History Headscratchers / Daredevil2015

*** Second, Matt’s cross-examination. It seems that, much like Healy's trial in season 1, the writers wanted Matt to give a big speech, but that’s not what this is about. He’s supposed to be asking Frank questions, not giving a closing argument. It's supposed to represent Matt's inner struggle but still, why put Frank on the stand?
*** But alas, let’s go out even further on our little limb and say that Matt and Foggy did everything right. Imagine no Elektra and Nelson & Murdock actually acted like competent lawyers. Even then, it’s hard to say. It was a losing battle, but they could have won, even if it was on a technicality/appeal. Of course, that really wouldn't matter much since by the time Frank took the stand, he ''wanted'' to be locked up so that he could meet Fisk in prison. But let's say that that outburst never happened. Even knowing what we know, that Frank was railroaded and that his family was set up ect. ect., he deserves to go to prison. He does not deserve the insanity plea, which would have landed him in a care facility, not back out on the streets. He deserves punishment. He killed people. Yes, they were bad people. People who themselves had committed many crimes, but they are still people.

** The scar thing is an issue. Matt doesn't want to run the risk of Karen finding out that he's Daredevil until he's ready for her to know, which doesn't happen until the Season 2 finale. With his suspicious behavior, Karen's investigative nose and an inability to explain away those scars that wouldn't kill the mood, it's too much of a risk to him. From a writing standpoint, it was probably for the best that Matt not escalate the relationship with Karen to sex so quickly. It's sketchy enough as it is for Matt to go superheroing with Elektra while also trying to build a relationship with Karen. It would be pretty hard to watch if Matt was also actively having sex with Karen while working with Elektra.

** Matt's eyes are frequently not directed where a seeing person's eyes would be. That ''could'' be a deliberate part of his ordinary-blind-guy act. Or it could be completely genuine and unintentional, since for all his other super senses, his eyes really are useless. If his eyes are covered by a mask but he is clearly aware of everything around him, people are likely to assume that the solid-looking mask is an illusion and actually uses fabric that he can see through. If his eyes were visible, the fact that his eyes don't behave normally could give the game away. Matt might not even know himself whether he could convincingly portray a seeing person with his eyes unconcealed--he would need someone to give feedback on whether it looked right, and Foggy and Karen weren't in on the secret until ''after'' his costume was established.

** The dialogue in season 3 episode 2 when Nadeem and his boss are informing District Attorney Tower and the Police Commissioner about the plans for Fisk's FBI protection fills in the gaps. Apparently the charges against Fisk for the crimes Hoffman implicated him in didn't stick, however, the feds were able to get him convicted of five RICO charges (Karen also mentions this when she tries to get a statement from Nadeem at the hotel courtyard).

** Who said it doesn't have eye holes? [[http://www.newsarama.com/24070-netflix-reveals-daredevil-s-red-costume.html Case in point.]] Further, the promotional artwork, like [[http://herocomplex.latimes.com/tv/daredevil-see-charlie-cox-don-the-red-costume-in-new-netflix-image/ this example]], suggests reflective pieces. All of that suggests, to me, standard eye-pieces in standard eye holes. That makes sense for keeping part of the secret--that the man beneath the mask doesn't ''need'' them. Further justified by the fact that in season 3, Fisk forces Melvin to build a copy of the costume for Dex to wear and there's no indication Melvin had to alter the designs he made for Matt to fit them onto Dex (which also explains why the costume looks weird on Dex).

** In ''The Man Without Fear'' (the Frank Miller alternate retelling of Matt's origin story that most directly inspired season 1, Matt's season 1 and season 3 costumes, and Matt and Elektra's relationship in season 2), Fisk was said to be Rigoletto's bodyguard until he murdered him and became the Kingpin. The show implies a similar backstory, as Silvio says to Ben Urich that Rigoletto was chopped to pieces. Perhaps Rigoletto offered to forgive the debts Bill owed him, if Wilson agreed to work for Rigoletto.

** In the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't really have changed the story much. Here's how it would've gone: Matt goes to Elena's apartment that night, and tells her that contrary to what Foggy had said earlier that day, she needs to take the money and leave tonight. Subsequently, he's there when Fisk's hired junkie arrives to do the deed. Matt fights off the junkie, and after getting the information he needs, knocks him out and escorts Elena to safety. Since there's no way of knowing if Fisk will try again, and Matt knows the cops are crooked, he has Elena stay with Brett (much like Brett later does with Ray Nadeem's family in season 3 after Nadeem double crosses Fisk to get Karen away from Dex). Matt would be enraged over Fisk trying to have an old granny killed, and the next night, he'd still go out and walk into Nobu's ambush.

Fisk's purpose is more generic. He is a man of connections, politicians, crooked cops, journalists, accountants, you name it. He's basically TheFixer in this operation. Now, over the course of the season, the system changed: Anatoly and Vladimir were killed, along with the rest of the Russians, and Fisk absorbed their duties (distributing drugs and providing legbreakers). Nobu is seemingly killed (temporarily leaving Murakami's faction of the Hand without an ambassador in New York City until partway through season 2). Madame Gao's operation was dismantled, causing her to relocate to Chinatown to regroup and later resume her smuggling operation through Rand Enterprises with help from Harold Meachum. Fisk murdered Owlsley (basically leaving them without a man to cover their tracks), and finally Hoffman sold out what he knew about Fisk's operation to the FBI, and Fisk winds up in jail. By the end of season 1, the entire chain of authority has collapsed and Fisk is the last piece standing. That is, until season 2 when he picks up a new revenue stream by taking over Dutton's underground prison ring, and season 3 establishes that almost all of the other assets from Fisk's operations have been delegated to people like Felix Manning.

