'The Defenders' Recap: 'Worst Behavior'

Written by Scott Edwards

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

With a lawyer to come and help her out, Jessica Jones is not too happy about what Matt Murdock has to tell her, but she does not need to listen for too long as she is free to go. As her home/office has become an active crime scene, Jessica will need to steer clear of it for a while, so she decides to follow another lead, the mysterious Matt Murdock who might not be blind after all. Knowing that he is following her, she is able to fall back and see how this man seems to be able to do things that no blind man should.  Knowing that there is something wrong with the picture, Jessica turns her attention back to the Raymond case and gets permission to look deeper from the family. Putting on her best smile, the P.I. is able to find out the latest building that Raymond worked on that may have cost him his life.
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Getting back to Claire’s house with a messed-up jaw, Luke tells her about the fight and Cole being locked up by the police. Hearing that the man that messed up her man’s face had a glowing fist, Claire is easily able to connect the dots and gives her old friend Danny Rand a call. Getting the two men in a room together at the dojo with the hope that they can work on the same side, the stories that are told are unbelievable, but the two find out that they are fighting the same fight. Luke however does not like the way that Danny is trying to fight this mysterious Hand group and with all the money in the world, he could be fighting with more than his fists, he should be fighting with his money instead. Knowing that teaming up will not work between the two, Luke goes to visit Cole and his mother, but when doing the latter, he gets the news that no one wants to hear…that Cole was killed in prison.

Listening to what the bulletproof Luke Cage has to say, Danny starts to understand that there is much more that he will be able to do. With all of the power in the world, he decides to holster his fists and do a little research in his database. Telling one of his employees about the Hand who previously were involved with Rand Enterprises, Danny and Colleen name off all of the places that they have found that the Hand was associated with. As the database cross checks all of the locations, it comes up with three accounts that were closed on the same day by Middle Circle Financial. Being a powerful business man, Danny is ready to assert his status with this group since he knows who they really are.

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The overall story of this episode is the rebirth of Elektra Natchios and her being brought back to life by the Hand to become the Black Sky. After falling to the Hand the last time they fought, Alexandra had the foresight to know that she is the weapon that will be needed to take down anyone that opposes her. Bringing her along slowly after being reborn, Alexandra is able to form a bond with Elektra who has not developed any memories of who she used to be, but her motor functions and the urge to kill has never left. Turning into the warrior that the Hand needs to survive, Elektra will be forced to face off with the best of the best.
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Arriving at the Middle Circle Financial building and demanding to speak with the senior executive team, Danny is not willing to back down from a fight. Armed with the threats of getting all kinds of charges brought up on them; from insider trading to human trafficking, he is ready for a fight, but so is the leader of the group, Alexandra. Ordering her team to attack, Danny sees that he is outnumbered and outgunned when his new friend Luke Cage enters the fight. These two are not alone as Jessica shows up in the lobby to get answers and is stopped by Matt who can hear the commotion in the penthouse. Joining the fight with the other two, Danny, Luke, Jessica and Matt are able to take care of the normal warriors, but a new one joins in and the reborn Elektra is only about one thing, killing.

It appears that something clicked with the writers in this episode as they finally found the voices from the character’s series that led up to this. I did not know what was holding me back from saying I’ve seen a good episode yet and that was it, the little quips that the characters had in the past were not in the show until now. That and there was an epic fight scene that left many people down on the ground and through walls as the superheroes of New York head out of the building. Now that the story is starting to take shape, the protagonists have met the antagonist and the war is about to begin. We also have Stick who should have more information about what is going on with Alexandra waiting in the wings to tell us what this fight is going to be all about. I will admit that I was not sold on this series until this episode, so I hope the rest of them keep this sort of pace, because it looks like final showdown, is going to be arriving soon.

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