Netflix Retropsective - Daredevil (Complete Season 3)

I can’t imagine I was the only one disappointed with, well the back half in particular of Daredevil season 2, nor that I wasn’t a huge fan of the Defenders. But it did end on a pretty interesting note for Matt Murdock, who had lost Elektra for a second time and very nearly his life. There was also some setup for Fisk to return, and as he was one of the high points of season 1, his return was inevitable.

Season 3 of Daredevil dropped and the show was cancelled soon after. I don’t think it was a ratings issue, although they had been in decline for a while, but with Disney launching a competing service it didn’t seem right to promoting one of their strongest brands, however they retained the rights to the series they have produced so that’s at least something.

We’re back to 13 episodes both for this season and the last season of Jessica Jones but does this series end on a high?

Resurrection

We get little bit of an explanation as to how Matt survived the events of the Defenders, washing out in a sewer tunnel, no clue what happened to Elektra if she survived and that’s not gonna be addressed this season, so…

Some guy finds him washed up on shore and rather than doing the sensible thing of taking him to the hospital (his mask was off at the time) he takes them to the father at the church. The nuns at the church tend to him as he has visions of his time with Elektra.

He’s been taken to an orphanage and his hearing has been damaged, and for a guy without sight, that’s bad, roll credits.

It’s the same orphanage Matthew grew up in, the nuns all know who he is, but one of the head monks, Sister Maggie swore them to secrecy, we more recaps on the Defenders for those of you forgot about it, something I do not blame you for. Matt doesn’t want to confess to the Father.

Some of the kids from the orphanage approach, if the room is off-limits why is the door wide open? Sister Maggie tends to his wounds but says that once he’s back on his feet, he needs to leave. It’s an orphanage not a hospital, she asks if there’s anyone she can call, and Matt says there’s no-one

Cut immediately to Karen, who’s still working to break some stories and knocks on the door of Matt’s apartment, she uses her keys to enter. She’s remembers being told his secret about being Daredevil and her initial reaction to it. It’s actually kinda sweet, as he promises to leave Daredevil behind, of course we all know how long that lasts.

Foggy pays a visit, dressed in his best business suit. Karen had asked him over under the pretence of clearing the house, when in fact, she’s been paying his rent and bills and needs help to stop him getting evicted. Not that may people would actually rent the place because of the neon sign that’s supposedly there.

Foggy tells Karen that Matt is dead, but Karen is going off a gut instinct, a feeling that’s he’s still alive. Foggy agrees to help split the bills and one month’s rent, but that’s it after that. Matt is taken to the laundry room underneath the church to continue his recuperation. It’s become clear it’s not just Matt’s body that’s broken, it’s his faith also, and not just his Catholicism, he’s begun taking Stick’s advice, believing that making connections can only lead to tragedy, conveniently forgetting that he worked with several of them during that battle.

We cut to Wilson Fisk making his perfect omelette in Prison, you might remember he took some level of control over it in the last season. Ben Donovan arrives, reporting that the appeal on his case is going ahead as planned, but the more important news for him is within regards to Vanessa. Unfortunately, the government has decided to charge her as an accessory to Fisk’s crimes, meaning she’d be arrested the moment she touched US soil.

Matt is able to walk now, if slowly, with a cane, his senses are returning but with his right ear still not working, he can barely see tell where he’s going. Sister Maggie provides him some medication and booze and a stern talking to that’s sorely needed to help Matt out of his funk, including some references to Matt’s father.

He’s able to wash some blood out of his nose which helps restore his senses, he’s now able to walk on his own without bumping into things and has better depth perception. He’s able to exercise, not bad for a guy with crippling injuries. He’s still not able to make all the high kicks but it’s a massive improvement.

The Father and Sister Maggie hire a boxer to test his skills, it works for a while, but one strike to the ear knocks him off entirely, as he refused to wear a helmet. He feels like his underwater, not quite at his full strength, still a marked improvement.

He decides to put that to the test on the field, donning his proto-mask and black suit and punching out a bunch of thugs. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go all that well, the crooks run off when they hear police sirens as Matt hobbles back to the church.

So, at 42 minutes and 51 seconds in, we’re introduced to a very important character completely out of nowhere. Rahul Nadeem is an FBI agent who’s in hot water financially. He’s holding a party to celebrate his sister in law being free of cancer after the surgery, he paid for their medical bills. He’s also promising his son a swimming pool for the summer and oh boy, that’s going to backfire badly.

He heads to work and I’m glad to see he can store a gun safely. Americans, take notes. He goes to his boss, about a performance review he’s had deferred twice. Unfortunately, his debt is exactly the reason why? If they give him a promotion, that makes a prime target for bribery. This is a tragic anti-corruption method and it works terribly, as we’ll see later on.

He’s assigned to talk to Wilson Fisk, who after recent events has decided to make a new deal, he’ll give up criminal contacts in exchange for Vanessa’s freedom.

Whilst fairly light on the action, this certainly gives you a interesting taste of what’s to come. I do, however feel the scenes with Nadeem probably should’ve been scattered through the episode rather than come all at once.

Rating 7.5/10

Please

Matt’s back at church, and further downtrodden regarding the whole affair the night before. Meanwhile Fisk is staring at the cell wall, as the FBI conduct raids on targets given up by Wilson Fisk. Nadeem has been heading up this operation and the targets have been Albanian crime lords and the people they’ve been bribing. They’ve seized computers so they can follow the money trails too.

Fisk enters the prison gym, showing his sizeable strength but another prisoner shivs him in the stomach, calling him a snitch, Fisk reacts angrily, almost killing the attacker but relents just as the guards arrive.

Sister Maggie finds him passed out on the ground and gets him back on his feet, warning him to give himself time to heal, or he’ll get himself killed. Matt is feeling incredibly dejected by the whole ordeal. Sister Maggie relates to a point in her life she almost left the Church for another life, it’s not exactly a subtle hint for a reveal later, which if you’ve read the comic this is based on, you already know anyway.

We get a flashback to Matt’s childhood and Father Lantom advising Matt that he needs to deal with his anger issues as he’s been getting into fights. Nadeem is advised by one of his co-workers that his boss is discussing a deal to get someone to do full time detail with Fisk, Nadeem requests that it be him, in spite of some questions re financing, again, he gets the job.

Meanwhile at the New York Bulletin, Ellison assigns Karen a new story, but she’s still busy with another story around Midland Circle, Ellison warns her that this story is long off people’s minds and she would be better served with this one, and he’s not wrong as it’s about the kidnapping attempted Matt thwarted in the last episode.

Back with Nadeem, he finds out about the attack and pays Fisk a visit. Somehow word has gotten out about his co-operation with the FBI and he’s a target. He argues that he cannot continue to provide actionable intelligence if he’s dead. We get another flash to Matt’s childhood as he hears the prayers of everyone around them.

In the present, he talks to Father Lantom, saying he used to believe he could hear people’s prayers so he could answer them, and this is a variation on the same point, he’s dejected, we will move on. He heads out, following a lead on the attack. Meanwhile Karen arrives at the hospital, the guy that was the victim is still in a coma whilst his daughter has no interest in talking to the press. Karen argues that the story will get out regardless and she’d be better having some control over it, something she knows from her own experience, although the counter-arguments presented are actually pretty solid too.

