"Daredevil: Born Again" is a direct continuation of the beloved Netflix show — which means there's a lot to catch up on. If you want to hit the ground running when it drops, this is the only recap you need.
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00:00What's up everybody, Griffey here. Daredevil's back and it's been a while. You've probably
00:04forgotten, well, everything. But fear not, we here at Looper have done a rewatch so you
00:10don't have to. Let us get you up to speed on our favorite dude in red.
00:14In the beginning, Matt Murdock's life isn't much different than any other kid's in Hell's
00:18Kitchen. Raised by his father Jack in a run-down apartment, their life consists of laying low
00:23and making ends meet. It's how Jack makes ends meet that differs from other working
00:28class denizens of the neighborhood, though. A prize fighter battling Jack often returns
00:32home late at night with a bloodied face. Sometimes it's so bad that he needs Matt to take a swig
00:37of scotch and stitch him up. It pays win or lose, a fact that initially confuses little
00:42Matt.
00:43You got all this for losing?
00:47Sometimes even when you get knocked down, you can still win.
00:52This life works for them until things get a bit more complicated. After Matt is blinded
00:56in a freak traffic accident that involves a truck carrying toxic chemicals, Jack knows
01:01that he has to do more to help his son. And so when the mob ask him to throw his next
01:05fight so that he and everyone involved can earn a big wad of cash, he initially agrees.
01:11Battling Jack ultimately changes his mind, though, calling the bookie right before the
01:14fight and asking him to put everything on him winning by knockout. He wins the fight
01:19and even more money than he would have otherwise, but at the ultimate cost. The mob kills him
01:24for going against their plan and Matt is left to find his beloved father dead in an alley.
01:30After the death of his father, Matt ends up in the care of Catholic nuns and begins his
01:34lifelong struggle with extreme sensory overload, a side effect of the toxic chemicals he was
01:39exposed to during the accident that blinded him. Being that the nuns have no idea how
01:44to treat him, they reach out to a mysterious blind man who goes by the name Stick to help
01:49him adjust. He's happy to help, but not for free. Good thing Battling Jack left his son
01:54a sizable inheritance.
01:56Make the check out to cash. Take it from here.
02:03Right off the bat, Stick can tell that Matt is capable of amazing things, but before he
02:07gets into anything too crazy, he makes sure that his first lesson revolves around putting
02:11things in perspective. He never wants Matt to think of himself as a victim. During their
02:16first sit down, he buys Matt an ice cream and tells him how lucky he is that he wasn't
02:21born blind. And when Matt describes what his sensory overload feels like and how overwhelming
02:25it can be, Stick says,
02:27You know what they call stuff like that? Gifts. The special kind.
02:34Once they understand each other, the real training begins. Stick teaches Matt to feel
02:38the breeze of his enemy's movement. He also teaches him the difference between anger and
02:43rage, with anger being a weapon and rage being an uncontrollable wildfire that's ultimately
02:48useless. And most importantly, he teaches him that mastering his mind takes precedence
02:53over everything else.
02:56The mind controls the body. The body controls our enemies. Our enemies control Jack by the
03:01time we're done with them.
03:04After training for a while and getting good enough with his skills to stand toe to toe
03:07with Stick, Matt gives his mentor a gift. A bracelet made from the wrapper of the ice
03:12cream Stick bought him the first day they crossed paths. To his surprise, Stick crushes
03:16the wrapper in his hands and tells him that his training is over and he can't help him
03:20anymore. When Matt asks why, he tells him,
03:24I expected too much of you.
03:29Turns out he's just too sentimental for Stick. Matt ends up doing just fine for himself,
03:34though. He studies law and starts a small firm with his college friend, Foggy Nelson.
03:38The two hope to represent all types of underdogs in Hell's Kitchen and fight corruption in
03:42all of its elusive forms.
03:44But that's the thing. While the law works in some cases, it often leaves plenty to be
03:49desired. So by night, Matt dresses in black, throws a rag on his head, and prowls the streets
03:53using his heightened abilities to hunt down those who have eluded the justice system.
03:58Hell's Kitchen is infested with all sorts of criminals, and he just wants to beat the
04:02snot out of anyone who fits the bill.
04:04Case in point, the first people he deals with are a random group of sex traffickers caught
04:09in the middle of stuffing a group of young women into a shipping container. Though he
04:13effortlessly saves them, he hasn't made a dent when it comes to cleaning up Hell's Kitchen
04:17in a meaningful way. He doesn't need blood, he needs names.
04:22It's not until a secretary by the name of Karen Page shows up that Matt finally picks
04:26up on a trail that will lead him to the bigger picture. She's in serious need of legal representation,
04:31and her story goes like this.
04:33Karen works for Union Allied Construction, an outfit that oversees all of the government
04:37contracts for the reconstruction of Hell's Kitchen. She accidentally stumbles on a file
04:42that incriminates the corporation in a vast money laundering scheme, and decides to bring
04:47it up with her co-worker over drinks. The next thing she knows, she wakes up next to
04:51his dead body covered head to toe in his blood. It sure looks like she was drugged and framed
04:56for his brutal murder.
