Previously: Foggy was very angry that Matt was punching people in a mask.
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The Path of the Righteous
Marines: A snotty little girl is watching old cartoons and I am very confused until Fisk busts into the room, carrying Vanessa. It’s an emergency room. A doctor and nurse rush out to attend them. Between Leland, Wesley and Fisk, they explain that this happened at an event after Vanessa drank something. Four or five other people also went down. The doctor wheels Vanessa back into the ER. Fisk wants to follow but the scrappy nurse stops him. He can’t go back there, no matter who he is. He’ll get an update on how she’s doing once they know.
Jessica: Way to be, hero nurse! Doing your job amongst rampant superheroes and angry, shout-y villains in menacing tuxedos.
Annie: Nurses are really underrated. Telling villains to calm down and sit down is probably one of the easier parts of her job.
Mari: JUSTICE AND WAX.
After the credits, Karen bangs on Matt’s door. She yells at him to let her in because she can’t get a hold of Foggy and no one is in the office. She’s there for a while, but probably only because it takes Matt a while to shuffle over to the door and let her in. She’s shocked at how beat up he is and at how he grabs a beer and starts drinking this early in the morning. Matt sticks to the car accident story, but Karen isn’t buying it.
Jessica: I like that while they have Matt lying and deceiving people, they also put in that Karen isn’t dumb and she’s knows it wasn’t a car accident. I think it helps make their argument more powerful, because she knows he’s lying but he still refuses to divulge the truth.
Annie: What does it say about TV that I’m just happy that Karen isn’t your typical, guilible, brainless trophy woman character? Girl’s got grit, brains and she’s seeing right through your bullshit, DD.
Mari: Karen wants to know if this has to do with Fisk. Did someone break in? Did someone beat the crap out of him? Matt won’t answer. Karen reminds him of the last time she was here, when he made her feel safe and like she could trust anything he said. He’s like, “yeah. You lied to me.” That didn’t go as planned, did it girl? Especially when Karen says she was just trying to protect people and make sure no one got hurt. Matt pointedly says he knows the feeling.
That’s all Matt has to say, but Karen has something: she tells Matt about Fisk’s mother and her trip to the care facility. Matt sighs that Fisk could have people watching. Karen knows. She didn’t leave her real name. (J: ….Fixed it?) Matt thinks she should’ve called him or Foggy before running off that way. She tried to, though. Neither of them picked up. Matt softens and asks if Karen spoke to Fisk’s mother. She did, and while she’s not all there, she told them that Fisk killed his father when he was 12, and she helped cover it up. Matt says it won’t be enough. He was a minor. Karen says it won’t be enough for jail, no, but it doesn’t line up with everything else Fisk has said and what he’s had changed at the county clerk’s office. Matt downplays the discovery. Karen says it’s better than anything Matt or Foggy have come up with.
Matt takes that mention and asks if Karen has spoken to Foggy. She says not since yesterday, when she guesses Foggy was covering for Matt. He tells her to go back to the office, call Foggy and tell him what she found. Matt almost sends a message to Foggy with Karen, but decides it’s no use. Matt tells Karen to be careful. She gets close to him and cradles his face softly, telling him to take his own advice. Matt drops his head, snapping Karen out of the moment. She shuffles awkwardly away to awkwardly present the get well soon balloon she bought him and then awkwardly leaves.
In the hospital waiting room, Fisk is v sad and also the waiting room is full of his lackeys. Leland whispers to Wesley that Fisk looks awful with all that emotion, and how is he going to lead a crime ring now? Wesley says this isn’t the time, but Leland disagrees. This is exactly the time, considering that it’s unlikely that the poisoner was going after Vanessa. Wesley asks if Gao was still displeased with them, and Leland thinks this was more likely the Japanese after what happened with Nobu. Wesley doesn’t think so, seeing as how all the building titles they requested were transferred to them anyway. Plus, they think the man in the mask killed Nobu. Wesley asks Leland to keep any eye on all the accounts and note any sudden changes.
Jessica: Is it just me, or does Leland seem to have a case of the He-Doth-Protest-Too-Loudlys? What I mean is – he sure is throwing a lot of distraction-y thoughts around.