She relents and begins telling Karen about the attack, and about the intervention of a guy in a black mask. Meanwhile, Kasseem and his FBI boss are talking to DA Tower about getting Fisk moved to a safer location so he can continue to provide intel. Given the crimes of the Albanians which reach a pretty high body count other than Fisk, Tower relents.

Foggy goes to see his very extended family, who for some reason want him to take over the meat business and give up being a lawyer for Hogarth. His father’s arthritis is getting worse and it’s not safe for him to handle the machines anymore. Matt comes across the dry cleaners that smells like the van he encountered, confirming with a hand shake that the guy was involved, since he only had 4 fingers.

He dawns the mask again and heads to their basement to investigate, he finds a suitcase filled with guns and pulls a trip to cut the power. He uses the more enclosed space and lack of lighting to his advantage and although he takes some hits, he manages to incapacitate them both and leave them for the police, with the guns right there to use as evidence.

Foggy reveals to his brother that he’s not exactly happy with his current life and wishes Matt was around, as he felt more complete with him. Karen runs into Foggy and tells him about the black hooded vigilante. Foggy is still sceptic, believing Matt would’ve reached out to them if he were still alive. Matt in costume goes to the daughter, telling them he got the criminals on another charge and she can identify them as the kidnappers.

Fisk has a monologue in the convoy about the nature of love and how he’s not particularly concerned about his bounds. The convoy is attacked and Fisk is left vulnerable, cuffed to the car under gunfire, with the only person with keys knocked out. He manages to break the cuff’s connection to the car as the FBI team is wiped out by a sharpshooter.

They begin to shoot at the car, wanting to kill Fisk but another FBI agent survived, making trick shots to kill the attackers with guns knives or whatever he had, his name is Poindexter, you may know him as Bullseye but we’ll get to that later. Matt walks out of the hospital and hears about the convoy and that Wilson Fisk is out of prison.  

Again, fairly light on the action and slow-paced, but carrying the intrigue the previous episode had

Rating 7.5/10

We started Daredevil last week with a solid if slow couple of episodes, can the next two hold onto that? Let’s take a look

No Good Deed

We open with Fisk being rushed through the hotel after the ambush and taking a shower whilst wearing a tag. He tells Ben Donovan to check that Vanessa is safe. He is taken to a penthouse suite and told he can’t leave, have outside contact with the exception of his lawyers and there are armed guards outside 24-7. It’s not good news from Donovan as he admits that Vanessa is missing.

Karen is having a lunch with some of Ellison’s friends, but he’s secretly trying to set her up with one of them, when she finds out, she tells him in no uncertain terms that she’s not ready to go there yet. None the less, she agrees to stay and they engage in friendly chit-chat. Ellison’s interrupted by a call and Karen receives one soon, both getting the news that Fisk has been released.

Ellison tells her in no uncertain terms that she needs to stay away from Fisk, her being close to this would make her a target and could invite bias, both legitimate points that we all know she’s gonna choose to ignore. Foggy’s not having a great time, suffering from nightmares stemming from the guilt of his involvement in Matt’s demise, bringing him the costume.

Marci tells him he might wish to seek help but before any further progress is made there, Foggy also receives the news of Fisk’s release. Matt secretly attends an anti-Fisk protest outside of the hotel. Fisk is now acting as Matt’s conscience, exacerbating his guilt and anger. Karen angrily makes her case to Nadeem but he’s not really interested in listening, and isn’t authorised to talk to the press beyond some vague platitudes.

Matt listens to some FBI agents making a delivery through the back door and learns the pass code they use. He puts on a uniform and goes in under the pretence of making a delivery. He enters, the hotel, ditching the disguise and begins listening to the hustle inside. Many of the hotel guests aren’t happy with Fisk being there and are checking out early.

Another episode of Matt’s conscience later, we cut to Fisk staring at the wall. Donovan and Fisk’s other lawyer contact Fisk, I guess Vanessa being issue is relegated to being a non-issue, but she insisted on moving to a Barcelona safehouse. Fisk worries it’s too dangerous there and wants her moved somewhere safe and closer.

Foggy pays DA Tower a visit, and offers his services in putting Fisk back behind bars but Tower has already decided that fighting the FBI is not only pointless but could hurt his political career so is letting this go. Matt has another conversation with his conscience, asking whether he’s responsible by not killing Fisk at the end of season 1.

Nadeem finds himself at the hospital, who are busy dealing with the unfortunate fates of some of his fellow agents during the attack. He runs into his boss, who reminds him that whilst it’s sad these lives have been lost, their actions have saved countless others. It’s still a tough blow for him. Fisk gets served his prison food and takes interest in Special Agent Poindexter, at this point the feeling is not mutual.

Poindexter has to go through psychological evaluation following the incident, and the fact he used lethal force to gun down the enemy, he shouldn’t even be on active duty. Wow, that’s more care than the average American citizen is expected to show. The Doc asks about his support system and he talks about a woman named Julie. This seems romantic now but takes a massive spike of yikes later. He’s clear for duty but the Doc wants to see him daily

Matt dawns the mask and interrogates Donovan, who reveals that it was all for Vanessa. Matt suspects he had ulterior motives for specifically turning on the Albanians but is able to tell Donovan is telling the truth. He ends up in a fight with the FBI, and most of them seem to go down a lot quicker than the average thug in this show.

Karen’s beginning to piece things together on her end. The Hotel is being held at is owned by a shell company represented by Ben Donovan’s law firm, the previous owner of the hotel went on record saying he regretted the sale and was the victim of the attack from episode 1. It’s sketchy but she thinks Fisk is involved, Ellison is about to hand it over to another journalist named Mason to complete the story but Karen insists that she’ll continue, even if Mason gets the by-line to avoid compromising the paper.

Matt’s back at the church, washing the blood from his hands from the fight. He has a moral debate with Sister Maggie, sceptic of the whole thing with Fisk changing over a woman, and wondering whether he should kill Fisk this time around. Pack with Poindexter, I’m just gonna call him Dex, we finally see Julie and they’re not lovers, he’s stalking her.

Foggy is down at the bar, drinking away his problems when Matt pays him a visit. He tells him that he needs the two of them to stay away from Fisk and let him deal with it. He doesn’t want Karen to know he’s alive either. Foggy is having none of it but doesn’t get much of a day. We see the real reason Matt went to him is to steal his wallet, Donovan reports the attack to Fisk.

Once again, we have a very slow episode, becoming an unfortunate recurring pattern now, still enough progresses and the storylines are interesting enough that I’m still willing to run with it, though not for much longer

Rating 7/10

Blindsided

Fisk wakes up as his room undergoes a spot check, mostly a check for weapons that may be on his person. Fisk continues to display interest in Dex. Matt finds his way back into his apartment and puts on a suit. He calls a taxi as we cut to Foggy venting his frustration with Maci. As she doesn’t know about Matt being Daredevil, and is sceptic to the idea that he’s somehow still alive, none of this makes any sense to her.

Maci suggests that instead of hiding behind the shadows he gets himself out in the open, running against Tower for Mayor. Foggy soon notices his missing wallet as Matt arrives at the prison, using Foggy’s ID to enter the prison as an attorney who was represented by Nelson and Murdock and had 16 years cut from his sentence for some reason. He’s looking to get an introduction with the Albanians, trying to work out why Fisk is suddenly gunning for them.

Matt amps up the pressure, mentioning a specific name and wanting more than just to be their defence attorney should they need one. The guy responds by decking him, which Matt seems to allow despite hearing it coming a mile off. He’s forced to stay and file an incident report.

