The July 11, 2022 installment of Jake Schoeneberger’s random entertainment opinions
I’ve finally reached the finale of the second season of the Daredevil show. I’m full of excitement to see how this season wraps up, and I’m really looking forward to watching the other Marvel shows that started on Netflix. I’ve now realized this is a previously untapped goldmine of awesomeness. Honestly, Jacob Schoeneberger knows next to nothing about Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, but I can’t wait to learn!
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 13th and final episode of season two begins with Nobu speaking to one of his associates about 20 targets The Hand is ready to hit in New York City, and only Daredevil stands in their way. I wonder what these 20 targets are, they could be people or places. But one thing’s for sure, there’s gonna be some serious drama as The Hand tries to get Black Sky back.
Back in Matt’s apartment, Stick tells Matt that The Hand will burn the city to get to Black Sky. Matt says they need to stick together, but Stick says they should have let Elektra die when they had the chance. A reconciliation between Stick and Elektra seems miles away.
Elektra waits on the rooftop and tells Matt to leave her alone when he comes up to talk. But he asks her the simple question of if she considered that Black Sky isn’t even real, that it’s all just mysticism and myth. But Elektra says legend has it that Nobu has lived three lifetimes. So Matt proposes they need to take out Nobu and then The Hand will scatter. He says they need to team up to go back into The Hand’s lair to strike at Nobu. She can’t believe he’d be willing to risk everything for her, but she must not be paying attention because Matt has been there for her from the start.
In a lunch meeting, Marcy’s employer (Hogarth) not only offers Foggy a job, but full partnership in the firm. She says he proved that he’s resourceful in The Punisher trial and that the firm will need a resourceful lawyer in the future of vigilante justice. (Hogarth is played by Carrie-Anne Moss and I hope she’ll be a recurring character because Moss is a great actor.) Foggy needs to take this offer.
After struggling to begin her article at the Bulletin, Karen leaves the office. I wonder what she’s going to look for. We can definitely understand that her belief system has been shaken now that Castle took Schoonover’s life.
In Melvin’s workshop, Matt has asked him to make a suit for Elektra. That’s a nice gift, that suit has saved Matt’s life hundreds of times over. And to top it off, our buddy Melvin has made a sweet new billy club for Daredevil. It has a cord in its core that allows it to extend to longer lengths then retract. It can also be used as a grappling hook. Melvin is so awesome. And now Daredevil can swing along rooftops and smack bad guys from a distance.
Castle returns to his family home for the first time. It’s incredibly painful to see him sit at the table where his family would eat meals. And he’s reading a newspaper with a headline about his death. That has to be a surreal feeling. Then he heads to his garage and starts listening in on the police scanners. As he does this, he takes out a can of spray paint and sprays his jacket. Jacob Schoeneberger has a pretty good idea what he’s spraying on there and I couldn’t help but crack a smile watching that.
Just as Daredevil and Elektra prepare to head off to battle, Foggy calls Matt. Foggy’s at the police station and he says Mahoney needs legal counsel. Apparently he got roughed up by someone but he hasn’t said by whom yet. But they wanted to get to his files on Daredevil so that means it’s The Hand that beat up Mahoney.
Daredevil goes to talk to Mahoney. Mahoney tells him that The Hand didn’t just want records on who Daredevil put away, but also who he saved. These records will lead them to people Matt cares about, namely Karen first and foremost.
And sure enough we next see a bus driven and guarded by Hand ninjas, and Karen is inside it. Daredevil heads to Karen’s apartment and finds the bad news that she’s been kidnapped. And here we have proof positive for Matt that he can’t be two different people leading two different lives. They will always overlap. Because Matt and Daredevil are not two different people, and they can’t be separated.
On the rooftop, Matt can’t hear anything that will give him a lead where the kidnapped people have been taken. But luckily one of the prisoners, Daredevil’s old informant, Turk, has a tracker on his ankle for being under house arrest. That alerts the police to his presence. When they send a car, the ninjas kill the cops and Matt hears their distress call so he knows where to go. He also knows it’s a trap, but he won’t leave Karen and those people at the mercy of The Hand.
Matt realizes there are 20 hostages (the 20 targets Nobu discussed earlier), but Elektra only wants to kill Nobu. She doesn’t want to try to save the captives, but Matt goes alone because he won’t have it any other way. He comes crashing through a window and his new billy club comes in handy right away taking out ninjas left and right. As he’s helping the captives leave, he helps Karen up and cuts her free. Then he touches her face. The intimacy of the moment is quite beautiful, but it makes Karen try to look at him closer. He turns his face away, but he has to know that eventually he’ll need to tell her the truth. She’s earned that.
Matt gets the captives out just in time as he then has to fight several more ninjas. The battle is classic Daredevil awesomeness, and once again Jake Schoeneberger is absolutely blown away by the outstanding choreography and speed of the action. Out of nowhere Elektra shows up and kills two ninjas to help Matt. That was an unexpected surprise! She says, in her trademark Elektra matter-of-fact style, “I got bored.”
In a room upstairs at this compound, Nobu pulls out his familiar weapon with the hook blades connected by a chain, the same one he sliced up Daredevil pretty good with in the first season. He says, “Black Sky will be ours.” The Hand ninjas are running upstairs, apparently baiting Daredevil and Elektra into a trap. Gotta say, Jacob Schoeneberger has a really bad feeling about this.
Mahoney has a full squad of police at the building where the hostages were held. The prisoners exit and Mahoney sees Karen. She tells him that there’s a weird cult that set this trap for Daredevil. Then Foggy arrives and she tells him the bad news too.