Mari: Definitely. His shifty behavior is dialed up to 10.
One of the security guards comes over to whisper the news that three of the other poison victims are dead. Wesley says that Vanessa is going to make it. She has to. Leland thinks they have bigger fish to fry, so Wesley turns his attention back and tells Leland to call Gao. If she wasn’t involved, they will need her support. Leland is like, “uh, what if she was involved in the poisoning?” Wesley says it’s been a honor working with him. (J: #villainhumor)
Matt-partment. Rosario Dawson is stitching up Matt’s side, where he busted his wound open again. She tells him to please get some rest and heal and also maybe look into some body armor. Matt is starting to consider it after seeing Fisk’s body armor suit. Once Claire (I had to look up her name again lol) is done stitching Matt, he asks if she wants a drink or something. She turns him down swiftly and says she’s going home to pack so she can take some time off and get out of the city.
She starts toward the door again, but she’s had like 5 fake goodbyes at this point. I get why she doesn’t want to date this weirdo vigilante, but also girl. You are stretching this out. (J: Those abs are still fresh in her mind.) (A: The abs are not enough. I have a feeling Claire has something better coming her way.) Matt thanks her again and she says she’ll always be there when he really needs patching up, but beyond that… She trails off and Matt gets it. At the door, Clair says that they only thing she really remembers from Sunday School is the martyrs, the saints and the saviors who all end up the same way: bloody and alone. Matt never said he was any of those. Claire replies that he didn’t have to.
Karen meets with Ben, and he’s still pissed at her for lying to him about knowing a great place for his sick wife. I know we already said it, but yeah, that was pretty low, KAREN. (J: Indeed.) Karen then gives an impassioned speech and I really don’t think I like her character? Karen wants Ben to print the story of Fisk’s murdered dad, but he helps her see that they don’t have enough to go on. Fisk could just go on TV and cry again.
Ben has another idea. He has a source who told him what went down at the benefit with the poisoned drinks. It’s being spun in the media as food poisoning, which means Fisk has pull with the media. Karen wonders why someone would attack a benefit. Ben very cryptically says that you don’t get to be the man on top of crime without making some enemies who want to pull you down to the ground.
At the hospital, Wesley brings Fisk something to drink, which he refuses. Fisk is having a lot of emotions over Vanessa, but Wesley calms him and says it will all be fine. Fisk remembers what Gao said about choosing a path or else fate would choose for him. Fisk wants the person responsible found ASAP, so he can kill them dead. (J: Super dead.) He also wants arrangements made so that if Vanessa recovers, he can send her away and out of the city. Wesley doesn’t think Vanessa would actually like that, but Fisk says oh well. Do it.
A Doctor comes out and tells Fisk that Vanessa is in an induced coman, but she’ll pull through.
Matt’s at church again. Father Lantom asks if Matt killed that man he spoke of last time. Matt says no, but he did try. He also shares Claire’s words about him ending up bloody and alone. Father Lantom asks if Matt believes that. Matt non-answers that he’s not afraid of dying. Lantom says most people aren’t. It’s living that scared the holy crap out of them. (J: “Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder.”) Matt asks if Lantom knows who he is. Lantom says he’s not an idiot. (J: I like this too.) He has a pretty good idea who Matt is and what he does, though he has no idea how Matt does it. Matt gives the Spark Notes: accident, when he was a kid. Used to think it was God’s will, but why would God put the devil inside of him, snapping to be let out? Father Lantom gives him some words of wisdom about angels and treading the path of the righteous. Very Father-like stuff.
Back at the Matt-partment, he’s trying to meditate, maybe? But all he can think of is all the times he got beat to shit. He stands, goes in his closet, and opens his secret chest.
Hospital. Fisk sits next to Vanessa’s bed. His mom calls, but he ignores the call. He tearfully kisses Vanessa and leaves the room. Wesley asks how Vanessa is. He says she hasn’t woken up and the Doctor says there could be complications when she does. Wesley says they’ll take care of that if it happens. Fisk asks Wesley to return his mom’s call. Leland pushes past the security guards in the hall and wants to speak to Fisk for a moment, but he doesn’t want to be disturbed. He heads back into Vanessa’s room. Leland is not happy.
