Daredevil - S2E7 - Semper Fidelis

Tweet

Previously on Daredevil, “Regrets Only”

The People v. Frank Castle

The first few days of The People of New York v. Frank Castle effectively establish it as the trial of the century. The opening montage of the jury selection process, while riveting on one hand, was far from the height of the media drama element. Foggy hyped it up as the trial of their legal careers and the events of this episode certainly did not disappoint… and they’ve only called in the first witness.

The Punisher has the people of New York bitterly divided. Some condemn him as a monster and cold-blooded killer akin to The Son of Sam while others applaud him. And while Nelson & Murdock currently lack the evidence to implicate D.A. Reyes in the botched events that led to Grotto’s death, they need a strategy to defend Frank in court. Simply put: although Matt and Foggy can’t prove Frank’s innocence using his military experience and PTSD can possibly reduce his sentence. But of course there’s the issue of Frank himself being a very difficult client to work with. He’s already admitted to murder and only further complicates matters by rejecting the claim of PTSD as a viable defense. Surprisingly enough however, Frank makes a noble stand against his lawyer’s defense strategy by declaring that blaming his actions on his post-war trauma would be an insult to veterans who actually suffer from this condition.

What’s Foggy left to do?

Your Honor, let the record show that our client is difficult to work with.

Foggy and Karen essentially place all their bets on being able to prove that the D.A.’s office has been actively involved with a cover-up and push for a mistrial.

“Going forward, I will count on you for nothing at all.”

But… “Where’s Matt?” Karen asks at one point in the episode. Clearly, not burning the midnight oil with the rest of Nelson & Murdock.

Matt has been terrible this season and is arguably the worst in this episode. He let his friends down by leaving Foggy to improvise their opening statements. He’s shirked his responsibilities to the firm by getting sidetracked by his nocturnal extracurricular activities with Elektra. It’s essentially Matt’s fault that chief medical examiner Gregory Tepper’s testimony becomes useless because he was threatened by Elektra the night before.

Furthermore, by a show of hands, who here is actually pushing for the Matt/Karen romance? There’s absolutely no chemistry between the two. Their little late night work-date on Matt’s couch feels so forced especially when compared to Matt’s scenes with Elektra. Why would the two even want to be together when they’re both hiding secrets from one another? That’s not the foundation for a healthy relationship. But to be fair, Elektra isn’t particularly the best thing for Matt either.

Bring on the next episode because that hole the Yakuza has been digging in Hell’s Kitchen raises more questions than it answers.

Side Notes and Memorable Quotes

Quote of the Week: “That was a pretty thick slice of bullshit there, counselor.”- Frank Castle

• Say “YES!” to more shirtless Matt Murdock!
• “And kill your decorator.”- Elektra. That guy’s loft was pretty tacky.
• Have the writers forgotten that Karen killed Wesley last season? It’s like they haven’t spent any time with how she’s dealing with that.
• “You don’t get what you want by day, you take it by force at night. This is who you are, Matthew. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s anything else.”- Elektra
• “You don’t treat me like I’m just your secretary. I’ve done more work on this case than you have!”- Karen | Surprisingly, I’m on her side with this exchange. Matt is being the worst.
• “Stop acting like these things just happen to you! No one’s making you go out all hours of the night fighting bad guys and nobody makes you lie to your friends, over and over again!”-mFoggy
• What could the Japanese be digging so deep for?