and Karen and embarrassed about being so weak. Then Matt takes all the evidence he’s collected and gets with Kirsten and they charge Fisk in court. They bring in the first mate as their star witness and he testifies against Fisk in person. At the last moment, something happens that almost endangers their case, but then BOOM!--- Who shows up to save the day but FOGGY NELSON, with the complete details of whatever he uncovered about Red Hook, beyond it just being a Free Port, and put the final nail in the coffin for Fisk’s reign of terror.
Fisk gets convicted, but in retaliation reveals Matt’s identity, just when the trio thought they were safe. Something like that! We could still have random shit like Bullseye and the boxing match still happening in there too, but this Resistance should have been planning an assault on Red Hook like it was the friggin Death Star all season.
Oops, sorry got super distracted trying to do mental gymnastics on how to FIX THIS MESS. I should be watching this season and getting inspired to write fanfics off character interactions or missing moments, etc. Instead I’m watching and feeling like I need to rewrite the whole damn thing because it has no cohesive story!!!!
Anyway, suffice to say 90 seconds should NOT have been enough time to just get rid of this plot point and also blowing up the entire stash (seemingly by accident, though Matt did say he planned to torch the weapons back in episode 3) was a bad idea because now they have no evidence. I don’t even think they took a single photo. Where was Jessica Jones and her camera?
Heather wanders away from Vanessa’s wake and into the Fisks’ bedroom. She steals an earring as a memento, showing she is becoming more Muse-like. The camera goes all tilty as she stares into the mirror. Do they not understand that doing this every time is making it an annoying gimmick?
Buck comes in and they have a surprisingly emotional conversation. It never once gets interrupted to cut away to another scene. Heather asks Buck about killing people and he asks her if she’s okay. She tearfully opens up to him about Muse and he tells her what she did was “brave and necessary.” He asks her about what she went through and invites her to choke him. She squeezes her neck really hard while she pants and tears streak her face like the Muse mask. Buck takes it all and then asks her if she feels better.
Um. Okayyyy then. This scene went on for soooo long. And to be fair it was good/well acted. Overall, this plot with Heather going crazy and becoming Muse is dumb. But they’re pushing it, and they at least made it Not Boring. And I have to say— it’s startling how Buck shows he cares about her and actually comforts her…… and why the fuck has Karen never had this?
The choking stuff is giving me vibes of Billy Russo and Krista Dumont (my most hated female character in all the Defenders-verse), and their pleasure-pain kink. Yet another traumatized therapist giving in to a dangerous and evil man. Apparently Heather and Buck were supposed to kiss in this scene in the script, but it plays out much better that they don’t (clearly they learned to copy from the kastle elevator magic). Next season though, evil Matt and evil Karen are gonna be hooking up for sure. And now that we’ve seen people thirsting over Arty Froushan shirtless, yeah they would be wasting any chance to show that off.
BB and Daniel head to Staten Island. He feeds her the lie that Fisk isn’t running for reelection. He tells her it cannot be leaked and she says you can trust me 100%. I don’t understand why Daniel has not confronted her about yesterday, when she very obviously leaked Vanessa’s condition to the press. He should have every right to go off on her for that!
It’s not a bad idea of Buck’s to test BB’s loyalty, but I have to say starting a false rumor that Fisk isn’t running for reelection is not smart, and could quite likely infuriate Fisk by making him look weaker at a time when he is at his lowest and most vulnerable!
Powell gives Saunders a new key card. Then he gets in the military van with him. Oh Saunders, your days are numbered, but it’s been nice knowing you for all of two scenes.
Dex is still unconscious and Karen is sitting next to him, holding a gun and manspreading in her chair, as Deborah Ann Woll does her BEST performance of channeling Jon Bernthal. I love it immediately.
She kicks Dex and tells him to get up. He says the required “Hello, Karen,” and she finally gets to answer back: “Hello, Benjamin.” Yesss, queen.
Karen: Your staples, do they hurt? Good.
Dex: Are you gonna shoot me?
Karen: Probably.
Dex: Go ahead. Vanessa opened the window and I went through it. Your friend Foggy paid the price. Foggy for my freedom. Me for Foggy. It’s just an equation.
Karen: *smiles, straddles Dex and grabs his head* You know, what? You’re right.
Dex: Thank you.
