“In the Blood” starts off with a little backstory for the Russian brothers who lured Daredevil into a trap in between the first two episodes, as this episode finally shifts Fisk further into the spotlight.
Daredevil’s been giving the Russian gang a… bit of a hard time what with trying to get more information on Fisk/using them as human test dummies to double check that he knows the safe height to drop a human body from.
“Thanks, boys. Let’s go up one floor and try again. Wouldn’t want to accidentally kill anybody while I’m out there hero-ing, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna stop throwing people off of things.”
After that, Matt heads over to Claire’s friend’s apartment (where she’s hiding out from the Russians) for a checkup and some flirting.
HELP ME I think I’m shipping.
Then he kills the mood by showing her his super cool flip phone to give her his number in case of emergencies.
“Are you kidding me with this Zack Morris shit? It’s 2015.”
She checks to make sure he has human emotions by asking him if he cares that his body-throwing research is still a little lacking, and the guy he tossed off the roof of her building is in a coma. He acknowledges that he only kind of cares. Meanwhile, the audience is loving that a superhero show is stopping to ask these questions. (Have I mentioned I really like this show so far?)
Our friend in the suit has a conversation with the Russians, whose name we finally find out is Wesley. (It’s entirely possible this isn’t the first time it was mentioned, and I was too distracted by jokes to notice.) They tell him Daredevil knows Fisk’s name and is looking for him, and he mocks them for getting wrecked by a b-list non-Avenger. Clearly, he does not realize that Daredevil is basically the MCU’s Batman, and you don’t f*** with Batman.
He offers to have Fisk take over their business and protect them to keep all of their intertwined endeavors working smoothly, but they’re not quite sure they need that.
Meanwhile, Karen is trying to get Ben Urich to look into where Union Allied went, because she doesn’t believe they just packed up and went home after some punching, kicking, and a news article. Urich puts her off and hints that maybe there’s something in Karen’s past that hasn’t come to light yet that discredits her and may have something to do with her strong desire to do the right thing now.
The Russians give a less-than-gentle wakeup call to their coma-ridden friend and get him to tell them about Claire so they can take one last shot at taking care of Daredevil themselves before accepting Fisk’s help. You know, because the last trap they set for him went so well. Exhibit A:
Elsewhere, Fisk is making his villainous debut by… trying to get a date—awkwardly—with the art gallery employee he spoke to in the previous episode, Vanessa. But not before he shares a moment with Wesley.
“Hey. You’ll always be my special little man.”
BFFs.
It seems like a bit of a weird way to intro a villain at first, but his awkwardness goes a long way in making him more believable than a two-dimensional, cartoonish crime boss who’s overconfident and out-and-out evil in all aspects of life.
In another part of town, Claire deals with a certain stubborn someone who can sense when evil is coming.
AKA Catt Murdock.
She takes a brief moment to get indignant with our furry friend before the Russians bust in to kidnap her, and she just manages to dial up Matt’s ancient cellular technology for help before they take off with her. He arrives too late to stop them, but his super hearing lets him pick up enough hints to track them down.
While he’s following up leads and presumably making a quickly stop at home for a change of wardrobe, Karen attends an auction where Union Allied’s old office supplies and computers are being sold to try to find leads. Ben shows up to prevent her from being obvious and getting herself killed, which she was pretty on track to do until he clued her in.
Fisk echoes Daredevil’s sentiments about making the city a better place over some wine on his date with Vanessa as the Russians try to beat Daredevil’s real name—which she doesn’t actually know—out of Claire.
“How am I supposed to know? He’s some kind of time traveler. He uses a flip phone.”
Then Daredevil shows up to prove my point about the whole Batman thing/save her. He kills the lights and takes out the entire room full of guys with machine guns by himself, because what the heck did they think was going to be different with this trap?
“Hahahaha.”
He succeeds, and Claire uses a baseball bat to strike the final blow to the jerk who was beating her, because she gives a similar amount of f***s to Matt. Whether that’s a new development or not, it’s safe to say she approves of his methods.
In a diner, Ben tells Karen that she should sign the NDA from Union Allied’s lawyers to keep herself safe while he pursues digging into the company’s dealings while the Russians recuperate and… prudently reconsider Fisk’s offer of protection from The Batman Daredevil. One of them goes to tell him so in person, and Vanessa is less than pleased when their date is interrupted by obvious indications that Fisk is a crime boss.
While Karen tries to explain to Foggy where the fax machine and varoius other office equipment came from without mentioning how she bought it at an auction to avoid getting murdered,
“Idk. Your buddy Matt has a weird thing for ’90s tech? Maybe he’s a time traveler.”
Claire reassures Matt that he can’t stop helping people just because he feels about what happened to her, and Matt finally tells her his real name so she can stop calling him Mike. Trust-building!
Fisk walks Vanessa home and double checks that she’s not cool with the whole mob thing.
“Um, no.”
So he goes and takes out his frustrations on the guy who ruined his date in a totally reasonable manner to really prove Vanessa was wrong about him.
Or not.
And there’s Wilson Fisk in a nutshell for you. Tune in next time when we see if he’s finished slamming that door on that guy’s head yet.
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