The July 5, 2022 installment of Jake Schoeneberger’s random entertainment opinions
As Jacob Schoeneberger watches the Daredevil show, he’s reminded of all the things he loves about Marvel. You care about the characters, they’re believable, and the action always leaves you wanting more. It’s pretty much everything Jacob Schoeneberger could ever ask for in a show!
With that in mind, here are some random thoughts about the entertainment I’m currently consuming.
This Installment’s Edition of Jake Schoeneberger Has Been Living Under a Rock Features: Daredevil
*This will contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched the show yet.*
The 11th episode of season two begins right where the last episode left off. A bunch of Hand ninjas are scaling the walls of the hospital and Matt is on his own to defend the victims inside. One of the ninjas kills a nurse right in front of Claire and they’re about to kill Claire too.
Just then Daredevil arrives and a fight with the ninjas ensues. The fight is intense and fast, but Daredevil holds his own. I’m going to go ahead and say we can use the term “ninja” loosely here. These henchmen are skilled fighters but I’m not sure they’re all exactly “ninjas.” I think real ninjas would carve Matt up in a five on one fight, but maybe that’s just the nerdy Jacob Schoeneberger splitting hairs here.
Claire tries to help Daredevil in the fight and one of the ninjas throws her out the window. Daredevil leaps out the window and catches her in a pretty cool sequence, and for a second there I was actually thinking we might lose Claire. When Daredevil is distracted saving Claire, the henchmen are able to escape with the victims.
As Claire is stitching herself up after they went through the window, Matt tells her about The Hand. She beseeches him to admit he’s in over his head, but he doesn’t really listen. Matt is headed for a serious crash if he tries to do all this alone. He’s already pushed his friends away and it hasn’t mattered. He’s not exactly winning the war against The Hand.
At the police station, Mahoney is questioning Karen about the shooting at her apartment. She doesn’t really tell him anything she knows. He’s getting her some police protection to stay with her.
Outside the station, Matt asks Karen why she didn’t call him but that’s a ridiculous question. He hasn’t exactly proven he’ll be there for any of his friends lately. I feel for the guy, since we know he’s Daredevil and he’s doing his best with the situation, but he needs to put himself in Karen’s shoes. From where she’s standing, he’s been pretty unreliable lately. They argue pretty heatedly but she winds up telling him that not only is Castle not behind the shooting, he’s the one who saved her.
As they talk, they figure out that the Blacksmith is behind the shootings of Reyes and at Karen’s apartment. Blacksmith is coming after Karen because she’s been working with Ellison and she’s getting close to some answers. When he pushes back on how it’s all getting too dangerous, she says, “No, Matt, I’m not yours to protect.” She’s very upset with him, and she has every right to be. He has to realize that from her point of view he’s not helping with matters. We know he has his hands full with The Hand, but she doesn’t know that.
Karen sneaks out of her hotel room to meet Castle in the parking garage. I appreciate that she wants to help Frank, but I gotta say this situation scares the heck out of Jake Schoeneberger. Castle is out for revenge and he’s going after some dangerous dudes. Karen being caught in the middle of all that might end really badly for her. Not to mention, as she says, she’s lying to the police when she covers for Frank.
Marcy comes to Foggy’s hospital room to tell him his name is being talked about around town. They’re saying he did great work in Castle’s trial so she’s going to try to set up some meetings for his next career step. She’s turning out to be a really cool character. She’s had Foggy’s back several times and she clearly cares about him.
As they’re examining one of the dead henchmen, Claire notices that he has incisions on his chest from an autopsy. That means the Hand ninjas may be people who had already died. But the hospital administrator says he’s going to cover up what they’ve found to protect the hospital.
On the street, Daredevil grabs Tower and demands that he turn over any intel he has on the Blacksmith. He says that Punisher is coming for Blacksmith, and he’ll turn the city into a war zone to get at him. (It’s at least nice to see that Daredevil is back to trying to figure out what’s going on with the Punisher/Blacksmith war instead of just The Hand.) But Tower says they don’t have any intel on Blacksmith. They only have one lead, and it’s thin. It’s Blacksmith’s main drug-running competitor and they operate out of Chinatown.
We next find Karen and Frank having coffee at a diner. Gotta say, this has Jacob Schoeneberger rolling his eyes. Why in the world would they go somewhere in public when everyone has seen Castle’s face plastered all over the papers and TV? Makes no sense.
As they talk, Frank asks her why she didn’t shoot him at her apartment. She says because she believes him and that he hasn’t lied to her. Then he asks if Matt ever lies to her. And she admits he does. But she also can’t deny that she loves Matt when Frank asks her if she does. She says Matt is the kind of man who damages and hurts people. But Frank says those are the only kind of people worth knowing. He describes how he’d give anything to feel his wife tearing his heart up again, and he tells her in no uncertain terms that she needs to grab onto that and never let go. It’s a really moving and gut-wrenching speech to hear him deliver, and Bernthal absolutely slays the scene as he always does in this character.
But then the real bomb drops when he tells Karen to go get the waitress and whatever cooks are in the back and hide. He’s spotted a car that’s been circling the diner and now they’ve pulled up and are coming in. That’s when Karen realizes that Frank wanted to be in the diner because he used Karen as bait to draw the people looking for her in. She is seriously unhappy with him.