** There's only really one way that Matt, Karen and Foggy could have prevented Elena's death, and it's that they should have worked to convince Elena that as the building owners are starting to become violent, it’s not worth staying in her apartment. That her own life is not worth losing over a building. That’s what Matt, Karen, and Foggy should have done, but again, it seems they were a little too naive about how far Fisk was willing to go to achieve his goals.

** As for the lack of retaliation from Sweeney, there are two possible scenarios. One scenario is that Elektra and/or Stick cleaned up the situation soon afterward by sending a hitman to the jail where Sweeney was being held, and killed him and his known associates. This would have protected Matt and Elektra, and avoided any other inconvenient consequences from the botched murder attempt. Another option is that Sweeney decided to keep quiet to protect his own reputation. Despite his threats to Matt, sending a hitman to kill him would have been admitting that some blind college kid beat him up, and thus showing weakness to anyone looking to take his place in the criminal underworld. It's even possible that Sweeney might still be alive, and could be a source of Matt-relevant information for Fisk in Season 3.

** There's a couple reasons at play. The main reason is probably to do with the scars. In season 3, look at Karen's reaction of "Jesus, Matt..." when Matt is changing into a new shirt in front of her while they're in the crypt. It's clearly a reaction to the scars, not to his abs. Matt's career as a vigilante has left him with a very scarred body. Every time we've seen him shirtless across all three seasons, there are some serious scars across his chest, back, and arms. Some of which have lasted for years (a close observer will notice that in season 3, Matt still has the long scars on his pecs from his fight with Nobu in season 1). Fortunately, Matt's face has never seen much scarring aside from the occasional brow cut, bloodied nose, and black eye, which helps him keep his identity and abilities a secret. So if Matt had stayed the night with Karen, and one thing led to another, his shirt would have come off at some point. And there's no way that wouldn't instantly kill the mood as Karen would almost certainly want to raise questions Matt doesn't want to answer, at least not right then. That's most likely what Matt was alluding to about not wanting to ruin a perfect night, as he knew Karen seeing all his scars would cause her to be upset, and that probably wouldn't be the most optimal way for her to end up learning that he's Daredevil.

** Foggy is probably at least partially referring to Elektra, but he says it in a way that suggested he was being far more general than that. Foggy is criticizing Matt’s Daredevil identity as a whole, and the danger he’s referring to is every risky situation (Wilson Fisk, Frank Castle, Elektra, the Hand…) that Matt chooses to throw himself into, and which he then escalates and drags back with him into the other parts of his life. Foggy's not accusing Matt of actually creating the danger, he's saying that Matt has a habit of getting himself involved in dangerous situations that wouldn’t have otherwise affected him– and thus the people around him. Matt, by the very nature of his behavior as a superhero, makes violent situations worse, and he is notoriously bad at keeping the two sides of his life separate. Foggy is making solid points… though it does mean he has to be a bit of a hypocrite since he's also ignoring his and Karen’s aptitude for getting into dangerous situations without Matt’s help.

Fisk's purpose is more generic. He is a man of connections, politicians, crooked cops, journalists, accountants, you name it. He's basically TheFixer in this operation. Now, over the course of the season, the system changed: Anatoly and Vladimir were killed, along with the rest of the Russians, and Fisk absorbed their duties (distributing drugs and providing legbreakers). Nobu is seemingly killed (temporarily leaving Murakami's faction of the Hand without an ambassador in New York City until partway through season 2). Madame Gao's operation was dismantled, causing her to relocate to Chinatown to regroup and later resume her smuggling operation through Rand Enterprises with help from Harold Meachum. Fisk murdered Owlsley (basically leaving them without a man to cover their tracks), and finally Hoffman sold out what he knew about Fisk's operation to the FBI, and Fisk winds up in jail. By the end of season 1, the entire chain of authority has collapsed and Fisk is the last piece standing. In his short arc in season 2, and the start of season 3, Fisk has to rebuild his organization from behind bars, with Fisk's lawyer Donovan and the inmate Stewart Finney taking on the roles that Wesley and Leland had in season 1, and the Valdez brothers for muscle.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fisk's obviously criminal codename]]
* To protect himself, Fisk instructs his blackmailed police to refer to him only as "Kingpin" when speaking about him to each other. Why would he use such an obvious word for a criminal as his codename among police? If clean cops accidentally overheard crooked cops talking about orders from a "kingpin," wouldn't it immediately raise red flags? Why wouldn't he use a more innocuous codename, like "The Boss," that cops could use in public without raising suspicions? The showrunners clearly want to get Fisk's comic nickname into the series, but it doesn't make a lot of sense when justified this way.

** It’s mostly tonal. The low lighting makes the scenes in Matt’s apartment seem intimate, and a little bit removed from reality and the normal passage of time, which enhances the events and conversations taking place there. A similar effect was used for night scenes Matt has with Karen and with Claire back in season 1. While the show doesn’t do a great job of establishing this, the scenes in the apartment and the scenes in the courthouse are not taking place simultaneously, and the episode is not quite linear. All of the apartment scenes at the beginning of the episode (Stick treating Elektra and then telling Matt the Hand vs. Chaste story) all happen the night before and into the early morning. The Matt-less scenes at the courthouse all take place the next day, during which Matt is doing more of the same offscreen (e.g. hanging out in his apartment with Stick and Elektra, but in less dramatic lighting). When Karen then goes to visit Matt and finds Elektra in his bed, that day has ended and so the apartment is dark again. Matt goes to court the following day, has his fight with Foggy and Karen, etc… and then that night (and it is clearly night again), Elektra kicks Stick out and Matt gets stabbed by the Hand ninja. Most likely, Matt did a lot of boring, non-story-relevant things offscreen. Maybe he took a walk after the argument to blow off some steam, did some shopping, went somewhere and napped (he was probably operating on no sleep)… That is all very convoluted, but it’s possible that’s what they were going for. Mostly, though, the set designers probably wanted Matt’s apartment lit a certain way for atmospheric purposes, and allowed the viewer to make their own assumptions about time of day.