Nadeem gets a visit from his wife; their son has had trouble sleeping since the attack and she believes he may be safer with her sister for the time being. She’s worried too, especially after seeing the other families at the hospital. Nadeem is hardly impressed by the news. Matt is escorted through the obvious incoming setup for an action scene later into an office to file the incident report.

Karen’s been narrowing down some leads and the name Red Lion on her notepad, turns off it’s an off-shore firm owned by Wilson Fisk. Foggy comes to talk to her, going against Matt’s wishes and revealing to her about his being alive. She angrily storms into his apartment and when they don’t find him there, she decides to continue the focus on Wilson Fisk.

Back with Matt, the Doctor that was supposed to check him out in partially sedates him and locks the door, the phone rings and it’s Fisk on the other end of the line. Now it’s time for Fisk’s revenge for his words about Vanessa in the last episode. The door unlocks and it’s time for that ambush. It’s one of the most ambitious single-take action scenes they’ve ever done. He takes on 3 prisoners, and only barely makes it out, and finds himself attacked by 2 guards.

The alarm sounds, making things even harder for Matt and the prison is locked down. He’s grabbed by the Albanians, who tells him that they weren’t responsible for Fisk being attacked whilst in prison, Fisk ultimately set the whole thing up and the person who shivved him is now free, his name is Jasper Evans. The Albanians agree to help Matt escape as he promises to put Fisk right back into their hands.

With rioting inmates, somehow with flares and grenades to their name, Matt manages to flee through the chaos and back to the taxi he asked to wait earlier. The Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the attack and found a discrepancy between Dex’s version of events and the forensic evidence, and now once to conduct an interview with the one other conscious witness, that being Fisk. Nadeem warns him about this out of gratitude for what his actions spared his family.

Meanwhile Foggy takes Marci’s advise and puts himself as a candidate for DA, leading on the policy of putting Fisk back behind bars. He starts by making his plea to the police, who feel screwed over the whole affair as Fisk is a cop killer. All of them pledge their support to Foggy. After a scene with Karen threatening some twats with a gun, we cut to Nadeem asking his boss for advice, her interesting brand of advice is to lie to him.

Karen confronts someone from the FDIC, believing they’re monitoring Red Lion bank, which is obviously laundering money for Fisk, she tells him to look into a guy named Felix Manning. Dex takes a look through the OPD interview with Fisk, watching as he corroborates the idea that he killed them in self-defence, something which didn’t happen in the original attack, Fisk looks up at the camera, presumably aware that Dex would be watching.

Dex turns off the cameras and meets with Fisk, the press have labelled the attack as an FBI disaster, which of course it was to an extent, as how did the Albanians find them, but with the FBI turning on Dex, Fisk offers sympathy. Matt wakes up but finds himself being driven to the edge of a pier, the driver’s been replaced and dives out as Matt is sent hurtling over the edge

The prison scene is incredibly impressive but the rest of the story continues to crawl

Rating 7.5/10

The Perfect Game

Dex is twitching, reading the latest headlines, he looks at a photo of himself at a suicide prevention group, with Julie. He leaves, stopping to straighten his photo. The taxi is dredged out of the river but no body is found, which has Fisk concerned.

Nadeem and Dex arrive for new information, Donovan is lobbying for Fisk to have more freedom, as his intelligence has lead to the eradication of the Albanians’ crime activities. Fisk makes a different play, claiming Matt Murdock was a fixer under his employ, he bribed officials and manufactured testimony according to Fisk. Anyone who realised that Murdock was instrumental in Fisk’s conviction would call this dubious but the FBI are morons so take him at his word.

Dex takes a run because Julie is only a few steps ahead, she watches her give a donation to a homeless stranger before resuming her run. Like I said, the FBI are morons who just take Fisk at his word without corroborating and breach Matt’s apartment, finding his clothes dumped on the floor, confirming he was there recently.

Karen visits Felix Manning, offering a deal, giving him a chance to come clean to her and help her connect dots to avoid being implicated in her article, unfortunately Felix is smart and turns it around on her, revealing her personal details and Karen suspects she’s being followed. She is, but not by Manning, the FBI wish to talk to her, Nadeem in particular.

Nadeem has some questions about Matt’s dealings with Fisk, they found a retainer cheque from that one time in season 1 Wesley had them do work, which supports their theories. However Karen adds information to their list from her own findings, enough to make Nadeem uncomfortable. Donovan brings files about Dex to Fisk and begins reading through them, with the lawyer present, the cameras are off so they have no idea what he’s doing.

In an interesting stylistic choice, we’re treated to some kinda flashbacks, but framed in black and white as Fisk watches. Dex was a great pitcher as a kid, spawned on by feelings towards his dead parents, he got angry over being benched and threw a ball that ricocheted onto his coach, killing him.

We next see him in therapy, the therapist believes he has a personality disorder, and a psychopathic temper. She displays an extraordinary amount of empathy and patience with him. Many of years of work later, the Therapist is on oxygen and is leaving the job. She believes he will be fine without her, he can get a job with a rigid structure, establish a routine and if he ever goes near the edge, listen to recordings of their past interviews.

She offers the card of a colleague but that sets him off, he wants to kill her, his rage subsides enough that he relents, the therapist recommends that he find someone, another therapist or more likely what he’s doing now with Julie. He gets a job at a suicide hotline, which honestly is one of the worst places he could possibly have chosen given his mental troubles, second only to the FBI, oh wait…

He’d also had a couple of years in the military, does anyone do background checks anymore? The next stage of the flashback is all dark, as we see Dex stalking Julie, there are photos of him doing this. Fisk reveals to Donovan that the protests are becoming an impediment to his long-term goals and is planning to distract the public by creating a new threat in Dex.

Dex is at the hotel bar, where Julie is now also working. She recently got employed into the hotel staff, offered double her previous salary. The two begin talking, and they agree to ‘hang out’ after she finishes her shift. Foggy’s brother is helping Foggy’s DA campaign through their meat shop, offering free stuff for those that promise to vote for him, pretty empty as promises go but it’s something. Nadeem pays Foggy an impromptu visit.

Nadeem has a theory that Matt is leading a double-life, and he’s right but completely off-base as to why. But Foggy learns that Matt used his law card to enter a prison and make contact with the Albanians, which does not bode well for him. Dex and Julie’s date goes badly when Dex begins revealing information he only knows because of him stalking her, she runs off, leaving him broken.

Foggy and Karen talk to each other about what Nadeem but Karen fears their investigation into James Wesley could unravel the fact that she was responsible for his untimely death. Dex returns home, shaking, he punches a hole in the wall, causing his knuckles to bleed on his shirt, he desperately washes it in the sink and begins smashing everything else. He throws a knife into the photo, right into Julie’s face. He puts on the headphones and begins listening to one of the recordings.

We finally catch up with Matt, flashing back to him dumping his clothes, he passes out, waking up just before the FBI arrive. He heads up to the roof, and overhears that he’s considered armed and dangerous.

It’s interesting as we Fisk begin to twist the knife as his long game put into focus. It’s still a slow pace, but it’s intriguing enough, especially the stuff around Dex, to keep me engaged.

Rating 7/10

The Devil You Know

One thing you might notice about this series is Matt does not don his Daredevil costume for the entire series. It’s a dedication to the gritty realism the Netflix series, in particular Daredevil, have gone for. It’s hard to say this was the wrong call for them but as a comic fan, it’s disappointing.