In the last episode, Dex was saying he was the one who needed to die because Vanessa had died and that would bring balance, scales settled and all that. But now he’s saying that him dying for Foggy would put things in balance again. I am not a math person, but I feel like somehow his calculations are off here in the “life-for-a-life” trades, shifting to justify whatever put him at the center? No matter, he is lowkey suicidal and leans into the gun, totally willing to let Karen execute him at point blank range.
Karen imagines Foggy from the first meal they shared together when she got herself hired on as their secretary and then again, when they re-formed Nelson, Murdock, and Page at the conclusion of s3. Two perfect memories to have selected to include. She prepares to squeeze the trigger, when suddenly she is struck by a billy club, and her aim goes wide as the gun fires.
Matt: I can’t let you do it, Karen.
Karen: What the hell is wrong with you? You keep choosing the wrong people. Fisk! This thing, over the people who love you!
Matt: What?
Karen: Oh my God. Oh my God.
Matt: How can you say that?
Karen: Because it’s true. Because you let them live and people die!
Matt: Karen. Karen…
Karen: Please, just let me do this. Let me carry this for you. All you have to do is walk out that door.
Matt: What happened to you?
Karen: You know Christofi never made it into witness protection? My source never started broadcasting, which knowing Fisk means they’re probably both dead. You wanna know what happened to me? I grew up.
She walks out leaving Matt alone with Dex (who notably has no comment either on this quarrel over his life. Come on, a reaction quip would have been so satisfying).
But in all seriousness. Wow. Just wow. Deborah Ann Woll just incredible in this scene in every way.
Never in a million years did I think they would let Karen act so unhinged that she would be about to shoot handcuffed Dex in the head. When I saw clips of her pointing the gun at him, I envisioned them doing some sort of parallel to when Elektra brought Matt to kill Sweeney, his father’s killer. Matt was willing to punch the shit out of him, but when she told him to take his life, he refused and his spirit could not be broken. I really thought that they would show how MATT was the one who brought Dex to Karen and she would be faced with a similar temptation, but ultimately not go through with it.
Nope. This man killed Foggy and Karen wants him dead. She was in the act of pulling the trigger when Matt stopped her. I have no solid proof but I feel like we should absolutely be crediting Deb for taking things in this direction, since she has been so protective about how Karen’s character thinks and acts. If they asked her whether or not Karen would shoot Dex if given the chance, she must have responded with an unequivocal yes.
There have been HUGE discussions about how this scene went down. Some people think Matt hit her hand with his club, others think he just hit the gun but the recoil still hurt. Either way, Karen cries out in pain from her hand. Matt’s intent was to use force, not persuasion, to control the situation.
It is a really interesting choice that they had Matt actually throw a weapon at her at all, rather than just calling out to her from the doorway “Karen, stop.” You can say there wasn’t time, but if they’re writing the scene there absolutely could be time. Also, Karen might respond to his words and stop herself. The absence of that possibility is very telling. The way this was actually framed—- Karen has no choice in the matter. Matt doesn’t just interrupt, he intervenes and saves Dex, controlling the moral outcome.
Karen isn’t acting impulsively. This is not indiscriminate violence. She knows what she is doing as she sits there and prepares to kill Dex. She is planning his execution, even as he is restrained. I saw some people say that by stopping her, Matt is “saving” Karen from further traumatizing herself. But that reading imposes such a paternalistic framework of the scene— a woman who has already proven she has the capacity for making lethal decisions and living with them being overridden by a man’s judgement.
A lot of people were debating whether or not Frank would let Karen kill Dex. I have thought about this long and hard and here is where I land:
In TPs2, Frank teaches Amy how to disarm someone and his final message to her is basically “you just grabbed a gun off someone who was going to use it on you. You pull that trigger and use it on them” without hesitation. He also tells her that if anyone comes to the trailer and doesn’t identify themselves, she should shoot through the door with her shotgun. This results in Amy almost shooting Curtis, because Frank forgot to tell him to announce himself.
When Amy is cornered, she snatches the last goon’s gun and shoots him. As soon as Frank sees how upset she is, he grabs the gun and finishes the job saying, you just shot him, I killed him. He gives her a minute to collect herself and tells her he’s not worth a single one of her tears. I absolutely love how Frank takes the responsibility away from Amy and does everything he can to reassure and protect her. He wants her to be able to kill if she needs to, but he would never want her to be in a position where she has to, because she is a child.
