He’s eventually dumped out of a sewage pipe, where a cab driver finds him.
His friends, of course, assume he must be dead.
After that, though, he wants Karen to move on.
Credit: Nicole Rivelli/Netflix
Matt, though, isn’t interested in playing that game anymore.
In his words, “Job was a py.
I suffered willingly…well, not anymore.”
Even after getting his clock cleaned, Matt decides to take his old black costume out for a spin.
When he hears an assault nearby, he drops down to intervene.
He saves a man’s life but also gets the tar beaten out of him by the assailants.
Vigilantism: Still not the most effective way of processing your emotions!
Wilson Fisk isn’t really satisfied with his life at the moment, either.
This time, though, Fisk takes it.
Somehow, I suspect this won’t end well for people who aren’t Wilson Fisk.
“I’m Daredevil.
Not even God can stop that now,” he says to Father Lantom.
So, Matt decides to hit the streets and track down the muggers he fought the previous night.
He winds up finding them hiding out in an herbal dry cleaner.
Once the guys are defeated, he calls the police to come pick them up.
Little does he know, though, that news of his return is about to reach Karen’s ears.
Ellison assigns Karen to interview the woman who Matt tried to save.
Those accusations ended up tearing her family apart.
Obviously, Karen immediately tells Foggy that Matt is back, but Mr. Nelson doesn’t believe her.
Meanwhile, things are looking up for Ray and Fisk, well somewhat.
However, she eventually changes her tune.
Naturally, Fisk agrees because this is the only way to protect Vanessa.
“Love is the perfect prison,” he tells Ray on the way to his new safe house.
“I am always imprisoned wherever I go.
And if these things help me protect Vanessa, then they are nothing to me.
I will do whatever I must.”
Alas, Fisk’s monologuing about love is interrupted when the prison convoy is attacked by the Albanians.
Every agent bounds out of the car to fire back, leaving Fisk by himself.
Who is this courageous FBI agent?
Maybe it still will turn out to be that, but for now, Nadeem is indeed alive.
He and Wilson Fisk are both fine, and finally, make it to their destination in one piece.
It doesn’t take long for news of Fisk’s transfer to spread.
Karen Page and herBulletineditor both get the news while at an awkward dinner.
Karen isn’t the only character to show up at the hotel, though.
I really enjoy this dynamic.
Foggy, of course, is not.
He starts hatching his own scheme for how to trap Fisk legally and electorally.
Luckily, this episode isn’t just setting up for plot machinations down the road.
We also get a fight scene!
No wonder those Albanians toasted you guys!
Get your head in the game, y’all.
He even knows her order: broccoli, sausage, and extra cheese.
This is enough for the therapist to sign off on his return to duty.
This was truly one of the show’s best set pieces sincethe one that started it allin season 1.
Shooting in one take firmly places us inside Matt’s perspective, and the fight is truly dynamic.
It doesn’t just stay at one level; it crescendos and decrescendos when necessary.
But that’s not the case here.
Fisk also arranged for Jasper, who was serving a life sentence, to be released from prison.
Alas, Matt can’t immediately jump on that lead.
After making it out of the prison, he jumps in a cab and passes out.
Yay,Daredevilgave us anotherBorn Againmoment!
Elsewhere in the episode, a freaked-out Foggy tells Karen that Matt is alive.
Foggy is also feeling the stress.
He’s worried that Fisk is going to come after him, so Marcy suggests he run for D.A.
Fisk is a cop killer, so of course, they stand by him.
Meanwhile, Fisk continues to make moves of his own.
Even though Dex has been mistreating him, Fisk still lies to the agents to turn Dex.
Grade: A-
EPISODE 5: The Perfect Game
Wow.
But I swear I’m not jealous!
Especially since this episode comes up with a very creative way of conveying some important backstory.
As she tells Nadeem in an awesome moment, she asks better questions than he does.
It’s her job, after all.
Never one to take no for an answer, Nadeem next makes a stop at Foggy’s campaign fundraiser.
