Daredevil's alter ego, Matt Murdock, purposely doesn't make an appearance in this series' second episode. It's just one of the many interesting stylistic choices made by writer Drew Goddard and director Phil Abraham in the episode. This episode had everything; It was filled to the gills with material. There's a surprisingly immersive flashback that speaks to the root of what Matt is doing as the black masked vigilante (who is given the amusingly generic "Masked Man" moniker according to the closed captioning). Since Matt's lawyer alter ego doesn't make an appearance, it gives an opportunity for the show to flesh out both Foggy and Karen's characters. 






Instead of possible romantic fireworks going off between Karen and Matt, the episode pairs him with nurse Claire Temple in its entirety. Even for a second episode, there's a large amount of stability to the narrative. The episode contains an assuredness about itself that is rare to find for a show in its early stages. That's all with the absence of the Big Bad villain that was only hinted at in the previous episode!




No, the Kingpin isn't needed in this episode. His right hand man Wesley doesn't make an appearance. Like I wrote in the review for "Into The Ring," the show benefits from keeping things running in small scale. There's an intimacy in the early scenes with the Masked Man recuperating/hiding in Claire's apartment. She and her friend had found Matt nearly beaten to death in an alleyway, and with Claire being a nurse, she's obligated to help anyone who's been so severely hurt. But there's more to it than that. Obviously, Matt can't reveal his true identity to her so she's left to figure things out on her own. It goes both ways, though, with Claire initially harboring secrets of her own from Matt. She doesn't tell him that she's a nurse for example. Readers of the Daredevil comic books might be able to figure it out (though she apparently had a different profession in the comics), but this dual secrecy lends a great, unexpected source of tension between the two of them. 





The way Claire reacts to the Masked Man is very relatable. She didn't need to point it out verbally in the end, but anyone who has seen what she saw in the short time she spent with him would react suspiciously. Even when he's blind, he's able to knock out a man with a fire extinguisher from five floors up. Or hear and smell things through walls. The show doesn't need to visualize Matt's powers now. They're taken for granted, and it would look very odd to a stranger who wasn't familiar with him. I really liked that Claire is able to piece together the various appearances of the Masked Man for herself. It gives her an intelligence and depth that many shows don't give to supporting characters. The show elects to continue the thread with the Russians and human trafficking, which culminates in a fantastic five-plus minute fight sequence where Matt takes on a bunch of Russian thugs to end the episode. By the end, he looks like he might keel over from exhaustion, and the viewer might feel the same way.






Outside of all that violence and blood, the lightest subplot in the episode belongs to the after-work hijinx between Karen and Foggy. It starts out that way, with Karen laughing at Foggy's bad singing (thus further cementing Foggy's status as the lone comic relief in this very dark series), and advances to heavy drinking at a seedy bar. It's there at the bar that the drama gets heavier, building on what occurred in the first episode. Karen is understandably upset and traumatized by the fact that there are remnants of her former co-worker remaining in her apartment. It's a permanent reminder of what she was falsely accused of and what she went through to get to that point. 



Again, it's early in the series running, but Deborah Ann Woll is naturally able to inhabit her character. Aside from being undeniably gorgeous, she is able to keep Karen grounded when she could easily veer into cartoonish, damsel-in-distress territory. As with Matt's nascent detective skills in the first episode, the show is able to avoid the usual tropes that routinely come up in regular network series. Karen has proven that she isn't weak, that she's mentally tough, but there are moments when cracks show. That vulnerability is able to serve her character well, and she should hopefully tap into that in the future.




By now, the integration of flashbacks within an episode proper is practically standard with any drama worth its salt. Matt Murdock's backstory should be very familiar to fans of the comic books or even anyone who saw the Daredevil film. The story of Jack Murdock's demise was quickly covered in the film so it does feel familiar here. There are a couple of loops thrown for surprise effect, though. I thought Jack was going to throw the first fight depicted in the episode, but it just turns out that he loses. I actually expected that he would do as he was told and throw the fight with Creel. There's a nice, brief rush of excitement and tension when he beats Creel and has to go on the run for defying orders. In between, there are a couple of nice scenes that seal the bond between Jack and Matt. He clearly dotes on his son, and would do anything for him. So the sense of tragedy and shock is palpable when Jack is inevitably gunned down. He may have been killed by one of the Kingpin's minions. Or it may have been someone else. 







Chances are, Matt is going to eventually find out who that person is in the life of the series. When he does, watch out. Matt may not enjoy the violence that he engenders as the masked vigilante (part of that is due to his devout Catholicism), but he clearly sees it as a necessary evil. A way to honor his father and avenge his death at the same time. Someone needs to stem the tide of rising crime in Hell's Kitchen and when no one else is willing to step up, it's ultimately on Matt to take on that monumental task. If that doesn't make him a hero worth cheering for, then what would?