04:57Despite this being what other lawyers would think of as an outlandish story, Matt uses
05:01his superhuman senses to read her body language and determines her story to be truthful.
05:12And of course she's telling the truth, come on, this is Hell's Kitchen after all, and
05:15there's a whole cast of villains behind the conspiracy. There's Madame Gao, who heads
05:19up heroin production. There's Vladimir and Anatoly, two Russian brothers who handle the
05:23distribution of said heroin, and also sex trafficking operations. Remember the goons
05:28Matt dealt with earlier? There's Leland the money guy, there's Nobu who handles protection,
05:33and then there's James Wesley, a lawyer who represents the mysterious man who runs the
05:37whole show.
05:38We do not deal with lapdogs. Tell Mr. We don't say his name.
05:45It's Wesley who blackmails a guard into making an attempt on Karen's life while she's behind
05:49bars. Thankfully, she's too tough for the guy and foils his half-baked plan to choke
05:54her out.
05:55As if this isn't enough proof that her story is true, another goon shows up to assassinate
05:59her after Matt and Foggy negotiate her release from jail. This time, a disguised Matt shows
06:04up just in time to save her.
06:06What the hell?
06:07I'll get this into the right hands.
06:12Not only do the two of them decide to go to the papers with the dirt she dug up, but Karen
06:17also decides to offer up her services to Nelson and Murdoch, and with that, the underdog
06:22dream team is born.
06:24Karen doesn't just sit around and file papers at the office, though. She eventually starts
06:28her own investigation after union-allied Constructions lawyers attempt to essentially buy her silence,
06:33since murdering her doesn't seem to be in the cards. This leads her to team up with
06:37Ben Urich, the New York Bulletin reporter who published an exposé after she and Matt
06:42dropped the evidence off at the paper's front door.
06:45They do things the old-fashioned way and slowly start to put the pieces together.
06:49Matt, on the other hand, figures things out by way of Wesley showing up and asking him
06:53and Foggy to defend a man named John Healy, who needs legal representation after brutally
06:58bludgeoning a guy with a bowling ball.
07:00Knowing that the heinous crime is somehow connected to the man up top, he agrees to
07:04take the case in hopes of getting a name out of Healy. He doesn't give it up, though, nor
07:08does he seem to be too worried about ending up behind bars. He requests that they go straight
07:13to trial, implying that the jury will be rigged and that he'll ultimately walk free.
07:18This is exactly what happens, not just because the jury is rigged, but also because Matt
07:22and Foggy make a compelling case on his behalf. No big deal, Matt just puts on his makeshift
07:27costume and beats the name out of Healy after the trial comes to an end.
07:31Fisk! Wilson Fisk!
07:36There he is, the big guy. In many ways, Fisk is the antithesis of your typical criminal.
07:42He's sensitive, appreciates art, and makes a killer omelet. He's even pretty good with
07:46the ladies, which we get to see firsthand when he first woos the love of his life, Vanessa.
07:52I'm partial to Italian.
07:56We agree on more than art.
07:58Beyond that, his hopes and aspirations regarding Hell's Kitchen aren't all that different from
08:03Matt's, something he relates to the vigilante the first time they hear each other's voices
08:07over walkie-talkies.
08:08I want to save this city, like you. Only on a scale that matters.
08:15His backstory even compares to Matt's somewhat, being that he also lost his father when he
08:19was a kid. The biggest difference, though, is that, uh, he himself is the one who killed
08:24his father, not the mob.
08:26Keep kicking him! Keep kicking him! Keep kicking him!
08:35So yeah, he's a villain through and through, and a formidable one at that, in terms of
08:39both brawn and brains. Not only is he capable of decapitating Russian gangsters with his
08:44car door, he is also capable of outthinking pretty much everyone, even Matt. Without much
08:49trouble, he's able to frame the vigilante for the murder of multiple police officers,
08:54and continue on with his plan to take control of Hell's Kitchen.
08:58This next part is almost a non-sequitur in Season 1, but it still ends up being important
09:03The first thing Matt does after he's framed by Fisk is interrogate the money guy Leland.
09:08But this doesn't go according to plan. Leland tasers him and drives off. Yes, the most physically
09:13incapable baddie in the entire show gets the better of him. And who better to give Matt
09:18grief about it than his old mentor, Stick?
09:20You're just gonna lie there all night?
09:29Back at Matt's apartment, Stick wastes no time making fun of his silk sheets and the
09:33fact that he has a few friends. Nowhere near Spartan enough for him. Then he tells him
09:37that he's returned to save him and the entire city from an enemy much more powerful than
09:41Fisk, one that involves the Yakuza, Nobu, and a mysterious weapon with a pretty ominous
09:46sounding name.
09:47They call it Black Sky, the bringer of shadows.
09:51What kind of weapon?
09:52The kind you don't want in your world.
09:54He asks Matt to join him on a mission to destroy Black Sky, insisting that it will benefit
09:59him in his fight against Fisk. Matt agrees, and the two ambush Nobu and his men at the
10:03docks. However, when the cargo container containing Black Sky is opened, we see that it's actually
10:08a young child.
