TV Review: Marvel’s Daredevil – Season 2 Episode 10 “The Man in the Box”

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

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EPISODE 10: "The Man In The Box"

SYNOPSIS: Murdock and Foggy get caught in the crossfire of the Punisher's revenge. Karen and Murdock dig for the truth in very different ways.

REVIEW: With only three episodes to go in the second season of Daredevil, everything begins to hit the fan for Matt Murdock in relation to Frank Castle, Wilson Fisk and The Hand. After getting Mahoney to bring the kids being drained of their blood to the care of Claire Temple, Matt joins Karen and Foggy at the District Attorney's request to discuss the recent escape of Frank Castle. Talking through what happened and how quickly it occurred, Matt deduces that Wilson Fisk had something to do with it and he is intent to find out what. Meeting with Reyes, she reveals the truth about the sting and their attempt to capture The Blacksmith. She takes responsibility for the deaths of the Castle family as she did not have the park cleared that day. Reyes is alarmed because she found Castle's skull X-ray in her daughter's backpack and feels she is the next target for The Punisher. At that moment, her office is riddled with bullets, killing Reyes and injuring Foggy.

Knowing that his friend is in the sights of The Punisher, Matt goes to confront Wilson Fisk. At the same time, Karen heads to the newspaper to keep investigating as she doesn't feel these crimes are something Frank Castle would do. She and Ellison head to the motel where the medical examiner was staying and find he has been killed as well. Ellison implores Karen to get her files so they can help the NYPD save whoever may be next. At the prison, Matt meets with Fisk who denies any involvement with Castle and teases the attorney about their last meeting. After a few minutes, Matt threatens Vanessa which angers Fisk enough that they come to blows. Fisk delivers a strong speech to Matt explaining his power and why he cannot be stopped. Matt leaves, injured, while Fisk questions the voracity of the man he just sat with.

At her apartment, Karen is accompanied by two cops as she gathers her files. While she does, she hears some noises and sees Frank Castle approach. Karen pulls a gun but Castle insists the recent murders where not committed by him. At that moment, more bullets ring out and Castle tackles Karen to protect her. After it seems clear, the two bolt from the apartment. I am really enjoying the development in Karen this season although she is serving as a makeshift Ben Urich which further confirms that the showrunners should not have killed him off last season. Nevertheless, whoever is posing as Castle is going to be a mystery solved by both The Punisher and Karen Page together which should make for some interesting drama.

At the hospital, Matt wallows in his own self doubt on the roof where Claire comes to meet him. Matt refuses the cup of coffee Claire had brought and complains about his failures in protecting the city. Claire offers some sound advice that would be accepted by anyone aside from Matt Murdock who cannot stand that anything he has done has brought more pain and death to Hell's Kitchen. While keeping watch, Matt hears grappling hooks as ninjas from The Hand ascend the building. Downstairs, Foggy watches helplessly as the ninjas arrive while Claire finds the victims of The Hand's blood experiments (toxins were put into their blood to incubate for some reason) are standing over bodies with pasty, dead expressions, like they are zombies of some kind. They turn to accept the arrival of the ninjas and appear to be an integral part of The Rising.

While Matt's battle with the ninjas will not take place until the next episode, this hour also gives a lot of time to Karen and The Punisher but we also have some very important developments for Elektra and Wilson Fisk. Elektra is seen at a small airport getting ready to leave New York for good when a French man named Jacques Duchamp flirts with her over some drinks. Soon, Jacques reveals he knows who she is and that he is there to kill her. The two spar and eventually he pulls out a pair of sai, Elektra's signature weapon in the comics, which she takes and stabs him with. Elektra tells Jacques The Hand will not kill her but he says he was sent by Stick. I sense some infighting amongst The Chaste is to come. In regards to Fisk, he is given one final scene in this episode in which he thinks about the wound delivered by Matt during their meeting and asks for his lawyer to bring all of their files on Matt Murdock. Does he suspect that Matt is Daredevil?

Another very good episode that just misses being great because of the uneven pacing and balance of the multipe storylines. I loved Vincent D'Onofrio's intensity as Fisk as we saw him become more like his comic book counterpart than ever before. Despite not seeing Frank Castle until the final minutes of the hour, this definitely felt like it was building to a big explosion for his character and hopefully one that will align his quest for vengeance with Matt's struggles with The Hand. I am enjoying the cliffhanger endings that have been used throughout this season which gives the story a much more serialized feel. I just hope we don't end the season on such a big cliffhanger.

MARVEL UNIVERSE REFERENCES: Jacques Duchamp could be a reference to multiple characters, potentially ones linked to The Swordsman or Moon Knight. 

EPISODE GRADE:

NEXT ON DAREDEVIL: ".380" – The Punisher's war continues, and so does the body count in Hell's Kitchen. Murdock tries to finish what the DA started.