Karen is not a child. Frank knows what Karen is capable of. He saw down to her soul that she was gonna plug him full of holes when he came to her apartment and that it wouldn’t be the first time. I believe that if Frank walked in on Karen about to kill Dex, he would leave the decision up to her. Frank does know enough about vengeance to understand that while there is trauma, there is also catharsis. That once the person who has wronged you so deeply is gone, you can finally rest. That’s why he gave up being the Punisher not just once, but twice. His mission was finally over. Yes, he got dragged back in, but he at least got to feel like he had some closure for a short time.
Just as Karen is not Amy, she is also not Frank. Killing Dex might be awful, it might give her nightmares. She knows it is wrong —- and wants to do it anyway. And that’s okay for her character. It doesn’t mean she’s going to become the Lady Punisher. But in terms of wanting to end things for the love and protection of the people she cares about, she is akin to Frank’s morals. It may not be “honorable” to execute a prisoner, rather than killing in self-defense in the middle of a big action scene— but Karen isn’t here to be honorable. She is here to get shit done. She has sat there by the man who killed Foggy and ruined her life multiple times over— Father Lantom, her co workers, severely hurt her surrogate father figure, Ellison— and premeditated his murder. When Dex asks if she’s going to shoot him, she says “probably,” but it is clear she has been working herself up for the act. Does she want to do it—? Not entirely, but she believes it is necessary. And I believe that is her right.
I have to say, I did not like how in Daredevil Born Again s1, Frank encouraged Matt to kill Cole North, saying, "Do it" like a devil whispering on his shoulder. This seems to fly in the face of their interactions on the boat in DDs2, where Frank said once you cross over to his side of the line, you don’t get to come back from that. It is hard to fathom Frank’s reasoning there. It kind of feels like BA just wanted to rehash the beats of their moral conflict for viewers who maybe hadn’t watched the previous show. I have a friend who thinks that Frank mainly didn’t want Matt to kill in his war against the Blacksmith, whereas Frank thinks Matt should be capable of doing what needs to be done in his own war. I agree with that explanation, and also think that Frank hearing about Foggy’s death possibly influenced him. Matt leaving Poindexter alive is what left his family vulnerable— he lost his best friend and could have lost Karen. For Frank, that’s not acceptable. Matt’s no kill rule is putting people in jeopardy. Frank would have put these people in the ground, so they can’t keep popping up like daisies out of the snow!
Anyway, all of this is to say that Frank would want Dex dead. And I believe he has enough respect for Karen that if she had decided to "do it," he would let her. Because he knows she is strong enough. She would not react like Amy and fall apart. Nor would she have a total identity crisis as Matt has after almost giving in to the temptation to take a life. She is already a killer and perhaps, as Fisk warned her in her nightmares—- it does get easier each time you do it. Not less serious, but something she can know and ultimately accept about herself.
As she tells Matt “let me carry this for us.” It is Karen’s choice to kill or not. She is the judge of what she can carry or not. It is not about saving her soul or saving her from further trauma. She is already traumatized from leaving Dex alive all this time. He killed Foggy and he shot Matt and he’s going to kill again. Just end things.
However, I do think that Frank would still offer to take the gun from her. He’d do it in a heartbeat, to save Karen from any suffering.
In my fic She’s Already Hurt, I imagined a big fight against Bullseye, and ultimately this was the conclusion I chose. In the end, I have Frank kill him, but later Karen admits to him that there’s a part of her that wishes she could have done it herself. And Frank recognizes that even though he’d spared her from killing, it had still taken something from her too, to deny her that right to vengeance. Even though he knows how much it would have cost for her to pull the trigger.
There are some kastle fics I can think of where Karen gets to be the one who kills Fisk and she does it with absolutely no remorse and it’s so badass, I have to say I do love it. Killing isn’t something Karen does easily— but it something she would do without regret. And that is part of her deepest strength as a woman occupying a morally transgressive space.
My problems with the way the scene plays out in the show is how Matt responds. He completely takes away Karen’s agency by removing the decision from her. It’s so disrespectful and diminishes her right to justice and what she believes she herself can bear. She even once again channels Frank, echoing all the times he has told her to “walk away” when she feels discomfort over his choices. He always leaves the decision up to her. Karen tells Matt to “walk out that door” and his only response is— “What happened to you?”