Karen wakes up to the sound of construction, takes some medication and we flash back to the aftermath of her confession to Foggy, who assures that she’s still a good person. The whole affair has amped up her paranoia as Matt pays her a visit. He tells her that Fisk staged his attack to secure his release and his attacker, Jasper Evans is free, if they can find him and get him to talk, they can expose the whole affair and get Fisk shipped back to prison, given the record on people who talk to anyone on this show and the fact that we’re less than half way through the season, I wouldn’t put his life expectancy past the end of this episode.

Karen refuses to directly get herself involved and wants to be paid back for the bills on his apartment. Back with Dex, he’s still not taking what happened well. He opens his safe, taking out the tapes and begins listening to them again. Because of his supposed co-operation, Fisk is given some home comforts, chairs, pictures on the wall, a suit to wear as opposed to prison garb, fancy glasses and cuff-links etc.

Karen and Foggy discuss Matt’s deal, Foggy encourages her to offer to do it on the condition he surrenders himself to the FBI. They don’t know about Daredevil, and honestly what they’re charging him on is fairly dubious as it is, so there’s no reason to believe anything would chase back to them. Dex arrives at the hotel, 2 hours before his shift was due to start, so much for structure. His memories from the night before are beginning to blend in with the tapes, which lessens their value.

He offers to bring Fisk his food and proceeds to shut down the security cameras. He confronts Fisk about hiring Julie. Fisk relates his own experiences to Dex and explains that he was making a point, Julie would never have understood him and neither will society. His words continue to echo in his mind as he reviews the security footage.

It doesn’t help that the Bulletin puts the investigation into Dex right under the front page. Karen comes to the church to ask Sister Maggie about Matt, she reveals some interesting details about Matt growing up which I’m not writing down because I don’t want to make this too depressing. Dex is put on leave, and though he’s gonna be paid for it, he’s not taking it well, as his job is part of his mental routine, even if the FBI is the worst job possible for him, anyway. Nadeem tries to console but the voices in Dex’s head are drowning him out.

Karen has tracked down Jasper Evans on her own, some kind of drug hostel, considering Evans had a history in supplying drugs, it’s not exactly surprising. She finds him but they attack and Matt comes to her defence having tracked him down as well. Matt agrees to surrender himself to the FBI, he mask won’t do him much good if he’s a fugitive either way so it’s a smart ploy.

Evans claims that Fisk threatened his son, and now he’s out he doesn’t want to get sent back to prison again, setting a bad example that could see his son go down the same path. Honestly, this feels phoney to me but maybe there’s some truth within it. Foggy appears before Nadeem, offering to negotiate Matt’s surrender to questioning in exchange for Nadeem listening to Evans’ testimony.

Nadeem has gotten his much-desired promotion but Foggy’s words to him about Evans has him nervous, especially as he has confirmation that Evans is not in prison as he should be. Dex arrives home, his head buzzing. He takes out his gun and contemplates killing himself, just before he can pull the trigger his phone rings, it’s Fisk. He tells Dex that he’s sent him a gift and that if he chooses to use, Fisk will not abandon him like everyone else. A driver knocks at his door

Matt gives Foggy a new wallet, his old one presumably lost in the river. Foggy is confident Nadeem can be trusted. Matt can hear screaming and it’s worse than we thought as Dex in the Daredevil costume is killing his way through the Bulliten staff. Matt manages to intercept a shot aimed at Foggy and the two begin to fight. It goes Matt’s way until Dex steps back from hand to hand and begins using his impressive aim and trickshots. Even with Matt’s impressive hearing, he doesn’t always see the shots coming. Dex manages to knock Matt out but before he can deliver the finishing blow, he hears sirens. Ellison is stabbed and Evans shot, he takes the time to say hello to Karen.

The FBI begin entering the building, seeing all the dead bodies as they enter. Matt recovers and makes his exit. Nadeem and the others confront Dex and many are killed. Matt is in the printing press and begins moving the weapons Dex jammed into him. Karen is horrified by all this, and Nadeem now has a new target in Daredevil.

It’s an intense battle at the end, with a solid buildup as things begin to fall into place for Fisk.

Rating 8/10

Aftermath

Fisk has had most of his belongings restored but there’s one interest to him that hasn’t been found, the painting Rabbit in a Snowstorm, the painting that him and Vanessa initially bonded over. However, someone has challenged his claim of ownership, much to Fisk’s chargin'.

Fisk enters a room to the side of his penthouse which seems surprisingly free of cameras, there’s an secret door where his shoe rack is, leading to a fire escape, a woman named Mrs Shelby shows Fisk that he has cameras on the FBI agents too, they then tune into the news of Daredevil’s alleged attack on the Bulletin. 2 dead according to the news, which I think may be a low estimate given the bloodbath that was that attack.

Matt is letting out his panic and frustration over the whole affair to Sister Maggie, believing he was foolish to involve his friends and things have gotten worse, she. Whilst true, he knows full well his friends were involved whether he liked it or not. Maggie sees his point, and promises she’ll be more careful with her advice from now on. She asks why not let himself rest and heal properly and let, say, Luke Cage or Iron Fist deal with this issue. Aside from the fact that Luke is busy running Harlem and Danny is out finding himself, Matt says it’s his problem and he has to deal with it. I guess it’s as good an excuse as any not to involve anyone else this season.

As Maggie stitches his wounds, she asks the question of where someone would get a perfect copy of the Daredevil suit. At the FBI, Nadeem noticed that “Daredevil” addressed Karen directly and left her conscious whilst he knocked out or killed everyone else, implying some connection between the two. Nadeem pushes to exceptionally leading questions that would never hold up in court, so thankfully Foggy is acting as her attorney and leads her out.

Karen is traumatised, and I swear this is practically standard for her at this point and blames herself for bringing Jasper to the Bulletin in the first place. The attack has also put further strain on relationships in Nadeem’s life, he receives word that the prison warden is here. Matt finds Melvin, the guy who made his suit, continuing a relationship with his parole officer, Betsy. He seems nervous, expecting the encounter with Matt.

He offers to make him a new suit, but Matt turns him down. He burned down his old shop, not wanting to work with Fisk again but ever resourceful, Fisk got him a new place and threatened Betsy. Foggy returns home, with Marci worried sick about him. The two begin to make out. The Warden doesn’t have much to say to Nadeem but this concerns him even more.

He reports his findings to the boss but if they kick this up the chain, all the criminals Fisk helped arrest would be released. He asks for 2 days to work out exactly what was going on. Back with Foggy, he tells Marci he felt a lot of regret for things he hadn’t done and without a ring, proposed to her. Marci turns him down, saying any proposal should be from the heart and not a direct result of something this horrifying.

Foggy picks up some papers, reading something I don’t think he was supposed to and being shocked about it. Karen visits the hospital, which really feels like she’s deliberately pouring salt into her own wounds. She visits Ellison and the conversation quickly turns to Daredevil, and he quickly catches on that he knows something about him. His then gives his ultimatum, give him up or quit.

