Daredevil, Season 2, Episode 5: Kinbaku
We get a change of pace and tone as we switch our secondary Marvel superhero from the Punisher to Elektra. Elektra is a character who is extremely closely-tied to Daredevil's lore that basically everyone is calling foul that she didn't already show up in the first season beyond an Easter Egg. Elektra is one of those major Marvel characters that everyone wants to see in live-action, and while I'm not familiar with the character from the comics, I do like the Elektra here.
Whereas Punisher was all fiery and hot, a force of nature that rampages through Hell's Kitchen and is a physical adversary that clashes heads with Daredevil as much as he helps him out, Elektra feels far more cold and calculating. She knows how to get into Matt's head, she knows how to manipulate Matt and get her to do what she wants her to do, by spinning half-truths and appealing to the side of Matt Murdock that wants to beat criminals up.
The pacing of this Elektra-centric episode is also different. While the Punisher's arrival on the scene was bombastic and dramatic, with stakes being high as Matt races to stop the Punisher, Elektra is content to take things slow and let Matt do his own investigation. Also for the audience, whereas the Punisher's backstory is vague and a mystery up until the last episode of his mini-arc, we're treated to a series of flashbacks to immediately demystify Elektra somewhat... while still raising a crapton of questions about this hot Greek ninja chick.
And, well, Elektra's flashbacks are quite insane. We see Elektra and Matt in their college days, where the actors strike some really great chemistry together as there is an excellent blend of classiness and devil-may-care attitude to the two of them. Both of them clearly are struggling with their personal inner demons in the past, and while Matt initially just finds Elektra as a spoiled-rich girl who just happens to be able to match him in martial combat, she turns out to be... well, something more. Elektra tricks Matt to hanging out in the home of the man who ordered the hit on Matt's father, Roscoe Sweeney ('Fixer' from the comics, which had a short appearance in season one)... which does the dual purpose of showing us what kind of character Elektra is, whilst at the same time answering the question of just what Matt did against the man who murdered his father.
And Elektra? Well, she's pulling an Emperor Palpatine as she tells Matt to give in to his anger and kill Sweeney. Except unlike Star Wars there really isn't anything to lose if Matt gives in to the dark side except for his morality, and considering Sweeney is responsible for killing Matt's father, and we get the additional complication that he knows that Matt Murdock is the one responsible for beating him up... but, of course, despite Elektra's tempting 'kill him' speeches and obvious getting-off on the torture, Matt's inner angel wins out, and he doesn't kill Sweeney. His fate is kinda left ambiguous, though I assume the cops got him in the end. It does show just how much of an impact Matt's short stint as Elektra's boyfriend turned out, though, and it's a great, great scene.
Again, while the heart of the argument is the same, whether to kill the villain, Frank and Elektra have a distinctively different approach to the fact, with Frank being clinical, indiscriminate (if explosive) manner regarding the villains he kills, while Elektra opts for a more personal and cold-blooded torture.
All the great flashbacks kind of detract from the more mundane present-day plot, which I think is the weaker link of the Elektra focus. She's dragging Matt into a war with the yakuza, who are apparently not all wiped out when Nobu died in season one. Also the fact that we're all expecting the yakuza (*coughhandcough*) to return after all the ominous foreshadowing from season one. We get yet another appearance from the corrupt Roxxon oil company (which previously made appearances in Iron Man 3, Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter) as Elektra hangs out there while Matt tries to shadow Elektra and investigate, and I really liked how Elektra just clinically draws Matt into her business, eventually culminating in the two vigilantes ready to face off against a yakuza hit squad... though the episode ends before we get a big fight scene.
Despite the big Elektra focus, though, I'm also pleased that the Punisher isn't just shunted elsewhere and locked up until we need him for like the season finale or whatever. The DA, Reyes, is apparently involved in whatever conspiracy that transformed Frank Castle into the Punisher, and she is extremely enthusiastic to bury Frank under red tape and sue for the death sentence. And, well, finally, we get some relevance from the lawyer side of things, as Nelson & Murdock's client is shaping up to be, well, the motherfucking Punisher! As likable as that old lady from season one is, her sideplot is ultimately filler and only serves to go 'OMG Kingpin is evil for killing this likable character'. Defending the Punisher from the mysterious agendas of the government is certainly a far more interesting plotline.
Also, Karen has became more and more interesting as she recruits the help of New York Bulletin's chief editor, Ellison, in hunting down more information about the Punisher. They bond almost immediately regarding Ben Urich, and while I'm still kinda pissed about this news reporter sideplot, it still ties to the bigger Punisher conspiracy plot so I can't really be mad about it. It's just less interesting than Elektra and Frank, is all.
There's also the thinly-veiled comparison of how Karen likes the mild-mannered blind lawyer, while Elektra likes the violent vigilante. It's going to be your classic 'which is the mask and which is the real Matthew Murdock' paradigm, but this one at least has some buildup, and Elektra trying to draw out the 'real' Matt in the past by trying to goad him to commit murder is certainly a great powerful scene.
We get a couple of nice continuity callbacks not just with Roxxon, but to both the first season of Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Marci Stahl, Foggy's ex-girlfriend and ex-rival from the first season, shows up and she's apparently hooked up with Jeri Hogarth's law firm... which is absolutely a great way to reference Jessica Jones. Also the New York Bulletin, as always, is filled with clippings referencing the events in prior MCU movies, like Avengers, Captain America: Winter Soldier and even Agents of SHIELD. Cybertek was apparently brought to court, which is a nice little loose end that got tied up there.
Also, a short bit of trivia, the title of this episode, 'kinbaku', actually means a form of bondage (yes, the sexy kind) which, um, considering the connotations that Elektra brings with her....
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