10:10Stick tries to shoot the kid with an arrow, but Matt expertly deflects it, unwilling to
10:14believe that this is actually the Black Sky. Then he fights off Nobu's men before returning
10:18to his apartment, where Stick is waiting to tell him that his efforts were all for naught.
10:23I caught up with a van while you were dicking around with Nobu's men. I put an arrow in
10:29that thing's heart.
10:30The two fight, and Matt bests his former mentor before telling him to get out of his city.
10:35Stick bails, and that's the last we hear about Black Sky for now.
10:39As everything continues to escalate, it gets more and more difficult for Matt to balance
10:43his double life, not to mention stick to his code. After setting Nobu on fire and committing
10:48his first murder, he gets absolutely pummeled by Fisk. This forces him to reveal the
10:53Foggy what he's been up to outside of the office. Despite Matt's efforts to justify
10:58his actions, Foggy doesn't want to hear it. He's so upset that he leaves the firm.
11:03Clear Temple, a no-nonsense nurse who starts off as Matt's go-to patcher-upper before
11:07falling for him, is also over it. Their love is wholesome, but it's also tainted by the
11:11chaos brought about by his vigilante life. She's even kidnapped at one point. While
11:16he's still recovering from his near-fatal run-in with Kingpin, she tells him she's
11:20leaving town for a while. She just can't deal with the pain of watching someone she
11:24loves continue to risk death each time he runs off into the night. She also probably
11:29isn't interested in getting kidnapped again, or worse. Still, she reassures him that she'll
11:33always be there to at least help him out when he has some fresh wounds that need tending.
11:46Beyond that, though, she doesn't want to be in a relationship where it's destined for
11:50her to always come second. Can't blame her.
11:53One thing Claire suggests during her goodbye to Matt turns out to be pretty important in
11:57terms of his transformation from nameless vigilante to daredevil – his need for better
12:02protection. This helps Matt remember that Kingpin had been wearing a layer of armor
12:14beneath his suit during their brutal fight. Without much trouble, he's able to track
12:18down the man who was coerced into making the special clothing for Fisk – a mechanical
12:22engineer named Melvin Potter. In exchange for freeing him from Fisk's grasp, Potter
12:26makes Matt his own suit of armor – something that will give him an edge the next time he
12:30faces off against him. Now he can finally stop wearing that outfit that makes him look
12:34like a backup dancer in a 90s music video.
12:37All the while, Karen and Yurik's investigation comes to a head in a pretty catastrophic way.
12:42Their digging ultimately leads them to Fisk's mother, who tells them that Fisk killed his
12:46father when he was a child. This prompts a visit from Wesley, who blackmails Karen
12:51into letting it go. How does she deal with this? The most sensible way possible – she
12:55grabs his gun when he's distracted and shoots him dead. Ice cold.
12:59Yurik, on the other hand, isn't so lucky. After getting fired by his boss, he decides
13:04to start his own blog and just get the story out there. Just as he's sitting down to
13:08write his first post, Fisk himself pays him a visit at his apartment. Yurik stands his
13:13ground telling him that he's been threatened countless times over the course of his career.
13:17But he underestimates how angry he's made Fisk by pulling his mother into everything.
13:22So I am not here to threaten you. I'm here to kill you.
13:30Even though Matt has his new suit, he tries to put Fisk behind bars the right way first.
13:35After reconciling with Foggy, the two build their case against him. And thanks to some
13:38additional behind-the-scenes vigilante work via Matt, they ultimately get Fisk and his
13:43underlings arrested. But it doesn't stick for very long. He's quickly freed from custody
13:48thanks to mercenaries and various cops who are on his payroll.
13:51Whatever. That's what the new suit is for. Let the bloody rematch commence.
13:56This time Matt prevails, leaving Fisk to be arrested by the police yet again. When the
14:00story of his triumph is eventually delivered to the masses, we see that he's finally
14:04earned his infamous title.
14:06That's what they're calling him now. The man in the mask.
14:10Daredevil? Sounds like he's gonna jump Snake River Canyon on his rocket cycle.
14:15With Fisk now locked up, a power vacuum quickly ensues in Hell's Kitchen, and numerous gangs
14:20move in to take their piece of the pie. But it doesn't go very smoothly for the Irish
14:24mob, who are almost completely wiped out by a quote-unquote army. Eventually, we find
14:30out it's not an army at all, it's actually a single man. Nicknamed the Punisher by District
14:35Attorney Samantha Reyes, Frank Castle is an ex-Marine who's on a very bloody revenge
14:40quest after his entire family is killed in the crossfire of a drug deal gone wrong. The
14:45law didn't deliver justice, so now it's up to him to properly avenge his loved ones.
14:50In this way, he and Matt are similar. It's also revealed that Castle is Catholic. Or
14:54at least he used to be. And this is where he and Matt start to differ. He's not at
14:58all opposed to playing God and doling out fatal final judgments, as he tells Matt during
15:03their first official meeting.
15:05I do the one thing that you can't. You hit them and they get back up. I hit them and
15:08they stay down.
15:10But even though they have their own separate agendas and ways of doing things, they are
15:14in no way enemies. Not only does Matt end up saving Castle from the mob when he's later
15:18captured, but he and Foggy offer to defend him in court after he gives himself up for
15:22arrest and pleads not guilty to the many murders he has committed.
