Warning: Spoiler Alert
A man in a suit races down a building’s stairwell. He gets to an office and arms himself with a big handgun. He unloads his clip into the elevator. A voice speaks to the gunman in Japanese asking about the “Black Sky”. The gunman makes a move and the unidentified man slices off the hand holding the gun. The gunman gives up the destination of “Black Sky”. New York City.
In the office, Foggy makes his feelings known about this masked vigilante who is being blamed for the explosions around Hell’s Kitchen. It’s fun watching Matt try to deflect this negativity being directed at Daredevil.
Leland arrives at a rendezvous to meet with Nobu. The funds have been allocated and redistributed for its arrival. Leland takes this opportunity to create an alliance with Nobu. Who does not take to Leland’s rhetoric. Nobu drives away leaving Leland alone. Matt walks up behind Leland. When asked about who he works for, Leland sticks to his law firm answer. Matt starts in with what he wants when he hears the sound of a ‘stick’ on pavement. This distracts Matt just long enough for Leland to taze Matt.
The man with the stick is familiar. Flashback familiar. This man was brought in to help Matt deal with the transition of Matt’s new world. Matt and the orphanage staff believe he is getting worse. The old man knows better. He tosses his keys towards Matt’s face and Matt catches them as if he could see. The man’s approach is cold to be polite, but effective. It directs Matt’s attention. He is able to use a vanilla ice cream cone to illustrate that there is a difference between knowing what vanilla is and sensing (through taste and smell) of what the ingredients are and where they came from. Moments later, Matt is able to figure out small undisclosed details about people passing by.
Back to present day, the interaction between Matt and this man known as “Stick” is less than cordial. Stick is here to save Matt and all of the people of Hell’s Kitchen against what he refers to as ‘the war’.
Matt brings Stick back to his apartment, where Stick jumps right into the luxuries Matt surrounds himself with. Like women and furniture. The conversation is never pleasant, but when Stick takes a shot at Matt’s Dad, the time for politeness is through. This sends us into another flashback of Stick trying to (in his way) teach Matt how to control the rage. When Matt keeps losing, he breaks down blaming himself for the death of his father. Insert the typical Bruce Wayne like cry-fest blaming himself. Then snapped right back to reality, where Matt quickly breaks Stick’s hold. The hostility ends only long enough for Stick to insult Matt’s beer preference.
The War he speaks of now revolves around the Japanese. Stick is not interested in Nobu or Fisk. He’s interested in the ‘weapon’ Nobu is meeting at the docks. No killing seems to be the undertone of this segment of the conversation. Stick believes it’s a line Matt will have to cross. Matt believes it’s the one line that doesn’t need to be crossed.
Karen is still trying to make a connection from anything back to Allied Construction. Urich can’t make a case for his editor without a few connections. Mr. Tully (slumlord) has been moved, a vacation of sorts. No Tully, but Mrs. Cardenas does give Karen the description of a man with a patterned tattoo that went up his arm to his neck.
On her way out of the building, Karen picks up she’s being followed. Before she’s ready, she’s grabbed by the tattooed man. Out of nowhere, a baseball hits one of the men and he drops to the ground. It’s Foggy wielding a baseball bat. One of the guys tries to stand up and Karen hits him with mace. The other tries to get up and Foggy hits him with a full baseball swing. Aluminum bat to the face.
At the docs, Matt surveys the surrounding men and artillery. Matt is to thin the herd while Stick takes out the Black Sky. When Matt is no longer near Stick, Stick pulls out the weapon intended for something he swore to Matt he wouldn’t do. Inside the container delivered to the docks is a single figure. A lone child sitting in the middle of the container. Black Sky is a child. A very heavily chained child. Stick takes his shot with his collapsible bow and arrow. Matt immediately springs into action preventing the arrow from meeting its target.
In another flashback to training, young Matt is much further along. Stick is teaching him the connection between mind and body. He even suggests Matt should take up meditation as it will make his mind stronger and even allow him to heal faster. Then young Matt makes a mistake. He gives Stick a bracelet he made out of the ice cream wrapper from the cone Stick got him on the day they first met. Sentiment is something Stick cannot allow. He’s not there to be Matt’s father.
Stick makes an effort to leave Matt’s apartment on good terms. When Matt tells Stick he won’t let him kill that kid, Stick informs him that he already has. Then the blind vs blind apartment match ensues. I’d say they fought the good fight, but good is now how I’d describe it. Both men take a beating and Matt eventually wins out with a dramatic move that ends with Matt flipping Stick and landing on top of him on top of his bottom step. Then Stick leaves.
In the final scene Stick kneels before a muscularly large man with visible scars on his back. Stick is telling him that the Black Sky will no longer be an issue. And that Matt Murdock is as much a pain in the *** as he has ever been. Then the mysterious man says something perplexing. Something that might be the itch that won’t go away long passed the conclusion of this season.
Mystery Man: Will he be ready when the doors open?
Stick (after a very long pause): I have no idea.