** It's not gonna be a problem with the police unless her dark secret comes back during the investigation (and her secret is that she escaped justice before ). Someone kidnapped her, she was drugged and killed the guy with his own gun, even if she took time there is no premeditation to it and shooting your aggressor more times to be sure is kind of heat of the moment thing. Karen doesn't know if Wesley is faking or has a second gun. The reasons she keeps it secret are because she's afraid that Matt and Foggy will reject her if they learn the truth, and because there are cops on Fisk's payroll.

** If Matt were to get his head out of his ass and start concentrating back on Nelson & Murdock, then maybe the three of them could have reconciled to keep the firm going after everything that happened in season 2. But this means that Matt would have to own up, explain where he’s been, and apologize for everything, with an awful lot of "I'm sorry"s going around. He would have to come clean about everything he’d done to both Foggy AND Karen, stop abandoning them at crucial times, and put all his time and energy back into Nelson & Murdock. His abandoning them during the trial did a lot of damage, so he’d have to really make amends before Nelson & Murdock could go back to being a normal law firm again.

** One thing to remember about Matt, and this has major consequences for how things turn out, is that he’s got a lot of baggage when it comes to forming attachments to other people. After his father died, he had no one until Stick showed up. Stick then turned around and left the moment Matt tried to express his emotions with the ice cream wrapper bracelet. And before he left, Stick made sure to tell Matt to not let other people get too close. So, when Matt feels rejected by Foggy and Karen, it reinforces Stick’s “programming.” There is a pull and push between Matt’s exciting exploits with Elektra on the one hand, and his civilian life on the other, where he’s beginning to feel that his friends don’t want him and are better off without him. If it weren’t for the fact that this part of his life pretty much implodes, the pull of Elektra, while still obviously there, might not have been as strong.

*** There's not really much that Foggy could have done that much better. I mean, yes, he probably could and probably SHOULD have been WAY more supportive of his friend's secret identity, but logically, he was really screwed either way. There's no realistic way for there to be a scenario where Foggy could go "Hey Matt, maybe you shouldn't commit to so much stuff on this Castle case if you have so much on your plate as Daredevil!" or "Hey Matt, how about taking a vacation from the devil horns and focusing on this case for the next few weeks?", and even less realistic would be Matt happily conceding to Foggy's logic and going along with either of those plans.

** Matt's always been doing what's best for the city, it's normal that he sometimes has to fail his friends, and of course they will be disappointed, but Foggy should know better. On the other hand, I think Foggy probably wouldn't have had such a problem with it if Matt had just told him right off the bat that Elektra was back in town and she was the person who donated all that money to their bank account (if he had, I imagine Foggy would have argued Matt out of some if not all of his date night ninja fights, allowing him to contribute more to Frank's trial). But Matt kept it a secret, and unnecessarily so. And Elektra came back at a really bad time and she's stirring things up in a way that they don't need to be.

*** '''Foggy's perspective:''' I think that from Foggy's perspective, dissolving Nelson & Murdock was a tough choice. Foggy needs some time on his own to thrive as a lawyer, and establish some self-confidence and independence. He’s been stuck in Matt’s shadow for too long, and during Frank Castle's trial, he showed that he has been holding himself back, and wasn’t getting the credit he deserved, stepping up when Matt was unavailable. That said, Foggy’s line from that scene about hoping Matt would convince him to keep the Nelson & Murdock partnership going, and being relieved when Matt doesn’t, seems vital here. I feel that deep down, Foggy wants to stay with Matt, he doesn't want to end Nelson & Murdock. And I also think that if Matt had argued and been in the right mindset, it's very likely that Foggy would have gotten cold feet and changed his mind. But the logical side of Foggy recognizes that breaking free of the familiar and challenging himself to grow is the right step, and that he and Matt need some time away from each other to figure things out. I want to imagine that perhaps Foggy will dislike working in the high-profile, high-stress environment of Hogarth Chao & Benowitz, or will come to miss the kinds of clients that he and Matt helped when they were partners, and he will end up re-partnering up with Matt and reopening Nelson & Murdock (though it will probably not be with Karen as secretary, but with that job given to someone like Becky Blake). This separation is not going to be permanent. But for now, it's a good thing to see Foggy getting out there and developing as a lawyer. And I want to think that perhaps Foggy will grow to understand Matt's activities more while he's at HC&B, given that they're on retainer with Danny Rand and regularly use Jessica Jones.

*** I'm sure they could have stuck it out and tried reaching out to their friends or anyone they knew, maybe asking any lawyers at other firms if they'd be happy to pass their cases off to Nelson & Murdock? Or was the Nelson & Murdock name too tainted by the trial?
*** At the start of ''The Defenders'', Matt is working out of his apartment.
*** I'm sure if Matt's heart had been in the firm, Matt and Foggy would have soldiered on. Maybe they'd be in a financial slump for a bit but the two of them plus Karen would persevere.

*** In short, remaining together as Nelson & Murdock at this point in their character arcs would just be holding back Foggy from developing as a lawyer and Matt from developing as a superhero respectively. And they both recognize this. Despite all of their fights, their final interaction when Foggy's packing up his office is civil and respectful. They both understand that they need some time to themselves. Plus, they both have great opportunities ahead of them: Foggy gets the fancy corporate job he dreamed of in law school, where his skills will be valued, where he’ll be able to thrive by himself, and where he’ll even get to meet Jessica and Danny; Matt is going to get plenty of opportunities to figure out his life as Daredevil, both through all of the free time he’s going to have now, and through his teamup with Jessica, Danny, and Luke. Matt gets a chance to rebuild and reorient, to figure out his new dynamic with Karen, and to become a more experienced superhero. And eventually, after all of that learning and growing, Matt and Foggy are going to miss each other and their little private firm, hopefully just in time for Season 3.
*** Worth noting, but it looked like by the end of the season, Matt and Foggy ''were'' already finding their way back to each other. Maybe not professionally, but at least personally. And they do still have so much in common. That they both want to help the little guy is just the tip of the iceberg. Now I actually read in a fanfic somewhere an argument from Foggy that was spot on: Foggy has known Matt for years and has had time to adjust to and befriend Matt. Their friendship isn't built on some new weak foundation. Which is what made the reveal in season one so painful for Foggy, but also what allowed them to endure. Because this isn't some fledgling thing. This is a deep true friendship. But Foggy's only known Daredevil a short time. He hasn't had time to befriend/adjust to Daredevil. It's kind of like how new parents might not know how to adjust their relationship to accommodate the baby, and have to ask themselves "How do we still find time to be a couple and a family?" But Matt and Foggy will figure it out. And stepping apart professionally is part of that.