15:27It's at this point we're introduced to Electra Nacios, Matt's old flame. Ten years before
15:32the events of Season 2, they had a passionate relationship, built on a shared set of skills
15:36and a love for adrenaline. Matt even revealed to her how his father had been killed by the
15:41mob, which was what ultimately led to their falling out. After failing to convince Matt
15:45to kill the man responsible, she veiled, not wanting to continue a relationship with someone
15:50who wasn't strong enough to take an eye for an eye.
15:53In the present, she asks for Matt's help and gets him involved with the Roxxon Corporation
15:57and what appears to be the Yakuza. This leads to a heist of sorts, run-ins with ninjas and
16:02other shenanigans. Much more than Matt originally bargained for. It also doesn't help that Electra
16:08unintentionally sabotages valuable testimony in Frank Castle's trial by threatening a witness.
16:13Still, it's through Electra and his old mentor Stick that Matt learns who the true enemy
16:17is in Season 2. After saving the two ex-lovers from a ninja attack, Stick drops some major
16:23lore telling Matt that he leads a secret enclave called the Chaste, and that Roxxon
16:27Corporation and the Yakuza are just fronts for an ancient group called the Hand, who
16:31have long sought Black Sky. Remember the kid Stick allegedly killed in Season 1? Yeah,
16:37apparently Matt was right, that was maybe just a kid. Maybe not. It's a bit of a plot
16:42hole being that Black Sky is still out there. Anyway, he also reveals that Electra has worked
16:47for him all along, even before she first met Matt. This leads him to ask her,
16:52Was it fate? Was it luck? Or was I a mission?
17:00Turns out, Stick sent Electra to pull Matt out of his life and into the ongoing fight
17:05with the Hand all those years ago. Still, she claims she really did fall in love with him,
17:10and that wasn't part of the plan. Matt buys it since he obviously still has feelings for her,
17:15even though he also has a thing going on with Karen. Yeah, she's not too happy about
17:20seeing Electra in his bed when she shows up during this conversation to talk about Castle's Trial.
17:24Let's go somewhere. No, why? So we can talk. I don't want to. I know this looks crazy,
17:30but it's really not. It doesn't matter.
17:32After Karen stomps out, Matt pleads for Electra to leave Stick and fight alongside him instead,
17:37which she ultimately does. Meanwhile, Castle's Trial ends in disaster. While on the stand,
17:44Castle sabotages himself by admitting that he was very much in his right mind when he went on
17:48his killing spree, and that he even enjoyed it. Any scumbag, any lowlife, any maggot piece of
17:55shit that I put down, I did it because I liked her. This ultimately causes Matt and Foggy to
18:00close up shop for a while. Once Castle is sent to prison, he's brought directly to none other
18:05than Wilson Fisk, who is pumping iron in the rec room. He attempts to sit Castle on a man named
18:10Dutton, the self-proclaimed kingpin of the prison, who holds a little too much power for Fisk's
18:14liking. He also believes Dutton was ultimately responsible for the shootout that resulted in
18:19the death of Castle's family, which gives an otherwise reluctant Castle a very good reason
18:24to do Fisk bidding. Yes, I benefit from your actions. But the tide raises all ships, Mr. Castle.
18:34Castle does the deed, but not before interrogating Dutton first and finding out that the feds and a
18:40mysterious man called the Blacksmith were behind the drug deal that went wrong. Upon trying to
18:44leave the cellblock, Castle realizes that Fisk never intended on letting him live. But that's
18:49no problem. When the guards open the prison cells that house all of Dutton's supporters,
18:53Castle does what he does best and lays waste to all of them. Is the bloody face imprint on his
18:58shirt that inspires his iconic skull logo the coolest shot in the entire season? Maybe.
19:03Afterwards, Fisk meets with Castle yet again. They trade a few blows before eventually hashing
19:08things out and coming to another arrangement. Fisk will arrange for him to escape prison so
19:13that he can seek further justice for his family, while at the same time eliminating Fisk's
19:17competition. Much is revealed in the last handful of episodes of Season 2. Matt investigates a hand
19:23facility called The Farm and finds a bunch of kids hooked up to a machine that's slowly siphoning
19:29their blood. As he rescues them, he faces off against Nobu, that dude from Season 1 who we
19:33thought he killed. Yeah, apparently. Nobu then escapes with what looks to be some sort of ancient
19:48sarcophagus device. It's unclear what it is at first, but it's likely connected to the kids,
19:53who are eventually busted out of the hospital by some hand ninjas and returned to The Farm.
19:57We find out through Claire's arc that it's likely used for resurrection. When investigating the
20:02bodies of some dead hand ninjas who perished in the hospital attack, she finds scars from past
20:07autopsies. When the hospital board insists on covering this up, she quits. District Attorney
20:12Samantha Reyes admits to being behind the sting that resulted in the death of Castle's family,
20:16only to be gunned down shortly after. Foggy is wounded in the same shootout, which ultimately
20:21leads him to bail on Matt and join another law firm. While researching Castle's past for an
20:26expose she's writing for The Bulletin, Karen discovers that his old commander, Ray Schoonover,
20:30who testified on Castle's behalf during his trial, is the blacksmith. Castle, freshly freed
20:35from prison, executes him. Most importantly, Matt discovers that Elektra herself is Black Sky,
20:41the mythical weapon that the Hand has long worshipped. Despite initially intending on
20:45killing Stick, she helps Matt rescue him after he's kidnapped and refuses the Hand's undying
20:50fealty. And in their final confrontation with Nobu, she sacrifices herself to save Matt.
