SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
We got some answers to the questions that were raised in the first episode here and possibly a hint as to the true nature of Alexandra.
Firstly, the earthquake was in Hell’s Kitchen. So it’s more likely that it did originate from the giant hole that the Hand was digging in Daredevil season two. If memory serves, that series never addressed the purpose of the hole. It didn’t occur to me that it might pop up in this series. We still don’t know exactly what it’s for yet though.
As I’d expected, the aftermath of the quake was the catalyst for Matt getting back into the hero business. Except that that was to be short lived…for now. That was a “momentary lapse” and he still intends to continue being a civilian. I think that if Foggy hadn’t called, Matt would have put on the suit. Matt didn’t seem like he was ready get back into it so much as he was compelled to, like an addict. Which is why I’m glad that he didn’t put it on.
It was only when Hogarth told Foggy to keep an eye on Jessica that I realised how Matt would end up representing her. With Foggy’s job being to keep whatever trouble Jessica gets herself into from sticking to Hogarth’s firm, he couldn’t become her lawyer and would therefore send Matt. It’s a clever way to introduce the two.
Ultimately though, Foggy is inadvertently messing up his own plan to keep Matt away from crime fighting. He’s giving Matt cases to keep him busy and off of the streets, but by sending him to Jessica he’s leading him directly to doing just that. I should have known that when Matt asked Foggy “What if it doesn’t work” that that meant that it was exactly that.
Before she had Foggy on Jessica, Hogarth went directly to her and warned her to stay out of the investigation of John Raymond. I found this odd. Not that I think that Hogarth is involved with the Hand, simply that both John (who was the caller and wasn’t working for the Hand and was in fact trying to stop them) and Hogarth warning Jessica to stay out of it is too much of a coincidence. But for now that seems to be the case since Hogarth is protecting her firm’s image.
I was waiting on the Jess and Misty interrogation scene just because of their personalities. Jess is rude and sassy and Misty is a no-nonsense kind of person. Just to see their two personalities clash would ave been amazing and I wanted to see how the two would get along. But the interrogation scene wasn’t the fireworks display that I thought it would be. We got what I expected their exchange to be like when Misty showed up at Raymond’s apartment and Jess was being questioned. I thought the the interrogation scene would be like that. It seems that having gotten a better understanding of the situation however, that Jessica was more concerned – and maybe even scared – than anything.
We also learned that Mariah has nothing to do with the young men in Harlem. I suppose her name drops were a bit of misdirection, but it makes sense that Misty and Luke would assume that she was behind it since she is the criminal that they know. Some entirely new guy – whose name we don’t know yet – is facilitating the entire thing. As it turns out, what the Hand needs these young men from Harlem for is…cleaning up murders. It’s not as nefarious as I would have thought, but they are being killed for their service.
It just so happened that as Luke was following Cole, Danny was in the exact same location following a lead about the man Elektra killed in the first scene of the first episode. Here we got our first meeting between the members of the Defenders and, of course, they fought.
Danny was wholly ineffectual in fighting Luke. Right up until he glowed up his fist. It was kind of funny because up until this fight with Luke, Danny’s martial arts worked on everyone. And he just kept on attacking Luke despite the fact that none of his blows were doing any damage.
When the police showed up I thought that Danny and Luke would get arrested (and Luke just got out of prison too!), they’d end up in the same station as Jessica and Matt would show up to represent her and then they’d all meet. Of course, that didn’t happen. But the other half of the team did meet when Matt interrupted Jessica’s interrogation. So we’re getting somewhere.
I’m guessing that Alexandra is super old and long lived given that she had such intimate knowledge of the motivations of a long dead composer and requested a little known piece. She also said that she picked up things along the way. That’s one of the kinds of sly comments unusually long lived people say in movies and TV that hints at their longevity.
Random thoughts:
- Was this dude about to shoot the other dude that was on the ground…defenseless and unarmed??
- Trish’s station definitely works for the Hand.
- So Gao does answer to Alexandra.
- Turk!
- And Iron Fist (and Colleen’s) fighting has gone back to looking bad.
- Stick!
All eight episodes of Marvel’s The Defenders are currently available for streaming on Netflix.
