Daredevil: Rabbit in a Snowstorm

Spoilers for the episode

Story:

Matt decides to take the case of a murderer so he can get closer to the Kingpin while Karen continues investigating Union Allied.

Thoughts:

At a bowling alley a guy wants to play a game but the lady who works there tells him they’re closed and the other guy that’s playing worked it out with the owner. He takes out the other guy’s bodyguards but then his gun jams and we get a flashback to how he got the gun.

He got the gun from the slave trader guy from the first episode so we know he’s connected to all the other people on the roof and the Kingpin.

The two face off and the bowling guy gets his face smashed in with a bowling ball. It’s gruesome.

The police show up and the guy surrenders to them.

Matt’s back at the church and the priest recognises him as Jack Murdock’s kid. Matt goes to leave but the priest reminds him everything he says in the confessional is confidential. If Matt killed someone the priest couldn’t tell. Then he tries to convince him to stay and have a coffee but Matt’s got to go.

Ben Ulrich meets with a guy who used to be someone back in the good old days. He says Ulrich’s got to give information first then maybe he’ll give information. He reminisces about the good old days and how there used to be rules but not anymore. They talk about the Russians and how something’s happening. But the guy decides he’s moving to Florida because it’s all too dangerous.

At the office Foggy’s regretting drinking so much and Karen’s decided it’s time to get paid. I love that she just decides it without them officially hiring her or anything.

Matt comes in all beat up and they think he should get a dog.

A client knocks on the door. It’s the guy who blackmailed the cop to kill Karen in her cell. He’s called Wesley.

He wants to put them on retainer so Foggy gets excited but Matt’s suspicious. The man refuses to give his name and he’s mean to Karen. They agree to go see the bowling guy and hear him out. I love this scene because Foggy is trying so hard not to insult the guy and Matt is being really blunt.

Wesley leaves and Matt thinks they can’t trust him because he didn’t even give his name. Foggy thinks Matt wouldn’t care if he could see the number of zeros on the check but Matt thinks he would care if he couldn’t.

Matt follows Wesley to his car and is late to the police station where Foggy has realised they don’t want this guy as a client because he’s evil. Unfortunately Matt turns up and says they’re taking the case. Foggy is not happy.

Ulrich’s in his office dealing with insurance people when his editor comes to talk to him. He’s got a story about something happening with organised crime and how there’s new player but his boss says that won’t sell papers. Ben’s upset because they used to write the news not fluff pieces. The editor says he’ll see what he can do about the insurance.

Matt tries to get the client to tell them about the man who hired them but he won’t say anything. Healy wants to go directly to trial against their advice.

Wesley goes to the bowling alley to retrieve Healy’s gun under the pinball table.

Back at the office and they’re discussing the case. Foggy’s upset that Matt decided to take the case without consulting him. He apologises and tells Foggy he’s right they need to take cases. They discuss how to handle the case then wonder where Karen is.

Union allied are getting Karen to sign paperwork to say she’ll keep quiet about everything. If she doesn’t they will pursue legal action against her because when she joined union allied she signed a non disclosure agreement and if she went to the police it would be fine but she took the files to a newspaper.

Ben’s at the hospital trying to get his wife the best care on his limited finances. The insurance is running out and he’s desperate. He goes to visit her but she doesn’t wake up

Matt and Foggy are trying to do research but they’ve got crappy wi-fi so it’s holding them back.

This scene’s a bit interesting because Matt has his glasses off when alone with Foggy but when Karen comes in he puts them back on.

In the first episode in his apartment he took them off when he let her ask her questions but put them on again when he started asking the questions. I’m guessing he’s self conscious about his eyes and he’s comfortable around Foggy but he could also be using it to show that he’s being honest with someone.

I don’t know any blind people so I don’t know if they all wear glasses (I doubt it because there’s no group where everyone acts the same) or how many reasons people have to wear them. But it’s interesting seeing how Matt uses it.

They go to trial. Foggy gives the opening statement about how it’s not on them to prove their client was justified in defending his life but on the prosecution to prove he wasn’t.