21:00I took it all the way.
21:04Meanwhile, Castle arrives to give Matt some cover fire so that he can defeat Nobu.
21:08It seems that he's fully committed himself to being the Punisher. Look at that skull logo.
21:14See you around, Red.
21:21Stick beheads Nobu after Matt throws him off of a building, which should be enough to finally
21:26kill the guy. Seriously, dude, stay dead. The season ends with Matt revealing to Karen that
21:31he's Daredevil and Elektra's body being recovered and placed in the ancient sarcophagus device.
21:37Matt's story continues in The Defenders instead of jumping straight to Season 3.
21:41When the miniseries begins, we see that Matt has given up crime fighting and works as a pro bono
21:46lawyer. It's not until he ends up as Jessica Jones' legal counsel that he gets pulled back
21:50into the ongoing war with the Hand and once again dons his Daredevil suit. Alongside Jones,
21:56Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, Matt discovers that the Hand has resurrected Elektra so that she can
22:01fulfill her role as the Black Sky. We also find out that she's unable to remember her past,
22:07at least for now. After some investigating and another lore bomb from Stick,
22:11the supergroup learns that the Hand is after Iron Fist for reasons unknown,
22:15which leads them to tie him up and keep him safe while they set out to search for answers.
22:19While they're gone, Stick attempts to just kill Iron Fist so they can never get to him.
22:23Very on brand. But before he can finish the job, Elektra arrives and kills her old mentor.
22:29After this, she kills Alexandra, the leader of the Hand, and assumes control of the group.
22:34This is when we find out why the Hand wants Iron Fist. It's only through his power that they can
22:39open a door that lies deep underneath the building. Behind the door is the skeleton
22:43of a dragon which contains the substance the Hand uses for resurrection. After their plot
22:47to blow up the building and stop the Hand goes awry, Matt implores his Defender pals to escape
22:52while he stays behind to deal with Elektra, who he still kind of has a thing for. She seems to
22:57as well, despite fully giving herself over to the role as a living mythical weapon.
23:11The bomb goes off, leveling the building and burying them both beneath the rubble.
23:15But this isn't the end, at least not for Matt. The last thing we see is him recovering with
23:20the Nun by his side. This is where Season 3 of Daredevil picks up. Turns out he's being cared
23:25for at the same orphanage where he was raised as a child, and he has a lot of healing to do.
23:38But it's not just his body that's taken a beating. His faith is also on its last legs.
23:43Referencing the Book of Job, he alludes to himself as a modern version of God's most loyal servant,
23:48a man who would not curse him even after he took everything from him, all for the sake
23:53of forcing him to prove his faith. The assault following the second death of Elektra is real.
24:04No longer believing that he's God's soldier, he feels compelled to let everyone think he's dead
24:08and lean fully into his vigilante persona.
24:11I'd rather die as the devil than live as Matt Murdock.
24:17This all plays into the way he carries on his war against Wilson Fisk,
24:21who is still playing the game behind bars when the season begins. For the sake of keeping Vanessa
24:25out of prison, he gives the FBI intel that leads them to arresting a bunch of Albanian gangsters,
24:31which also leads to him being shanked in the weight room.
24:33There you go.
24:40Afterwards, he's able to convince pliable FBI agent Ray Nadeem to release him from prison
24:45and keep him in home detention where he can work as a full-time informant. Nadeem is a family man
24:50who's experiencing financial difficulties due to his sister-in-law's cancer treatments.
24:54Hmm, wonder if that'll come into play later. During his transfer, the convoy is attacked.
24:59While most of the FBI agents are killed in the process, Fisk is saved by an agent named
25:04Benjamin Poindexter, a man with almost supernatural accuracy who doesn't think
25:09twice about executing the remaining attackers. More on him in a bit. Fisk takes up residence
25:13in the penthouse suite of a hotel, much to the chagrin of the entire city once it becomes public.
25:19Protests erupt, and Karen begins an investigation for the New York Bulletin,
25:23where she now officially works as a reporter.
25:26After regaining his strength, Matt jumps back into the mix and investigates the hotel Fisk
25:30is holed up in. Outside of the hotel, he begins to have hallucinations of Fisk,
25:34who attempts to convince him that he's responsible for the deaths of his father,
25:38Stick, and Elektra. Looks like he still has plenty of spiritual healing to focus on.
25:43They all died because of you, Matthew.
25:46Though he doesn't come up with anything useful at the hotel, he eventually interrogates Benjamin
25:51Donovan, Fisk's lawyer, and learns that Fisk is working with the feds for Vanessa's sake.
