Daredevil 2x05 Review: First Dates

“Kinbaku”
Written by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
Directed by Flora Sigismondi
 
The Story
Matt’s college ex, Elektra Natchios, wants to hire him as a lawyer for her inheritance case or something. Matt kicks her out, but she puts the money in the Nelson & Murdock account anyway. He goes to spy on her, and at the meeting, she pulls some kind of signal jam trick with her pen that has all of the board members of Roxxon freaking out. Karen goes to Ben’s boss at the Bulletin to research what happened to Frank Castle’s family. After digging through tons of papers, she and Ellison find a story about a shootout between three gangs: the Irish, the Dogs of Hell, and the cartel. Which are the same groups the Punisher’s been gunning for. Mixed in with all of this, we also get lots of flashbacks to how Matt and Elektra met, and how they broke up. They liked each other because they both have secret ninja skills, and they broke up because she set up an encounter with the man who had Matt’s dad killed and tried to get Matt to kill him. He didn’t appreciate that at all. Also, in the present, Matt and Karen go on a date. They start out at a swanky, formal restaurant, but they kind of hate it, so they go to a cheap Indian place with a much more relaxed atmosphere, and they have way more fun there. They end the night with a kiss, because Matt still has work to do. He confronts Elektra about whatever she was doing with Roxxon, but before he can get answers out of her, he hears men with weapons heading for her apartment. She’s gleefully suiting up to fight them, and she has his suit too.
 
Okay, so I desperately want the Punisher side of this season to be connected to the Elektra side. The biggest connection I can see from this episode is the difference between how Matt handled his father’s murderer and how Frank handled the gangs responsible for his family’s deaths. Matt was in angry tears just punching his dad’s killer a few times, and there was never a moment where he seemed like he wanted to kill him. He seemed more just shocked that Elektra wanted him to and had set this all up on purpose. And then there’s Frank, who is trying to wipe out the entire organizations connected to his family’s deaths, not just the specific men who pulled the trigger. Matt isn’t a vigilante for revenge, he’s a vigilante because there are people the law is failing to protect. Frank is a vigilante for revenge, and he doesn't care how terrified many of the civilians are because of his actions. Anyway, a major theme of this episode is the juxtaposition of Matt/Karen and Matt/Elektra. Each woman seems to only know one side of him. Karen only gets the Matt side (and he doesn't know any of her dark secrets either), so their date is very sweet and tame. Elektra disregarded the Matt side for the Daredevil side, which thrilled her, and she tried to pull him into the darkness. Very much opposite extremes, and neither ideal.
 
Things I Liked

• Holy crap was Foggy just eating caviar out of the jar as if it was a pint of ice cream?
• Foggy’s face while Matt and Karen flirtily fumble over their morning greetings
• Matt trolling Karen over their kiss
• Well, looks like Elektra is Chaotic Neutral. Or maybe even Chaotic Evil. She and Matt bonded over the Chaotic side of it.
• Yay, Foggy gets enough screentime to be awesome again!
• Dangit, I should’ve been keeping track of how many walking sticks Matt tosses aside once he dodges into an alley. Between S1 and S2 so far, the number is at least three.
• Hi Marci!
• Stealth Jessica Jones reference! Marci now works for Hogarth. Although that gets less subtle quickly.
• Matt being kind of a dork at the restaurant
• I love that Matt and Karen decided to go to a cheaper restaurant where it’s way more comfortable
• The date is definitely more worth watching once it’s in a better restaurant
• The way the lighting turned red as Matt walked away from Karen and towards the crime

 
Things I Didn’t

• Past Matt’s glasses
• Dangit Matt, your firm is broke! Take the freaking case!
• Elektra broke into Fogwell’s Gym?! So rude!
• Okay, I like it when sparring scenes turn into makeout scenes, not when they turn into sex scenes
• That is the nastiest olive I’ve ever seen
• Matt and Karen’s date is really boring
• Matt and Elektra’s flashbacks are way more interesting than Matt and Karen’s date, which is irritating
• Good grief, Elektra is getting off on Matt beating up his dad’s killer, even though Matt’s super upset

 
The Characters
How well is Matt going to do at keeping his vigilantism within the very narrow boundaries he’s just barely established now that Elektra is here to try dragging him out of bounds? How well is his brand new, very tentative relationship with Karen going to hold up? I don’t think he’s quite prepared to deal with this new variable, but how he reacts to a variable that catches him off-guard should be very telling.
 
So far, I do not like Elektra at all. She seems like a spoiled rich girl who is also a bloodthirsty sociopath. And actually, the more I think about it, the more comfortable I feel about sticking her in Chaotic Evil territory. If Matt is like Angel, then Elektra is Darla.
 
Overall Rating
4.5/5