Without any more evidence, Foggy tells him to get lost.
Now let’s talk about the real meat of this episode: Dex’s backstory.
After Fisk gets a box of information on this guy, it’s depicted in an interesting visual way.
That opportunity arises soon enough.
While getting dinner at the hotel one night, Dex is shocked to discover that Julie works there now.
They actually hit it off well, and she agrees to get dinner with him for real this time!
Naturally, the show approaches this interesting dynamic in the most obvious way possible.
But, he can’t stay away from them too long.
Obviously, Karen’s still pissed off with Matt and is reluctant to help him.
Leave it to good old Foggy to persuade her otherwise.
So while Foggy sets up a meeting with Ray, Matt and Karen track down Jasper Evans.
Isn’t friendship grand?
Unlike Matt, Dex doesn’t have anyone to lean on, which leaves him vulnerable.
Fisk recognizes this and continues to dismantle his life by arranging for Dex to be suspended.
That theme comes through very clearly in what happens to Dex.
It’s very on the nose, but it ends up being effective because the fight is freaking amazing.
Furthermore, now Matt is doubly screwed because now both of his identities are wanted by the FBI.
EPISODE 7: Aftermath
In the wake of that traumatic attack on theBulletin, everyone is reeling.
Matt is feeling actually down, like he’s finally been beaten by Fisk.
This leads Matt to the source: Melvin Potter, the guy who made his own suit.
But even that was part of Fisk’s plan all along.
Luckily, Matt is resourceful.
Seriously, this guy’s only drive was protecting his girlfriend, but he did some really bad stuff.
Foggy, meanwhile, copes in a different way.
This does end up resounding to everyone’s benefit, though.
After their hook-up, Foggy picks up some legal documents they knocked loose.
Foggy thinks he’s finally figured out Fisk’s master plan.
Karen Page, meanwhile, is falling apart.
texts from loved ones…truly a horrifying and way-too-real tableau.
That begs an obvious question: Who is the real Daredevil, then?
A clearly shook Nadeem goes home, where he’s greeted by a very unexpected visitor: Matt!
Nadeem is finally ready to listen.
He asks Karen to attend so she can report on his accusations.
But Karen has another plan in mind.
She skips the dinner and makes a surprise visit to Fisk’s penthouse.
Unfortunately, her face betrays her and she re-confirms that Matt is Daredevil for Fisk.
However, she doesn’t back down.
Instead, she swerves and taunts Fisk with the revelation that she killed his right-hand man, James Wesley.
See, Karen thought pushing Fisk to attack her would help get him put away.
Alas, that plan failed.
It’s nice to see Karen take charge.
What happened between Nadeem and Matt was also a welcome development in the episode.
But that doesn’t happen here.
Instead, we find Nadeem and Matt working together in this episode.
They don’t find the red suit, but Matt does steal his therapy tapes.
But before we get to the cool fight sequence, we have to suffer through some plot retread.
After the newsroom massacre, Dex starts to lose it again and decides to reach out to Julie.
Somehow, he manages to convince her to sit down with him since he needs someone to talk to.
I kept yelling, “Girl, execute the other way!”
during their entire coffee conversation.
What that means is: If and when he finds Fisk, he intends to kill him.
This is something thatDaredevil’s peer shows (like the now-canceledIron Fist) too often failed to do.
We see Maggie as a young nun-in-training attending one of Jack’s fights.
Despite warnings from her fellow nuns, she does so, and the relationship clearly doesn’t stop there.
Later on, we see a vision of her and Jack smiling and kissing in a sunlit kitchen.
Unfortunately, the happiness didn’t last.
But season 3 of Daredevil has been able to expand the story ofBorn Againin actually interesting ways.
It turns out pretty much everyone in New York City has some weak link that Fisk can target.
Even Foggy Nelson is caught in Fisk’s crosshairs.
Matt isn’t quite playing into Fisk’s hands, though.
That being said, I do respect the episode for a couple of reasons.
