"Daredevil" Recap: "The Dark at the End of the Tunnel"

​Written by Scotty

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

Fearing what Elektra will do when she reaches Stick, Daredevil is there to stop her before there is no turning back. But Daredevil is not the only one in the building looking for a fight as the Hand moves in and abducts his old teacher. While Elektra has had her reason for being in the building taken away from her, she throws down the gauntlet with her past boyfriend and warns him that if he gets in the way again, he will be just another dead body on the street. Even though Matt understands the threat, he needs to find Stick before Elektra does to save his life and knowledge from the members of the Hand.

After surveying the docks and seeing all of the dead bodies being pulled out of the water, Karen is ready for a break. Having to believe that the Punisher is dead, she wants to let the story go and get back to her normal life once again. But Ellison is a great editor and will not let his soon to be prized investigative reporter give up just yet. Steering her to another angle of the Frank Castle story, Karen is back on the hunt to find out who the real Frank really was. Interviewing Colonel Schoonover, Karen hears stories about how fun Frank was when he was in the unit and how the ex-marine was able to read people at a glance. Thanking the colonel for his time, Karen is the first to find out that he is the Blacksmith and wants nothing more than to finish the Frank Castle saga with a bang. Forcing Karen to drive to an unknown location, she finds out that she will not be on this trip alone.

With some key information on how the Hand is able to move about the city so quickly, Matt takes to the tunnel systems and is quick to find the gang. But the Hand is starting to understand how Daredevil is able to track them, so they take to fighting in a different method. Still the student, Matt listens to Stick as he whispers hints about how to track the stealthy ninja force and when they are all defeated, Elektra comes back into the picture. Wanting to finish her quest to kill Stick, Matt steps in her way once again, but the Hand has been waiting for her return for many years and fill up the little room with weapons drawn.

This episode however was not about the battle between Elektra and her boyfriend, or her teacher, it is about how she came to be. Showing how Elektra was trained by Stick and how hot she would run when in the heat of battle, she was able to take down every foe in her way. Being told that she was too dangerous and that she would have to be put down, Stick did everything in his power to keep her safe. Killing was always in her fighting DNA and even though she was able to calm it down a bit, it is still what she is best at doing. Finding out that she is Black Sky, whom the Hand fights for, Elektra now has a group of fighters on her side that will serve her every command. But with the sweet whispering in her ear, will she take her assigned post at the top of the Hand, or will she try and save the people that have been there for her during her life?

When the storyline is focused on two key things, it makes for a very enjoyable episode to watch. I love the Elektra storyline in this one for the fact that you finally get to see her growing up and the fire that Matt never noticed being sparked in her early years. She was trained to be a killing machine and even at a young age, she was good at it and when Stick decided to leave her, she vowed to never forgive him. Stick knows what is happening, but Matt is slow to figure it out as the Hand only wanted Elektra to show up so that they could have a leader once again and no matter how many men she has killed, when she is home, she will be treated as the boss. Karen is at the end of the line as her piece on the Frank Castle seems to be all for naught after he was killed at the pier. But when she wants to get a character witness and talks to the Colonel, she finds out that he is the mastermind everyone has been looking for. Knowing that Frank is alive and not too far behind when she is being kidnapped, Karen is in for the ride of her life. One more episode to go and most of the questions have been answered, but now we just need to find out what is being hidden in the sarcophagus that the Hand is hiding and if the office of Nelson and Murdock will be closed going forward.  Let’s do this!

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