Matt is shown Melvin’s new premises but it turns out to be a trap, Melvin locking him in a room. Matt easily escapes because he’s able to bend metal now but Melvin’s no pushover in a fight, especially when Betsy’s at risk. The FBI begin storming the building, Matt hearing them coming, Fisk had a second suit made, and the idea was to frame Matt by locking him up with the suit. Matt convinces Melvin that regardless of what he does, Betsy will be at risk. Melvin doesn’t know who the suit was for, only that he’s an FBI agent.

The two fight off the FBI agents, again they go down a lot easier than your average Fisk thug. Melvin is arrested and Matt uses that momentary distraction to escape. Fisk says there’s no point altering the situation with Melvin, and advises that Dex be left alone for now. Nadeem confronts Fisk, who refuses to deny that Jasper Evans was under his employ.

Fisk continues to act as Matt’s conscience, something I’m going to continue to ignore. We see him warn Betsy to run and she calls him out for something… Foggy’s been searching through case notes and suspects he knows what Fisk is planning. Karen begins making plans to leave the city and makes a call to home, she wants to come home but her father says the timing isn’t great… We may have to wait a few episodes to work out what that actually means.

Nadeem wants the security footage from the prison to work out what happened when Fisk got shivved but isn’t having much luck. He returns home to find his family waiting to congratulate him on his promotion. Unfortunately, his wife has worked out a lie he told her earlier, him saying that he wasn’t there during the attack and she’s not happy. They patch things up quickly and Nadeem heads into the garage to get more drinks, and finds Matt waiting, he reveals to Nadeem that the fake Daredevil works in the FBI

This series loves to put its characters through the mill, none moreso than Karen, it’s good to get a breather and aftermath is just that, however this slow pacing is beginning to test my patience, we’re past the half-way point now, things to start ramping up.

Rating 7/10

Upstairs/Downstairs

We find Dex heading back home after the attack, his head still buzzing. He gets out his tapes and begins cleaning his house from the mess he made breaking everything the last time we saw him, roll credits.

Agent Nadeem heads back to the hotel, with Daredevil’s words ringing in his head. He begins looking through the files of his FBI colleagues, and noting that any time Dex went to feed Fisk, he turned off the cameras. Dex finds Julie on her morning run, desperate to reforge some kind of connection to her.

Nadeem meets with Matt and after getting Matt’s word that he won’t kill him, gives him Dex’s name, they plan to search the apartment and set off the fire alarm if they find anything, which would circumvent the need for a search warrant. Dex tries to explain himself and Julie agrees to give him another shot, however he we see that a security camera is firmly pointed in his direction.

Foggy pays Karen a visit, and tells her what he believes Fisk is up to, giving up people involved in government corruption so he could become the sole benefactor in that area. He sees an opportunity to stop Fisk in his tracks, if they publicise Foggy’s theory in the paper, the FBI will have to deem that Fisk violated the terms of his house arrest agreement and send him back to prison. To avoid issues regarding unsubstantiated claims, Foggy plans to use his argument in a debate against DA Tower. The one issue here of course is that Karen lost her job in the last episode, but Foggy believes if she shares the plan with Ellison, he’d give her, her job back.

Fisk watches as some of his men have Julie killed on the way into the Hotel. Nadeem tries to make things better for Dex, as his men have come up with the money to pay for a lawyer to sue the bureau for wrongful suspension on his behalf. Given his mental issues, the Bureau were idiotic to hire him in the first place. He’s a guy who has undergone years of therapy to gain some semblance of a normal life, you don’t put him in a high stress job like the FBI, I’m amazed he got into the military.

That night, Matt breaks into Dex’s apartment, letting in Nadeem. Matt can smell the suit in the safe, but it’s just a trace as it’s been moved. They don’t have the evidence they need but end up finding the cassette player Dex was using to listen to his tapes and listen to the one pre-loaded. The lawyer tells Dex that with her help, he could be back in the job in about 6 months, which is a long time for a guy like him, and doesn’t put him at ease.

He texts Julie that he wants to speak, and gets a reply that she never wants to see him again, of course we already know by this point that Julie is dead, so Fisk is clearly continuing his manipulation here. Matt and Nadeem listen to a tape but Matt can hear Dex coming back. The two begin to argue about whether or not there’s evidence here which Dex can overhear. He grabs some glass from a nearby light and enters his apartment, he makes it to his safe and grabs his gun as Matt and Nadeem escape to an upstairs apartment. Dex uses ricocheted shots to get at them and Nadeem is hit, though not fatally. They make a break when he’s out of ammo, and use the fact that a neighbour has called the cops to escape. Matt has managed to get his cassette player.

Karen meanwhile decides to forgo stopping at the Bulliten and stop by Fisk’s penthouse directly, he tells the FBI agents that she’s writing a story about Fisk’s mother and asks for an interview. Karen, what exactly do you hope to gain here? The entire plan relies on catching Fisk off-guard, and walking into his penthouse and interviewing him is doing the exact opposite of that.

Foggy makes his case in front of Tower but a lot of what he was working with begins to crumble down when he realises that Karen is still not there to cover his words. Now, this came out in 2018, anyone with a phone and a decent following could get this trending on social media and it’d be in the public eye that way.

Karen, having clearly taken the stupid pills that morning enters Fisk’s penthouse, her plan is to get Fisk to admit on camera that he killed his father. Yup, definitely taking those stupid pills. Fisks turns the conversation around and Karen inadvertently admits, through non-response that Matt is Daredevil. Karen tries to reverse the intimidation by admitting she was responsible for Wesley’s death, hello, you’re being monitored, on camera, you’ve just admitted to murder, you stupid woman.

She might’ve gotten a reaction from him, but the FBI burst in, cuffing Karen and Foggy arrives. Foggy claimed she was a danger to his life, hence the cuffs, which come off immediately after, absolutely no-one batting an eyelid that she admitted to murder on camera. Of course, Karen’s now gonna be a target of Fisk.

One Dex has settled matters with the police, he takes out the rest of his tapes and burns them. He hears a knock at the door as one of Fisk’s men has arrived to escort them. Nadeem tells his wife he isn’t gonna make it home, trying to hide the fact he has a bullet wound from them. He calls in the boss, saying they need to talk. Dex is taken to Fisk’s lair, it’s revealed Fisk knows that Nadeem is onto Dex and he’ll ensure its dealt with.

Matt is still unsure of whether or not keeping his word to Nadeem has resulted in more people dying. Sister Maggie goes upstairs to pray, inadvertently revealing that she is in fact Matt’s mother, which Matt hears.

Karen taking stupid pills aside here, it’s another solid if slow episode.

Rating 7/10

Revelations

We open with Matt heading into Josie’s bar, looking for Father Lantom to ask if he knew Sister Maggie was his mother, judging by the long pause after the answer to that becomes obvious. Matt’s crisis is only deepened by this revelation, feeling let down by everyone around him.

We Flash back to some years ago, seeing a young Maggie and a couple of friends heading to the boxing arena. Jack Murdock calls on Maggie for help at a critical moment in his boxing match, and despite protests from her friends, she agrees to help him. It’s nothing much, just water, towelling and whatever.

Later this blossoms to putting them in a full-on relationship, but as she struggles with their child, Maggie hears god’s call back to the church and calls Father Lantom, they accept her back into the Church. Matt is furious with Father Lantom, preaching truth whilst keeping this particular secret from him.