** Asking if dissolving Nelson & Murdock was the right thing, is like asking if a couple that agrees that they are in a mutually unhealthy relationship should separate. Remember that at the ''beginning'' of the season, Nelson & Murdock was not making enough money to support them financially, and even less so after the disaster that was Frank Castle's trial and Reyes being implied to have driven clients away from their doors. On top of that, Matt has strained relations with Foggy and Karen, and Foggy has trust issues with Matt. None of those things are good to have in a law firm, especially one of three people. Foggy and Matt had reached a point where they realized they obviously needed some time away from each other. If they had decided to try to push through it, they probably would have all ended on much worse terms both financially and relationship-wise. Their issues would have festered to the point where their friendship was ruined or they even hated each other. As it stands, by breaking up the firm, they at least have a chance to cool off and remain friends. Plus it does seem that Matt realized that Foggy deserved the chance to get the respect, recognition and pay that someone of his skill deserves, all stuff that Matt knows he's not been delivering on as of late. On top of that, Fisk had just threatened that he'd go after Foggy as well, so Matt may have felt that he had no choice.
** It seemed that Matt felt it was the right thing to do. It's clear that his visit with Fisk, and Fisk making very clear that he would be coming after Foggy as well, scared the shit out of Matt, so it's possible he felt he had no choice but to create distance between himself and Foggy. But even before the encounter with Fisk, in 2x09, Matt had started to feel pretty guilty about the whole “I insisted we take Frank Castle's case against your wishes, Foggy, and oops, I’ve got too much Daredevil stuff going on, you can handle Frank, right?” thing. It seems Matt had started to realize that Foggy deserved a helluva lot more than what he was getting from Matt. Foggy didn’t want the practice to dissolve, so it could be arguable that if Matt asks him to try again, Foggy would be very open to it. But I also kind of feel like some space from each other was a good thing (especially on Foggy’s part; I think he REALLY needed a break from Matt, even if he didn’t realize it). So, it was a good thing at that particular time, but I can definitely see them giving it another go in the future.
** It's the right thing, at least for Karen and Foggy, and it would have been very difficult to avoid it. Foggy and Matt had reached a point where they were never going to be able to work together, and trying to keep soldiering on under those conditions could have led to a major, possibly friendship-ending explosion. Foggy was prioritizing the law firm, Matt was prioritizing Daredevil, and if they’d stayed together, they were going to continue clashing due to this disconnect. By taking a healthy break from each other, they both now have the opportunity to get their heads in order. Besides, it's pretty much a guarantee that the separation won’t be permanent. Foggy, who has always operated in Matt’s shadow, now has the chance to step out on his own, build his self-confidence as a lawyer, and work in the big, fancy law firm he dreamed about in college. He’ll also have time to reflect on his friendship with Matt, and through the encounters with other superheroes, he may come to better understand Matt’s point-of-view. Karen, too, has a chance at a fresh start, working alongside someone (Ellison) who gets her, knows her secrets, and will be there to support her. Through her work at the ''Bulletin'', she will have a little bit of breathing room to reconcile the shame and trauma she’s been struggling to cope with within her own life. And she’ll still get to rebuild her relationship with Matt, and maybe rebuild her friendship with Foggy, but without all of the usual Nelson & Murdock drama getting in the way.
** In the long-term, breaking up Nelson & Murdock needed to happen. If you rewatch the show, you’ll notice subtle (and not so subtle) moments where Matt either brushes off Foggy’s concerns or outright goes against them. In the pilot, the way Matt handles taking Karen’s case is an example. He doesn’t really listen to Foggy’s concerns and just goes on what her heartbeat tells him without fully explaining to Foggy why they should. Later on, when James Wesley hires them to defend Healy, Matt overrules Foggy's objections to taking the case again without giving a real good explanation for his decision-making. Then there's Frank Castle's case. Despite Foggy’s genuine resistance against taking the case, Matt and Karen pressure him into taking it anyway. This isn't to say that they’re not good partners, but Matt needs to get out of his own head/ego for a while and truly take Foggy’s professional opinions into account. Taking a step back will make Matt think about how talented Foggy really is and appreciate what he brought to the firm, and will keep that in mind when he approaches Foggy and convinces him to give Nelson & Murdock a second go (something they'll certainly do in the future).
** The only way in which season 2 would have ended with Nelson & Murdock still open and Matt, Foggy and Karen still working together, would be if Matt had been able to find SOME kind of balance between being Matt Murdock and being Daredevil. Most likely, that would involve Matt telling Karen his secret identity earlier. Because it's likely that if Karen knows Matt is Daredevil, it would certainly have eased some of Foggy’s anxieties (he wouldn’t feel quite as alone with the knowledge of what his bff gets up to), and perhaps that would have led Foggy in turn to become more understanding and supportive of Matt’s double life. Frank Castle's trial was kind of a disaster from the get-go, and maybe nothing would have changed, but who knows what would have happened if Matt had actually devoted himself to the trial instead of allowing Elektra to manipulate him into going out every night. When his life as Matt Murdock started to crumble around him, he probably started thinking “maybe Stick was right after all; all of this is just a distraction” and it wasn’t until he had pushed everyone and everything in his normal life away that he realized just how empty his life is without all of it, and only then does it finally sink in that while Matt ''needs'' to be Daredevil, he doesn’t want to ''just'' be Daredevil.
** If Matt were to get his head out of his ass and start concentrating back on Nelson & Murdock, then maybe the three of them could have reconciled to keep the firm going after everything that happened in season 2. But this means that Matt would have to own up, explain where he’s been, and apologize for everything. He would have to come clean about everything he’d done to both Foggy AND Karen, stop abandoning them at crucial times, and put all his time and energy back into Nelson & Murdock. His abandoning them during the trial did a lot of damage, so he’d have to really make amends before Nelson & Murdock could go back to being a normal law firm again.