First, the fact that the writers even attempted to flesh out Karen’s backstory is commendable.
The episode begins in Vermont and reveals the double life Karen used to lead.
For example, she’s justifiably concerned when Paxton buys a new stove they can’t possibly afford.
Unfortunately, things do take a dramatic turn for the worse on this particular day.
In the aftermath of the fight, Karen runs with Todd and proceeds to get high and drunk.
By the time they make it back to his trailer, Kevin has already set it on fire.
Then she helps Todd into a car and speeds off to get him help.
The irony is painful: She killed him while trying to get him help.
Now the episode jumps back to the present, where we find Karen still at the church.
We open with Maggie returning from a late-night walk to the worst news imaginable.
Her church is now a crime scene, and Father Lantom is dead.
Her arrival does allow her to glimpse Fakedevil leaving the scene, which will end up being important.
We follow Fakedevil/Dex just long enough to see that the dude is clearly losing his mind.
Enraged by his failure to kill Karen, he walks into an alley and just randomly kills two people.
Let me just say that I’m getting pretty tired of Dex’s invulnerability.
It’s getting boring.
Mahoney takes the hint and shuttles Karen and Foggy to safety, much to Dex’s rage.
The Fisk scenes in this episode mostly feel like a waste of time.
First he calls a press conference to announce that the Department of Justice has dropped all charges against him.
Elsewhere, debate rages about what exactly to do with this particular wolf.
After all, theyalreadyput Fisk in jail, and look what happened.
He runs the FBI now!
Yes, killing is wrong, but sometimes that’s just the game you’re playing.
So Sherlock killed him, and it ended the threat immediately.
But since this is a superhero show, we’re probably going with Foggy’s way.
Enter Ray Nadeem, desperately returning home to check that the FBI hasn’t killed his family yet.
A broken vase gives him a scare, but he finds his wife and son safe upstairs.
He tries to get them outside, but that’s when a Fisk hit team arrives.
Luckily, Matt shows up to take care of the rest.
Thankfully, the well-intentioned agent was able to regain some of his dignity before met his demise.
Let’s dive in.
I’m really enjoying the way the show uses Matt’s abilities this season.
Anyway, Matt and Ray make it to the courthouse, and Ray heads in to testify.
Is there anything he can’t do?
Speaking of Fisk: He spends the episode celebrating Vanessa’s return to New York City.
Fisk clearly knows something’s up, but can’t figure it out.
“I don’t want to admire your world.
I want to live inside of it with you,” she says in a particularly powerful moment.
So, Fisk gives her what she wants and shows her his evil Watchtower.
After ditching Matt and Foggy, Ray makes his way home and prepares to die.
With his back against the wall, Matt is finally ready to let the devil out.
He may have bent all of New York City to his will, but Fisk still gets wedding nerves.
Vanessa manages to guide him through it, and together they sanctify their union.
But it doesn’t take long for things to turn sour.
While Fisk and Vanessa are in the middle of their wedding dance, everyone’s phones start buzzing.
Then all hell breaks loose.
It works just as well.
Dex makes it to Fisk and Vanessa’s safe room at the same time Matt does.
Fisk takes the deal.
Thanks so much for reading ourDaredevilbinge recap!
Overall,Daredevilseason 3 is definitely one of the most impressive seasons of TV produced by the Marvel/Netflix partnership.
Almost every such season has suffered from pacing problems, butDaredevilseason 3 used the 13-episode order to its advantage.
Nadeem is on quite a Catholic journey here.
Karen’s storyline also got a significant upgrade fromBorn Again, for the better.
In that comic, she’s become a heroin-addicted porn actress who sells Matt’s identity for drugs.
Giving Deborah Ann Woll her own focus episode was a smart move too.
Thankfully, that’s not what the show did here.
Instead, it added texture to his madness and made him an overall more interesting villain.
This season definitely had some weak episodes, and struggled with a strange tension.
I’m interested to see where the Marvel/Netflix universe goes from here.
