1x08 Shadows in the Glass

One of the best episodes of season 1. All season we've seen hints into Fisk's backstory, painting an awkward kid who grows up into an awkward adult with violent issues. We finally get the full story as to the source of his vision for the city, the source of his rage and his shyness.

The episode is a great example of finding sympathy for a villain. Fisk backstory shows a shy and scared boy who sees his father continually verbal abuse his mother and himself. He sees a man who tries to be great than what he is in an attempt to gain power and money. In the end the only way to end his father's cruelty is to kill him, while his mother covers up the crime. Fisk is has deep psychological issues coming from abuse, ptsd and a twisted sense of morality.

As Fisk's history comes to the light, so does Wilson Fisk. He wil no longer work in the shadows, but rather pitting himself in the public eye as a man looking to better the city, and rid it of crime, corruption and poverty.

While Fisk moves into the light, Matt must go further into the shadows in order to expose Fisk's underbelly.

Visual: great sequences of Fisk doing everyday task, like making breakfast, moments of calm juxtaposed to the inner turmoil he lives in and which still haunts him.

Man I really enjoyed this episode, I'm so glad we got one centered on Fisk's backstory. Fisk presents as someone who has everything under control and having a very ordered way of living his life, w/ the opening scene of his daily routine reflecting this image, but in reality he's actually dealing with this inner turmoil (as shown but his terrified gasps for air when he wakes up then stares at the painting), with traumatic memories from his dad haunting him, and now, thanks to daredevil, partners clearly doubting how much Fisk really has things under control, from Nobu, to Leland, and now Madame Gao (who are all heads of their own crime syndicate). I mean, even after Fisk successfully got Detective Blake killed but intimidating his partner into killing him, Daredevil still got information about Fisk from Blake before he passed, and Fisk doesn't even know what Blake said. Regarding Fisk's traumatic upbringing, with his father, Bill Fisk, being this ruthless hard-working political candidate aiming for a seat in the NYC's Council so that he can make a name for himself and bring money for his family, but doing so by making dealings with the mafia, and becoming an abusive husband in the process, taking out his anger and frustrations on his wife. He also clearly was a shitty father for Wilson Fisk, instilling these notions into Wilson that he's pathetic, not enough of a man, weak, and pushing Fisk into becoming the kind of ruthless cruel person he is, forcing Wilson to brutally beat up people who disrespect him of his family name, when deep down Wilson doesn't want to be that kind of person. And the abuse and trauma got to the point where Wilson killed the his father, believing people like Bill were irredeemable and don't deserve to live. And this emotional abusive upbringing has led to Fisk's vision of the world, wanting to rid Hell's Kitchen of people like his father, corrupt men who are only obsessed with money and power, and wanting to rebuild the city from the ground up using violence if necessary. This relationship clearly left a mark on Wilson, with him even keeping reminders (like the white painting, and the cuff-links) of his father, to remind himself he's nothing like that man and he never will be. I'm glad we finally learned the significance of the rabbit in the snowstorm painting how it serves as a constant reminder of Wilson's father, showing his father's parenting is clearly something that haunts his mind everyday, something he cannot escape from, but is trapped in, like a snowstorm. And these memories are just becoming more and more prominent as Fisk loses control over his business thanks to Daredevil. Luckily for him though, Wesley had his back and invited Vanessa to give him some much needed emotional support, with Wilson being able to become vulnerable and express his emotions with her. And even after learning what Wilson did to his dad Vanessa still loves him, not viewing him as a monster but as a victim of his dad, and supporting Wilson's aims to rebuild Hell's Kitchen and rid of everything flawed about it. Switching back to Matt, looks like he's now apart of the Karen x Foggy x Ben investigation squad, as they're getting closer and closer to exposing the truth of Union Allied and connecting the dots between it and Wilson Fisk. Luckily Matt, who's well exposed to the dangers of Hell's Kitchen and the gravity of who they are messing with, is taking the making the investigation team take a less dangerous legal approach to taking down Union Allied. Though to be frank its funny seeing him preach about how they don't know about the gravity of who they're messing with when Matt himself is still not fully aware of Wilson Fisk's power in Hell's Kitchen, the the impossibility of defeating him through simply beating people up. I also liked the meeting between Ben and Daredevil, with Matt putting faith in his friends and telling Ben everything he knew about Fisk, wanting Ben to expose the truth about Wilson Fisk in a newspaper using this information in his short-sighted goal to take Fisk down. Sadly for Matt, Fisk stroke first, going public about his identity and giving a press hearing, where he talks about his vision for rebuilding Hell's Kitchen, ridding it of the poverty and crime its mired in, which needless yo say, completely threw a wrench in Matt's plan to expose him, forcing Matt back into the shadows as Fisk starts garnering public approval for himself. Overall I really liked today's episode, it gave me a whole new, sympathetic lens to view Fisk in, not as just some heartless monster but someone who was a victim of his father's parenting, and that driving Fisk to become the man he is today.