While Matt realises there’s something wrong with one of the jurors and the guy who hired them turns up.

Later, on the street the woman from the jury is approached by a man who’s blackmailing her. As soon as she’s gone Daredevil swoops in and beats up the guy for information. He doesn’t know who hired him because he never meets them. Matt tells him to tell her to give personal reasons to get off the jury.

The juror gets excused and Matt gives a very good closing statement. Good and evil have no place in the courtroom only facts. The fact is his client killed the man and that isn’t in doubt. What they’ve got to decide is his intent.

Wesley is in a car talking to a man named Leland about his motives. They decided not to kill Healy to clean up the mess because that’s what they’ve been doing with everyone and they are leaving a trail of bodies. So he hired Nelson and Murdock because they’re clean and new and no one would suspect them.

Leland wants to know where the boss is and why he isn’t dealing with the situation. Wesley says he’s finding art for his apartment. I love how much Wesley seems to despise Leland.

Karen goes to visit Daniel’s family (that’s the guy she was framed for killing). The wife told Daniel he had a responsibility to do what’s right but now she’s got kids to look after so she signed the union allied papers and took the money.

Karen visits Ben Ulrich because he wrote the story about Union Allied and she says there’s more to the story.

At the court and the jury is hung because another juror got blackmailed. The DA won’t retry so the bowling guy is going to go free. I don’t know a lot about the law (especially the specifics of American law) but I think it’s because the DA is corrupt.

Healy walks and Matt attacks him. They’re pretty evenly matched but Matt gets him on the ground and starts stabbing him a with a piece of glass.

The guy who hired them works for Wilson Fisk. Healy then kills himself because giving up Fisk’s name means you and your family are dead. He impales his own head on a spike and it’s so gross. I wasn’t prepared the first time but now I look away when it happens.

Fisk is at an art gallery looking at a picture. A woman comes over and talks about how all that matters is how the art makes you feel. Fisk says it makes him feel alone.

I like this episode better than the last one probably because it’s driving the plot forward and I find all the layer talk interesting. It’s a bit hard to follow when you’re not familiar with any of it but it’s nothing I can’t look up.

The fight between Matt and Healy is good and it’s not clear cut that Matt will win. I like that they’re sticking to winning a fight is hard and you have to earn it. After all he’s still relatively new to this and it ups the stakes. Especially after last episode where you see the consequences of him loosing.

We finally get to see Fisk who is only stood in an art gallery but just as imposing as he needs to be. It’s the build up of the last three episodes paying off. No one being allowed to say his name and everyone being terrified.

I think the most effective thing was having a guy as confident as Healy being terrified of him. He’ll kill someone, he’s not afraid of the charges against him or prison or a guy that just starts attacking him but he gives up the Kingpin’s name and he breaks down crying before committing suicide.

It’s also interesting that the last word of the episode is ‘alone’ because that’s what everyone has been this episode. Matt and Foggy were at odds over taking Healy’s case and Matt as Daredevil is alone. Karen is investigating alone even if she reaches out at the end of the episode to Ben who’s also alone in trying write to the news. Everyone is soldiering on by themselves when maybe they could all do with a little help.

I think Rabbit in a snowstorm refers to Fisk because he’s invisible. No one being allowed to say his name and all that. He’s the unseen cause of the chaos that is Hell’s Kitchen.

Matt’s fighting the low level thugs but he’ll never get to the root of the problem because Fisk’s invisible. Maybe that’s another metaphor as well. The only person who can see Fisk is the blind guy. Because there are other ways to see. You might not be able to see a rabbit in a snowstorm but I bet you could still smell it and while a regular person wouldn’t be able to hear it I bet Matt could. It’s like the line earlier in the episode about seeing the numbers on the check. Because Matt can’t he notices other things.

I apologise in advance for any errors in trying to summarise the legal talk because while I find it interesting I’m probably getting it all wrong in summary.

Also apologies for anything I get wrong or assume about blind people.

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