*** It gives them time to regroup. Karen’s new job at the ''Bulletin'' will allow her the freedom to fight injustice that she so desperately needs, with a boss who knows her backstory and understands her. Foggy’s new firm will allow him to build his confidence as a lawyer, giving him the high-powered legal career he dreamed of in college and offering him an opportunity to finally step out of Matt’s shadow. Matt finally has a minute to, well, figure things out in general. He hasn’t done that yet, but the events of Season 2 plus the events of ''Series/TheDefenders2017'' will hopefully provide him some perspective on how he wants to live, and on how he might balance the two sides of his life. And they will all have an opportunity to reflect on their relationships with each other outside of the emotional whirlwind of season 2.
*** Now this separation of Nelson & Murdock likely won't be permanent. Of course, this situation is further complicated by ''The Defenders'' due to the fact that Foggy and Karen think Matt was killed in the destruction of Midland Circle. But once that plays out, and Matt comes back to society, he and Foggy will eventually end up rebuilding their partnership. Nelson & Murdock meant a lot to them, after all, and they’re best friends who enjoy working together. Whether or not Karen will return from her job at the ''Bulletin'' is up for debate– but regardless, she’ll likely remain close with both of them. Matt, Foggy, and Karen separated and reunited on numerous instances in the comics. Ideally, this time apart will result in their friendship being rebuilt, stronger than ever, so that they can properly take down Fisk in season 3.

*** Karen would still have kept trying to find out the truth about the shooting of Frank’s family, for her own reasons; and Reyes would still have told them her story after Frank escaped, and Matt would still make his visit to Fisk in prison (to set things up for their rivalry in season 3) and later try to track down the Blacksmith himself. Regardless of whether or not Karen kept her job at Nelson & Murdock, she had promised Ellison a story for the ''Bulletin'', so she still would have visited Colonel Schoonover (whether she still would have gone with Frank to the diner is unknown). Even if she and Matt were still on good terms, as long as Matt kept her in the dark about him being Daredevil, it's likely they would have each kept on pursuing their own agendas without telling each other much, as happened before when they were investigating Fisk in season 1. So once the trial was over, that whole story could play out largely unchanged. There would be differences in the details, but the major plot points would remain the same.

*** ''The Defenders'' and ''Daredevil'' Season 3 would subsequently be the subject of the same kinds of changes: there'd be differences in the details but the major plot points are roughly the same. In ''The Defenders'', Matt and Foggy would've defended Luke Cage, rather than just Foggy doing it through HC&B. Rather than Foggy handing Jessica's case to Matt, it would be Marci handing Jessica off to Nelson & Murdock. In the climax under Midland Circle, Matt probably wouldn't be as inclined to remain behind with Elektra and would've returned to the surface with the others. For ''Daredevil'' season 3, Matt likely would do all of the same things that he does in the actual timeline, though he probably just goes to the prison as himself rather than steal Foggy's Bar card. Foggy would still run for District Attorney, Karen would still uncover the money trail regarding Fisk's purchase of the hotel and Red Lion (regardless of whether she was at the ''Bulletin'' or stayed at Nelson & Murdock), Dex's attacks on the ''Bulletin'' and the church would still happen, and Father Lantom would still be killed.

