"Daredevil" Recap: "Semper Fidelis"

​Written by Scotty

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

While waiting for his stay of execution, Frank Castle is doing his best to keep his appearance up, but that will not be enough to prove that he is not the one to blame for his crimes.  As the jury is selected for his trial, the defensive team of Nelson and Murdock are formulating their own attack. When reading the coroner’s report about Castle’s family’s autopsies, the group finds out that there are more things about Frank’s past being covered up. Knowing that the report has been changed, the defense team might have something to plead their case with and as long as they are able to prove this in the court, they have a fighting chance for the Punisher.

Since Karen is the only one that Frank talks to, she is sent to the prison to ask him more questions that could be used in his defense. Getting upset about the PTSD defense, their tactic will have to change drastically for the man of honor. But this is not the only reason why Karen is talking with Frank, as she made him a promise to find out who was the one behind the killing of his family.  Back at the office, Matt is trying to prepare for the greatest opening statement of his career when Elektra gives him a call.  Finding out who is behind the codes in the ledger, she is ready for another house call and Matt needs to be there to help find out what Roxxon is hiding.

Beating the truth out of the professor behind the encryption, Matt and Elektra venture out to the train yard in search for a specific car.  Finding that it is filled with sand, they have fallen into a setup and have to battle their way back to freedom.  Both taking a beating as well, Elektra winds up with more injuries than she is used to and Matt is more than happy to sew her back up.  As the night flashes by quickly and morning has come, Matt is late for the trial leaving his team in the weeds. Knowing that what he did was wrong, Matt is able to break the coroner on the stand, but in the process finds out that he was visited by someone else as well.  Fighting a never ending battle with his ex-girlfriend, Matt is forced to go out again, only to find out what the Yakuza are really trying to hide.

With Matt being absent when the trial begins, Karen and Foggy are forced to come up with a game plan of their own.  District Attorney Reyes does not pull any punches when it comes to what Frank Castle has done in her city and is calling for his head on a platter from the jury.  Not being prepared, Foggy is forced to make the argument of his own to save the ex-marines' life.  Going off script, he is able to appeal to the human side of the crimes that were committed and captures the hearts of at least a few people in the courtroom. But when day two of the trial is at hand and the coroner takes the stand, he comes clean without a question about falsifying the Castle’s autopsies.  As the mention of two men in dark suits comes out again surrounding Frank, the cover-up of his past is getting deeper, but whomever these men are, they are not on trial, the Punisher is.

Talk about a difference of opinion being expressed in this episode, wow!  The part that grabbed me was when Karen asks Matt about what he thinks about the Devil and if what he is doing is wrong. With no true response, Matt finds out that Karen is starting to think that vigilante justice might be justified if the situation warrants it. Then Foggy taking a stand against his best friend in the world for not doing his job for the firm in lieu of going out and fighting criminals at night. The blowback of not being truthful with his friends is coming back to haunt Matt once again and coming clean about Elektra being back in the picture does not help matters as well. Matt has his hands full trying to live his double life, but if he is not able to pick which one is more important to him, he may end up losing more than his business, he could lose his life overall. Like I said, the episodes keep getting better and better as they go on and this one is full of emotions and opinions that need to be checked before Nelson and Murdock will be able to work together again.

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