The past two episodes of Daredevil have easily become my favorite in the series to this point. The seventh episode was my favorite for multiple reasons, but the eighth episode followed was nearly as good, providing us with more details and insight into Fisk’s background. Now, we enter into the start of the first season’s final five episodes. The story is still building, but Daredevil seems to be making a move towards the finish line as things appear ready to blow. I don’t think any episode will be able to match “Stick,” but I’m hoping that the show can continue to a solid close.
“Speak of the Devil” opens in the middle of a great action sequence. Matt is fighting a red ninja, who we eventually learn is Nobu, the Japanese man involved with Fisk and Gao. In the comics, Nobu is a part of the ninja group, The Hand. It hasn’t been confirmed if The Hand will be a Season 2 villain or rising factor going forward, but I would guess to see them as the future villain because the group has ties to both Matt and Stick. The fight between Matt and Nobu only happens in portions throughout the episode, as it cuts back and forth from the present to the past to show us how he got there.
The best part of this episode comes when we watch Matt ends up talking to Fisk one-on-one as he goes to speak with Vanessa at the gallery. Fisk is suspicious of Matt as soon as he sees him, but I think he figures out that Matt is Daredevil. Fisk has only communicated with Daredevil over radio so far, which would make it easier for him to piece things together. I think that D’Onofrio uses great facial expressions throughout this scene to display Fisk’s changing feelings towards Matt.
Cutting back and forth to the fight with Nobu keeps “Speak of the Devil” really interesting, because it keeps giving us bits of fast paced story. It’s also interesting because Matt is losing the fight. Everything even turns out to be a set up for Fisk to meet Daredevil face to face. Although Matt defeats Nobu with some smart thinking on the fly, he’s not in any shape to go up against Fisk, who is untouched and wearing his special suit that is lined with body armor. It’s great that Fisk essentially set up Nobu and Matt to fight because he didn’t mind seeing one, if not, both of them die to make his plans easier. It’s noble that Matt tries to fight Fisk, but their fight is essentially if you began the round of any fighting game at half health while your opponent was at full; Matt has no chance.
I love watching Fisk fight because it all comes out as brute force rage. Him pulling out his handkerchief to wipe his nose after defeating Matt was a great decision by either D’Onofrio or the director, because it shows how Fisk doesn’t like to lose his composure. The episode was an emotional one that had a bunch of great scenes coupled together. Between Matt’s scenes with Foggy and Karen and his meetings with Father Lantom, we really gain a sense for why he does this and how he determines who the bad people truly are. This really reminds me of Arrow and how (spoiler warning for that show) Oliver deals with Ra’s.
It was nice to finally watch an episode that had Matt with Karen and Foggy for a decent amount of the time. We all love to watch him in the suit hunting down Fisk, but I feel like in the past couple of episodes his screen time and interaction with the two other main characters has been lacking. Everyone gets broken up by the death of Mrs. Cardenas, and that’s what really sets Matt off in hunting down Fisk and Nobu. It’s nice to have something that brings Matt, Foggy, and Karen together, but it’s unfortunate that it had to be the death of sweet old Mrs. Cardenas.
This was an extremely light episode for Ben compared to episode’s past. He really just acts as a vehicle to pass along important information at points. I like his character, though, and am excited to see what they do with him going forward. Ben is heavily involved with The Daily Bugle, which is primarily seen in Spider-Man, but exists in the Marvel Universe as a New York City-based paper. It would be cool if Ben continued to be brought into all of the Marvel Netflix shows going forward.
Once again, Daredevil has put together a great episode. Since Episode 7, things have just continued to get more and more intense. Tons happened in this ninth episode, with great scenes between Matt, Foggy, and Karen, as well as the big meet-up between Fisk and Daredevil. As if this, plus the fight with Nobu, wasn’t enough, “Speak of the Devil” concludes with Foggy discovering Matt’s secret when he comes stumbling into his apartment hurt worse than we’ve ever seen before. I was wondering if and when someone would discover Matt’s secret this season, and whether it would be Foggy or Karen. I’m sure that this won’t be the easiest thing to explain. How will Foggy react?
Top Moments:
– The Fisk/Wesley bromance is brilliant.
– Nobu really gives Matt a run for his money. This is the worst we’ve seen him get hurt.
– The scenes with the priest, Father Lantom, are fantastic.
– More heroin packets with the Steel Serpent logo on it. IRON FIST HYPE.
[Photo via Netflix]
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