*** Karen would still have kept trying to find out the truth about the shooting of Frank’s family, for her own reasons; and Reyes would still have told them her story after Frank escaped, and Matt would still make his visit to Fisk in prison and later try to track down the Blacksmith himself. Regardless of whether or not Karen kept her job at Nelson & Murdock, she had promised Ellison a story for the ''Bulletin'', so she still would have visited Colonel Schoonover (whether she still would have gone with Frank to the diner is unknown). Even if she and Matt were still on good terms, as long as Matt kept her in the dark about him being Daredevil, it's likely they would have each kept on pursuing their own agendas without telling each other much, as happened before when they were investigating Fisk in season 1. So once the trial was over, that whole story could play out largely unchanged. There would be differences in the details, but the major plot points would remain the same.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: How did Poindexter become FBI?]]
* While I can see Dex joining the military and a suicide prevention hotline, I would assume the Federal Bureau of Investigation would have higher standards and more thoroughly research their applicants. How would he with his diagnosed mental instability pass their exams?
** Perhaps he somehow fooled whatever tests they threw at him. Like, if there's a lie detector test, he probably found a way to trick it.
** Assuming that Dex's childhood records were sealed (and that's a big ''if''), he probably just lied his way through the examination, which most psychopaths are very good at. He's clearly got his life mostly together, and at the start of the season is a pretty good agent, albeit with a higher use of force than normal (as noted by the shrink). It's really not until Fisk gets his hooks in him that he goes off the rails.
*** It's noted that Dex enlisted in the Army. It's possible that his therapist wanted him to have the opportunity to function normally in life so she may have fudged some of her official diagnoses. On record, her files painted Dex as an orphan with some reasonable emotional issues as a child who saw a therapist that deemed him to be a healthy functioning member of society after treatment. Because he was 'getting better', as in, the Army's order and structure along with the tapes, it helped him with his mental illness. Then when he completed about four or five years in the Army, he discharged with honors and joined the FBI, who only cared about his Army record and didn't look at anything else.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:What was Dex under investigation for?]]
* When that ''Bulletin'' article about Dex being under investigation went out...what was the FBI investigating Dex for? I know Nadeem and Hattley tell him the evidence doesn't match up with his report but, is there anything else? Are they going after him for executing the two shooters from the ambush who were surrendering, or because his ricochet ability doesn't make sense?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fagan Corners population]]
* When Matt and Karen are on their date in season 2, and Karen brings up Fagan Corners, she describes the town as having "less than 400 people". Yet on the "Welcome to Fagan Corners" sign seen in the extended flashback in season 3, it seems the town has a population of about 1,300 people or more. So is Karen misremembering or writing snafu?
** Hyperbole.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Karen losing her job]]
* When Nadeem asked Karen how she knew it wasn’t actually Daredevil attacking the ''Bulletin'', she said it was because Daredevil never kills people. Then when the same question comes up again later when she’s talking to Ellison at the hospital, she freezes. Why didn't she just say the same thing to Ellison that she said to Nadeem? If she said something like "Back at Union Allied, Daredevil saved me from an attacker. He told me what to do with him. That man in Daredevil's suit had a different voice than him," she would have been in the clear with Ellison.
** Karen has had plenty of places where she could've been way clearer/less digging herself further into a hole, but it seems like these kind of "under stress" situations aren't really her thing, at all. Karen just watched several of her coworkers get killed, her only lead got shot right next to her with her gun, Matt's reputation is burned to the ground, and her boss is in the hospital because he trusted her.
** For his part, Ellison was angry that Karen was holding back. She was withholding the biggest story to ever hit print and after the office attack, he needed to know.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Matt being a wanted man]]
* Before Dex's attack on the Bulletin, Matt was a wanted fugitive and was going to turn himself in to get his name cleared. What happened between that and taking Nadeem on as a client ensured that he could just do his thing as a lawyer to try to get Fisk at the end of the season with no problems? Also, why didn't Fisk just out Matt as Daredevil? He DID try to assassinate both Matt’s and Daredevil's reputations separately but why not just out him?
** The most likely reason Fisk never outed Matt as Daredevil right away is that he probably didn't want Matt to be arrested or have any kind of alibi, if he planned on using Dex to pose as Daredevil some more. He was probably waiting to play that card once he was done screwing up Matt's life as the final "fuck you."
** Fisk isn't just out for revenge. He's trying to rebuild his criminal empire and he still needs Daredevil (or rather the Daredevil identity) for that. Number one, he needed to discredit him. Even after Fisk weaseled his way out of prison, the public still saw him as a criminal. He needed to restore his reputation. So his plan was to make it look like Daredevil was the real bad guy and had gotten Fisk locked up unfairly. That's why he had Poindexter dress up in a Daredevil suit and run around murdering people while shouting "I'm Daredevil!" Number two, having "Daredevil" under his command sends a powerful message to his opposition in the criminal world. "Hey, remember that vigilante who toppled several crime syndicates and tried to have me sent to prison? Yeah, he works for ''me'' now." If he outed Daredevil, then maybe Matt would have been arrested, but Fisk himself would have lost a valuable tool and given that he had enough leverage over the FBI to send them after Matt without that information, there was no reason to give it up.
*** There's also the matter of his appeal. In the first episode of the season, Fisk's lawyers mention that his appeal is "proceeding as discussed". Fisk needs to get his verdict overturned and the easiest way to do that is to "prove" that the guy who provided all the evidence against him, Daredevil, is a psycho killer who probably planted the evidence and who threatened/killed anyone who might've told a different story. As soon as it becomes plausible in a jury's mind that DD faked all the evidence, you have instilled reasonable doubt and Fisk becomes a free man.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Matt's relationships with his mother and Father Lantom]]
* Matt seemed to barely remember Father Lantom from when he was a young boy in season 1, now it seems he was around during his teenage years. And if Sister Maggie was a part of Matt’s life, why in the world did she allow Stick to train him and treat him like dirt?
** Sister Maggie didn't know Stick was a harsh taskmaster training Matt to become a ninja vigilante, since I'm guessing Stick did most of that training in secrecy (given The Chaste operates in secrecy as well). The lingering guilt of abandoning him likely kept her from getting ''too close'' to his life. As for Father Lantom, it's not implausible that his contact with Matt diminished from his teenage years on until Matt more or less forgot about him by the time we get to season 1.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Why didn't Father Lantom tell Matt's loved ones that he was alive?]]
* Father Lantom has known Matt through confession for decades. While Matt was laid up with his injuries, why didn't Father Lantom let Matt's loved ones know he was alive, even if only so that they could keep paying his rent while he recuperated?
