After last episode’s shocking events “The Ones We Leave Behind” starts with Karen, shaken and more than a little deterred by her actions. She awakes from a bad dream afraid to see Wilson Fisk standing in her apartment. He delivers a beautiful string of dialogue that captures the weight of taking a life. He reminds Karen that it gets easier the more you do it. It serves as a perfect introduction for the events at the end of this episode of Marvel’s Daredevil.
Make no mistake, Karen is directly responsible for Ben Ulrich’s death. It’s unclear whether or not Fisk would have killed the intrepid reporter even if Wesley hadn’t died by Karen’s hand. But it sure seems like that helped to motivation the action. In any event, for the final moments of a penultimate chapter Ben’s death perhaps didn’t carry the intended weight.
The team is broken. Foggy and Matt are on bad terms and Karen is drinking. Somehow this whole thing seems like a believable fracture, because this team wasn’t very tightly defined outside of the core lawyer relationship. Foggy and Karen’s first scene is noticeably distraught and desperate. There was an aire of sexuality to their interchange until Foggy delivered the brilliant lines about killing people and calling yourself a human. This cuts right through Karen’s face and leaves her weird and vulnerable.
Elsewhere the relationship between Vanessa and Fisk was further solidified when she chose to stand by him. Its strange that such a disgusting man can command such admiration from those around him. Owlsley doesn’t necessarily believe in Fisk anymore, but he’s been a self righteous dick from the beginning. Yet, Fisk’s humanity is briefly on display as he sits alone with Wesley’s corpse. He gives him a small kiss and you know everything you need to. There was a love between these men. Not of the sexuality variety, but through a shared dedication to a common goal.
I’ll miss Ben’s sensibilities. By the end of this episode he definitely had the least to lose in this scenario, but his scene with Daredevil was something to behold. There’s the cautious warning, and Ben’s smug response. But more than that, these scenes do an incredible job at masking exposition. There’s something charming about watching two incredibly smart people work through the grind of putting Fisk’s plan together.
The highlight of the episode, culminates in something small. Matt is on the street corner soaking in every little sound with his super senses. This embodies us in the moment as Daredevil for a little longer than we’ve previously seen. The result is captivating and exhilarating when he makes his desired connection. Seeing Matt hurry onto a rooftop in plain clothes was exciting if not a little silly. Somehow his black getup makes it easier to digest all the flipping and acrobatic shit. When it’s a man in a three piece suit it tends to look a little ridiculous. So the best moment was immediately saddled with something a little silly, which perhaps elevated it to a level of self parody.
The scenes with Daredevil in the darkness of the drug warehouse was another fantastic display of cinematography and visual storytelling. All of these pushers with their eyes burnt out was a disgusting image in and of itself, but when they overwhelm Daredevil the scene becomes so claustrophobic. But the cut to the next scene was a little convenient as a way for him to conquer that threat. But HOLY SHIT. Madame Gao is definitely something more supernatural. The punch she delivers is akin to PowerFist‘s powers. So let’s hope we’ll see her again once Danny Rand gets his own Netflix series.
In the final scene, Fisk’s speech to Ulrich is poignant and telling. These are two men who are likely matched with one another, but Fisk is a monster. So he imposes himself on others. He diminishes Ben’s work because he’s afraid of it. He is poetic as he dances around his point. But the beauty of his performance melts away as he claims admiration for the man. He gets up and becomes the boy we saw a few episodes ago.
It’s a taste of the monster Daredevil must now face. Hopefully Fisk has less diarrhea-induced like screams when he finally battles Hornhead, in the first season finale “Daredevil.”