Nadeem wakes up the next morning, still bleeding. He’s called a meeting with the SAC, now at the house of his boss, as he fears the FBI is compromised. He explains the situation on the record, including his suspicions about Dex. Nadeem is put on leave and lands over his gun and badge to his boss, who then proceeds to use said gun to shoot the SAC officer, wearing gloves and calling for Nadeem to put the gun down so the recorder can hear her. Yup, she’s on Fisk’s payroll and her name is Tammy Hattley, I just didn’t care to mention it until now.

With the recorder off, she forces Nadeem to sit, Manning coming by to explain that with all their fabricated evidence, if he doesn’t comply, he’ll be charged with the murder. He now works for Wilson Fisk. That’s a lot of things to happen pre-credits but they’re just rolling.

With Karen’s confessions putting her in Fisk’s cross-hairs, she’s decided to run. I think that may be the smartest thing she’s done all season. Sister Maggie is helping a kid who’s about to best fostered/adopted as she’s approached by Father Lantom, who tells him that Matt knows, she goes down to where to he sleeps and… I think that’s supposed to be crying but it looks more like she’s laughing.

Unable to return home with the FBI watching the place, Fogwell’s gym is the next best place he can crash, he’s visited by his new conscience played by his father this time. Nadeem takes a shower, still hurt from the wound, Dex pays him a visit, and the two are gonna be working together for a day, yikes.

Foggy’s speech at the cop party has been shared around, gathering a lot of views and complete radio silence from DA Tower, with this level of support. Nadeem contacts Daredevil, warning him that Fisk is up to something. It’s in fact bait to lure him into a potential trap.

Matt’s conversation with his father isn’t especially interesting, but it seems Matt has once again decided to put Fisk out of his misery. Sister Maggie sits in the playground and helps one of her charges tie her shoes. Karen approaches her, wanting her to warn Matt about Fisk knowing he and Daredevil are one of the same. Thing is, I think assumed the whole recorded fight in the prison pretty much gave the game away on that front anyway.

Maggie admits her faults to Karen, suspecting that Matt won’t be coming back. Karen admits she’s made an enemy of Fisk and needs to hide, Sister Maggie offers to shelter her in the church and arrange transportation to anywhere in the world far from Fisk. These seems like a solid plan but Fisk has eyes everywhere and is certainly not a patient guy, this is gonna end badly.

Dex is reinstated into the FBI, and Nadeem is continued to be made uncomfortable. Unfortunately, some bad news reaches Foggy’s ears. His brother had been coached by a guy from Red Lion Bank, to creatively manipulate his figures to get a loan approved after clients dropped unexpectedly. Naturally this was all orchestrated by Fisk, and Manning has threatened to have him and their parents sent to prison on fraud charges if Foggy doesn’t walk back his statements.

Nadeem heads into a meeting, where’s to refer to Fisk as ‘Kingpin,’ they head out, rounding up some new criminal former associates and we found out from Hatley that Nadeem was marked for more than a year, his financial position put in jeopardy because Fisk got his sister’s health coverage stopped, making him desperate to take on the job and easy to manipulate from there. And the hits keep on coming, as Hatley reveals that one of her children was killed by Fisk to make a point, she divorced her husband to keep him a little safer, but Nadeem still has a loving wife and child, both at risk.

Nadeem removes Fisk’s tag, allowing him to leave the house. They accompany him as they out. Matt’s phone rings and it’s Nadeem, telling him that Fisk is out and meeting with other crime bosses. All part of the larger trap. Matt’s conscience morphs into Fisk, and after enough baiting, he beats and kills him. Matt easily gets into the restaurant, not even bothering with the mask at this point as Fisk makes his offer to the criminals. 20% of everything for protection, when one of them protests, Fisk has the fake Daredevil murder him.

Matt runs out the lights and brings out his mask and rope gloves. Fisk is somewhat disappointed that Daredevil isn’t coming as it seems he’s instead elected to infiltrate Fisk’s hotel room. From the marks on the floor, he works out the secret door, finding only a scared woman wearing Fisk’s tag. Unfortunately, right at that moment, Matt hears that Fisk wants Karen killed.

Light on the action once again but upping the suspense as everything is going Fisk’s way, in spite of some hiccups.

Rating 7.5/10

Karen

I’m still not a huge fan of interrupting the pace of a show to show flashbacks the only do the bare minimum of advancing the story, that said, exploring some of the stuff around Karen Page is long overdue so better late than never.

Karen was a drug dealer dealing to students at raves, and when one student is too poor to pay the full amount, she refuses the sale and he jumps her, her boyfriend comes in and makes him regret that choice. Karen and her boyfriend, Todd, count up their earnings in his dingy trailer, where she sleeps that night.

She gets a wakeup call and tells Todd she has to go in for work, she makes the lonely drive to the village of Fagan Corners to a Diner called Penny’s place. She takes eyedrops to hide the fact that she’d been using last night and enters the diner. The store opens to a rather rude police officer that belittles Karen.

Business isn’t exactly booming and her father has just bought a new $5000 oven in the hopes that ski traffic will come, although it never seems to. She heads back in, and picks up the officer’s order, but her nose starts bleeding on it. Her brother, Kevin, mentions how she clearly isn’t sober and well, we all know the sad fate in store for him, so can we get to the goddamn point.

What she thinks is an intervention for her drug use turns out to be Kevin trying to get her out of this sh*t show, she had deferred on her college application but he’d un-deferred her, much to her frustration. She calms down shooting and drinking with Todd. Part of the reason she stays is because of the connection the place holds to her mother

He offers her to come work with him full time so she’d be able to pay off the grill easily but she dismisses it. She gets a call from her father, telling her to come home as the family have pancakes together. Unfortunately, Karen seems to believe that leaving for college would end the business in a week and looking at how shoddily everything is run, I have a feeling she’s not far from the truth. The jabs go back and forth until Karen loses her temper and storms off.

She falls into Todd’s arms and a small altercation occasion between Todd and Kevin, Todd eventually drives off with Karen and they get high and drunk together. They return to the caravan to find it ablaze, Kevin having set it on fire in act that tells me making stupid choices runs in the family. What exactly did he expect to gain from this? Todd is enraged, beating Kevin with a lead pipe, and even injuring Karen when she tries to stop him. Karen gets out her gun and shoots him in the shoulder, disarming him. He’s still alive which means he might’ve returned as an antagonist in season 4.

Kevin didn’t want to lose Karen, but that might be the last thing he ever did because in driving them away, Karen crashes and flips the car and it’s that act that ultimately kills him. Karen was driving under the influence, so we see she actually is somewhat responsible, that being said, there was little else she could’ve done under the circumstances.

The police officer from before decides to cover for them, and say Kevin was driving alone saying the family had suffered enough. But Karen is also forced to leave town, never to return.

We see Karen at the church in the present day, looking at an old family photo. Father Lantom delivers her a sandwich, and invites her to attend a service and gives some solid advice regarding her inner guilt. Fisk asks Dex to kill Karen, we cut to the service which Karen is at least listening to and cut back to Daredevil having to make his choice, if he decides to go for Karen, he’ll never get an easy shot at Fisk like this, but it’s not just anyone heading for Karen, it’s Dex, Matt makes his choice and walks away.

Dex enters the church and eventually forces Karen’s surrender, but Matt attacks from behind, Dex knocks him down and is about to make a killing strike, but Father Lantom stands in front of the blade, taking the shot for him. Karen allows Matt to provide a distraction for Dex, to allow the other churchgoers to escape. Unfortunately, the fight begins to turn against Matt and he’s severely wounded. This kinda reminds me of the Bullseye fight in the Daredevil, except there is was action-driven and here it’s more suspense-horror. Karen delivers a finishing blow to Dex, but before Matt can recover, he’s already gone and Matt is now in no shape to fight him.

