History Recap / Daredevil2015S1E2CutMan

'''"Cut Man"''' is the second episode of ''[[Series/{{Daredevil2015}} Marvel's Daredevil]]''.

In a flashback, a young pre-accident Matt watches his father fight on TV, and despite being the favorite, Battlin' Jack is TKO'd by his opponent. Matt waits up for his father and helps patch up his wounds, even having his first drink of whiskey to keep his hands steady while he works. Jack produces an envelope full of cash to cover the rent, but when Matt asks where it came from, he simply says "sometimes, even when you get knocked down you can still win."

At Nelson & Murdock, both Foggy and Karen are working late to get the office organized, with Karen trying and failing to hide her amusement at Foggy's terrible singing of "Pour, Oh Pour The Pirate Sherry" from ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''. Foggy wonders why Karen is staying at the office rather than having a life, and when she reluctantly admits that she doesn't want to return to her apartment, Foggy suggests they go out drinking instead, and they call Matt to see if he wants to join them.

In flashback, Matt wakes up in the hospital after his accident, and promptly freaks over about the fact that he is both blind and all of his other senses are going into overload, but Jack is there to help him. Some time later, Matt is learning braille at Fogwell's Gym while Jack trains. He overhears two gangsters, Roscoe Sweeney and Silk, approach Jack with the promise of a big payday in an upcoming match against Carl "the Crusher" Creel...on the condition that he [[ThrowingTheFight go down in the fifth round]]. Jack initially turns the fight down, but some [[ShameIfSomethingHappened not-very-subtle threats from Sweeney]] get him to give in and agree to their proposal.

In the present, the Russian comes to Claire's door posing as an NYPD detective. He sees through her lies and leaves to inform his superiors, but Matt knocks him out with a fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, Foggy and Karen wind up at Josie's, a Hell's Kitchen bar where the customers look a lot meaner than they really are. After some good-natured banter, Karen admits that between Daniel Fisher's bloodstains and memories of almost being murdered, she can't return to her apartment, and fears for her life wherever she is. Foggy resolves to stay up all night with her.

On the roof of Claire's building, Matt ties up the Russian and prepares to interrogate him, though Claire is still skeptical about the whole situation. When asked why she helped Matt, Claire admits that during her shifts in the ER, she's heard stories about a vigilante in a black mask who's been running around Hell's Kitchen saving people from gangs and violence, and while she wants to believe Matt is a force for good, his treatment of "Foster" suggests otherwise.

->'''Matt:''' I know you're afraid. You can't give in to the fear. If you do, men like this win.

->'''Matt:''' I know you're scared, but I'm here to help. You don't have to be scared anymore.

* ArtisticLicenseSports: No boxer of any repute has a losing record. "Battlin' Jack" Murdock is said to have a losing record, yet posters on gym walls show that he's headlined events, and he's still fighting televised matches against notable boxers, even being paid to take a dive to Creel. Real journeymen boxers, the kind with losing records, fight in obscurity, matched against other no-names or young prospects looking for easy victories before becoming a name.

* FakeAmerican: InUniverse, Semyon poses as an NYPD detective to search Claire's building (by coincidence, the guy who plays him actually is an American).

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: The Russian henchman poses as an NYPD detective investigating an armed robbery when searching Claire's building

** On a funnier note, the comments by Foggy and Karen about the eel in their drink, including about drinking it to get "mighty eel strength" brings to mind [[http://marvel.wikia.com/Edward_Lavell_(Earth-616) the Eel]], a villain of Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, all of whom are to show up in the Netflix shows.

At Nelson & Murdock, both Foggy and Karen are working late to get the office organized, with Karen trying and failing to hide her amusement at Foggy's terrible singing. Foggy wonders why Karen is staying at the office rather than having a life, and when she reluctantly admits that she doesn't want to return to her apartment, Foggy suggests they go out drinking instead, and they call Matt to see if he wants to join them.

In flashback, Matt wakes up in the hospital after his accident, and promptly freaks over about the fact that he is both blind and all of his other senses are going into overload, but Jack is there to help him. Some time later, Matt is learning braille at Fogwell's gym while Jack trains. He overhears a gangster named Roscoe Sweeney telling Jack that he'll get a chance to fight Carl "the Crusher" Creel, but as part of the deal, Jack must have his ass go down in the fifth round. Jack initially turns the fight down, but Roscoe reminds him that he's got a blind son to take care of, and eventually Jack agrees to throw the fight.

In the present, the Russian comes to Claire's door claiming to be a detective. He sees through her lies and leaves to inform his superiors, but Matt knocks him out with a fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, Foggy and Karen wind up at Josie's, a Hell's Kitchen bar where the customers look a lot meaner than they really are. After some good-natured banter, Karen admits that between Daniel Fisher's bloodstains and memories of almost being murdered, she can't return to her apartment, and fears for her life wherever she is. Foggy resolves to stay up all night with her.

* AdultFear: The threats used to get Jack to fight Creel and take a fall include veiled threats against young Matthew. Likely this is what inspired him to win the fight and both set Matt up for the future and make sure they'd never come after him (by hiding the money and pushing them to kill him).

* IAteWhat: Karen and Foggy end up drinking the worm in the mezcal they're downing, but it only fills them with MIGHTY EEL STRENGTH!

* ContinuityNod: In a flashback, Battlin' Jack is asked to throw a fight against Carl "Crusher" Creel, who appeared on Season 2 of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''

* ShameIfSomethingHappened: Roscoe Sweeney invokes this when strong-arming Jack into fighting Creel.

* CombatBreakdown: You really feel Matt's [[RealityEnsues building exhaustion]] in the closing fight scene, likely aided by the fight being shot [[TheOner entirely in one take]]. Especially his pitiful attempt at a wall jump.

* RealityEnsues: After battling the Russian thugs, Matt can barely stand to rescue the boy who was being held hostage. Moreover, during the fight, nobody goes down and stays down [[TapOnTheHead after a single hit]], they keep getting back up again, but with the strength, stability, and accuracy of their punches suffering ''significantly'' each time.

* ArtisticLicense: In the flashbacks, Matt claims that the French alphabet has no W while talking about braille. Matt's halfway there on this: the French language does have a 'w'. It just rarely makes use of it (and always for words coming from other languages). French ''did'' not have one at the time when braille was invented, and the W in braille was indeed added later.

* ShipTease: Foggy gets a big grin on his face when a drunken Karen lays her head on his shoulder.

* ArtisticLicense: In the flashbacks, Matt claims that the French alphabet has no W while talking about braille. In reality, the French language does have a 'w'. It just rarely makes use of it (and always for words coming from other languages). French ''did'' not have one at the time when braille was invented, and the W in braille was indeed added later.

* KarmaHoudini: The gangsters who tried to bribe Jack Murdock to throw the fight, and later killed him when he didn't. There's nothing to indicate they ever faced justice. [[spoiler:Though it's revealed in season 2 that Elektra tracked down Roscoe Sweeney many years later, and let Matt beat him senseless.]]

* CombatBreakdown: You really feel Matt's building exhaustion in the closing fight scene, likely aided by the fight being shot [[TheOner entirely in one take]]. Especially his pitiful attempt at a wall jump.

* RealityEnsues: After battling the Russian thugs, Matt can barely stand to rescue the boy who was being held hostage.

** At the office, Karen overhears Foggy horribly singing a rendition of the music from ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''.

* HallwayFight: Daredevil fights his way through a hallway full of Russian mobsters.