25:56Before he can figure out where she is or anything else that might help him,
25:59he's forced to escape. This is when he decides to let Foggy know that he's still alive,
26:04but only so that he can warn him that Fisk is up to his usual shenanigans and that he and Karen
26:09are both in danger. After imploring him to stay out of his way while he attempts to bring Fisk
26:13down once and for all, he tells Foggy that he can't be his best friend anymore, only because
26:18he doesn't want anyone else he loves to get killed because of his actions.
26:22Matt Murdock isn't going to be a part of me anymore. I'm leaving him behind.
26:27Pretty sad, but it's fine. After some convincing by Marcy, who Foggy has gotten back together with,
26:33he decides to pursue Fisk in his own way by running for DA.
26:37Turns out there's one additional reason Matt goes to see Foggy. He needs his credentials so that he
26:42can impersonate him and gain access to the prison where Fisk was held. Once he cons his way inside,
26:47he asks an old client for info about the Albanians that Fisk ratted on. The client isn't
26:51interested in risking his own neck though, so he just punches Matt and gets carried off.
26:56After being forced to see a nurse for the sake of protocol, he finds out that Fisk is still pretty
27:00much in control of the entire prison, at least enough of it to sick the nurse on him and a whole
27:05boatload of inmates. It wouldn't be a proper Daredevil season without at least one awesome
27:09hallway fight, right? Eventually he ends up being cornered by the Albanians, who he convinces to
27:14let him go after he promises to send Fisk back to jail where they can deal with him however they
27:19please. They give him some very important info about the rec room attack that prompted the FBI
27:24to transfer him to home detention. They also give him the guy's name, Jasper Evans. Then he makes a
27:35harrowing escape as everything devolves into a full-blown riot, only to be driven into the river
27:41afterwards. Of course he survives. Can't kill a guy who survived an entire building falling on him
27:46with a little water. When Fisk finds out, he tells Nadim that Matt is his criminal fixer in hopes of
27:52using the FBI to put an end to his meddling. Meanwhile, Karen's investigation for the bulletin
27:57leads her to Nita Kazemi, who informs her that her father, the original owner of the hotel,
28:03sold it to a company represented by Benjamin Donovan. She's also led to believe that Matt
28:07might still be alive, which is later confirmed by Foggy. Then she learns that a convict by the name
28:13of Felix Manning is involved with the company that bought the hotel from Kazemi's father.
28:17When she confronts him about this, things go a little south. Turns out, he knows quite a bit
28:22about her family. He even knows something about her brother's death, which is not good for Karen
28:27because she's actually the one responsible for it. There's a whole flashback episode that goes into
28:32it. Tragic stuff. The point is that Manning ends up being a dead end, at least for Karen. This is
28:38when she's brought to Matt's apartment by Nadim, who's trying to get some dirt on Matt and figure
28:42out where he might be. He grills her pretty hard, but Karen defends Matt and tells him that Manning
28:47is the fixer he should actually be looking for. She also tells him that Fisk bought the hotel he's
28:52currently being imprisoned in and that he's got the entire FBI under his thumb. This is where
28:57Special Agent Dex comes into play. Dude's got some issues, to say the least. We know he has
29:02no qualms with killing people, which is shady enough. We also learn through his routine FBI
29:07psych evaluation that he secretly stalks a woman named Julie. Also creepy. But the real meat of his
29:12issues is revealed when Fisk does some digging and learns that he's an orphan who killed his
29:16baseball coach when he was a kid. Why, you might ask? Because he didn't let Dex pitch an entire game.
29:27Yeah, he's been crazy since the very beginning. He attempted to conceal his psychopathic tendencies
29:35throughout therapy growing up, but his therapist learned who he really was when she revealed to him
29:40that she was dying and that he would need to start seeing someone new.
29:43I want to kill you for dying, for leaving me.
29:51And it doesn't stop there. After growing up, he worked for a suicide prevention hotline
29:55for a while where he convinced a caller to kill someone else instead of himself. Yikes.
30:00We also learn that this is where he met Julie. This disturbing backstory ultimately gives Fisk
30:05a brilliant idea. He can manipulate him into becoming the perfect villain. One that can
30:10distract the public and the media and take the heat off of him while he continues on with his
30:15plans. How does he do this? He hires Julie to work at the hotel knowing somehow that Dex will mess
30:22things up and accidentally reveal that he's been stalking her. This is exactly what happens when
30:26they have dinner together. I just have to go feed my dog. You don't have a dog. How do you know that?
30:34Dex confronts Fisk about it, knowing that it's no coincidence that she just so happened to end
30:39up working at the same hotel where he's surveilling a criminal mastermind. Fisk admits to it, telling
30:44him that he did it so that he could prove to him that their relationship was never meant to be.
30:49Then he attempts to convince him how much they have in common by telling him how he killed his
30:53own father when he was 12 and that society will never understand people like them. It punishes
31:00people like you. Like us. Dex doesn't buy it at first. In fact, he goes home and prepares to
31:09kill himself after he learns that the FBI is putting him on suspension and preparing to
31:13investigate him because of his overdeveloped trigger finger. But then he gets a phone call
31:18from Fisk, who offers to accept him for who he truly is as long as he does his bidding.