It’s a brutal fight but seriously, how many hits can these two take?

Rating 7.5/10

Reunion

We open with Sister Maggie who comes towards the church just after attack, noticing ‘Daredevil’ hobbling away. Dex’s head is buzzing, he kills some random people in an ally out of sheer frustration. Nadeem hears the reports of Daredevil in the church, hearing multiple casualties. Making things worse for him, Dex comes in and tells he needs to take command of the church crime scene from the police and lock down the church.

Karen eventually gets Matt to wake up, Karen offers to cover for Matt to the police but with Dex being an FBI agent, that’s no longer a safe option for her, and Matt’s in no position to get anywhere on his own. Roll credits.

Sister Maggie hears from a bystander that Father Lantom was killed, Nadeem assumes command and Maggie tells them she saw Daredevil leaving the church before they arrived. Dex says he saw Daredevil heading back as an excuse to keep them around. It’s a weak one but they’re in a strong position anyway so it didn’t have to be a good one.

Nadeem mentions Karen Page as an accomplice, which clues Maggie in that he’s not a friend to them. Matt’s on his feet but still weak, he closes a gate which keeps the cops out for the moment but won’t buy them long. Karen mentions that Fisk knows who he was but yeah, Matt already assumed he knew, because of the whole prison thing.

Dex and Nadeem, along with the ESU begin sweeping the church, Nadeem is horrified to see Father Lantom’s body but really has no choice but to play along. Sister Maggie prays for Lantom before Nadeem and Dex ask her for access to the lower levels, she stalls for time by being shaky with the key but Dex has soon had enough and gets the gate cut open.

Maggie suspects they’ve hidden in an old stone coffin and redirects their attention toward the roof. Karen explains why Fisk is suddenly gunning for her and it becomes a moral debate trying to compare what Karen did to her brother to what Matt was planning to do to Fisk.

Karen’s crime is a tragedy that came as a result of poor decisions and bad luck. Matt’s crime would be pre-meditated, but could save hundreds of lives and avenge many that have already been lost. Explain where the moral debate is here, the two events are very different and I don’t think it’s fair to compare them. If this is the reason, they decided to include Karen’s origin now, I feel it’s a lame one. 

Thanks to some legal gerrymandering, the second court of appeals has overturned the charges against Wilson Fisk meaning he’s now officially a free man. He gives a speech trying to turn the press from him onto Daredevil. Mahoney takes over the police end of the investigation, and is immediately flummoxed by the FBI’s story that Karen Page is an accomplice to Daredevil given multiple witnesses saw him trying to kill her, I’m sure several others might be aware that she made an effort save them, which would completely undermine the story.

Nadeem brushes him off as the buzzing continues for Dex, he wants the entire neighbourhood searched door to door. Nadeem tries to calm him down, but he’d then have to tell Kingpin and that’s likely a death sentence. He asks Sister Maggie and she tells him if he’s a moral person, he would not want Dex to find him. I believe Matt may have made her aware of Dex’s alias as the fake Daredevil at some point.

Matt, recovering really quickly, helps patch Karen up as he hears Sister Maggie on her way down. Unfortunately, they’ve brought in search dogs so even their attempts to hide may not last. Maggie and one of the other sisters direct them to the orphanage but that’s not gonna buy them long. Karen and Matt have a whisper argument over Matt’s insistence of keeping everyone at arm’s length, and it gives Matt an idea that they could take down Fisk, but would need Foggy’s help.

Foggy is given a statement to read out saying that he lied under duress about Wilson Fisk, with his brother essentially blaming him for everything going down. It’s a sad state of affairs, but might’ve easily been remedied if instead of going to a shady bank to fraudulently manipulate accounts, you’d swallowed your pride and asked your brother, who works for a big time law firm, not sure which one at this point but anyway, for help!

Foggy’s decision is interrupted by a phone-call from Matt. With Fisk exonerated, Vanessa is on her way and he’s free to visit the family that own Rabbit in a Snowstorm. Foggy heads to the church and asks to talk to Mahoney, getting him into the crime scene, Matt heads to the roof as sister Maggie watches Foggy stall Nadeem long enough for Foggy to officially become Karen’s lawyer and surrender her, specifically to the NYPD and Mahoney. There’s a bit of a standoff but Nadeem quietly tells Mahoney to get her out here and he does so. Matt hears the entire conversation from the roof, confirming that Nadeem is indeed faltering.

Fisk pays a visit to the family that now own the Rabbit in the Snowstorm. It belonged to her family but in 1943 the Government confiscated it from them. Fisk feels empathy for her, relating it to his own situation. But her father was killed in front of her by the Gestapo, the ones who took the painting, she and one other were the only members of a family of 7 that survived, and she tells Fisk in no uncertain terms that she sees him in the same light and will not relinquish the painting to him. Fisk decides that Vanessa would want her to keep it and leaves her alone.

Dex notices a blood mark on the casket, realising what Sister Maggie had done and it nearly puts him on the warpath with her, he instead hides himself in an ambulance and uses Fisk’s scream tactic to calm himself down. Matt heads over the rooftops, keeping an eye on Foggy and Karen as Mahoney drops them off out of sight, having seen for himself that the FBI has indeed been compromised.

They meet on a rooftop and decide their best move is to try and build a state case against Fisk, they need a witness and need to keep him alive, of course their best bet is Nadeem. Fisk finds out about Karen being taken by the police and brutally murders the FBI agent who delivered the news. Nadeem arrives home, and decides for their safety he needs to get his family relocated immediately.

They quickly get packed but the FBI have arrived with orders to kill him. He’s low on ammo and outnumbered so thankfully Matt arrives to save him. Nadeem is already not in a trusting mood and has his gun drawn on him, so Matt outs himself in order to earn that trust. Yup, the timer on Nadeem’s life has officially begun. I don’t think the Netflix shows intentionally put out the message that testifying against violent mob bosses will always end in your own death, but they’re doing a great job of making it seem that way.

Rating 7/10

One Last Shot

It’s episode 12 of 13, this One Last Shot is doomed to fail. Fisk gets word of Nadeem’s escape as a helicopter lands bringing with it Vanessa. The two finally reunite. Matt, Foggy and Karen secretly transport Nadeem and his family to the Mahoney household to lay low now Fisk is after them. But it’s time for Seema to remind Nadeem that he promised no more lies and this fundamentally broke that promise. Though in fairness he works in the FBI, meaning he likely deals with intelligence around national security he literally cannot tell you. You made your bed, now lie in it, lady.

OK, the plan is to have Nadeem testify against Fisk, with Matt and Foggy acting as his representatives, Nelson and Murdock, Attorneys at Law. Basically, they’re hitting the reset button on Foggy’s s2 development and honestly, it could be for the best. Fisk, Vanessa and his escort arrive back at the hotel.

The ringing in Dex’s ears is only getting worse, and when Fisk Brushes him off, it doesn’t get better. Fisk has prepared a f*ckton of candles for a romantic evening for the two of them, it a bit awkward when Vanessa heads to bed, exhausted from the trip. Fogwell’s Gym is where they’ve chosen to host the legal discussions because it’s one of the few places Fisk doesn’t know about.

