Warning: Spoiler Alert
We begin with Fisk carrying Vanessa into the emergency room of a hospital. Wesley has called for their doctor to fly in to circumvent the standard of this particular E.R. Like most loved ones in a hospital on a television show, Fisk gets rather forceful about going in with Vanessa. But the dainty nurse is not having it.
Karen visits Matt at home, he reluctantly opens the door. Matt tries to shrug off her questions but is unsuccessful. Karen swiftly transitions to her lead of Fisk’s mother’s marriage license. Upon hearing Karen and Ben traveled to the swanky hospice center where she resides, Matt turned to his older brother tone disapproving of the risk. The information that Fisk killed his father at 12 years old and they covered it up is intriguing, but just hearsay. Before she leaves Matt shows concern for Foggy and tries like a juvenile to get her to speak to Foggy for him. Then rescinds the request.
Foggy wakes up in Marcy’s bed. Foggy tells her he’s not going to work today. Or any day soon as long as Matt’s involved. Thankfully, she wants no part of that drama.
Fisk sits alone in the E.R. waiting room surrounded by his security. Wesley and Leland observe him from a distance. Leland is skeptical that business can continue if this Vanessa situation goes south. Wesley is content to ride things out.
Wesley: She’ll make it.
Leland: Do you have a med degree in your pocket I don’t know about?
Wesley: Because she has to.
Claire makes a house call to fix Matt’s stitches. Matt asks her if she’d like a drink. She declines. There is a part of Claire that is really into Matt on a romantic level, but the practical side of her won’t allow herself to get too close. There is some flirtatious banter which opens up to the ‘us vs. you saving the city’. This is another great difference between Daredevil (on Netflix) and most other superhero romance storylines. Normally, the hero finds or gets the girl. Then experiences romantic bliss. Then something bad happens forcing them to make a decision or break it off to protect them. In Daredevil they almost went from first date to break it off in one step. And the beauty is that Claire is the one deciding to say no, not Matt. At least for now.
Karen meets with Ben who is still very cross with her for preying on his wife’s condition to get him to accompany her to the care facility up state. The story has holes. And if not holes, it has areas Fisk can come back from. This needs to be handled appropriately. Something Karen is oblivious to. The ‘food poisoning’ issue is interesting. Ben believes someone is trying to get to Fisk. He’s not completely wrong. And there is some speculation that Fisk might have his clutches in the media, even The Bulletin.
At the hospital, Fisk is spinning worst case scenarios in his mind. After finally realizing that he is not complete alone, the prospect of losing Vanessa is paralyzing. Wesley tries to keep things calm. Until they know for certain, Wesley doesn’t trust anyone. Then Fisk orders Wesley to find who did this so he can look him in the eyes before salting the earth with their blood. Fisk plans on having Vanessa sent away, far from him and Hell’s Kitchen if she survives. Wesley is the only person Fisk trusts implicitly and instructs him to move the money himself, not to delegate it to Leland. Dr. Rosenberg delivers what appears to be good news.
Matt visits Father Lantom. Matt informs him that he did indeed try to kill the man they spoke of earlier but failed. Then Matt asks if Lantom knows who he is. Lantom is not stupid. He knows the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen has been seeking theological insight from time to time.
Lantom: Yes Matthew, I’m not an idiot, I have a pretty good idea of who you are. And what you do. How you do it, is something else entirely.
Matt: Accident. When I was a kid. I used to think it was God’s will.
Lantom: Used to?
Matt: Yeah, he made each of us with a purpose. A reason for being?
Lantom: I believe so, yes.
Matt: Then why did he put the Devil in me? Why do I feel it in my heart and in my soul? Clawing to be let out?
During meditation Matt plays back both fights in his head. Still stitched and bruised he heads back to his Dad’s trunk. Outside, Matt runs down Turk Barrett. Matt wants information about the armor Fisk wears and thinks Turk will give it up.