31:24Meanwhile, Matt and Karen both find Jasper Evans and come up with a plan. Matt will turn himself
31:28in to clear his name, but only after the FBI and the Bulletin conduct an interview with Evans,
31:33who will admit to being part of Fisk's scheme to get released from prison. Just when he's about to
31:38start talking at the Bulletin headquarters, Dex walks in and starts to kill everyone while he's
31:43dressed in Matt's Daredevil suit. Matt shows up just in time to save Foggy from a stick to the
31:48face, but he's ultimately bested by the imposter. After Matt's incapacitated, Dex kills Evans before
31:53he can talk. Then he escapes, but not before beating on Nadim and the rest of his FBI squad.
31:59As such, he successfully implicates Matt and takes the heat off of Fisk.
32:03The brutal attack on the Bulletin staff has been carried out by none other than Daredevil.
32:10Unsurprisingly, Matt shows up to have a what the hell bro conversation with Melvin Potter.
32:14Turns out that not only was Potter forced to make a duplicate suit, but he was also coerced
32:19into trapping Matt in his shop once he inevitably came searching for answers. Before the feds bust
32:24in to arrest Matt, Potter tells him that he made the suit for an FBI agent, which sets him on the
32:29path towards Dex. Karen accidentally reveals to her boss that she knows who Daredevil is,
32:34which prompts him to give her an ultimatum. Tell him who he is or clean out her desk.
32:39Of course, she doesn't give him up and loses her job. Nadim investigates Jasper Evans and
32:43has a revealing conversation with Fisk that finally helps him realize that he's being played.
32:48Then Matt shows up at his house later to pound the truth in a tiny bit more
32:52and tell him what he learned from Potter.
32:55Man who attacked the Bulletin dressed as Daredevil.
32:59He's in the FBI.
33:02After that, it doesn't take Nadim too long to realize it's Dex.
33:06Dex, grasping onto his final threat of sanity, finds Julie again. They have coffee and he pleads
33:11for her to help him in the same way that she used to help people when she worked with him
33:15at the Suicide Prevention Hotline. All I'm asking is just treat me like
33:21someone on the other end of the line.
33:24She agrees to help him after he tells her about the death of his longtime therapist.
33:28But when she returns back to her apartment, Fisk has her killed.
33:33All the while, Nadim calls Dex into the office to tell him that he and some other agents set
33:37him up with a lawyer who's going to help him fight his wrongful suspension. He's touched
33:41by the gesture, but it's really just a ploy to distract him while Nadim and Matt search
33:45his apartment. The plan doesn't work. When Dex texts Julie to say that he wants to talk,
33:50someone, probably Fisk, responds by saying that she never wants to speak to him again.
33:54So he freaks out and goes home to catch Matt and Nadim red-handed wounding Nadim before they're
33:59able to get away. At this point, Foggy visits Karen and tells her that he knows what Fisk is
34:04really up to. Fisk is giving up criminals involved in corruption. He's planning to
34:09step into the void and become the sole source of government protection for all criminals in
34:13Hell's Kitchen. His plan to thwart him? He's going to bring up the details of Fisk's conspiracy at
34:17the Hell's Kitchen Club during an endorsement event for Blake Tower, the incumbent DA that the
34:22powers that be have rallied behind for the upcoming election. Then Karen will write about
34:27the exchange for the bulletin and get the story out to the masses. That way, it can't simply be
34:32swept under the rug. She tells him that she can't do it since, you know, she got fired for not
34:36giving up Daredevil's true identity. But Foggy insists that her boss will give her her job back
34:41the second she hands him the story. It would all probably work, in theory. Instead, though,
34:46Karen bails and goes to confront Fisk and provoke him into attacking her on camera.
34:51She tells him that she knows he killed his father and that it was her who killed Wesley.
34:55Just when he's about to lose it, Foggy shows up and agents remove her from the premises.
35:00You ruined it! I had him! Had him? Fisk would snap you like a twig. Well, at least they'd have it on
35:05video. Now afraid for her life, Karen looks for Matt at the church where he's been laying low.
35:09He's not there, but Sister Maggie, who we find out is actually Matt's mother, offers to hide her
35:14until she can arrange to get her out of the country. Nadim goes to two of his superiors,
35:19Special Agent Hatley and Special Agent Wynn, with his theory about Fisk. Things seem to be going
35:24fine until Hatley shoots Wynn with Nadim's gun. Turns out she works for Fisk, too. Go figure,
35:29who doesn't at this point? After blackmailing him into pledging his loyalty to Fisk,
35:33she reveals that Fisk has been manipulating him for much longer than he realizes.
35:38He's even been behind the difficulties surrounding his sister-in-law's cancer treatments.
35:42Cool. His first job as an official Fisk crony is to round up several gang leaders from around
35:47the city and bring them to a meetup at a restaurant. Here, Fisk offers them protection
35:51from federal investigations for a hefty price. Foggy was right. Nadim is also tasked with luring
35:58Matt to the meeting, but Matt instead goes to the hotel suite to lie in wait until Fisk returns.
36:03It's there that he overhears an FBI radio call announcing Karen's location,
36:07which forces him to abandon his plan to ambush Fisk so he can go save her.
