Many questions are answered in ‘The Man In The Box’, and a few new ones are presented. Having rescued the hostages from The Hand and realizing Nobu, who Daredevil defeated and watched burn to death in Season 1, is still alive, Matt Murdock tries to regroup and runs into a whole new set of problems. Securing the victims at Metro General with Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), Matt learns that Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) has escaped from prison.
Being pulled into the District Attorney’s Office after a brief and awkward reunion with Foggy and Karen, D. A. Reyes (Michelle Hurd) fills in the blanks on the shootout near Central Park and the murder of Castle’s family. It was a botched sting operation in an attempt to catch a new player in the drug game, The Blacksmith. The authorities failed to clear the park when the shooting started between the rival gangs present, and the Castle family was caught in the crossfire, which also explains why a ‘Do Not Resuscitate order’ was signed when Frank was taken to the hospital. Poor planning led to a tragic shootout and Reyes attempted to cover it up, and she will not live long to regret it as machine gun fire sprays the office, killing her, and it appears The Punisher is taking his revenge. The same fate befalls the former Medical Examiner, who confessed during Frank’s trial to altering his reports when Karen and Ellison pay him a visit. Karen is then saved by Frank when machine gun fire peppers her apartment, and he tells her “I didn’t do it”.
Murdock’s search for answers leads him to the one man who could have engineered Castle’s escape from prison barely a week after he was incarcerated, and that man is Wilson Fisk, portrayed with imposing presence by Vincent D’Onofrio. Murdock knows Fisk arranged for The Punisher to be back out on the street but cannot prove it, Fisk plays the “We are nothing alike” card, and in this scene, both actors do a fantastic job of playing off each other. Murdock goes after Fisk’s heart, threatening to keep Vanessa out of the U.S, and that underlying menace of the Kingpin comes out. As Fisk tries to make Matt’s head a permanent part of the table they are sitting at, Fisk swears vengeance when he gets out, that everyone Matt Murdock loves will suffer when he takes his revenge.
Elektra has decided that New York is over when she is approached by a tall, dark stranger. Small talk about skiing and high-end tequila gives way to an attempted assassination attempt in a short but dynamic fight sequence. Declaring to her would be assassin that she doesn’t care what The Hand wants, she learns that Stick (Scott Glenn) is who ordered her taken out.
On the roof of Metro General, Claire is attempting to pull Matt from the brink. Admonishing him that his friends are not a weakness, she can’t even convince him to visit Foggy, who suffered a gunshot wound when Reyes was murdered. Murdock blames himself for what has happened when the night goes from worse to just plain awful when The Hand show up in force to take back their hostages, and it seems the hostages are waiting for them. Black eyes and all.
Fantastic episode with the highlight being the scene between Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, this show continues to tell engaging stories, and tie everything together without making it seem cumbersome.
Daredevil Season 2 is available on Netflix
