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Recap / The Defenders (2017) S1E7 "Fish in the Jailhouse"

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Luke, Jessica, and Matt have been detained by the police after being found unconscious at a crime scene with two dead bodies. Meanwhile, Elektra consolidates control and brings Danny down to the wall below Midland Circle.


  • Bare-Handed Blade Block: Inverted. Elektra uses her sais to grab Danny's wrist as he attacks her with the Iron Fist.
  • Batman Gambit: Elektra goads Danny into attacking her with the Iron Fist, and maneuvers herself so she's standing in front of the wall and them guides the Fist into the barrier.
  • Big Damn Hero: Colleen shows up to help Matt, Jessica and Luke against the Hand leaders.
  • Bilingual Bonus: The text on the wall is Tibetan, and translates to, "IF Wu Ao-Shi Yr 1610. This barrier can only be broken by an Immortal Iron Fist."
  • Boring, but Practical: Our heroes are stressing out about how they can get to Midland Circle when they don't have money for a taxi. Cut to them taking the subway.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Captain Strieber mentions threatening to make a call to DA Blake Tower when Matt, Luke and Jessica are reluctant to cooperate.
    • After the blast of Danny punching out the wall with the Iron Fist causes a power outage, Karen is seen getting a phone call from Mitchell Ellison, who's checking in to see if she's all right.
    • Much like Karen once before, Matt is wearing an NYPD shirt because his clothes were stained in blood.
    • Foggy's remark when telling Matt where he is ("Harlem precinct, private office. And if we're painting the whole picture, you look like shit") sounds very similar to his "You look like shit" remark when Matt was recuperating from his first fight with Frank Castle, and Karen's remark to him when she dropped by his place with the monkey balloon as he was recuperating from his fight with Fisk and Nobu.
  • Conveniently Empty Building: Mentioned by Matt, the reason why he supports Colleen's plan to just blow Midland Circle up.
  • Didn't Think This Through: By killing Alexandra, Elektra has threatened a big part of the Hand's public connections, from corporations to organized crime. She flat out states she doesn't care.
  • Foreshadowing: Foggy and Karen give separate remarks to Matt about how dangerously close he's coming to his secret identity being blown. Taking into account that Wilson Fisk is starting to looking into Matt's life, their concerns are very legitimate.
  • Friend on the Force: Misty comes around to helping Matt, Luke and Jessica.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: Heading to the final confrontation, on a subway train, Jessica steals a sleeping homeless guy's beer and drinks it, as Matt and Luke stare at her.
    Jessica Jones: It's been a long week.
  • Just Train Wrong: That's not a New York City Subway train, but rather a Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) train.
  • Lampshade Hanging: As always, Jessica can't get over how unbelievably ridiculous all this shit is as Luke and Matt try to work out in the police station what the Hand want and how to stop them.
  • Manly Tears: When Matt wakes up in the precinct, it takes him a minute to remember what happened. When he remembers that Elektra killed Stick, he briefly breaks down.
  • Meaningful Background Event: While on the train, Luke is sitting in front of a Rand Enterprises advertisement depicting four people holding hands.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: During his fight with Elektra, Danny accidentally destroys the inscription-marked door that was the entire reason the Hand wanted him on their side in the first place.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Elektra tries to use this on Danny, stating that they both decided to Screw Destiny. However, Danny counters that no, they are not at all alike, since Elektra killed her masters and Danny's masters taught him loyalty.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Elektra asks Danny to read the inscription on the wall. Danny says that while he's seen this form of ancient Tibetan many times before, he doesn't know exactly what the text reads. We later learn in Iron Fist Season 2 that, in fact, Danny does know what the inscription on the wall says, and just doesn't want to do it for Elektra.
  • Pragmatic Hero: How does Colleen plan on stopping the Hand? Blowing the entire Midland Circle building to hell.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: The Fingers try to talk sense into Elektra about how Alexandra's methods were pragmatic for a good reason. Elektra, though, doesn't care.
    Madame Gao: The Hand is a global organization. For years, Alexandra forged our relationships with everything, from crimelords to corporate partners.
    Elektra Natchios: [scoffs] "Corporate partners".
    Madame Gao: How do we explain her death to them?
    Elektra Natchios: There's no need for explanations.
    Murakami: [speaks Japanese] None at all?
    Madame Gao: These relationships grant us invisibility in our operations, our backroom accords, our political affiliations. This gives us power.
    Elektra Natchios: This isn't power. Living underground, and hiding.
    Bakuto: You know nothing of power. You didn't exist until Alexandra gave you life.
    Elektra Natchios: [smirks at Bakuto] Didn't I? [begins advancing on Bakuto]
    Bakuto: It's not what you did. It's how you did it. The Hand has survived for this long because we, above all else, have been astute.
    Elektra Natchios: [smiles] Oh! Well, this may come as a bit of a shock, but I don't care about the Hand. I care about the substance. Because from now on, nothing will stand in my way. Not even death.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: It's pretty heavily implied that Misty has deduced Matt is Daredevil.
  • Shout-Out: Foggy calls Jessica "Super Joan Jett", possibly in reference to the teaser to her own series with Joan Jett's Bad Reputation playing.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: The remaining Fingers are skilled in mystic arts, making them absurdly formidable opponents, hence why their fight with Luke and Jessica isn't an immediate Curb-Stomp Battle. Each of their blows is shown to be far stronger than it should be, especially Madam Gao's.
  • Thicker Than Water: For all that happened, Foggy still values Matt's friendship and slips down to Matt's apartment to bring him the Daredevil suit, saying "That's what family's for."
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: While Alexandra was also quite dominant, she at least listened to the other Fingers. Elektra flat-out tells them that she doesn't care at all about what they think and directly threatens them.
    • Which doesn't stop them from preparing to dispose of her as soon as she gets them what they need.
  • Waking Up Elsewhere: Matt regains consciousness while passed out on the couch in the Captain's office when he's jolted awake by a phone ringing. He spends several moments disoriented until Foggy comes in to give him a rundown.
  • We Can Rule Together: Elektra offers an alliance to Danny. He turns her down.
  • Wham Shot: Danny breaks through the barrier, and sees what's beyond: a dragon skeleton.
  • Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Elektra taunts Danny about the way the Chaste soldiers screamed when she killed them.
  • You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: The remaining Fingers of the Hand are ready to invoke this on Elektra, as she is not one of them... after she gets the substance.
  • You Killed My Father: Elektra reveals that she killed Stick's army; the defenders of K'un-Lun, which pisses off Danny so much that he uses his Iron Fist.

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