An important figure from Murdock's past reemerges seeking his help to battle a new enemy threatening Hell's Kitchen.
Daredevil has shown a willingness to be about the present-day war for Hell's Kitchen between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. It hasn't wallowed on the origin story aspects of its hero. The early episodes did fulfill the necessary emotional backstory beats that showed how Matt was blinded and why he fights. But the story of this season has largely focused on the current crime narrative. Matt is trying to do better for his city and is struggling at it - to say the least."Stick" does take away from the core storyline a little bit to focus on Matt's past and how him learning to fight is effecting the current day plot. It all occurs because of the reappearance of his childhood mentor, Stick - a wonderfully cast Scott Glenn. He is a character who is violent and lethal the first second he appears on the screen. His introduction shows him cutting off a Japanese man's hand and later his head just to get information on where a weapon is being shipped to. It's a brutal sequence. That aspect is always apparent with Stick even when he is interacting with Matt. He is direct and serious while still having a dry sense of humor. He helped train Matt to hone his gifts when he was a child and taught him how to fight. That answers the question of how he went from an emotional young boy who just lost his sight and his father to a trained fighter.
Matt's father never wanted Matt to know how to fight. Jack Murdock saw the world that he was a part of as this horrible thing that he wanted his son far away from. He still ended up dead because of it. Afterwards, Matt was sent to some kind of orphanage in even more pain than before. Stick entered his life to craft a soldier. He taught young Matt how to fight and that established a connection between Stick and Jack. Fighting was a way for Matt to feel close to his father again. So the man teaching him how to fight inevitably became a new father figure to Matt. It's not a connection that Stick wanted. As soon as Matt begins acting on that emotional connection - by giving Stick a bracelet made out of the ice cream wrapper Stick bought for him the first day they met - Stick ends things and doesn't see Matt again for twenty years.
All of it is brutal and personal stuff, but also incredible sappy. Matt never knew why Stick turned his back on him even though it is rather apparent right away to the audience. Matt was just a kid back then desperate for a paternal connection. Stick couldn't fill that void because he only wanted a soldier to help fight the never ending wars of the world. Stick is now an old man but is still capable of taking on criminal organizations desperate to save the world from attacks. He needs Matt's help now and that's the only reason why he enters Matt's life again.
And yet, Matt is still nothing but a disappointment to Stick because of his willingness to form emotional attachments, have personal luxuries and a vigilant code against killing people. Stick believes all of that is clouding Matt's judgment in this grand conflict with Wilson Fisk. Fisk's plan for Hell's Kitchen is never on display in this episode. Leland and Nobu work for Fisk but they only appear in connection to the episode's actual story - which includes a mysterious weapon being shipped to New York City by Nobu's associates in Japan. Nobu is a character who has his own agenda. And yet, the goals of this entire story aren't explained all that well. It's literally just a ton of vague teases about the weapon and ominous allusions to future's events. None of it plays all that well because it's not personal to the characters. When Daredevil establishes the stakes of its stories, it's fantastic. This was simply shrouded in too much mystery.
To compensate all of that, the show dug deeper into the dynamic between Matt and Stick. They have opposing ideologies over what needs to be done in times of war. Stick believes war is happening all the time and that any personal connections only get in the way of doing the job. Matt needs those personal connections in order to remember what he's fighting for in the first place. Even though Matt is now a grown man, Stick still sees him as an immature child not able to kill people. To him, that is the cost of war. It's simply something that needs to be done otherwise it runs the risk of coming back to hurt him later. Matt does not want to be a killer though. People have continually asked him how far he is willing to go to save Hell's Kitchen. His inability to kill people may be holding him back from achieving his ultimate goal. Matt and Stick's disagreements lead to a fantastically choreographed fight in Matt's apartment. It's a close combat sequence that is claustrophobic while still providing tons of tension and suspense. The student is able to defeat the master. That's what impresses Stick the most. And yet, Stick's still unsure if Matt is the warrior he needs him to be. The stakes of this episode's plot may not have much worth in the scope of this season. But it did provide valuable insight into Matt and how his past is still providing complications for his present.
Some more thoughts:
- "Stick" was written by Douglas Petrie and directed by Brad Turner.
- There needs to be more Matt-Foggy-Karen scenes. This episode has one that establishes the three of them have formed a bond. But the episodic storytelling has largely been Matt doing stuff away from them while they worry about him. It's grown too formulaic.
- Foggy had to be the one to save Karen from her attackers as a way to make him appear even more like her romantic foil. And yet, it would have been better for her to be the one to save herself. She has the strength not to be a victim again. But she largely gets one punch after the fact and that's it.
- The cuts between young Matt and his stunt double were more apparent than older Matt probably because Charlie Cox is more willing or has the ability to do more of the moves himself.
- Karen and Ben's exchange about her enjoying taking the long shots and him declaring that this isn't a game was the most cringe-inducing piece of dialogue on the show so far.
- What is the story behind Matt's mother?
As noted in previous reviews from this series, every episodic review was written without having seen any succeeding episodes. Similarly, it would be much appreciated if in the comments section, the conversation would only revolve around the show up to this point in its run.