36:11At the church, Matt and Dex have a brutal round two, and it goes just about as well as the first
36:15one. When Matt's briefly incapacitated, Dex tries to kill Karen, only for Father Lantham to jump in
36:21front of her and take the bullet. Or Billy Club. The fight continues, and it ultimately falls on
36:26Karen to save Matt by whacking Dex off the balcony. Then they hide in a crypt while the FBI shows up
36:31to search for Karen. All the while, Fisk holds a press conference where his lawyer announces that
36:36all the charges against him have been dropped. Then Fisk gets on the mic and declares Daredevil
36:50to be public enemy number one. Foggy shows up at the church to save Karen by acting as her attorney
36:55and allowing the NYPD to take her into custody. Once they're clear of the scene, the NYPD,
37:01who were on Foggy's side, let them both go. Then they meet up with Matt on a rooftop,
37:05and he tells them that he's going to break his sacred code and kill Fisk. Foggy and Karen aren't
37:11into it, though, and they convince him to try doing things the right way just one more time.
37:16How? They'll use Nadim as their new witness. They almost don't make it to him in time. As he's
37:22ambushed at his own home and about to be killed, Matt shows up and saves him and reveals his true
37:27identity. Then he and Foggy set him up in a safe house and tell him that they'll represent him
37:31in court. Nadim testifies after almost getting killed again on the way to the courthouse,
37:36but it's all for naught. Fisk is able to blackmail the jury just like always. Not knowing what else
37:41to do, Nadim goes home and records a video that details his intimate knowledge of Fisk's conspiracy.
37:47Vanessa returns home and leans fully into her role as a criminal mastermind's wife by ordering Dex
37:52to kill Nadim, which he does in Nadim's own backyard. When Matt learns of this, he tells
37:57Foggy that he's done playing by the rules. Fisk must die. He doesn't plan on doing it alone. He
38:10calls Dex and tells him that Fisk is the one behind Julie's death, which he doesn't believe
38:15until he finds her body in a freezer. All the while, Fisk and Vanessa get married, but the
38:21reception is ruined when Karen publishes Nadim's video on social media. It's ruined even more when
38:26both Daredevil and Dex show up to throw down. The most brutal fight of the season ensues. Though
38:32Fisk is able to break Dex's back, he can't beat Matt. Matt really thinks about snapping Fisk's
38:37neck, but he restrains himself and tells him that he's going to spend the rest of his miserable life
38:42in prison. Fisk and Vanessa are both arrested. Matt reconciles with his mother and also with
38:52God. And the season ends with Matt, Foggy, and Karen having dinner together and deciding to
38:57work together again. Okay, so that's how Daredevil came to an end before it was cancelled. But what
39:03about the Punisher show? After the events in season 2 of Daredevil, Castle goes on to finish
39:09off the remaining gang members who played a role in his family's death. But this leads him to
39:13discover an even deeper conspiracy that involves an old teammate, Billy Russo, and the entire U.S.
39:19government...or at least part of it. Turns out his family was killed as part of a scheme to
39:23cover up a controversial operation he participated in while he was part of an elite special forces
39:29team in Afghanistan. Of course, he makes everyone responsible pay in season 1 and ends up getting
39:42his life back, at least somewhat, by the time the credits roll. In season 2, we see Frank living a
39:48relatively chill drifter lifestyle until he's caught up in yet another conspiracy that involves
39:53a mysterious girl named Amy, a far-right Christian fundamentalist named John Pilgrim, the Russians,
39:58of course, and a senator by the name of David Schultz. Russo, who Castle severely maimed but
40:03didn't kill in season 1, is back in business as well, suffering from amnesia and trying to figure
40:08out what the hell happened to him. Very simply put, Castle saves Amy from getting whacked due
40:13to her intimate knowledge of a blackmailing scheme and puts an end to Russo once and for all
40:17like he should have in the first place. When the season comes to a close, Castle gets back to being
40:22the Punisher, and that's pretty much that. Next on the docket, Daredevil cameos. They're
40:27super short but still relevant. Matt Murdock makes a brief appearance in Spider-Man No Way Home,
40:33where he helps Peter after he's framed for the death of Quentin Beck. After that, he shows up
40:37in She-Hulk, Attorney at Law, where he shares the courtroom with Jennifer Walters and also her bed.
40:43His walk of shame afterwards is quite the tonal shift after everything we've seen in Daredevil,
40:47but it plays into the She-Hulk vibe perfectly.
40:55Hawkeye brought the momentous return of Fisk to the MCU and introduced us to his surrogate daughter
41:00slash capable enforcer, Maya Lopez, aka Echo. Speaking of Echo, Matt gets back into the more
41:07gritty stuff in her self-titled show, which sees him face off against Maya Lopez one-on-one.
41:12He basically just serves as a punchline for how badass she is.
41:21But still, the fight is rad. Echo also showed a tantalizing glimpse at Kingpin's past and future,
41:27delving into his life as a father figure for Maya Lopez and also an aspiring politician.
41:32A bare-knuckled brawler would do well in this race. An outsider,
41:37somebody who is not afraid to take on the establishment.
41:39We sincerely hope this recap helped you get up to speed on all things Daredevil
41:44and that you come back for more streamlined recaps in the future.