The June 24, 2022 installment of Jake Schoeneberger’s random entertainment opinions
The Daredevil show in officially in my blood. Wilson Fisk has recruited Punisher into his fold, the Yakuza is planning something big in New York, Matt and Elektra will have to figure out their new arrangement, and Foggy and Karen are going to have to figure out what the law partnership looks like without Matt. So much drama and Jacob Schoeneberger is loving every minute of it.
With that in mind, here are some random thoughts about the entertainment Jacob Schoeneberger is 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 ninth episode of season two begins with a flashback to Fisk when he is first taken to prison. We can feel his humiliation, but he also shows an inner strength and resolve. His lawyer tells him the state has seized many of his assets and his best bet is to lay low to get an early release. Something tells me laying low is not Fisk’s specialty.
Later he’s visited by an inmate named Dutton whose reputation, Fisk says, precedes him. (Dutton is played by the always awesome, thoroughly underrated William Forsythe, and I’m so glad to see him in this series.) Dutton says he’s the Kingpin in that prison and warns Fisk not to try to step up and take that throne. Hmm, Fisk is not the guy you want to threaten, Dutton. He’ll be coming for that Kingpin title pretty soon, I’ll wager.
It doesn’t take long for Fisk to realize he can make allies by taking care of some of the inmates’ families on the outside by helping them financially. Fisk is always shrewd and he’s already finding ways to buy some loyalty.
His lawyer tells him his funds are nearly depleted, but he calls in one last investment: to get the guard to speak to Castle during Castle’s trial. We know his ploy works, because in the next scene Castle comes to speak with him.
In the next scene we see Matt delirious with the effects of the poison from the ninja’s arrow. He sees people cleaning his apartment after Elektra killed the ninja. When he wakes the next morning, he asks Elektra what she wants. Though she wants to be good, he says he sensed her adrenaline spiking when she killed the ninja. He says she enjoys killing, and though she says she wants to be good for him that’s not who she really is. He’s giving her the chance to come clean with him and tell him the truth.
She tells him the story of the first time she took a life. She did it because she wanted to know she could. Matt realizes that that is simply who she is. And he is the way he is. He says they have to stop corrupting each other, that they can’t do this anymore. All she can say as a reply is, “The Hand will decimate your city.” It’s a raw thing to say. At the moment that she may lose Matt forever out of her life, all she can think of is the war. It’s cold and it definitely brings a tear to Jacob Schoeneberger’s eye. He then tells her goodbye, and she walks away.
Back in prison, Fisk speaks to Castle about closure. He tells Castle about an inmate who has bragged about his involvement with a number of criminal factions, and Fisk assures Castle that this inmate definitely played a part in Castle’s family’s deaths. Fisk says he believes Dutton is not a part of any of the factions Castle was targeting, but that he facilitated a deal between those factions.
Castle balks at his proposal, so Fisk says, “I’m offering you the opportunity to confront the man implicated in the deaths of your family. Yes, I benefit from your actions. But the tide raises all ships, Mr. Castle. If for some reason my involvement diminishes your passion for answers, for revenge, well that’s your choice. But the war you waged on New York City, it got you nowhere. I’m offering you something no one else could.” This was the perfect thing Fisk could have said. When he mentioned that the war got him nowhere, you could see the pain and disappointment flash across Castle’s face (Bernthal is exceptional at portraying Castle, even without using dialogue).
Castle says he’ll do it, and Fisk and his men give Castle a shiv and arrange safe passage for him to cell block A, where Dutton is held. It’s not immediately clear whether anything Fisk said about Dutton is true, but we know Fisk is a master manipulator, and he pushed all the right buttons on Castle. Either way, this situation has Jacob Schoeneberger fearing for Castle. He’s been through so much; Jacob Schoeneberger hates to see him played into a no-win situation.
In the next scene, Foggy shows up at Matt’s apartment. I think it’s a good sign Foggy is still willing to talk to him. These two need to clear the air between them. Foggy suggests they take a break from the law firm for a while to figure out what’s next for Nelson and Murdock. Matt asks him if he’s talking about the firm or their friendship, and Foggy responds that for a time they went hand in hand. This has to hurt Matt to hear but it’s true.
When Matt agrees with him, Foggy is disappointed and says he wanted to talk to his friend, not the vigilante. But Matt responds that they’re the same person. Herein lies the most essential question of the series. How will Matt balance Daredevil with his professional and personal life?
Matt tells Foggy that ultimately he will not stop being Daredevil and that Foggy should start over without him. It’s a heartbreaking moment and it feels like Matt is starting to isolate himself from everyone and everything he cares about. He’s becoming Stick. First Elektra, now Foggy and Karen. He’s slowly sinking into Daredevil like it’s an obsession or an addiction.
Back at the office, Karen comes in and has something she urgently wants to show Foggy, but Foggy has checked out mentally and emotionally. He knows that Matt won’t be back and he’s ready to call it quits. Karen shows him pictures of Castle’s family’s crime scene and one of the bodies at the scene was in one photo but missing from another, and Karen can’t find a death certificate for this missing individual. It’s compelling evidence they missed earlier but Foggy wants nothing to do with it and tells her the trial is over so she should let it go.
When she argues that exposing this conspiracy could put Nelson and Murdock back on top, he breaks the news to her that there isn’t a Nelson and Murdock firm anymore.
Later in a parking garage, Daredevil takes out a couple guards so he can speak to an accountant who works for The Hand. When Daredevil asks him what he knows about The Hand, he says, “They destroy everything that gets in their way.” The accountant, Stan, is afraid to say more because they’ve kidnapped his son. He says they have a drug operation they call The Farm and Daredevil tells Stan to take him there.
