Warning: Spoiler Alert
Matt wakes up the day following the significant beating he took at the hands of Nobu and Fisk. He is bloody but stitched up. He begins to sit up when he is met with a familiar but uncharacteristically stern. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Then again, what do I know Matt Murdock”.
Flashback to college the first day Matt and Foggy met. Foggy is a college grunge caricature of himself. Matt looks exactly like he should assuming an early to late 1990s timetable. Here’s where the Foggy taking Punjabi gag begins. The sequence ends with Foggy making a Maverick and Goose reference and saying “no secrets”.
Back to the no funny, extremely upset Foggy. After more hurtful questions about whether Matt can actually see or not, and another compliment about Claire, Foggy’s cross-examination leads to whether Matt did all those things the news reported came at the hand of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. In the heat of addressing Matt’s friendship betrayal, Karen calls. Matt naturally wants her out of the loop, while Foggy believes she deserves to know. Begrudgingly, Foggy attempts to lie to Karen and it is considerably awkward. At the conclusion of the call, Foggy demands to know everything.
Madame Gao meets Fisk on a rooftop green space. Gao tells a story of a snake betrayed by its ambition attempting to eat an elephant. Fisk’s ambition is still focused, but at the same time distracted since beginning things with Vanessa. Gao strongly suggests Fisk decide between their venture or Vanessa.
In one of the few lucid and affectionate moments between Urich and his wife. Feeling any number of emotions about his wife’s state and still trying not to show it, he speaks about pulling back and not rocking the boat. She replies with a great line.
Doris Urich: Your name is Ben Urich. And you are a reporter. It’s not a job, it’s who you are.
Matt directs Foggy to his father’s old chest. Inside there is plenty of Battlin’ Jack gear, but below it is the Daredevil gear. The question of how Matt can do what he does considering his handicap comes up and Matt bring Stick into the conversation. Stick told him that sight was a distraction and with the right training could hone his other senses. Foggy wants to know exactly what he can do.
Foggy: What things to just know.
Matt: I know that you haven’t showered since yesterday morning. But you rinsed your face in my kitchen sink. I know you had onions in your lunch yesterday. I know you’re hungry. And tired. And I know the more I say, the faster your heart beats.
The heartbeat thing sends Foggy over the top. An invasion of sorts. Knowing when a person is lying or not and playing along seems to be out-of-bounds for Foggy.
Flashback to college again. Foggy seems a little tipsy. They talk about the big things they will do someday. Then Foggy asks what lawyer is in Spanish. Matt replies with “abogado”. To which Foggy responds with “EL GRANDE AVOCADOS”. The Punjabi gag continues. Foggy asks if Matt gets the spins when he gets drunk. Matt’s response is much more informed to the medical explanation that one might think. Then he almost slips. He’s about to say, “I think it’s worse for me because my senses are so…” Matt’s Dad wanted him to use his head not his fists. Foggy’s mother wanted him to be a butcher. Their conversation eventually moves into what they want out of their career. As in money vs helping people. The foundation of their relationship. Up until this point.
Foggy: We’re going to be the best damn Avocados this city’s ever seen.
Ben is battling with his own conscience. His wife’s condition, the ever-changing approach by media, the offer to move up and become an editor, but there is still that itch to take down the big bad guy. In the office, Karen finds a shoe box on her desk. Ben walks around the corner unannounced. An illustration that Karen is not being as careful as she should be. Inside the shoe box is everything Ben has on the Fisk story. Karen doesn’t want it. She wants Ben to keep doing what he does. Ben is all but checked out. The old dog sensing the end is near.
Ben hands her a Hospice Care brochure. The plan is to spend the remaining time his wife has at her side. Karen asks Ben to take a ride. When they arrive, it’s very ritzy place. Karen and Ben walk through the halls and eventually stop at a ‘random’ door. The woman seems like not all cylinders are firing but is pleasant. Karen keeps asking leading questions. She has an agenda here. They get the woman’s first marriage to a drunk. Then the woman mentions her son. When asked for his name, she says, “Wilson”. The ball starts rolling a lot faster. “It wasn’t his fault. Wilson…he just wanted him to stop”.
Foggy asks Matt about the junkie that killed Mrs. Cardenas. Then follows that up with the question of how far have you taken it? Matt honestly relays that he went to a warehouse intending to kill a man, but was unsuccessful. Then we have another flashback to their time as interns at Landman and Zack. The Plaintiff’s representation (representing Roxxon for all the glorious nerds out there) and circumventing the intention of the law to get away not paying out damages in a civil suit.
Foggy is excited to report that rumor has it, Landman and Zack are going to offer them the job they’ve been working towards. Then Matt gives him the look. This is the hard sell of morality. Foggy quietly walks across the small office/closet and grabs a box.
Matt: What are you doing?
Foggy: I going fill this box with as many bagels as I can fit. With you as my partner, there’s no telling when I’ll have a real meal again.
Foggy asks when did it all start. Matt tells a story that runs from about nine years old until they quit Landman and Zack. His heightened senses revealed how much bad was happening around him. Then one night he heard the cries of a little girl. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, the father of this girl would…take advantage of her innocence. Matt called Child Services as a good lawyer would. But it did nothing. Matt studied the man’s routine. When he was alone, one night with the backdrop of trains, Matt took action. Matt beat him senseless and warned him not to touch his daughter again.
Meanwhile, Fisk is speaking to group at a benefit. Afterwards, Leland tells Fisk ‘it’s been taken care of’ before grabbing a glass of champagne. He passes a glass to Vanessa. She takes a sip and instantly looks ill. A man across the room falls from his seat. Then bodies start falling over all around, foaming at the mouth. Then falls Vanessa.
Matt: We don’t live in a fair world, we live in this one. I’m just trying to make my city a better place.
Foggy: Sounds like what Fisk has been saying.
While Matt’s words are being twisted, his intentions are honorable, but Foggy can’t get past the betrayal and the fallout that would surely follow if Matt was taken down. This line of dialogue gets Matt misty from emotion when he says, “This city needs me in that mask.” To which Foggy replies, “Maybe it does, but I don’t.” The big bottom line reveal comes when Foggy tells Matt that he would not have kept this from him.
Foggy returns to the office to find the sign they had professionally made that reads, “Nelson and Murdock Attorneys At Law” and throws it in the trash.
