Netflix Retrospective: Daredevil season 2 episodes 5-6 - Kinbaku/Regrets Only

Let’s go…

Kinbaku

We open at a house party, in flashback, where Matt and Foggy are attending… apparently uninvited. He hears the chattering bracelets of Elektra. He’s caught out by security but Elektra lets him stay, saying he’s with her. Roll credits.

Back in the present, Matt wants to know why Elektra’s here, she says she’s here for a meeting but decided to pop by for old time’s sake. There’s evidence of some past feud between them that hasn’t been resolved. Matt is rude and Elektra is apologetic. Her father, before he died, invested heavily in the Roxxon corporation, and if that name sounds familiar you’ve probably watched Agent Carter or read the current Thor issues. She wants Matt’s legal experience to get that money back. Matt isn’t prepared to do it, for various reasons, lack of time, his experience being in a different field etc.

So, the finances of Nelson and Murdock at even lower than the nothing they were before, Foggy’s optimistic that with the Punisher behind bars, and the other guy relegated to night duty again, they might be able to attract more clients. But of course, Karen wants them to find more about the Punisher. F*ck. Karen, you don’t belong here, you belong where Ben Urich was last season, the firm you work for is at risk of going under, stop acting like this isn’t a big deal. Foggy pushes it down, but Matt seems a little more open.

Karen asks about last night and they agree for a date, Foggy then discovers a big deposit in their accounts, likely from Elektra. Matt goes to confront her about it. We flash back to their introductions and it’s worth mentioning the transitions between flashbacks are rather poor. The two start drinking together and playing psychologist with each other. I think Matt just forgets about Foggy at this point as he gets in her car and goes on a joyride.

Assistant DA Tower pays a visit to Nelson and Murdock to try and gain Punisher files, if DA Reyes successfully convicts him, she’s liable to become Mayor, and him DA. Foggy will only agree to release files on his client with a court order, since he’s seen lawyers disbarred for sharing confidential client information.

Matt arrives at the Roxxon building Elektra said she was visiting. Back in the past, they break into the boxing ring Matt’s father once used and he tells her the story about his father. Elektra realises he has fighting prowess and they begin to spar before making out. OK, I get the point, move on… In the present Matt ducks in an alleyway and makes his way to the roof in broad daylight. Like somebody notice him!

Elektra arrives at her meeting without legal aid as Karen heads to the Bugle to try and get them to run more Frank Castle stories with the only things she can muster backed up by her breaking into his house in the last episode. She wants to dig through some back issues to figure out what the story is with Frank’s family, which the editor agrees to, possibly over guilt with Ben Urich’s death.

Elektra activates some kind of pen, which emits some high frequencies Matt can hear from across the roof, soon the board get calls that their system has been hacked and escort Elektra out to reconvene at another time. Foggy gets a visit from Marci, and tells her that several clients have cancelled with them because of their refusal to bow down to Reyes, Marci basically tells us what Tower did in the last scene, good thing this was a waste of time.

Ellison remembers a shooting between rival gangs, all of whom were targeted by the Punisher during the dates she mentioned, which in this series is said to be the result of a botched sting operation, which in the Punisher series would turn out to be targeted assassination to cover up shady shit Frank did as a soldier, and I’m sure whenever he next shows up it’ll all turn out to be a plan by the evil Banana to send monkeys to the middle of the desert to starve to death. What I’m saying is, stop over-convoluting the origin!

With that, she leaves for dinner, which is just as awkward as you’d expect. Matt gets a phone call from Elektra that actually serves no purpose other than as a lead-in to the next flashback. Elektra takes Matt to one of her father’s friends’ houses and begins cutting cheese on his stomach… that’s no sinister at all. She then begins breaking the owner’s sh*t for no reason, and Matt joins in… Matt hears footsteps. Turns out the owner of this house is the guy who ordered the kill on Matt’s father.

Matt asks that they go elsewhere, they head to an Indian Restaurant and begin their small talk all over again. Matt walks her home but declines an invite in, saying the night had been perfect and he didn’t want to spoil it. And at this point you might’ve realises there’s a surprising lack of Daredevil in this episode.

Matt heads off and time for the finale of the flashback section. Elektra ties Sweeney (the guy who ordered the hit) Elektra managed to track him down thanks to him spending some blood money or something. Matt begins punching him, much to Elektra’s delight, he gets even harder when Sweeney recognises who he is. Elektra wants him to kill him, but that Matt’s line and he refuses, going downstairs to call the police. Before he leaves though, Elektra has snapped his neck and left.

