2x10 The Man in the Box

6.8/10. If pairing up Kingpin and Punisher is a case of awesome-meeting-awesome (in terms of performance and character), then Kingin and Daredevil meeting up once again is a case of awesome-meeting-okay. Look, the show probably can't help at this point that as the more or less whitebread hero in a very colorful world, Matt Murdock is going to pale in comparison to the bigger personalities in the show. But the moments when Kingpin, who admittedly veers into scenery-chewing mode here, pulls of his tempered grace transitioning into untethered rage routine here, compared with Daredevil's staid attempts at intensity, the comparison does Murdock and Charlie Cox no favors. Granted, the part where the two of them have to deliver monologues to one another while in the middle of a scuffle that goes on awkwardly long doesn't help, but it just shows the shortcomings of the main character.

At the same time, I'm a big fan of Clare Temple, and Rosario Dawson brings her usual spark to the character, but her scenes with Matt are fairly dull despite her presence. I do like that she calls out Matt on his martyr routine. There's been a number of references to Matt's Catholicism this season (Clare calling aspirin "Catholic's Aspirin" is one) and it fits with the idea that Matt is struggling with the morality of his actions, with trying to do good and struggling to figure out if he can without killing anyone, and especially if he can do it without hurting anyone he cares about. But the delivery of that idea, even with a ringer like Clare around, is weak, and just makes it all the more annoying that Matt doesn't acknowledge all the other people that Clare mentions, who are fighting the same fight.

There is some intrigue in the plot department. The whole Children of the Corn bit with the infected kids is spooky, but again, I'm hesitant about the more mystical elements invading this show. Still, the idea that there's some other force out there that's taking out the people connected to Frank Castle is an interesting one, especially since it seemed like we had the answer to who was responsible for his family's murder.

The idea that it was Reyes, who had good intentions to some degree and then screwed up in not clearing the park not to mention the cover up, is a solid reveal. Again, this show owes a debt to Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and the public official who's bitten off more than she can chew getting taken out by the bad guy in her office feels of a piece with the machinations unveiled in The Dark Knight. But the fact that there's more to the story, that someone higher, or at least other than Reyes wants the Castle thing squashed is intriguing. Mixing Karen up in it helps add stakes to the story, and her exchanges with her editor about staying safe and the mistakes he made with Ben show an appreciation for both continuity and the optics of the story.

Oh yeah, and there's Elektra's fight with the random french-speaking guy at the private airport which feels mostly shoehorned into the proceedings.

So overall, it's not the best episode of the show, but it's perfectly decent with some cool moments like the ever full-of-presence Fisk and the unspooling of the plot that keep it afloat.