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! Okay, at this point I want to strangle these writers. I want to scream. What happened to this show? Karen is out here giving it her all and Matt is just being so infantilizing to her, revoking her authority in favor of his own personal code and then basically reducing her choices to say she is not in control of her true self anyway, so he must decide for her. And then wondering how she came to be in this state, like he doesn’t know her at all. Karen Page who since season 1 has been saying, “I have already been hurt by those bastards.. . and I’m not going to just stick my head in the sand and let it happen to somebody else because I am scared.” It is no wonder Karen scoffs at Matt, “You wanna know what happened to me? I grew up.” Her position comes from a decade of watching it keep happening to somebody else and she is DONE. Even in this moment she is doing it out of love FOR MATT, because she can’t lose him too!
Karen should have been allowed to make her own decision and then live with the consequences of that outcome. She could even have come to the conclusion to not go through with shooting Dex on her own, with just Matt’s voice urging her to consider the ramifications. She is thinking about Foggy, reducing Dex in her mind to a subhuman “thing, all evidence that she does need an added reason to convince herself? She might lower her gun herself or could have let the bullet pass right by his ear and make him pee his pants. Any of this would have added to the complexity of the scene, and not made Matt feel like such an ignorant asshole.
The show fails to refute Karen’s logic, just defers to Matt by default. She is forced to live within the limits of his worldview on justice, even if they don’t share it. Even if those limits have already failed both of them. The difference if Frank were in this scene is I believe he would not have been about stopping Karen, but supporting her— whether by letting her do it herself or by being willing to take the burden from her. Both options still would have recognized her agency. Karen wanted to take the burden from Matt in the same way— but he would not support her.
I saw some people were really bothered by the fact that Dex was restrained when Karen was going to kill him. Some even compared it to a war crime, which I think is taking things to the extreme, because even as resistance fighters, they are still just rogue New Yorkers and Dex is not part of any state military at this point. It would just be plain old murder, execution style. And let’s face it, people saying Dex was wounded and couldn’t defend himself is also bullshit. If he wanted to, he could. Let’s not forget that he killed people while restrained to get out of jail. He could knock out another tooth or projectile spit water in her face or pick out one of his metal staples and flick it at her. Anyone who thinks Dex was still not potentially lethally dangerous despite being “unarmed” is ridiculous.
I think it’s funny how much scrutiny Karen faced for being willing to kill. People are not giving her enough credit. On Twitter, I made people Big Mad by pointing out that everyone cheered when Jessica Jones got to kill Killgrave. Again, I am NOT saying that their situations were analogous, I just want to call attention to the fact that one woman is allowed to take revenge on her abuser, and Karen is not. Yes, Killsgrave is a mind controller who sexually assaulted Jessice and Dex has been painted as a much more sympathetic villain. But he is a villain. He has deeply, deeply hurt Karen and the pain she feels is real and valid. How much do women have to go through before it is acceptable for them to take action? Is rape where we draw the line, but killing family members is not? Dex is going to keep hurting her, and if not her, other people. If she lets him live— those lives are on HER. Matt may be okay with that, but Karen is NOT. His belief in redemption is not hers. I saw someone else comment: “Mercy to an enemy comes at the cost of the innocent.” Karen is out of mercy. She has no more fucks to give and if Matt Murdock can’t handle that, he doesn’t deserve her. And his responses “What?” and “How can you say that?” make it sound like he has been totally unaware by how much her grief and anger has transformed her as a person.
I’ve never been a fan of MattKaren, so this scene only served to make me loathe them even more.
Oh no, I still have 20 minutes left to write about in this episode?!
The protest outside Vanessa’s memorial is getting louder.
Daniel’s mom is telling BB about whatever multi level marketing side hustle she’s got going on. BB is charmed and then asks to use the bathroom. She immediately starts texting— “too true for the BB report. Fisk isn’t running again. Announcement in a couple days. You’re welcome. BB.” Okayyy. Why would this news drop on the BB report anyway? Daniel helps her edit that, right? Why wouldn’t this be “kingpin” video worthy news, if anything? But instead, it’s just that BB leaks stuff to the mass media? What kind of journalist is she? She just gets scoops and passes them off to tv channels and now apparently newspapers— the person she is texting is ELLISON!!!!
BB goes into Daniel’s bedroom and sees all his things from when he was a kid. She sees the photograph of his father and realizes he’s just been latching on to Fisk for needing some father figure and it’s misguided him or some sort of bullshit. She decides not to betray him for once and deletes her text.