Matt goes to Elektra’s apartment, goes straight to asking why she took him to the mansion. She wanted to allow his dark side to run wild. Yakuza men begin storming her apartment, Elektra was confident Matt would show up, even having his Daredevil costume ready to go.

It’s actually a pretty solid episode, the lack of Daredevil action barely bothered me the way it has in previous episodes.

Rating 8/10

Regrets Only

A bunch of cyclists drive to Elektra’s apartment, armed and highly dangerous they break in. Elektra and Daredevil easily take them down. It’s nice to see Daredevil win in a fight that isn’t against the low-level grunts we’ve seen in earlier episodes. Still, it’s brief as we quickly roll credits.

They head to a diner where Matt demands the truth. Elektra tells him she can bring down the Yakuza using information she stole from Roxxon, but needs Daredevil’s help, she’ll bow to his wishes and leave the city once that’s done. Matt agrees on the condition that she reign in her killer instincts.

Back at Nelson and Murdock they meet the public defender assigned to the Punisher, he clearly has some ties with Reyes as she plans to link his killing spree to some events in Delaware so he can be extradited and sentenced to death. Karen refuses to sign her witness testimony, aware that there were several major inaccuracies there. Both Matt and Karen hope to intervene and negotiate a plea deal. Guys, you’re putting your head in the mouth of a lion to save someone who may not have been involved in any incident in Delaware but is a mass murderer. And this is I draw the line on Matt’s moral aggrandising.

And I’m not saying they can’t help him, but they should be digging for info and leaking it to the Bugle, like Karen was. Instead they’re putting everything on the line for something that can only end one way, and nothing the DA is doing is illegal. Amoral perhaps but you’re already feeling her wrath from the last case.

So they pay Frank a visit, they’re interrupted by DA Reyes who is legally shot down by Matt Murdock as they have to represent him now. Unfortunately they’re interrupted by someone who somehow got past all the security, he has a car waiting for Matt Murdock. Foggy is not impressed with being left high and dry but accepts it given the large amount of money that was paid to them for it.

Elektra wants them to go to a gala to steal a ledger full of Roxxon’s illegal doings and potentially links to the Yakuza. Foggy sees the long list of murder charges Frank is accused of, alongside a long list over things, all of which he’s guilty of for the record. Frank wants to talk to Karen alone, he asks what Karen knows, he tells her he has only vague and fleeting memories of it. He remembers hearing what happened but doing nothing. Karen is flustered but Frank wants her to stay.

Elektra and Matt enter the gala and begin to mingle. She finds her target but Roxxon have eyes on him all over. Matt uses his blind shtick to spill wine all over his clothes, getting him to leave. Frank tells Karen she was never in any danger, he only kills people who ‘deserve’ it. He also reveals he was a scout sniper in the military. He asks for details about his house, since he never went back there after his family were murdered. All the details bring back memories for him.

Whilst the target is washing his clothes, Matt manages to take out his personal guard and knocks him out, gathering the keycard to access the secure levels. They make it down but there’s still guards on duty. Foggy informs Frank that the issue in Delaware is no longer an issue, so the death penalty is off the table. DA Reyes has given a plea bargain of a life sentence with parole in 25 years. Unfortunately, no protective custody for Frank, meaning his time in prison is going to be hell. Frank agrees to plead guilty until the DA and judge come along and he pleads not guilty, promising to let the DA burn with him.

With everything about to go to trial, everything’s gonna come out, Foggy says he needs to let Matt know. 

They find their way into the office where Matt uses his hearing to open the safe. Elektra searches but doesn’t find what she’s looking for as their unconscious target is found. Matt can hear buzzing behind a wall, an electrical current runs through it and Matt traces it to a switch, which Elektra uses to open a secret door, where they manage to find the ledger. A fight occurs which we only see behind a screen but they must’ve seen Matt at some point. They evade the guards by going down to a different floor and pretending to be having sex.

They escape with the ledger, featuring records of guns, human trafficking drugs but also find something encoded. The two guards that were knocked out earlier are killed by the head of the operation, it’s revealed here that he is not Yakuza. Foggy awaits Matt’s arrival at his home, telling him what happened and that Reyes has pulled strings to fast track the trial to next week.

Unfortunately, their reasons for representing Frank are all kinds of awful and this is exactly where the turning point for the season is in terms of quality in my eyes. Otherwise it’s not without its good moments

Rating 7/10