Fisk's long-awaited reunion with Vanessa doesn't go as planned. Meanwhile, the reconstituted Nelson & Murdock take Nadeem as a client and prepare to use him as a witness against Fisk.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Matt breaks Nadeem down, asking him why it took him so long to blow the whistle on Fisk.
- The Atoner: Nadeem agrees to go to prison even though he's handing Tower the complete case against Fisk.Ray Nadeem: He's right. I did the crime.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Matt and Nadeem work together to fight off Fisk's assassins when they're ambushed en route to the courthouse.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first, it seems like during two years overseas, Vanessa has had a change of life and is scared of all the violence surrounding Fisk. In reality, she doesn't want to merely be an accessory anymore, but to go all in.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Subverted. Although Matt tells Nadeem to fire on the men trying to kill them, he guides him such that Nadeem doesn't kill them.
- The "Be Careful!" Speech: Having said in the last episode that she liked it when Matt assumed she was an innocent, Karen doesn't like Matt's belated version of this trope, now that Matt knows she can handle herself by killing if needed.
- Blind Weaponmaster: While in the back of a van, Matt is able to tell Nadeem where to shoot to hit the gunmen outside (though Nadeem is understandably reluctant to go against his FBI training to shoot at a target he can't identify).
- Boom, Headshot!: Nadeem by the end of the episode, killed by Dex on Fisk and Vanessa's orders.
- The Bus Came Back: Vanessa finally returns, after being absent since the end of season 1.
- Call-Back:
- When Nadeem is making an apology phone call to his wife from Fogwell's, it's staged and shot very similarly to Matt's father's last calls before his match with Creel.
- Fisk making an omelette for Vanessa in his luxury apartment uses the same shots as his Imagine Spot at the start of the season when he was making an omelette in his prison cell.
- Nelson and Murdock, Attorneys at Law are back, baby!
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Fisk clearly isn't happy about Dex's unauthorized action in getting "Rabbit in a Snowstorm", but admits to Vanessa that he is still useful. Nadeem points out to Dex that the moment his usefulness runs out, Fisk will have him killed just like he's being sent to kill Nadeem.
- Character Death: Ray Nadeem, murdered by Dex. Minor character Mrs. Falb from the previous episode was also Killed Offscreen by Dex.
- Dead Man Writing: A video variation, but Nadeem returns to his now-empty home and films a video of himself to send to his wife and son, knowing he's probably going to die.
- Disappointed in You: Fisk doesn't use these words exactly, but it's at least certainly the impression that Dex gets from Fisk's response when Dex attempts to apologize for failing to assassinate Karen. Dex getting hold of the "Rabbit in a Snowstorm" painting by killing the previous owner, after Fisk had been willing to let her keep it, doesn't get Fisk's approval either, though it's not currently in his interest to say so.
- Elephant in the Living Room: Before he dies Nadeem points out to Dex what he's been willfully ignoring; that Fisk has been manipulating him and will kill him off as well the moment he's no longer useful. Of course Dex, thanks to Fisk's machinations, has invested his entire self in his new boss and can't accept it.
- Evil Counterpart: Like Karen, Vanessa implies that she has done bad things in the past, and this is what drew her to the man she loves. But whereas Karen tries to act as a moral center for Matt Murdock and Frank Castle, Vanessa copes by willingly embracing Fisk's villainy.
- Face Death with Dignity: Nadeem when Dex arrives to kill him. He just states that he hoped it'd be Dex, and though he does try to convince him to turn on Fisk, when that fails, he calmly accepts that he's going to die, and even pulls a Suicide by Cop to force Dex to shoot him right there in the backyard.
- Friendship Moment: Despite his harsh words on their last meeting, Ellison hugs Karen on seeing that she's still alive.
- Good Feels Good: Invoked frequently by Foggy to Matt when everything seems to be going their way, trying to convince his friend that using the law to fight evil is better than doing so as a masked vigilante.
- Headbutt of Love: Fisk and Vanessa do this upon being reunited at the episode's beginning.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Nadeem allows Dex to kill him so his family will be safe. Doubles as a Thanatos Gambit, since he knew that his death would allow his testimony to enter the record even with the grand jury subverted.
- Hollywood Law: Averted with Nadeem's talk with Tower. Everything about the conditions of immunity and potential conflicts of interest are handled correctly.
- Hope Spot: Matt is able to get Ray to the courthouse safely despite assassination attempts, and Ray gives a very convincing testimony. Unfortunately, it's rendered moot when Fisk is instead able to simply threaten the jurors into not indicting him, and then Nadeem is later killed by Dex. As a result, Matt—who had decided to try doing things Foggy's way and trusting the system—immediately goes back to his original plan of killing Fisk.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Dex introduces himself to Vanessa, and tells her to think of him as the new James Wesley. Based on Fisk's reaction when Vanessa repeats this back to him, he sees Dex and anything but that.
