‘Daredevil’ Recap, Season 2, Episode 11: All Hell Breaks Loose

Eleven episodes deep into the season and with only two more to go, Daredevil’s plotlines are proliferating at an alarming rate. The Blacksmith, a sinister druglord I’d previously assumed to be just a McGuffin to keep the moving parts running, has now taken on central importance as both Daredevil and Punisher attempt to track him down. The Kingpin is in play, as is his old associate Madame Gao, who’s simultaneously battling the Blacksmith herself and issuing dire warnings about “the real threat” to the city. Said real threat is most likely the Hand, run by another former Fisk running buddy, Nobu, and his ninja army. They’re re-kidnapping brainwashed teens, murdering nurses, and fighting Daredevil, who is also busy fighting Gao’s men, the Blacksmith’s men, and the Punisher. Some mysterious person, likely the Blacksmith but yet to be confirmed as such, is murdering people and framing Frank Castle for it, including the district attorney and medical examiner who covered up the government’s involvement in the shootout between the Mexicans, the Irish, and the bikers, orchestrated by the Blacksmith and responsible for the deaths of Castle’s family. Karen Page is another of their would-be victims, though she’s now been saved twice by the Punisher. Matt’s other ex-girlfriend, Elektra, is similarly the survivor of a hit ordered by her and Matt’s old mentor Stick, who is also fighting the Hand. She’s now tracking him down to kill him, a confrontation Daredevil is racing to stop. Also Karen Page got a new job as an investigator for the Daily Bulletin, Claire Temple quit her job after the Hand bought off her hospital, and Foggy Nelson got a job offer at the law offices of Jeryn Hogarth from Jessica Jones from his sexy ex-girlfriend. Does that about cover it?

So it’s a testament to Daredevil and to this episode, “.380,” that the chaos feels planned — that it’s Daredevil’s world, not his show, spinning out of control. For one thing, each of these storylines is equally engaging in action terms. There’s no Better Call Saul–style lopsidedness, in which two well-crafted stories feature a striking disparity in stakes. The Hand attacks the hospital? You get a brutal fight for survival in which Claire, primal-screaming all the while, defends herself until she’s literally tossed out a window by her attackers, at which point Daredevil pulls off the old superher-comic standby, the aerial rescue:

The Blacksmith’s men hunt Karen down at a diner to which the Punisher has lured him? Get ready for a bloodbath of the type Fargo Season Two started out with, involving boiling coffee pots to the face, rapid-fire stabs to the gut, and a guy getting his face smashed to smithereens with the butt of a gun.

Daredevil needs to find the Blacksmith’s primary rival to get more information? Voila—it’s Madame Gao, his own old adversary.

The Punisher tracks the Blacksmith down to a dock where a shipment full of heroin has come in? Get ready for some good-ass murder-machine visuals…

…and a brawl between him and Daredevil over whether killing is the answer, featuring Frank at his most hysterical: “I need ‘em gone, it’s gotta be finished, it’s gotta be permanent!” He sounds like a little kid insisting he can’t sleep without his blankie.

The Hand got its creepy-kid superweapons back? Here’s a fun wrist-slitting shot to drive home how fucked up this is:

Elektra and Stick are ready to fight? That oughta be cool:

The episode’s only serious misstep: Daredevil crossing himself — literally, like an altar boy, or an old Italian lady — before admitting to Frank he may well be right that the Blacksmith should be killed rather than captured and incarcerated. It’s not that I blame Matt for entertaining this idea, given the situation he’s uncovered with the resurgent Kingpin. It’s more that, like, dude, we know you’re Catholic. What kind of city kid in his late 20s or however old he’s supposed to be crosses himself spontaneously like that? Catholic guilt is a dish best served as a self-medicating alcohol problem, not like a villager in an old horror movie stumbling across evidence that vampires walk among us. It’s the one moment when instead of adding layers, the show just lays it on thick.
[Watch Daredevil on Netflix]
Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) is a freelance writer who lives with Diet Coke and his daughter, not necessarily in that order, on Long Island. He also recaps Showtime’s The Affair and HBO’s The Leftovers for Decider.