 |
| The Stick, master manipulator. I'm glad they didn't try to make him seem more heroic post-death. |
We open with a flashback, taking place
most likely in the middle of Daredevil season
2. Elektra meets up with the Stick, and the two discuss Matt Murdock. Stick had
sent Elektra to seduce and/or otherwise convince Matt to give up being a normal
guy and joining the Chaste, the not completely evil Ninja Clan. They’re not necessarily
good, just the lesser evil. Elektra says Matt isn’t interesting, but the Stick
thinks that his operative just went native. Shocking, she fell in love with
Matt and now doesn’t want to manipulate him. What are the odds of that
happening? Ow, that was painful sarcasm.
In the present, we’re reminded of
what happened last time. Namely, the Stick was stabbed to death, Luke got high
on Stick’s incense and passed out, and Jessica and Matt got their butts kicked
by Elektra. The police pull up, and assumedly gather up the heroes. Jessica
wakes up first in an interrogation room. Misty makes the obvious crack, “We
need to stop meeting like this,” and asks about the two dead bodies they found
in that factory. I guess no one got rid of Swande’s body. Not smart. Jessica
elects to keep things vague, to try and protect Misty and the NYPD from
something that they can’t handle. In another room, Matt wakes up and runs into
Foggy first. Foggy gives him the lowdown on what’s happened, and once again
chastises his friend for doing the superhero thing. Misty comes out of the
interrogation room and asks Matt what’s going on, but he also elects to say nothing.
Luke is the last to rises. Claire and Colleen watch over him as he sleeps.
Claire muses about how she keeps getting roped into these bizarre situations
when she tried soooo hard to stay away from superhero schtick since meeting
Matt Murdock all those years ago. Luke wakes up a moment later, and gets
brought up to speed.
With the Hand, the surviving
Fingers are taking their boss’s death surprisingly well. Well, they aren’t
trying to kill Elektra or screaming, so that’s about as well as can be
expected. As a matter of fact, Gao and the others seem more annoyed than
anything else. Gao tries to keep control of the situation, not actively siding
with Elektra, but not ruling out the possibility. She explains that Alexandra
was kind of important to the group, as she was the ‘face’ of the Hand. Most of their
underhanded political, economic, and other deals were done through her. So,
Alexandra suddenly disappearing is going to take some explaining. Elektra
doesn’t care, as she doesn’t care about the Hand, she just wants to substance
that the Hand is after. The important thing is that she’ll be able to help
bring about this goal, so the Fingers are open to working with her.
The three Defenders are brought in
to the situation room in the NYPD and are pretty much told ‘tell us what you
know, or time jail.” The group tries to keep silent, in an attempt to protect
the NYPD from something that they can’t handle. To that, I say, “Guys, ask
Harry Dresden how often that approach kept him out of trouble with the Chicago
PD.” For those who don’t have time for fifteen books, it doesn’t work for him,
and it’s sure as heck not going to work for the Defenders. Luke finally breaks
a little, and lets them know they’re up against an evil Ninja clan. But not
much more. The Captain starts flipping out, but Matt is able to talk him down,
convincing the police that he needs to have a quick chat with his clients.
Apparently, no one is questioning why a lawyer is hanging out with two people
with confirmed superpowers and a billionaire. Karen shows up and pulls Matt
aside again. She, like Foggy, yells at him for giving into his ‘other life’
again, but Matt doesn’t have time for this conversation. Luke is pulled aside
by Misty, who once again asks him to work with her, but Luke refuses, in an
attempt to protect his friend.
Elektra takes a restrained Danny to
the catacombs beneath Midland Circle, while the Fingers watch over the security
cameras. While they’re still not sure how well this will work out, they agree
that Elektra does have the power to lead them into the new age that this plan
of theirs will lead. And that things could change after their new age begins.
Danny comes to as they reach the bottom, and Elektra shows him something.
 |
| Seriously, not one person is questioning why a lawyer, two superpowered humans, and a billionaire are hanging out together? |
The Trio of Defenders, finally, get
their private chat. They exchange information, mostly about what Jessica and
Matt learned about Midland Circle, and what John Raymond had planned to do to
it. They’re interrupted, again, by Foggy. He tells Matt how dangerous it is
that he’s letting his two ‘lives’ mix together like this, since if the police
discover Attorney Matt Murdock and vigilante Daredevil are one guy, all the
good that he and Foggy did as lawyers goes down the toilet. He hands Matt a
bag, a change of clothes, he says. Matt pops the bag open, sticks a hand
inside, and feels his Daredevil mask. A change of clothes, indeed. The Cops
discuss the situation. The Captain tells Misty, in no uncertain terms, that
this case will pretty much make or break her career. At that exact moment, Luke
and/or Jessica break the NYPD’s wall and escape.
