Episode Title: 7 Minutes in Heaven
Originally Aired:March 18th 2016
The moments in this episode that give it its title go about as well as the popular game does for most teenagers. 7 minutes of nearly real time action will change the course of the remainder of the season in the most brutal fashion the show has ever seen. With Wilson Fisk making his return and quickly climbing the prison power rankings until he is once again the kingpin albeit a much smaller criminal word this time, but he is using this world to influence the next.
After witnessing Elektra, killing a young ninja Matt seems prepared to sever all of his ties. Telling Elektra that she will never be the good person, he or she wants her to be, because of the joy she finds in killing. Elektra managed to save Matt after he was poisoned by the arrow at the end of last episode and called in the most efficient cleaning crew since last year’s John Wick. Elektra may be a lost woman after leaving stick for matt last week and this week being pushed away by Matt. I imagine that stick will welcome her back, both because he cares for her and because well-trained fighters do not grow on trees. I do not think this is the last we will see of her with just four episodes remaining and the true plot of the Hand yet to be revealed. Will she be one her own trying to prove herself to Matt and Stick or will she firmly embrace the no mercy tactics that Stick requires?
After his falling out with Elektra Matt is ready to throw away everything, he has built with Foggy. Their friendship, their law firm and all the clients they have helped mean nothing to him compared to his work as Daredevil. Foggy wants to take a break so that whatever has gotten into Matt has a chance to work itself out and he can have his friend back. Ever since people started learning his secret the line that clearly divided Matt Murdock fun loving besting and lawyer from the vengeful devil of Hell’s Kitchen has been blurring and he may not be able to reestablish that separation. This episode is sadly foggy light again, he had very important scene with both Matt and Karen in the first 10 minutes of the episode and was not seen again after that. With the potential shuttering of Nelson and Murdock it’s unclear how much screen time he will get in the remainder of the season. Will he accept another job and move on from his friends or will new developments with the Punisher draw him back?
Another character from the past makes a roaring comeback keeping up the trend started last week, even complete with last second reveal. Last week it was Fisk and this week it is the Hand ninja Nobu. If you do not remember him, he almost killed Matt at the end of last season with a shogee, the knife on a chain weapon that he employed again tonight. What exactly Nobu is up to in that basement and if they were pumping something into the caged people of drawing blood from them for whatever was in that tomb. Nobu also makes the declaration that there is no such thing as death, which lends credence to the story that Stick told matt. Is it true that he is immortal, or does he just possess some enhanced healing ability?
After last week, Karen may have actually given up on Matt. his actions towards her as a boss a friend and a boyfriend have her thoroughly fed up and she just wants to move on and continue to unravel the mystery around what happened to Frank. Her frustration and disappointment is only compounded by Foggy at least temporarily giving up the firm, the case and the chase for justice. With both of counterparts unwilling to focus or force on it is up to Karen to figure out the truth. With the help of the editor, they are able to find the medical examiner and find out the truth about a man that is in some crime scene photos and not in others. The man was an undercover cop that was there working a case that could bring down large portions of the Dogs of Hell, the Irish and the Cartels. With the currently available information, this fact does not seem to make much sense. Why would they cover up the death of an officer killed in the line of duty an action that is usually widely mourned and celebrated? Who are the sources that tipped of the gangs, which led to the uproar that led to the death of most of the Castle family? With Karen hot on the case and no distractions from Matt, we may finally get the answers we have been waiting for.
Fisk wanted to meet with Frank because they have a mutual target and Fisk is still keeping his head down so he will set the man up for punishment. In the most violent stretch of the series, that involves several shivs, a broom handle and what looked like a meat tenderizer, Frank lays waste to the current prison kingpin while gaining a measure of the vengeance he seeks. Severely out manned and out gunned it is a true display of training, force and rage that lets Frank escape with his life from one of the best-shot scenes of the season. The only thing that could leave you wanting is the effects. The chose to go completely with CGI instead of a mix of it and practical, which would have been given effects that are more realistic. This could be by design because the most graphic moment of the fight is obscured by a convenient blood spatter on the lens. The Blacksmith, the man who set up the meeting between the three gangs that led to the police infiltration of their ranks, which led to the death of Frank’s family. Who is he and how will Frank find when the only clue is he has access to Middle Eastern heroin.
Now that he is free, what will Frank do next and whom will he punish? Just what did Matt find in that basement and will he ever be able to stop Nobu? Will Foggy comeback looking to reopen Nelson and Murdock and if he does could they even convince Karen to come back after everything?
Channel: Superhero 