In the hospital room Fisk ignores a call from his mother, kisses Vanessa and walks out. Fisk asks Wesley if he will return the call and get her what she needs. Leland pushes through security, attempts to say something sincere in regards to Vanessa, the Fisk turns to go back in the room. After Leland huffs and puffs for a moment, he explains that it seems Gao is still on their side.
Wesley calls Marlene back to discover that she is aware and much less ‘not all there’ as Karen would like to believe. She tells Wesley that two people came to visit her.
Matt follows the information Turk gave him and finds the garage of a certain, “Mr. Potter”. In the garage that I imagine smells and feels like a garage, Matt finds ‘dress forms’ with a peculiar material over them. The garage door opens slowly. Mr. Potter pops open a Yoohoo and seems very excited about it. Then he notices something. As if his dress form has been tampered with. He turns slowly to find the man in the mask standing before him.
Mr. Potter says one thing. “You shouldn’t be here” before trying to fight his way out of this situation. Mr. Potter can handle himself. He grabs Matt’s face with both hands and lifts as high as he can. “You shouldn’t be here” again. Mr. Potter fights like a man with something to lose. Eventually, Matt gets him in a sleeper hold. Not enough to knock him out, just enough to bring him to his knees. Then this man who fought valiantly sits hunched over on the floor sobbing. “He’s gonna hurt her”.
Previously, Leland insinuated that Mr. Potter was, shall I say, mentally challenged. It appears there may be something to that. The ‘her’ in question is a woman named Betsy. She helps him when he gets confused. Matt then warms his tone and speaks to Mr. Potter as two civilized men. At the end of which, Matt asks Mr. Potter to make him a similar suit. Not a formal suit with a vest or a tie, but a ‘symbol’. If Mr. Potter makes Matt a suit, Matt promises to get Fisk out of his life. To keep Betsy safe. Get ready ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Potter is about to make the red Daredevil suit we are accustomed to and expected to see at some point. I’m definitely going to miss the ‘man in the black mask’ though.
Karen finds Foggy at Josie’s bar and he is not sober. He’s not giving her anything to go with her questions which Karen is finding increasingly frustrating. She effectively guilt trips him on Fisk and Mrs. Cardenas, but he doesn’t move. Yet. Outside she calls Matt and leaves a message asking them both to remove their heads from an unmentionable region. Next she calls Urich. He tries to console the tears in her voice while not committing to writing the story. Then she thanks him. Essentially for picking up the phone and not dodging the conversation.
Fisk sits at the foot of Vanessa’s hospital bed speaking to her as if she were awake. The topic of conversation is faith and God. As a child, he read about God and mimicked the verbiage, but it was all fake. So he cannot pray for her. But there is something he can do.
Fisk: All I can do is make you a promise. One that not even God, if there is such a thing, cannot prevent me from keeping. The people who did this to you, they will suffer. (kisses her hand) They will suffer.
Karen returns home just in time to be kidnapped with a chloroform napkin. When she awakes, she is groggy and met by Wesley. He speaks about her deal that was supposed to make her go away. And that she made a decision. And that decision is what brought to this current situation. As the conversation continues, we discover that James Wesley does not share his boss’ affection for Hell’s Kitchen. Then he drops the bombshell that Fisk loves this city, almost as much as he loves his mother. That got her attention. Instead of killing her, Wesley tries to offer her a job. She rejects the proposal by saying she’d rather die first. Wesley slowly informs her that she would not be the first to die. First would be Ben Urich. Then Nelson and Murdock. Then her family and friends. Then, they’ll come for her.
Wesley’s phone rings and he looks down just long enough for Karen to steal the gun he foolishly left on the table. The phone keeps ringing while Karen points the gun at Wesley.
Wesley: Ms. Page, do you really think I would leave a loaded gun on the table?
Karen: I don’ t know. Do you really think this is the first time I’ve shot someone?
Wesley (as he begins to stand up): Ms. Page…
Karen puts one bullet in his shoulder knocking him back down. He looks up at her surprised and confused. Then she puts seven more bullets in his chest. Wesley’s phone starts ringing again. Karen wipes off the table, grabs the gun and runs out.