Wesley asks Leland if he spoke with Gao. He did, but he isn’t very good at explaining what was said or how. The long and short of it is that Gao said she’d stand with them if it came to that. All Leland knows is that Fisk needs to get back to business and isn’t super in love with Wesley saying that Fisk will, eventually. Wesley’s ears are SO RED in this scene, it’s distracting. After Leland leaves, Wesley calls Fisk’s mother and she tattles about her recent visitors. (J: Dang it, Marlene! Why can’t you just be cool?)
Matt visits the armor guy, aka he does some breaking and entering. Once he hears someone coming, he hides in the shadows. The armor guy gets back to his workshop and grabs a Yohoo from the fridge. He gets one good sip in before he sees Matt lurking. Armor Guy tells Matt he shouldn’t be there. Matt asks if he works for Fisk. Armor Guy doesn’t answer, so they fight. Matt is better, but then he doubles over like he’s busted some stitches and Armor Guy grabs and lifts him by the face. I hate Matt getting beat up all the time. RECOVER, MATT. YOU DO THE BEATING.
Annie: I’ve found that’s the hardest part of this show. I don’t need Matt to keep getting the shit beat out of him. We get it already. Let him heal up and be more punchy-kicky, less bloody-limpy, show.
Mari: Wesley wraps up his call with Marlene. He borrows a gun and car keys from one of the security guards. He leaves with instructions for as many men to watch Fisk as possible.
Matt and Armor Guy keep fighting. You can tell, just watching them, that Armor Guy is stronger. He does a lot of grabbing and throwing, where Matt does all of his fast kicks and jabs. Armor Guy manages to get chains around Matt’s neck, but Matt flips out of it and then chokes Armor Guy until he goes down. Matt is gasping and clearly in just as much, if not more pain, than Armor Guy. But then, Armor Guy starts sniffling and sobbing? He sobs that Matt isn’t supposed to be there and Fisk is going to hurt her. Matt softens and asks Melvin, for that’s his name, what he’s talking about. Through this conversation, we can assume that Melvin has some sort of developmental disability. He says Betsy is the woman who helps him when he gets confused. Fisk asked Melvin to work for him, because he’s good at making things. He didn’t want to, but you don’t say no to Fisk. Matt apologizes for all this. Fisk has threatened to hurt people he loves, too. Matt wants to stop Fisk. He wants to keep people like Betsy safe from Fisk. Melvin wonders if he can really do that. Matt thinks he can, but he needs Melvin’s help. He needs something like the armor Melvin made for Fisk.
Jessica: I was a bit conflicted here, because it feels like Matt is being dishonest to Melvin. He wants what Melvin can provide, so he offers something of use to Melvin, but is it something he can really offer? How much different is it from Fisk’s offer? I mean, Fisk is offering pain to someone Melvin loves, but Matt is offering at least somewhat false protection of someone Melvin loves. So if/when that falls through, Melvin is out of luck. Also like, money is good, right people? I know Matt doesn’t have a lot of money, but just promising to get rid of Fisk and randomly protect Betsy doesn’t necessarily seem like a good deal for Melvin, though he can’t see that. It just rang hollow that beat-up and bloody Matt promises the moon to this guy just to get something he wants for free.
Mari: Absolutely. People keep taking advantage of Melvin and I just met him, but I don’t like it.
Karen goes to the guys’ bar and finds Foggy drinking alone. She grabs his bottle and helps herself. Karen calls him a dick and he wonders what the hell he did. Karen has been calling him all day with the news about Fisk’s mom. Foggy tells her it’s not enough. Karen thinks he sounds just like Matt. She wants to know what happened to Matt, why Foggy wasn’t at the office and what’s going on between the two of them. Foggy says they are going through a rough patch, but considering that Karen saw the Nelson & Murdoch sign in the trash, that’s an understatement. Karen asks if he wants to talk about it. He does, but he can’t. It’s personal. Karen backs down after he snaps, teary, but ever here to remind our boys of the mission: Fisk is still out there. They started tearing down Elena’s tenement building today. It would be nice if Foggy and Matt could get their heads out of their asses and get back to fighting for Hell’s Kitchen, before there isn’t anything left to fight for.