They make arrangements to have Nadeem’s family moved abroad so Fisk can’t get to them, with the expenses being covered by the Law Firm to avoid it showing up on Nadeem’s bank records. Foggy, with the help of Mahoney approaches DA Tower, offering to drop out of the running for DA if he listens to Nadeem’s testimony. With a few extra promises, Tower agrees

Matt questions why Nadeem didn’t act sooner, yeah the problem is Fisk played him like a fiddle and backed him into a corner. Whilst the Fisk in the comics is visually intimidating and often untouchable because of money, what makes Fisk terrifying this time around is how can wrap people around his finger and make them serve his agenda. Fisk’s plans this season have been masterfully executed.

Nelson and Murdock ask Tower to consider an immunity plea, which Tower agrees to. Fisk stares at the spot where the Rabbit in the Snowstorm was supposed to be as Dex brings in his coffee. Dex tries to apologise for the poor showing the night before but Fisk isn’t interested, he tells Dex the matter will be handled by someone else, furthering Dex’s annoyance.

Nadeem completes his confession, Nelson and Murdock want full immunity for him in exchange for testifying in court, it’s a hard sell, Tower offers 5-years for all counts and Nadeem accepts the offer. Nadeem calls his son, hoping to reassure him as this testimony is bound to result in people saying the worst. Foggy admits he misses the Nelson and Murdock days.

Fisk prepares his famous omelette for Vanessa the next morning, he can tell something’s up. Her time in hiding had left her feeling rather alone, and Fisk’s insistence that he keep her out of the business end has left her feeling rather similar even here. Felix Manning tells Fisk about what’s going on at the courthouse and whilst Fisk forgives his failure under the grounds that he kept Vanessa safe, he wants the job done, and says he can call in ‘friends’ if need be.

Karen meets up with Ellison, who’s out of the hospital and back to eating hotdogs. She tells him about Dex and Nadeem’s upcoming testifying in the grand jury, she wants a press conference, so tells Ellison to put out the word that Karen Page wants to make a statement. Dex has managed to procure Rabbit in a Snowstorm for Fisk, and shows it to Vanessa, explaining rather more than he needed to which is likely to irritate Fisk considerably. She notices a blood mark on the side of the frame, alluding to what Dex did to the previous owner.

They hide Nadeem in a decoy truck but it doesn’t work and it leads to an all-out gun fight. Yup, can’t kill Fisk but these guys, most of them are cannon fodder, shoot away. They get out of it and arrive at the courthouse unscathed so Nadeem goes and gives his testimony. Karen makes her statement to the press also, which further puts Dex on edge. Unfortunately, Fisk has the jury in his pocket, so it leads to the story being discredited, further throwing shade on Karen and as for Matt, he’s even less invested in the idea that the law works than ever.

Nadeem punches Foggy out and makes an escape, Matt having already left. Fisk sees the painting and him and Vanessa talk. She wants in on his life, all sides of it. He ultimately agrees to it. Nadeem heads home, seeing a camera set up that he likely knows Fisk has access to. He looks at his family photos, his son’s in particular and begins recording a message for his wife and son.    

Vanessa is shown Fisk’s command centre, Manning believes that using the blackmail material they’d set up to have him discredited would be enough but Vanessa, having worked out how much he knows argues he’d be better off eliminated entirely, interestingly she asks that Dex be the one to do it. Nadeem heads to the spot where his pool is being constructed, to find Dex waiting him. He tries to convince Dex to turn on Fisk but he refuses. Dex ultimately shoots him in the head.

With Nadeem having run out on them, the trio are left with few options and Matt heads out to do the final deed.

It’s a tense episode with a sadly predictable ending. Nadeem was an interesting character, if introduced sloppily. I kinda wish we saw more of his family

Rating 8/10

A New Napkin

Fisk has made a surprise announcement for the leaders of the world and has invited them to his hotel for a wedding. Fisk is feeling nervous about the whole affair. Daredevil has Manning and is interrogating him for information. Foggy tells Mahoney about the possible attempt on Fisk’s life, warning that if Fisk dies, all the corrupt FBI agents that serve him fold back into the mix and face no consequences for their own actions. Mahoney isn’t really convinced Fisk being alive helps in any way but agrees to send in his C-team to beef the perimeter defences for the Hotel.

Foggy gets a call from the FBI and, not wanting to become a wanted fugitive, decides to make an appearance. Seema has been brought in following the whole case, hoping to keep Sami safe, she uses a notebook to communicate with Foggy saying he left a video that may have important information in it. Matt uses Manning’s phone to call Dex, and reveals to him that Fisk had Julie killed.

Nadeem made a dying declaration on his phone, confessing to all his sins. Because a dying declaration is exempt from a hearsay rule, it’s admissible in court and may be the silver bullet needed to take down Fish. Dex goes to an address Matt gave him earlier, finding bodies inside a freezer, including Julie’s.

Karen shows Ellison the dying declaration as Dex is set loose on the hotel, now with a thawing Julie as his partner. The wedding occurs quickly and the reception begins, but as the happy couple have their first dance, Nadeem’s declaration is spread across the internet. Dex shows himself but Matt follows his trail of destruction to fight him, Vanessa persuades Fisk to run but there’s one last fight between Fisk and Matt to go. The 3-way brawl between, Fisk, Daredevil and Dex is among the more exciting fights of the series. Matt does what he can to save Vanessa, and Fisk slams him against a wall it wall so hard it injures his spine.

Matt has Fisk dead to rights, even spoiling the precious painting with his blood. But with Fisk begging for death, Matt comes up with another solution, Manning had confessed that Vanessa is the one that ordered Nadeem’s death, unless he goes along quietly, Manning will testify that in court and send them both to jail. Fisk and Matt agree to the deal as the police break enter the apartment and arrest them all, Daredevil’s name is cleared as Mahoney spots Matt upstairs and shows him to the rest of the cops.

Matt pays a visit to his mother, holding a memorium for Father Lantom. Matt recalls his memories of the late Father. He hopes to still have the occasional word of wisdom and guidance from his mother, which they agree to. The funeral is lovely and as it should be for someone like him.

Foggy is dropping out of the race for DA and throwing his support behind Tower, Marci tells him the firm (which firm is it now, by the way?) but he isn’t really all that interested in coming back. Foggy and Tower have taken down Red Lion Bank, and as long as Theo pays back the loan, he won’t be charged with his creative accounting. Hatley turned and corroborated Nadeem’s story.

As for the future for our trio, they’re setting up a law firm together. Nelson, Murdock and Page. They’ll be starting off in the meat factory but will hopefully grow. In what is the only bit of sequel bait, some government lab is retro-fitting Dex’s spine to be stronger and so he survived. To be continued never.

My description is kinda short but that might be for the best, it’s a really good ending for this season, bringing things back to where they’re supposed to be, giving us nice character moments for pretty much everyone and concluding in a satisfying way as a standalone without going overboard on the sequel bait like Iron Fist did.

Rating 9/10

So we come to the end of Daredevil, the rights for TV series will default back to Marvel in around 6 months but there’s no way Disney would end up doing anything with this kinda tone for their streaming service. But it’s a strong one to end on. And we will look at the finale of the Netflix Marvel stuff, not including the Punisher, which I will never cover, with Jessica Jones season 3 next year. We’re entering the hiatus period now, but we’ll be back in September where we’ll end another long-running show, Voltron.