- I Know You're Watching Me: Nadeem gives a knowing smile at the security camera when entering his house. Sure enough it's one of the cameras being monitored from Fisk's control room.
- Jury and Witness Tampering: Fisk does a two-stage tactic to keep Nadeem's testimony from being used to indict him: first, he tries to have his men kill Nadeem while he's being escorted to the courthouse, but after Matt and Nadeem thwart that attack, settles for intimidating the grand jury. Also a sign of Fisk being Crazy-Prepared, as he'd have to gather this intelligence needed to do the latter in advance.
- Killed Offscreen: Dex murdered Mrs. Falb to get the painting back. Fisk is not impressed by it.
- Lady Macbeth: Vanessa has fully become this by the end of the episode. While Fisk initially tries to keep her out of the dirtier parts of his life, she insists that she can't really be a part of his life unless she's part of all of it, and he ultimately agrees and fully lets her in. She then encourages Fisk to go ahead with having Dex kill Nadeem, when he and Felix were initially planning to let him live and simply discredit him by having him prosecuted for the murder of Agent Winn.
- Oh, Crap!: Matt hears one of the jurors reciting the home addresses of the rest of the grand jury.
- Pet the Dog:
- Fisk is grateful towards Felix Manning for keeping Vanessa safe during the time he was in prison and thus forgives his failing to kill Nadeem.
- Tower is political, yes. He was reluctant to take the Fisk deal but has been defending it in public because that's what politicians do. When Foggy comes to him, he's initially upset to be dealing with this again, but when Foggy tells him that Fisk is threatening his family, Tower puts it together and is sympathetic.
- Punny Name: The cable van used to take Matt and Nadeem to the courthouse is Five Senses Cable. Because Matt's blind.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Foggy and Matt once again work together as Nelson & Murdock, attorneys at law, to represent Agent Nadeem when he testifies against Fisk.
- Suicide by Cop: Dex wants to take Nadeem somewhere more private to kill him in order to avoid witnesses, but Nadeem draws his gun so that Dex is forced to shoot him right there in the backyard.
- Tempting Fate: After sending Nadeem into the courtroom to testify, Foggy starts to comment on how their plan actually appears to have worked. Matt interrupts and begs him not to finish the comment. Shortly after Nadeem finishes his testimony Matt overhears an underling threatening the jury, undermining all of their efforts.
- Thanatos Gambit: Nadeem records a final confession and sends it to his wife knowing that, on his death, it will be a dying declaration and allow it to be entered into the record whenever necessary, so that Matt and Foggy no longer need to risk everything protecting him.
- True Companions: With his wife estranged from him, Nadeem asks Matt about why Karen and Foggy stay loyal to his side despite how poorly he treated them. Matt admits that he's done nothing whatsoever to earn such loyalty from his friends.
- Trojan Horse: Nadeem is brought to the courthouse not in the NYPD convoy, but in an electricians van. Unfortunately Fisk's assassins aren't fooled.
- The Villain Knows Where You Live: Matt overhears a coerced member of the grand jury listing the addresses of the other grand jurors as an Implied Death Threat.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- In private, Matt calls out Nadeem on working for Fisk and, before that, falling for his schemes and putting him in the position where he could regain all of his power. He also reams him out for not reporting Hattley for murdering Winn and not doing anything at all against Dex even after seeing that the latter had murdered Father Lantom. Nevertheless, he defends Nadeem when Tower uses these exact same arguments the same way Nadeem defended himself from Matt's accusations: by emphasizing that he did what he did out of fear for his family.
- Seema also calls Ray out for lying to her and bringing a gunfight into their home while she and their son were curled in a bathtub waiting to die.
- Wham Line: Felix Manning gives Fisk an update on Nadeem's status. Fisk declares that they will now discredit Nadeem by having him indicted for Agent Winn's murder thanks to the frameup Hattley orchestrated as blackmail. Vanessa, however, has other ideas.Vanessa Marianna: Wilson, what does Agent Nadeem know about your business?
Wilson Fisk: A considerable amount.
Vanessa Marianna: And is he determined to find ways to hurt you? To hurt us?
Wilson Fisk: Yes.
Vanessa Marianna: Don't you think it would be safer to remove the threat?
Wilson Fisk: Yes, I do.
Vanessa Marianna: If Agent Poindexter is useful, perhaps he can help us with this problem. [turns to Felix] You'll let him know, won't you?
Felix Manning: Yes, ma'am. - Wounded Gazelle Gambit: While avoiding Fisk's assassins on the way to the courthouse, Matt and Nadeem briefly hide in an empty bus, and when the killers approach, Matt pretends to be a confused, helpless blind man before he and Nadeem get the drop on them.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: For the first time in the series, someone calls Ray by his full first name, Rahul. His wife Seema calls him out for lying to her, for getting blackmailed by Fisk, for putting his family in danger.
