Daredevil 3.06: “The Devil You Know”
The team is back together again. Matt enlists Karen’s help in this episode to clear his name with the FBI by having her track down Jasper Evans, the man who Wilson Fisk had to stab him while in jail to make him seem in danger. Evans is the only proof for Matt and team to show the FBI that Fisk has been playing them from day one. This is the central story for episode six and it culminates in a final fifteen minutes that rival any full-length hour-long drama. What season three does exceedingly well, is on full display in this entire episode. It builds up fully formed characters and then puts them into the most dangerous of situations. We find ourselves fearing for our heroes lives, and hoping that the bad guys get what’s coming to them. And you throw in some of the best-choreographed fight scenes filmed in such an elegant and captivating manner and you’ve got the recipe for success.
It took just over five episodes but Matt, Foggy, and Karen are working together again. These three still care for each other, albeit in their own dysfunctional family kind of way. Karen is reluctant to help Matt, but Foggy convinces her that she’s still a good person and that they can also get Matt to turn himself in if she helps him. A bit of bribery but still, they are working in concert in order to clear Matt’s name and bring Fisk down.
We get a ton more progression with the Benjamin Pointdexter storyline. The FBI has suspended Dex and he’s now without his North Star and rigid schedule to keep him in line (or as in line as he’s going to get). He confronts Fisk about Julie working at the hotel and Fisk confirms that he had her put there to show Dex that life with her wouldn’t work because she doesn’t understand him. But of course, Fisk does understand him since he killed his own father when he was only 12 years old. This all pushes Dex to the edge and he’s about to kill himself when Fisk gives him another option. Dex becomes Daredevil and murders nearly everyone inside the New York Bulletin including the escaping inmate ready to spill the beans about Fisk, Jasper Evans.
All of this leads to the final fight. It’s just like Scott Pilgrim vs Nega Scott. It’s Daredevil vs Daredevil. Matt vs Dex. Really, it’s our first Daredevil vs Bullseye action and it lives up to the hype. It’s difficult to talk about these fight scenes without just overtly gushing because they are just completely well done. They’re shot in a way where the action, while fast and free-flowing, is never obscured by darkness or blurry movement. You see every punch land, every kick hit its mark, and every scissor slicing into Murdock. It is a brutal bout that sees Murdock on the run, and Dex fighting off the FBI, firmly planting Daredevil on the top of their Most Wanted list.
We’re through six episode of this epic and dramatic season and we’re seeing them going to new exciting lengths to keep us binging this show. This is by far the most intense and gripping season of the Netflix branch of the Marvel Universe. So why delay, let’s move on to the next episode!
By Dave Clark