We’re back with our eighth review of this season’s Daredevil on the episode “Guilty as Sin”. As we’ve mentioned in our previous reviews, this season we are reviewing each episode so we can get deeper into the nitty gritty of this spectacular series and so we can keep up with everybody’s various binge-ing habits.
In this episode we see the rather disastrous conclusion of the Punisher trial, the return of two Season 1 characters, and the introduction of The Hand. Let’s get into ‘Guilty as Sin’:
The Chaste vs. The Hand
I hate to say I told you so but I told you so in my last review with regards to Elektra being apart of the same organization as Stick (no word yet if the Hand was involved in the Castle cover up) but as Stick explained in this episode this is a war that goes back for centuries.
After a fight out between Matt and Elektra and members of the Hand by the big pit, which results in Elektra being severely injured and Stick and Matt working together to save her, Stick explains to Matt that years ago there was a Japanese organization called The Hand that brought people back to life, a counter group called The Chaste, rose up in order to stop them, and that is the war that is currently being waged in New York, between The Hand and the Chaste, and Stick and Elektra are part of The Chaste.
However, when she does heal, Elektra choses to stay with Matt and do things his way, even though Stick warns her that he is soft. But a few hours into her decision, after a young ninja breaks into Matt’s house, she breaks her promise and kills the ninja.
I feel way more invested in this plotline now that I know it’s not just a side adventure for Matt and Elektra, it’s a real issue that has a large part to play in the series, and probably in the other Defenders series as well, especially Iron Fist. I’m excited to see where they’ll take this storyline and the role that Frank Castle will play in it.
Frank Castle – Guilty as sin?
We saw the conclusion of Frank Castle’s trial in this episode, as Karen convinced him to take the stand. Insecure in his own abilities, Foggy wants Matt to question him as he thinks he will be better at it (from what I’ve seen from all the lawyering in this show, I think that Foggy is superior in all aspects of it).
In the questioning, Frank is seemingly hostile to Matt, because let’s be honest, he probably thinks that Matt is a slacker lawyer anyhow, we never even saw him attempt to speak to his client prior to the questioning. So Matt instead treats Frank like a hostile witness and proceeds to make a speech about vigilantism and how Frank Castle should be treated as a hero. While I’m no lawyer, I’ve seen enough episodes of The Good Wife to know that at some point the DA should have objected and said ‘council is testifying’ because that was basically what Matt was doing.
Frank wasn’t a fan of Matt’s monologue either, and made his own statement about how if he could, he would do it all again. That those he killed deserved to die, and he is not crazy at all, there is nothing wrong with him other than his keenness to kill those that he did. It’s easy to see that the verdict was guilty after that.
I should mention that Matt notices a scene where a guard passes by Frank when he’s on the stand and murmurs something to him, he tries to tell Foggy and Karen about it after the trial but they had had enough of Matt’s shenanigans for one day. We learn more about that when a guard leads Frank from his cell and says that there’s someone who wants to meet with him – and we see the return of Wilson Fisk.
Last minute notes
- Such great first appearances by Wilson Fisk and Stick this episode, and while I knew Stick would be reappearing, Wilson Fisk was a lovely addition
- Karen walks in on Elektra in Matt’s bed and Stick just chilling, and immediately thought the worst, although I don’t know if the truth is much better
- Frank’s character witness was one of his superiors in the army, who basically testified to what a war hero he was and totally put the DA on her place
What did you think of this episode of Daredevil? Let us know in the comments below.
Marvel’s Daredevil is now available to stream on Netflix.