This scene rubbed me all kinds of wrong ways. First of all— I have written a kastle scene where Frank and Karen go to her childhood home and she walks around her room and Kevin’s room with him. So this is a lil bit of a punch in the gut seeing something with similar vibes play out on screen.
But overall, I just think this scene was done completely wrong. Why are we going to Daniel’s house and gaining sympathy for him and his home life, just craving success while ignoring the harm done to everyone else in the pursuit of his career and recognition?
Instead, it should have been BB’s birthday. They should have gone to her family home and met with her dad and her mom— Ben Urich’s sister. Daniel should have been confronted with photos of her uncle and seen how the family still grieves his loss. Her mom should have expressed both her pride and her worry over BB following in his footsteps— that she might end up with the same fate. Daniel should have been growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute because of what he did with Buck yesterday. He can no longer pretend that Fisk isn’t responsible. And that he cannot protect BB once they find out that she is the source of the leaks.
This would have honored Ben Urich’s legacy so much more and centered the conversation on her family. Instead we focused on feeling bad for this deluded white male youth who lost his way. It is hard to ignore the racial component here. Ben, a Black investigative journalist, was sacrificed for his integrity and standing against corruption (a stand he was partially manipulated into making at the hands of a blonde, blue-eyed, white woman—another reminder why Karen’s line of “Ben died to save me” falls flat). But here, a white male character is given the attention of justification in his choices and eventual chance at redemption, instead of making the story about the generational trauma that BB and her mom have lived through at the cost of Ben’s commitment to the truth.
BB and Daniel’s mom sing the full Happy Birthday song to him, which God, that is annoying. Daniel spaces out and finally blows out the candle. It’s giving impending doom.
Night falls and the protest is getting more active. Everyone is putting on red Daredevil masks, but it feels completely unearned.
The governor meets Mr. Charles. He is fidgeting and banging his ring on the side of his glass as he drinks her whiskey. He tells her he is here to solve her City Hall problem.
Then we cut back to Daniel’s house, joking more about his mom. BB shows she bought from his mom’s marketing pitch. They seem like they are about to kiss when Daniel finally cracks. He reveals he has the SD card from Karen that he took out of BB’s pocket while she was upstairs. GOOD HEAVENS HOW STUPID ARE THESE CHARACTERS?! Why would BB still be carrying that around, loose in her pocket, 24+ hours later?!! BB pathetically asks Daniel to listen but he cuts her off– “No you listen, you fucked me and you fucked us.” His phone starts ringing and he says he can no longer protect her from Buck. The TV tells us that New York is now on lockdown as the demonstrations are becoming dangerous.
Karen wanders casually through the protest. She has her bandana down around her neck but eventually pulls it up over her face. Jeez Karen, walking around like someone during Covid who wasn’t using their mask to properly cover their nose and mouth! Gross! If the point is to not get recognized— don’t show your damn face. It’s like vigilante rule number one.
Fisk watches from the window but remains silent as Buck reports that the Governor is pulling her support.
Karen sets up a projector and Soledad and the restaurant lady have their stories projected up on the walls. Karen then leaves with Angela and Javi, the food truck kid who she’s never met before. Other people tell stories of Fisk foreclosing on their businesses and denying people from seeing lawyers under the Safer Streets Act. They say they were the missing and Daredevil freed them. What exactly is Fisk’s purpose by going after bodega owners and such? Do they just annoy him?
The message of “Resist, Rebel” is repeated as Fisk descends the stairs into his private dungeon. The table where he and Vanessa once celebrated together after killing Adam lies empty behind him.
In a very cleverly framed shot, the shadow of Daredevil’s horned silhouette falls across Fisk’s bald pate. Nice. Very nice.
Fisk speaks for the first time in the entire episode: “I’m not surprised you’re here, Murdock.” Okay, but I kinda am. I thought no one knew about this place and Red Hook was super hard to get into, so how has Matt found out about this little dungeon (and why is Frank Castle not locked up in one of the more permanent cells? SAD TIMES FOR MEE!).
Matt offers condolences and Fisk sits stonily through them. Matt, fresh off his argument with Karen, says, “You know how we tell ourselves this is about the city, it’s about New York? Well,I’m not so sure that’s true anymore. Is it?”