Karen stomps out and calls Matt next, leaving him a voicemail with about the same message. She tells him that she thought they were supposed to be a team, not whatever the hell this is. She demands that he call her back, seriously, and ends with a little “bye.” Okay, maybe I do like her character.
Ben is at work when his cell phone rings. He answers and it’s Karen. He sasses her a bit, but blames it on being tired. (J: I like Ben.) (A: He’s the hero of this story RN.) Karen cries to him about the fight between Matt and Foggy and how it feels like it’s all falling apart. Ben says that’s how you know the story is getting good. Karen asks how he deals with it. He tells her it’s one foot in front of the other. You do what you can and you hope that it’s enough. Karen thanks him for being there and for caring. She hopefully asks if they’ll talk tomorrow and in a show of some forgiveness, Ben says they will. We then see what Ben’s working on. He’s got an old photo up on his computer and he zooms in until he sees a poster for Bill Fisk, Fisk’s dad.
Karen gets home and is almost immediately grabbed by a man in black leather gloves. (J: Oh great.)
Fisk sits next to Vanessa’s bed and gives another big speech about faith and praying. He makes her a promise that the people who did this to her will suffer.
Karen gasps and comes to in a room that has a small table and two chairs. Karen tries to stand but she can’t. Wesley sits down in front of her and tells her that after the Union Allied thing, he wondered if she would be any further trouble and it was determined that she was a nobody. So, they came to her with a legal agreement for a reasonable amount of money. Wesley tells her that she was supposed to go away and fade back into where people like her go to. And yet here they are. Karen asks if that’s supposed to scare her. Wesley says no, but the gun he pulls out of his pocket is.
Realization dawns in Karen’s eyes and Wesley sees it. Wesley says he was surprised Marlene remembered the visit, but she did. Karen tells him to get on with killing her because she’s sick of listening to his bullshit. He laughs again and says that he isn’t here to kill her. He’s here to offer her a job.
We cut briefly back to the hospital. Fisk comes out of Vanessa’s room to ask for a coffee and where Wesley is.
Back with Wesley, he explains further: Karen’s job is to convince Ben that everything is fine, that she was wrong and that Wilson Fisk is a good man. And then Karen will spread the Fisk gospel. Karen says that she would rather die first. Wesley says she won’t be the first to die, though. He would start with Ben, then go to her employers, then kill her family, then kill her. Wesley’s phone rings and he looks down at his pocket. In that split second, Karen grabs the gun and HOLY SHIT. She’s freaking out, too, hands shaking. We cut to Fisk and watch as he listens to his end of the phone ringing. Wesley asks Karen if she really thinks he’d put a loaded gun on the table where she could reach it. She cocks the gun and says she doesn’t know. Does he really think this is the first time she’s shot someone? He smirks and gets ready to stand, AND KAREN SHOOTS HIM IN THE ARM. He’s so damn shocked, and yet he doesn’t really have time to be shocked because she shoots him FOUR MORE TIMES IN THE CHEST. OH MY GOD.
Jessica: AAAAAH WHAT THE HELL? I was not prepared for this! What just…. what?!?
Annie: My notes for this were basically thirty question marks and a WTF. Don’t mess with Karen, she’s had enough of this bullshit.
Mari: Wesley is dead and his phone keep ringing on. Karen freaks out, wipes clean the table that could’ve had her prints on it, takes the gun with her and runs.
Jessica: *gapes in amazement and shock.
Mari: Yeah. YEAH. That’s all I have left.
Next time on Daredevil: Fisk wants revenge in S01 E12 – The Ones We Leave Behind.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I'm a chronic book nerd and love storytelling in all forms. I'm particularly excited by the rise of the television show as an art form with long, cinematically beautiful plots and complex character arcs (I also watch cartoons). My travels in the past handful of years have led me through three continents and most recently landed me among the majestic mountains of Colorado. Some day I will compile all my travel journals/blogs into one place. Some day. Until then, you can find me with craft beer in hand, ready at any moment to deeply and passionately discuss survival tactics for the zombie apocalypse.
Fuchsia-haired, caffeine enthusiast, dog person, Raptors fan, sometimes blogger, music & social media geek, freelancer, human being. She/her.