Daredevil infiltrates a dry-cleaning establishment with henchmen inside. He’s trying to ascertain who they work for, but no one is talking. As he delves into the underground portion, he finds exactly who Jake Schoeneberger was hoping he’d find. Madame Gao is back in town, and the plot thickens further.
At the diner, Frank gets into a nasty fistfight/firefight with the three henchmen who show up. Frank’s fights are always especially brutal and this one is no exception. It really fits the character how brutally and violently he takes people out. He severely beats the last one left alive for information about the Blacksmith. Finally, the guys cracks and says, “41st Street, the pier,” before Frank kills him for good. Karen sees the damage he’s done so he tells her to call the police and get back into protective custody away from him.
As Daredevil talks to Gao, she reveals that the Blacksmith is ruthless and has systematically eliminated a great deal of her employees. The only info she gives him to go on is that Blacksmith’s goods come in by boat, but she doesn’t know which pier. Have to assume the guy Punisher just killed gave him the pier to be looking for. Will Daredevil be able to get to the right pier in time?
At the hospital, Claire learns she won’t be held accountable for what happened because they do intend to sweep the whole incident under the rug. But Claire isn’t having it and she quits. She’s definitely a person with morals.
On the pier, Frank is moving in and taking out guards. He traps a guy he assumes is the Blacksmith on one of the ships, but this guy doesn’t seem like what we’d expect of the Blacksmith. He’s on the floor whimpering. The whole thing is starting to feel like a trap to lure in Punisher. Just as Frank’s about to kill him, Daredevil arrives. He tells Frank the guy is lying and then stops Frank from killing him. This angers Punisher and he fights Daredevil. As they fight, the guy radios that Castle is on board the boat. It looks like the trap is about to close.
Daredevil wins the fight. Frank is a great fighter, but Matt is superior in hand-to-hand combat. Daredevil asks him to help take down the Blacksmith. But Punisher says he refuses to help bring him to justice. He wants to take him out his way and it has to be permanent. Then there’s a really profound moment that shook Jacob Schoeneberger to the core. Daredevil makes the sign of the cross and says, “Maybe just this once, maybe your way is what it’s gonna take.” It’s a huge step for Matt to allow Punisher to take a life. Is this another step into a deeper hole for Matt?
Surprisingly, it’s Frank who pulls him back. He says, “No no no, Red, that’s not how it works. You cross over to my side of the line, you don’t get to come back from that. Not ever.” Frank knows the pain he suffers from, and he doesn’t want to see that for Matt. As much as Matt angers him, he knows that Matt is a good person, and he doesn’t want to see him take that step.
After Frank says this, the trap is sprung. Cars pull up and Daredevil says he counts at least ten coming for them. They realize they have to get off the boat because when the henchmen open fire they’re going to blow it up. And then Frank does something else completely surprising. When Daredevil’s back is turned, Frank knocks him off the side of the boat to save his life. Moments later the boat explodes when the henchmen open fire. It’s not immediately clear if Punisher made it to safety, but something tells Jacob Schoeneberger he got off the boat in time. Call it intuition…
In the next scene, we see Stick getting word that Elektra took out Jacques. He says she’s now on the warpath working her way up. He then sends two of his henchmen off with some sort of ceremonial knife or something saying, “Go, get me what I need.” Stick obviously is enacting plans of his own. But when they get in the car, Elektra is waiting in the backseat, and she takes out the henchmen immediately.
Next, we find Daredevil crawling out of the water safely. He finds that Blacksmith’s henchmen have all died in the blast. When the police arrive, Karen is with them. Matt is hidden and he hears Karen crying. She assumes Frank died in the blast as well. It’s hard to read Matt’s reaction behind the mask, but he may feel that Karen loved Frank. I think a part of her definitely does. She sees Frank for who he really is. Not the maniac he was painted to be but a man who lost everything and is willing to sacrifice everything, even his soul, to avenge his loss.
At the hospital, Foggy catches up with Claire as he’s being released. She tells him that she quit, and that Matt will have to find a new nurse to bring himself and his victims to see.
In his stronghold, we find that Nobu’s victims are willingly giving their blood to heal him. They weren’t held captive at all. Or maybe The Hand has performed some sort of brainwashing on them. Either way, this has Jake Schoeneberger scratching his head wondering what kind of mind power The Hand wields.
At his apartment, Matt hears a car screeching down the road. He runs downstairs and the car crashes in front of his building. It’s Stick’s henchmen, the driver was able to drive even though Elektra had stabbed him. He tells Matt, “She found Stick. She’s gonna kill him.” Then Matt actually asks, “Who?” Seriously, Murdock? Who do you think, Wonder Woman? After he gives Matt the message, the henchman dies.
Back at Stick’s place, he sharpens his katana as he waits for Elektra to arrive. It’s a tense and powerful image of a warrior awaiting a fate he knows he can’t escape. Can’t say enough about how great Scott Glenn is as this character.
Then we see Elektra arrive with her trademark sai blades. She is shot in silhouette and creates a dramatic and formidable image as she comes face-to-face with her own fate. She kicks open the door to find Stick and says, “We need to talk.” He replies, with his stone-cold face, “I’m all ears.” And thus, another incredible episode ends.
The Jake Schoeneberger Random Entertainment Thought of the Day
I’m consistently blown away with how much every episode of this show is able to pack in. The interwoven stories, the drama of the characters’ lives, the action. It all comes together to create everything Jacob Schoeneberger loves in a show.
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