*Interruption to cut to ATVF guy activity in the streets*
Matt goes on, “This fight, it is poison. It destroys everything. The city, the people we love. Nobody wins. We have to end it now. Because I am not going to stop. I don’t know how. And I don’t think you do either.” Fisk acknowledges, “You’re not entirely incorrect.” Matt then proposes that they both walk away, and both of them leave New York.
I’m sorry this is the dumbest conversation I have ever heard. It doesn’t hit on any emotional notes and doesn’t get to the heart of the characters at all. Matt blathering about the city is meaningless. Suggesting that Fisk leave to go somewhere else as the end of their battle is absurd. It’s moronic. I don’t have strong enough language. If Fisk lived somewhere else, he could just do the same thing there, out of sight, out of mind? But even suggesting it is pointless because Fisk won’t abandon the city, even after losing Vanessa. He’s the friggin mayor. Why even pretend like this is a viable option, for either of them?
Also, I love how Matt has just come here and made this offer WITHOUT consulting Karen about it at all. He could die there, and then how would she feel? He could agree to leave New York— without asking if she wants to go with him. He just does all these things without her, but when she tries to act without him, that’s the problem????
Matt says “Imagine if we’d never met. Foggy, Vanessa—-” And Fisk screams no and goes into a rage.
I dunno… if they never met, they’d still be doing their thing, right?? What a stupid thing to say. Fisk was still gathering up real estate and owning lawyers and banks and shit all over New York when Matt was just finishing up law school. They could have kept operating in completely different circles, unchecked.
Anyway, punch punch, fight fight. At first Matt is only being defensive and letting Fisk work out some of his emotions, but after he finally gets some blows on Matt, Matt starts fighting back.
Meanwhile, the scene is still being interrupted with snippets of the protest, which is turning into a riot. Powell gets the okay from Buck to start things off, and then shoots Saunders behind a van. Cole North sees and is shocked, shocked, I tell you. Now that a cop is dead, of course everything goes to shit. Karen is wandering around stupidly with her mask down again. Can we not have characters being stupid?!
Fisk throws Matt into The Rabbit in the Snow Storm and ruins it. Matt asks Fisk if this is what he really wants and Fisk tells him it is what they both want, so they fight in earnest now, recreating some big comic book fight pose in slow-mo along the way.
Javi is struck down and Karen’s wig is artistically knocked off because she didn’t have anything good to secure it— no hat, no hood, no good wig pins. Seriously, how pathetic is her effort to stay in disguise? She kneels down to check on this kid, which would be a lot more meaningful if she had any sort of connection to Javi at all.
Fisk mocks Daredevil: “What are you going to do? Arrest me? You cannot. Kill me? You will not. (laughs)”. Matt leaves. He just leaves.
Karen confirms Javi is breathing and sends Angela to vaguely “go help.” Seconds later, Powell approaches and says, “Holy shit. Karen fuckin’ Page.” And the episode ends, followed by like 6 minutes of credits that could have been more screen time for the story.
I will say the glare that Karen gives Powell as she raises her hands is soooo delicious. I hate Powell. They’ve done a great job with making him extremely hateable. I hope Karen gets to be the one to kill him. Or Frank, since he deserves to be killed for wearing Frank’s skull.
To get back into it with Fisk and Matt—-- this scene was so poorly handled, I’m ashamed on behalf of the actors. In fact, I was so irritated, I had to write my own fix-it fic script to give the scene even an ounce of more weight. I felt needled to do this after I watched an interview with Dario and Sana just singing its praises and then saying how the editing team made magic happen by cutting up the fight and mishmashing it with riot, letting the violence there speak for them. They even implied some of the dialogue was cut in favor of more action. CRIMINAL.
At this point, I’m furious with Dario. Everyone is up in arms about how Matt is missing from his tv show and they have every right to complain. He’s in this for snippets and when he does show up, he barely does or says anything. It’s sad.
There’s a clip that went around twitter from an interview between Steve Deknight and Erik Olsen about how they had to fight for longer scenes, and how they just let things breathe. Dario needs to rewatch that and take notes. Everything is happening at break neck speed, but it’s so rushed it feels like nothing happens because we didn’t spend time with any of these characters in a meaningful way.
I give this episode a C+. That’s being generous, but I really did love finally getting to see Karen have some sort of crash out. But you can’t tell me this story is good because it is not!
The finale is airing tonight. I might take me some time to compose all my thoughts on the last 2 episodes, but I will get through it all eventually. Sorry if this has typos, I wrote it in bits and pieces and probably repeated myself too many times.