** Because that would raise several questions that he can't answer without compromising Matt. If he phones Karen and Foggy to say Matt's alive, they'll hound Father Lantom for details of how he knows about that until they actually discover Matt and given Father Lantom respects Matt's privacy (and is aware that something like this could bring risks to said loved ones or Matt himself), he wouldn't do it unless Matt asked it of him.
*** He knew Karen and Foggy held a vigil at the church. If it would ease their pain and suffering, it would make sense to let them know. Then again, this is the same Father Lantom who didn't tell a young Matt who has lost everything that "Hey, your mother is just down the hall. You're not alone." It seems he really sticks by the whole priestly, "it's not my place to expose private confessions".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theo blaming Foggy]]
* Why is Theo blaming Foggy for the butcher shop being in financial trouble when he was the one who committed fraud and got himself and his parents in this situation?
** The shop got in trouble because all the shop's suppliers suddenly stopped doing business with them. That put them in financial trouble and forced Theo to try to get a loan, but none of the banks were willing to give him a loan. Then the Red Lion bank stepped in and had him cook the books to get a loan. Once he got the loan, the suppliers magically came back. But the truth is that Fisk engineered all of this. Fisk made the suppliers stop doing business with the shop. Fisk made the banks refuse their loan. Fisk had his people at Red Lion accept the loan and directed them to trick Foggy's brother into cooking the books. Now that he had tricked the Nelsons into committing fraud, Fisk had something he could use to blackmail Foggy, so he let the suppliers do business with the shop again. Theo probably is irrationally blaming this on Foggy because of Foggy choosing to go after Fisk.
*** Theo is being irrational. In episode 11, when he's trying to get Foggy to make the "apology" statement written up by Fisk's people and blames Foggy for their predicament, Foggy bites back "You knew it was fraud when you signed it!" It's Foggy's way of pointing out that while he may have put a target on his family's backs by poking at Fisk, that doesn't change that Theo and their parents are also at fault for signing what was clearly a scam loan without first consulting Foggy. Foggy wasn’t to blame for them signing the loan, and Theo shouldn’t be pressuring Foggy to fix his problems.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Why didn't Karen tell Matt about Wesley when he showed up in her apartment?]]
* She's already told this to Foggy. At this point, it would just make sense for her to also tell Matt about it whenever he finally came to his senses. So why not tell him about it when he shows up in her apartment? She ought to know that Matt might find out sooner or later.
** The most likely reason she didn't tell Matt about Wesley there, was because she was pissed off and scared. She is scared that he will reject her. But more importantly, Karen is rightfully angry with Matt for leaving them, "dying" in Midland Circle, turning up alive only to push them away again. This means it's hard for her to trust him, which is understandable. Even though she knows about Daredevil, he has also lied to her… again. So she does what she did in season 2: she walks away, not for long, but she does. She does not think Matt can change, and as far as she knows, she is correct in this assumption. Matt hasn’t been honest with her. She does not need to put up with this. She closes herself off until she knows she can trust him again. As much as we want them to restart their romantic relationship, they haven’t. Karen doesn’t rush into his arms, she knows where she stands. She knows what she does not want, and she won’t let her romantic feelings get in the way. Remember that when she found Elektra in Matt's bed, she could have ignored Elektra and just kept her happy bubble, but she doesn’t, she faces reality. She does not regret her romantic time with Matt. When Foggy apologizes to her for not warning her about Matt, she says that to Foggy that he shouldn’t have warned her. She loves Matt, but she needs him to not lie to her. It wouldn’t have been true to Karen's character had she just come right out with it the moment Matt turned up in her apartment. Also, you don’t just come right out and tell your just-back-from-the-dead-ex-boyfriend that you once killed a man. She needs Matt to prove himself trustworthy, to not only not lie to her, but not pull his self-righteous "holier than thou" thing. They are still idealizing/idolizing each other. It's not until they're hiding from Dex in the crypt that they begin breaking down the barriers between them: Matt finally understands how strong Karen is, and what she has done. How not innocent she is, and that she can handle herself. It’s hard enough for her to tell anyone, but Matt, what she's done.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:How does Jasper Evans exonerate Matt?]]
* As in, how do Matt, Karen and Foggy think Jasper admitting Fisk staged the shanking and relocation help Matt in any way?
** Because it proves Fisk has been manipulating the FBI, and half the reason they're after Matt is because Fisk said Matt was on his payroll. The fact that Jasper Evans is out of prison when the books say he's supposed to be locked up is the key to their defense.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Exonerating Matt alternate strategy]]
* After being wounded by Dex, why didn't Matt stay at the ''Bulletin''? No one except Foggy saw him fighting Dex. All he'd have to do is take off the black mask and have Foggy pocket it. Even if he had to forfeit being Daredevil, he would at least show some reasonable doubt that "Matt Murdock = Daredevil" and paint himself as a victim like all the dead bodies.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Why didn't she shoot him?]]
* During the ''Bulletin'' attack, Karen had her gun out. Why didn't she start shooting the moment Dex started breaking down the door?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Where was the Punisher during season 3?]]
* The attack on the ''Bulletin'' was all over the news. Given how Frank reacted when Lewis threatened Karen, why didn't he get involved (beyond [[SupermanStaysOutOfGotham the obvious out-of-universe reason]])?
** It would seem little time passes between Dex’s attack on the ''Bulletin'' and him getting paralyzed by Fisk. Frank has no way of knowing about Dex’s identity, nor about his connection to Fisk, and the limited timeframe (of at most a week, it would seem) would most likely not be enough time for Frank to unearth such a deeply entrenched conspiracy. It’s very likely, however, that Frank will have some words for Daredevil in the near future.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Matt doesn't ask further details about Karen killing Wesley?]]
* When Karen mentions in the crypt that she killed Wesley, Matt doesn't bother asking further questions. I feel like it's just out of character for him to not ask things like "Why did you kill him?" and "When did this happen?"