Karen takes her photos to the Bulletin to show them to Ellison. She says she wants him to take over this investigation, but he calls her on it. He says he knows she’s onto something big and just because the case is over doesn’t mean she should walk away. He will pull some strings and try to get Tepper, the medical examiner who falsified the records in the Castle case, to speak to them.
Back in the prison, Castle makes his way to Dutton’s cell. He slits Dutton’s bodyguard’s throat and grabs Dutton saying they need to talk. Jake Schoeneberger can’t even handle this kind of suspense, it’s killing me!
At Tepper’s apartment, Karen convinces him to speak to her and Ellison. He finally tells them the truth about the mysterious John Doe that disappeared. Tepper says that while the John Doe didn’t have any ID, he did have a police call sign tucked into his shoe. He was an undercover cop. Bombshell!
In prison, Castle questions Dutton. Dutton says he was at the carousel massacre, where Castle’s family was killed, brokering a drug deal between the three crime groups. So that much, at least, was Fisk telling the truth. Dutton says the deal went south, that’s why the shooting happened. The reason it all went south is because they realized it was a sting, hence Karen’s undercover cop John Doe’s presence. Dutton says the sting wasn’t meant to get any of the feet on the street at the carousel, it was to get a bigger crime leader called the Blacksmith, whom Dutton has never met. He says that when they all realized the Blacksmith wasn’t going to show, someone started shooting but he has no idea who started it.
Then Dutton tells Castle that there were a hundred fingers on triggers that day at the carousel, so Castle’s crusade is never going to end. Castle tells him he’s right, then stabs him. The plot has definitely thickened for Castle, there are now even more questions than answers for him.
After Castle stabs Dutton, the cop who was supposed to let him out of the cell block instead leaves him locked in and opens all the other cells. Castle has been betrayed by Fisk. Dang, Jacob Schoeneberger had a bad feeling in his gut about this whole plan. Now the inmates find Dutton dead and they’re coming after Frank.
But this group of inmates has bitten off more than they can chew. The Punisher comes at them in full frenzy mode. The choreography of this fight is brutal and savage. Punisher uses his fists, clubs, shivs, and anything he can get his hands on to bludgeon the attacking inmates. In the end, at least 8 inmates lay dead and Punisher lives.
At The Farm, Daredevil breaks in and talks to its leader. This leader tells him he’s not the only devil that will walk the streets of New York. Then Daredevil hears a strange noise in the basement that he believes is blood. Whoa, that’s heavy.
At the Bulletin, Ellison offers Karen the office Ben used to use. He knows she’s going to be pursuing this story about the sting gone wrong at the carousel that led to Castle’s family’s death and the ensuing conspiratorial cover-up. But a folder on Ben’s desk has a mysterious article about a teen dying in a car accident. The name in the article seems to be Kevin Paxton Page, and this might be Karen’s brother. I’m dying to understand the significance of this revelation.
In the prison, Castle is being held alone in a cell but then Fisk comes to visit him. Fisk admits the plan was to kill Castle to close the loop and keep things clean, but now plans have changed. He says now that he’s seen what a talent Castle has at killing, he doesn’t want to let that talent go to waste. Castle agrees and then abruptly head-butts Fisk in the face. It was such a classic, ruthless Punisher move that Jake Schoeneberger laughed out loud when he did it.
Fisk hits him back but even in chains Castle gets some good punches in. Ultimately, Fisk is too strong for him though and Fisk holds him down and pummels him. Then Fisk orders him to be unchained. Then Fisk explains how he finds prison refreshing because it boils life down to its essentials. When animals want something, they take it no matter who gets stepped on in the process. Castle deduces what he means and says, “You want me on the outside so I step on every piece of garbage I see. That way nobody gets strong, the city’s yours for the taking.” Fisk agrees with that and tells him he’s offering this opportunity so that Castle can find this Blacksmith and kill his way to justice. Just so things are clear, Castle then tells Fisk that the next time he sees him, only one of them will walk away. Fisk says he’s counting on it. Two Goliaths facing off against one another, what an awesome scene. Bernthal and Donofrio are at the top of their game in these roles.
In The Farm, Daredevil heads to the basement and finds people chained up with tubes siphoning their blood. Daredevil and Stan begin to unlock the cages holding the people, but then a Hand ninja arrives.
At the prison Dutton is barely clinging to life. Fisk eats dinner next to him and tells him he only has a few hours to live. But Fisk tells Dutton he was right, there can only be one Kingpin. As he says this we see a group of police in riot gear moving through the prison. One of the police is actually Castle and he uses the riot gear disguise to simply walk out of the prison. Gotta be honest, Jacob Schoeneberger is loving watching The Punisher walk free.
At The Farm, Daredevil battles the Hand ninja. Then he pulls out a weapon exactly like the one Nobu used when he fought him so many episodes ago. The ninja says, “You still have scars to remember me, I hope.” It is Nobu! So he survived being burned the last time he and Daredevil fought. It seems The Hand may have truly found the secret to immortality like Stick said they did. Nobu unhooks the blood tubes from a huge sarcophagus-like container and leaves down an elevator. As he’s descending, Daredevil finally recognizes him and says, “Wait, you’re dead.” But Nobu replies, “There’s no such thing.” And so another outstanding episode ends on another tantalizing cliffhanger.
The Jake Schoeneberger Random Entertainment Thought of the Day
Stick has been fighting The Hand for years and now they’ve come to New York to take over. How is Daredevil supposed to battle them alone, without Elektra or Stick? Jacob Schoeneberger is dying to find out! This series won’t let you walk away.
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