We finally get to see what Danny
was shown, a giant stone wall with ancient writing all over it. She explains
what she learned about the wall from Alexandra. The wall was sealed years ago
by a previous Iron Fist, and thus can only be opened with Iron Fist. On the other
side is the substance that the Hand needs to make its immortality/resurrection
cocktail. So now, all she needs is Danny to open the path for her.
The cops are freaking out about the
superhuman vigilantes escaping and, from their perspective, kidnapping their
lawyer. Misty is told that she can either find them, or turn in her badge.
While that was going on, Colleen slips into the evidence lock up, and knabs the
schematics of Midland Financial and the crate of C4. Oh no.
Outside, the Defenders are in
trouble. They need to get across town, the cops are looking for them, and no
one thought to grab their wallet. Well, to be fair the cops confiscated them
when the group was brought in, but still, someone probably should have thought
of that before the break out. Thankfully, Jessica had her pass to the subway. The
group rides the subway, and Jessica also stealing a beer from a homeless guy.
Seriously, Jessica, you HAVE a PROBLEM.
Back at the police station, Karen
meets up with Foggy and asks what’s going on. He admits that he brought Matt
his costume, and that this somehow would help Matt break his superhero
addiction. Or something. Misty asks Claire where the Defender’s went. Claire
admits she doesn’t know, but Luke and the others are where they need to be.
It’s at this moment that they realize that Colleen is missing.
At Midland Circle, Jessica and Luke
admit that they might be having second thoughts about storming a hidden Ninja
base, again, but still go forward with a fully decked out Daredevil. They break
in, using the route that Luke used when he snuck in last time. Unfortunately,
they’re cut off by the surviving Fingers. In the bowels of Midland Circle,
Elektra keeps trying to persuade Danny to open the gate. She releases him from
his bonds to let him have a look at it. She tries to pull the “we’re not so
different, you and I,” line, but Danny is too smart for that. Yeah, I was
shocked too. The two warriors start fighting.
 |
| Oh... oh this does not end well. |
The other Defenders fight the Fingers
topside. It somehow breaks down that Matt is fighting Murakami and Bakudo,
while Luke and Jessica fight Gao. Yeah, Matt is the one that lucked out.
There’s a pretty long and elaborate fight scene between the Defenders and their
opponents. Lots of punches and kicks, Madam Gao chi blasts, sword swings and so
on. The fighters on the topside are pretty evenly matched, the fight only
shifting to the Hero’s favor when Colleen shows up. She takes a few swings at
Bakudo, before the Fingers bid a retreat. They bust open a gas line and ignite
it to cover their escape. Luke crushes the gas line shut, allowing the group to
continue.
Danny’s fight with Elektra isn’t
going as well as the others. When it comes down to it, Elektra is just too
strong and fast for Danny to keep pace. She decides to hit Danny’s biggest
pressure point, his guilt over failing K’un-Lun. How does she do this? By
revealing that she was one of the ones sent in to kill the K’un-Lun monks. This
sets Danny off, as he calls up the Iron Fist to keep the fight going.
Before the others can start
descending to get to Danny, Claire and Misty drive up in Misty’s car. It looks
like she might try to get in their way, she instead offers to keep the cops
busy while the Defenders do what they need to do.
In the pit, Elektra finally gets
what she wants. She nabs Danny’s fist between her sais and forces his hand
against the stone wall. He really should have thought of that before focusing
his chi, all I’m saying. The contact between the two causes a massive
shockwave, and a major blackout across New York.
Colleen, meanwhile, reveals that she
stole a crate full of C4 from the NYPD evidence locker, and that she wants to
destroy the building, using John Raymond’s original plan. The others are
apprehensive, but it looks like this might be their only option to stop the
Hand once and for all. Matt puts some of their nerves at easy by pointing out
the building is currently empty. How improbable. At that moment, Danny wakes up
in a giant cavern. Except it isn’t a cavern, it looks like it’s a colossal
skeletal ribcage. The camera pans upward, revealing that Danny is currently
lying in the partially buried skeleton of a colossal dragon. I think I know
what the substance is…
Once again, I find myself annoyed
by Foggy and Karen’s attitude towards Matt’s superhero life. Like, seriously
guys, you are going to keep whining about his choice to be a superhero when an
evil Ninja clan is doing society destroying type things. Why do it? I’m curious
as to what Elektra is planning to get out of the substance. She’s already been
infused with the resurrection juice, so, does she just want to get more
already? She never struck me as the type to be interested in immortality. Granted,
I know that being brought back to life drives someone slightly insane, but it
still, this feels a little too bizarre for her. The fight scene between the
Matt, Luke, and Jessica vs. the Fingers was really well choreographed. Lots of
punches flung, and weapons striking each other. Once again, Madam Gao was the
most terrifying fighter of the group. Something about her stern face, coupled with
her chi enhanced blows made her more than a match for Jessica and Luke. So
yeah, a good penultimate episode. Let’s see if they can stick the landing.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/15319192
Twitter:
No comments:
Post a Comment