** Matt and Karen were down in the crypt for at least a half hour, maybe even more. He probably asked her and she told him the finer details of Wesley's death offscreen while we cut away to check in with other characters. This seems to make sense from a writing standpoint, it would've been repetitive to have another reveal scene where Karen describes Wesley's death to someone (since she had onscreen described the "why" bit to Foggy, and the "how" bit to Fisk), much of which would just be spent repeating information the audience already knows.
** There's any number of reasons, which are hard to tell. One possible reason is that she probably think that Matt already has a pretty guess of why she killed Wesley without her having to describe it to him. Compared to Foggy, Matt knows what type of guy Wesley was and the idea that he may have threatened Karen isn’t a big leap. Another possible reason, is that he doesn’t want to. This scene is about radical acceptance. He knows Karen well enough to know that it wasn’t her fault. He knows how good of a person she is, and vice versa. Look at his face. He is surprised and yet full of sympathy. He knows without her having to say it. Of the two secrets she confesses to Matt down there (her brother's death, and Wesley), her brother's death is the more mysterious one since there are more unknown variables.\\
In the case of Kevin's death, the natural questions here for Matt are "why were you high, drunk, and driving?" It’s obvious that this secret is the harder one of the two for Karen to tell. Also look at Matt’s reaction. It’s not a "woah". It’s him closing his eyes. He’s sorry for what she had to experience. He repeats his expression from the Wesley reveal, the radical acceptance; the knowledge that she did everything she could to do what is right. In either case he doesn’t pry, probably because now is not the time. It was Karen's choice to tell Matt these secrets. It’s also her choice how many details she gives. She will tell him the rest of the details in her own time. We all want more for Matt and Karen, but give our stubborn little lovebirds some time. If you go too fast, one of you might get burned.
** Karen says “You remember that friend he had that got shot? Wesley?" which seems to imply that Wesley's death was public knowledge. It also appears to be implied that Matt knew where Wesley's body was found and how he died from the police report (which he could've gotten from Brett or someone else), which is that he was shot to death in an otherwise empty warehouse. Whether Wesley dragged Karen there, coerced her in some way, or took her there at gunpoint, it wouldn't take much for Matt to conclude that she feared for her life when dealing with Fisk's top minion, particularly if he heard from any other underlings of Fisk's who also did all business with Wesley. That's the most likely reason why Matt asks, "Why didn't you tell us?" rather than "Why did you kill him?" because Karen's emotional state and their relationship is more important to him than the specifics of how a scumbag like Wesley died.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Why didn't Matt confront Karen in the courtyard in episode 3...]]
* ...and more importantly, what would've happened if he confronted her there?
** She probably would have (rightfully) slapped him. She does see a glimpse of something, but rationalize it away. It's probably for the best she didn’t recognize him, because Matt is not in a place that that would have actually helped anything. It’s not a great time for him to be having a heart to heart with Karen. His brain (in Fisk form) is still telling him that he is not going to be able to protect her or Foggy. It’s a bit of self-pity and self-righteousness, this idea that he has to go it alone that plagues so many superheroes. Also, the timeline of this season is extremely important. These things cannot be rushed. Remember that when she was having dinner with Ellison's family the night before and Ellison tried to play matchmaker between Karen and his nephew Jason, she told him that she is not ready for a relationship, which means she still is hung up on her feelings for Matt.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Elektra and Karen]]
* So, does Elektra accept Matt's interest in Karen or not? When Karen's being held captive by the Hand in the season 2 finale, Elektra gets Matt to focus by saying "You'll find her, Matthew," and also uses the statement that he lost something. As if she knew that he had lost more than he was aware of it. But then there's the way Elektra acts in ''The Defenders'', which makes things confusing.
** This is a great example of Elektra rocking her dual personality, which in some ways makes her like other people such as Matt or Dex. The "I want to be good and I want Matthew to be happy" vs. the "I am a killer and Matthew is ALL mine". The problem is, what we've seen on screen suggests that the former is a lie while the latter is her default/true position. This isn't to say Elektra doesn’t mean it, because she does. She conveniently lets her own feelings / need to kill get in the way when it counts.\\
When Elektra and Matt are about to be crushed under Midland Circle at the end of ''The Defenders'', she still kisses him. She still wants to be with Matt forever, in her toxic romantic way. That’s a bit of a problem: if you love someone, you do not do this. You prioritize their needs and feelings over your own, to a healthy degree. This is somewhat related, but in Karen's flashback episode in ''Daredevil'' season 3, we saw that her drug-dealing boyfriend Todd Neiman was to her what Elektra was to Matt. He helped convince Karen that she couldn’t leave Fagan Corners, because he “would miss her too much”[[note]]Not to mention Karen's own feeling that her dad and brother will go broke without her around to manage to the diner due to her dad's fiscal irresponsibility[[/note]], which is guilt tripping 101. Todd used Karen, and Elektra used Matt, to keep them where they are. In feelings of crushing obligations, again ''not healthy''. They try to keep them right there with them, and it works. Matt and Karen are both kind and caring that they will stay in a place that makes them feel bad if it is to help keep other people safe/happy.\\
This kindness is what makes them so vulnerable. They need someone who is just as kind to make sure they are taking care of. This is also why they work. They make sure that the other person is okay. It’s this whole concept of “kind people are kind because they know first hand that the world isn’t”. Matt and Karen both know the world isn’t kind. Through their investigations of Fisk, they have experienced it in the harshest way possible. They are kind, because they know they need to be in order to survive.\\
Matt has a very cool ability to undervalue his personal feelings. That how he feels and what he desperately wants are somehow not important. That whatever the mission is, is more important. That’s not healthy. Elektra and Stick take advantage of Matt's self-imposed self-righteous faux selflessness. She and Stick use the fact that he wants to protect Karen and Foggy to isolate him from them, and pull him closer to her. That’s not okay, on any level. Matt thinks that he has to be the martyr. That it is his mission alone, something he learns is not the case in season 3. But martyrdom doesn’t really achieve much in the long run. It’s the whole "dying is easy, living is harder" idea. If Matt did die it would all be over. His feelings of pain and general suffering. Luckily through breaking down his barriers with Karen in the church, he learns that he does not have to go it alone.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Freezing the bodies, rather than disposing of them]]
* Why would Fisk keep the bodies of Julie and the "painters" who killed her on ice, instead of just dumping them somewhere? What was the purpose of hiding those bodies?

*** Theo is being irrational. In episode 11, When he's trying to get Foggy to make the "apology" statement written up by Fisk's people and blames Foggy for their predicament, Foggy bites back "You knew it was fraud when you signed it!" It's Foggy's way of pointing out that while he may have put a target on his family's backs by poking at Fisk, that doesn't change that Theo and their parents are also at fault for signing what was clearly a scam loan without first consulting Foggy. Foggy wasn’t to blame for them signing the loan, and Theo shouldn’t be pressuring Foggy to fix his problems.