Daredevil and Elektra find an empty room and talk. She says, “One thing’s for sure, we’re going to die here.” If there’s one thing Jake Schoeneberger hates to do it’s play Captain Obvious, but I just have to. They knew they were walking into a trap. And even before they walked into this tarp, their whole plan was to go back into The Hand lair. So I really hate to say it, but they kinda should have seen all this coming. If only someone had warned them. Oh wait, Stick totally did.
They head to the roof, and we see there’s a bunch of ninjas waiting for them. Matt proposes that if they get out, they can just run together. They’ll change their identities and just keep running. He says that Elektra understands him like no one else does. They agree, now all they have to do is survive.
On the roof, Nobu says, “No one escapes destiny.” Then he spins his weapon, and the fight is on. Ok, I get that Daredevil’s new billy club is awesome, and I get that Elektra is Black Sky, but they’re insanely outnumbered. There’s no way they can win this.
Elektra takes out a bunch of ninjas then joins the fight against Nobu with Daredevil. At one point, Nobu incapacitates Elektra then kicks Daredevil so hard his mask flies off. (The scene features some sick acrobatic work from the combatants. Really awesome.) Then just as he’s about to kill Daredevil, Elektra jumps in. She grabs the blade and makes him stab her with it instead.
As she lays in Matt’s arms dying, she says, “They have nothing now. I took it all away. I know now what it feels like to be good. Does it always hurt that much?” He answers yes, it does always hurt that much. Then she says, “It is not the end.” And she dies in Matt’s arms. A crazy emotional scene.
Nobu walks away and tells the remaining ninjas to kill Daredevil. Matt is in a rage and starts fighting the ninjas. Then we hear gunshots! Punisher has arrived to help Daredevil. He takes out several ninjas and allows Matt to catch up to Nobu.
That’s when something crazy unexpected happens. Matt beats the heck out of Nobu and tangles him in the cord from his billy club, sending him toppling over the side of the building. But Matt pulls the cord back and lets Nobu fall to the ground. This is that point Frank told him not to come to, the line he said not to cross.
Punisher says, “See ya around, Red,” and walks away. Matt just stands on the rooftop breathing heavy. It’s hard to fathom what his emotions are right now. Losing Elektra and then allowing himself to kill Nobu are two extremes he has to contend with. This has Jake Schoeneberger with tears in his eyes for Matt.
From the ground, Nobu opens his eyes and sits up. Man, this guy is like the Energizer bunny. But when he stands up, Stick is behind him, and he runs his katana right through Nobu. Stick says, “And this time, stay down.” Then he cuts Nobu’s head off. Look, if that doesn’t kill the guy I dunno what will!
The next scene is Matt and Stick at Elektra’s funeral. They’re the only ones there, because they’re the only ones who were ever close to Elektra. Stick asks him if loving her was worth it. Matt says that through all the chaos all they ever really had were moments of love, but it was worth it. Then Stick tells him he’s the toughest S.O.B. that he’s ever met. That’s an understatement, Stick. Choosing to love someone is the toughest thing you can do. It’s like what Frank was telling Karen. With love comes pain. But that’s the courageous choice.
At the bar, Karen and Foggy share a drink and reminisce. There may be no more Nelson, Murdock, and Page but they both agree to stay friends and be there for each other.
At the Bulletin, Karen is still struggling with how to write the Castle story. And now she has the hostage situation on top of that. Ellison gives her some good advice and tells her to just write it as her story, how it happened. He says, “This is New York, people think they’ve seen everything. Prove them wrong. Tell them something they don’t know.” Solid piece of wisdom from Ellison, as he becomes a more and more likable character.
Karen starts her story, “What is it, to be a hero? Look in the mirror and you’ll know.” She then narrates her story about how we’ve all endured and suffered and lost things we’ve cared about. As she narrates, we see Frank setting fire to his family home, but before he does he retrieves a disc titled “Micro” from behind a picture of him and Schoonover and his unit in Afghanistan. As he walks away we see his trademark skull on his chest in the light of the explosion of his former home.
Then Matt opens the door to his former office and Karen is there. He thanks her for meeting him and tells her he has something he needs her to see. He has a bag in his hands. It better be exactly what Jacob Schoeneberger is expecting it to be in that bag, Matt. It better the Daredevil mask! Karen has been through too much on your behalf and her life has been in danger too many times to keep her in the dark any longer.
The next moment does not disappoint in the least. He pulls the mask out of the bag and tells her, “I’m Daredevil.” The look on her face is so beautifully acted it’s impossible to fully read her reaction. She’s shocked, certainly, but is she also angry, sorry, pained, understanding of why he’s been so distant, what he’s gone through? Probably a mix of all these. We cut to a new scene before she can react.
In their underground lair, some Hand ninjas are putting a body in the same sarcophagus Nobu used. And, of course, that body is Elektra. They seal the lid, and another incredible episode comes to a close.
The Jake Schoeneberger Random Entertainment Thought of the Day
I really don’t comment enough on how spectacular the regular cast members are in this show. Charlie Cox is a phenomenal Daredevil. He balances both sides of the character so perfectly and he has the mannerisms down. Even that tough Daredevil walk has become a memorable aspect of the series. Yet he handles all the dramatic and emotional scenes eloquently. It’s hard to be both an action actor and a dramatic actor, but Cox does both superbly.
Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson are the glue that holds this show together. Woll’s performance is both understated and underrated. Her reaction to seeing the Daredevil mask was a study in subtlety. She brings so much heart and toughness to the Karen character. Henson provides both impeccably delivered levity and real-world voice of wisdom to his portrayal. Their believable performances make us envision how we’d react in their shoes, and it brings the viewer into the show. The biggest compliment Jacob Schoeneberger can give any show is that I can’t wait to watch more of it, and I wish there were more than just three seasons of it.
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