Grieving for the life he's abandoned, Matt suffers a crisis of faith. Fisk make a deal with the FBI that turns him into a target.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Matt has no idea how deeply his question pierces when he asks Maggie "What would you do if you could no longer be a nun?"
- Blasphemous Boast: Understandably Father Lantom doesn't look happy when Matt gives one. However, he doesn't look upset that Matt was blasphemous, he looks worried that Matthew is losing faith.Matt Murdock: I’m Daredevil. Not even God can stop that now.
- Brought Down to Badass: Matt's still recovering from being on the receiving end of a collapsing building, so he's not where he used to be. Even so, he can give and take a pounding.
- Call-Back: Everything about the convoy ambush gives the vibe that Fisk is planning another escape attempt, especially given that right before the attack begins, Fisk begins delivering a lengthy monologue just like he did with that attempt. It's only when the gunmen begin speaking Albanian and calling for Fisk to show himself that it becomes apparent that this is an assassination attempt on Fisk, not an attempt break him out.
- Call to Agriculture: Feeling he's lost his way after Matt's death, Foggy is considering abandoning Jeri Hogarth's firm to return to the family business at Nelson's Meats, even though he has no head for the business and went to law school to get away from it. Even Theo, who was forced to take Foggy's place, is surprised he would consider this.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Karen is sent to interview a reality TV star and socialite, which turns out to be the woman saved by Matt in the previous episode.
- You may not have been paying attention to Dex as he gives Fisk his marching orders and calls him "convict" prior to transporting him, but you sure as hell are paying attention to him at the end of episode after he single-handedly ends the shootout.
- Combat Pragmatist: Still not being in top shape, Matt has no problems using an electroshock weapon. He also kills the lights in the basement to give himself the advantage.
- Commonality Connection: Neda initially refuses to talk to Karen, as she has had bad experiences with reporters slandering her. After Karen opens up about being slandered herself about the death of her brother, she agrees to talk to her.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Dex utterly wipes the floor with the Albanians during their gunfight. Two of the assailants try to surrender so they can get spared, only for Dex to shoot them in the head anyways.
- Establishing Character Moment: Fisk is trapped inside an upside-down car unable to move, when suddenly the heavily-armed Albanians moving in to take him out start falling to the ground dead. Then Dex emerges from the smoke, effortlessly taking them out with trick shots, never missing even when ricocheting bullets to hit men hiding around corners. Two men throw down their guns and surrender, only for Dex to immediately shoot them both in the head without hesitation. When his gun runs out of bullets, he throws the gun and magazine so hard that they kill two more hostiles. It's clear that Dex is merciless, efficient, and a very talented marksman. The kinds of skills that fans of the comics would recognize as coming from a very certain assassin.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: In the flashbacks, Father Lantom has more hair.
- Flashback: Several are shown with Matt as a child.
- Foreshadowing:
- Dex slaughters his way through an Albanian ambush singlehandedly, then ricochets a bullet off a lamppost to take someone down around a corner, then kills two surrendering Albanians, and finally kills the last two by throwing his gun and empty magazine so that the latter impales one man through the throat. To a degree, he's behaving more like a ruthless assassin than as a cop.
- This conversation between Hattley and Nadeem will become relevant in later episodes:Tammy Hattley: I put you on Fisk detail, your file is required reading. You'll be naked. There will be questions.
Ray Nadeem: I've got answers.
Tammy Hattley: I've got a boss, too. And he's got a hard-on for agents in financial holes. I'm sorry.
Ray Nadeem: No. No way.
Tammy Hattley: Easy, Ray.
Ray Nadeem: No. You tell D.C. that none of this could have happened without the unexpected connection between me and Wilson Fisk. Because that's the truth. And then none of the other shit in my file will matter. Come on, Tammy! How am I supposed to get out from under?
Tammy Hattley: Okay, he's yours. But you need to keep him talking, Ray.
Ray Nadeem: I got this.
Tammy Hattley: He better last years. Because if he goes dry, we're both burned.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Fisk almost lets his get the better of him as he subdues Jasper Evans and considers beating him to death with a weight, but then he relents and instead drops the weight next to Evans' head.
- Internal Reveal:
- Karen gets evidence Matt is alive from talking to Neda about the kidnapping attempt against her father.
- Matt overhears the police at the hospital talking about how Fisk has been released.
- Jump Scare: Fisk has just finished his calm monologue to Nadeem about his love for Vanessa being a metaphorical prison when the whole street suddenly gets shaken by an explosion as the Albanians attack the convoy.
- Killer Cop: Dex executes two surrendering Albanian mobsters.
- Kingpin in His Gym: Jasper Evans shanks Fisk as Fisk is bench-pressing weights in the prison's rec room.
- Lesser of Two Evils: DA Blake Tower and the police commissioner are initially unwilling to broker a deal with Fisk. Nadeem then convinces them that the crackdown on the Albanians has saved numerous lives and it will save more in the future. He concedes that Fisk is a piece of crap, but thinks that the results will be worth it.
- Love Is a Weakness: Fisk concedes that his love for Vanessa is a weakness that confines him better than any prison, but he is not willing to give it up either.
- Made of Iron: Fisk barely shows any reaction after being shanked.
- Never Heard That One Before: Foggy gives the obligatory joke about how his briefs are before his family can.
- Never Say "Die": Foggy is skeptical that a man in a mask in Hell's Kitchen saving a family from assault means that Matt is still alive, as it's more likely to be just another vigilante inspired by him. When Karen says that she knows he doesn't believe Matt is dead because he doesn't use the word "dead", only "gone", Foggy makes a point of saying "dead" in his next sentence, causing her to storm out on him.
- One-Man Army: Dex, with some Mook Horror Show thrown in for good measure. He absolutely slaughters all the Albanians that previously killed an entire FBI unit.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Dex executes two Albanians who were already surrendering. It's hard to feel sorry for them, as they previously also mercilessly gunned down dozens of agents.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Fisk refrains from killing Jasper Evans, the inmate who has shanked him, because he doesn't want to endanger his deal. However it's later revealed that the shanking was deliberate.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Father Lantom was really good at helping Matthew even when Matthew was an angry young man.
- Quit Your Whining: Matt continues to get speeches to this effect from Maggie.
- Second Episode Introduction:
- Dex is introduced in this episode.
- Foggy's family are introduced in this episode.
- The Stool Pigeon: The word is out on Fisk being a snitch, thus it isn't safe anymore in prison for him.
- Tough Love: Maggie is very good at telling Matt the shit he needs to hear.
- Vulnerable Convoy: Fisk's convoy gets ambushed by the Albanians, leaving most agents dead and Fisk only surviving due to Dex's timely interference.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Stewart Finney and the Valdez brothers, the cronies who comprised Fisk's protection crew in season 2, are nowhere to be seen.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When Neda thanks God for Matt turning up and saving them, Matt bitterly says that God had nothing to do with it—he did.
