Matt and Elektra work to steal the Roxxon ledger, while Foggy and Karen try to get a better plea deal for Frank.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Action Dress Rip: Elektra does this before they fight the Yakuza.
- Amoral Attorney: The public defender assigned to Castle's case is barely going through the motions of providing a defense for him, seems basically happy to let the man get shipped off to Deleware, where they have the death penalty.
- Bait-and-Switch: Gibson's bodyguards tie off their pinkie fingers, thinking they'll be amputated for their failure. They instead get shot in the head.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Matt goes to interview Castle, the latter says that he knows who Matt is. Instead of referring to Matt being Daredevil, he goes on to deride Matt as a lawyer who defends scumbag criminals.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Loads between Matt and Elektra. He starts off making it clear that he's moved on from her and she trolls him by making a "no sex" rule, yet by the end of the night they've done a Fake-Out Make-Out, openly enjoy working together, and make a 'date' for the following night.
- Blatant Lies: The statement the public defender wants Karen to sign about the hospital shooting is so fictitious (such as having Karen fleeing on foot when she was actually in Ben Urich's car) that she suspects Reyes probably handcrafted it herself.
- Bookcase Passage: Matt and Elektra break into a safe but can't find the MacGuffin they're looking for. Matt's Super-Senses then detect an electrical cable running behind the wall. He shows Elektra where the cable stops; there's a vase there that Elektra turns to open a door to a hidden vault. Elektra then takes credit for finding it. "I'm a genius!"
- Both Sides Have a Point: When Brett tries to dissuade Nelson & Murdock from taking on Castle. Matt and Foggy believe that Castle may not deserve to die, but Brett warns them that they're pretty much signing the death of their firm if they defend him. While the firm ends up keeping Castle alive, later episodes prove that Brett was more or less on the ball.
- Camera Spoofing: The loop version.
- Camping a Crapper: Matt spills red wine on Gibson, then ambushes him and his bodyguards when he goes to wash it off in the men's room.
- Continuity Nod: The silenced gunfire that Matt heard in the previous episode is revealed to be the Yakuza hit squad shooting out the lock on the door.
- Contrived Clumsiness: Matt pretends to accidentally spill wine on Roxxon's accountant, and he certainly makes it look extra convincing when he's blind.
- Designated Girl Fight: Zigzagged. When the fight in the apartment begins, the female Yakuza actually attacks Matt, while one of the men attacks Elektra. Then, when more of the gang joins in, the woman switches opponents, and the rest of the fight is mostly Elektra fighting her while Matt fights the three men.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Elektra checks out Matt as he changes into his tuxedo in the back of the vehicle. In turn, quite a few people check out Elektra as she enters the room in a red dress — Matt notes several elevated heart rates.
- Fake-Out Make-Out: Well, okay, it's more like Fake-Out Fornication, but... it's how Matt and Elektra throw the pursuing guards off their trail, along with Sex Dressed and Playing Drunk. What helps sell it is the fact that Matt is blind — cortically blind, meaning his pupils don't react to light and he's not just faking it, which makes it far less believable that he just stole the ledger out from under the Yakuza's noses.
- Fingore:
- The Yakuza announce their intent to bring all ten of the hacker's fingers to their boss.
- At the end of the episode, the upset Yakuza boss is shown inspecting a box with fingers in it just before he tells his partner how upset he is with him.
- Subverted as well with the partner's guards, who tie their pinkie fingers in clear anticipation of having them cut off for failing their duties. The boss simply has them both shot on the spot instead.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Elektra insists that if they work together there will be no sex. Matt is exasperated by her arrogant assumption that every man she meets wants to sleep with her, only for Elektra to point out that in her experience every man does.
- Hope Spot: Foggy works out a deal that will avoid the death penalty and even allow possibility of parole if Castle manages to survive a prison full of people with a grudge against him (which doesn't bother Castle much). All he has to do is plead guilty. He doesn't.
- If I Wanted You Dead...: Frank says this verbatim as he explains to Karen he did not intend to kill her in the hospital.
- Irony: Elektra jokes that if she's going to work with Matt there will be no sex. Later they have to fake fornication to fool some Roxxon guards.
- Launcher Move: At one point, Matt shoves a Yakuza goon toward Elektra who takes him down with a clothesline.
- Left the Background Music On: Possibly. The episode opens with the Yakuza enforcers riding their motorcycles through the streets as "Date With the Night" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs plays. The riders all park their motorcycles outside the building, and the music abruptly cuts off, which seems to suggest that one of them was listening to it on a music player.
- Missing Floor: The 13th floor version; a security-restricted floor used by those involved in the more illicit activities of the Roxxon Corporation.
- Mook Chivalry: The apartment fight, at least at first. Two of the Yakuza start fighting Matt and Elektra one-on-one, while the other two hang back until it becomes clear that they are needed.
- My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: DA Reyes attempts to kick Matt and co. out by stating it's illegal for lawyers to defend a murderer that killed one of their clients, only for Matt to counter that if she's going to file the conflict of interest, Reyes will have to prove that Grotto was their client, which will be difficult since she falsified the records of his Witness Protection agreement to hide the fact that she almost got the man killed.
- My Greatest Failure: Frank confides to Karen that he didn't save his family from the gang war crossfire when he saw it coming.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Elektra tells Matt the Yakuza never left New York, but just hid and waited for him to take out Wilson Fisk and their other enemies, paving the way for their return to power.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: This episode sees Elektra and Matt going undercover in a black tie gala to steal secret information, making it seem more like a Tuxedo and Martini–style spy thriller.
- Over-the-Top Secret: The Roxxon ledger with incriminating details of their involvement in drugs, arms and people smuggling has an entry that is encrypted.
- Rank Up: The NYPD has promoted Brett Mahoney from a Sergeant's post in the Patrol Bureau to one in the Detective Bureau for taking down Frank Castle. Foggy is surprised to see Brett wearing a tie that's not a clip-on.
- Safecracking: Matt uses his hearing to open the safe, although nothing important's inside.
- Serious Business: Castle is considered dangerous enough that an entire floor of the hospital is blocked off for him, guarded by ESU officers with carbines, bags have to be searched twice to be absolutely certain no one's smuggling in a weapon, and there's a "do not cross" line around his bed marked with red tape, to which bed Castle is both strapped and shackled.
- Shadow Discretion Shot: Matt and Elektra taking on a bunch of goons while escaping with the Roxxon ledger is seen entirely through a frosted glass window.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Matt and Karen have a hard time admitting to Foggy that they are now dating.
- Shipper on Deck: Averted; Foggy does not look happy when confronted with blatant evidence that Matt and Karen really are dating.
- Shout-Out:
- Superheroes Wear Tights: Elektra jokes that the Daredevil disguise didn't fool her because she could recognise Matt's ass anywhere.
- Take Off Your Clothes: An undoubtedly deliberate version from Elektra, when she wants Matt to change into a tuxedo for their Black-Tie Infiltration.
- Tragic Keepsake: Frank thanks Karen for giving him the family photo from his house.
- Wham Line: Gibson protests that he would do anything for the Yakuza.Hirochi: Who said I was Yakuza?
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Gibson's bodyguards tie pieces of string around their pinkie fingers, obviously expecting to lose them as punishment. Hirochi has them both shot in the head.
- You Have Failed Me: The Yakuza mooks are executed for failing to safeguard a major secret.
