With Frank in bad shape, Micro calls on Curtis for help. Madani and Billy continue to mix business with pleasure. Lewis stands up for his rights.
Tropes
- Annoying Arrows: Averted; Curtis says that pulling out the arrowhead would make things worse, so he makes an incision on the other side of Frank's shoulder and draws it out that way.
- Artistic License – Law: Heavily debated In-Universe and out. When Lewis and O'Connor are handing out fliers in front of the courthouse, he rattles off a list of laws and ordinances that they weren't violating to show the cops that they had no right to interfere with them exercising their First Amendment rights. However, just about every cop and judge in the US considers handing out fliers at a courthouse for the purpose of influencing the outcome of ongoing cases to be a form of jury tampering, QED Jury Nullification
. They knowingly choose to harass people who do so for any reason except "handing out fliers" because they would have to give the fliers to a jury. Hell, the majority of authorities would love to get that concept overturned completely, but to do so would require putting it before a jury. - Asshole Victim: After manipulating Lewis with his bullshit and leaving him to deal with the cop alone, no tears are shed when Lewis stabs O'Connor to death.
- Badass Bookworm: Lewis turns out to have a detailed knowledge of New York protest laws, and calmly rattles off all the reasons his handing out of NRA flyers on the steps of the courthouse is perfectly legal.
- Big Brother Bully: Lieberman's son hits his sister for telling mom about the skateboard he stole, then excuses his actions by bringing up his father's supposed treachery.
- Broken Pedestal: O'Connor to Lewis, after Curtis revealed he never went to Vietnam at all.
- Conspiracy Theorist: O'Connor claims the internet is controlled by the Jews.
- Crazy-Prepared: Continuing his usual trend of being prepared for anything, David has their hideout stocked with medical supplies, and monitors radio traffic as part of his espionage training.
- Did Not Think This Through: O'Connor is not the brightest tool in the shed. Lying about his military service to the group of people most likely to be offended by it, and not even doing enough research to give the lie credence, was incredibly foolish. Especially to a group of people who are on undergoing severe emotional stress due to PTSD, who he both insulted and encouraged to be armed at all times.
- Dirty Coward: For all his talk about fighting for the Second Amendment, O'Connor quickly walks away when a cop confronts him and Lewis at the courthouse. Curtis points this out to Lewis as just one of several things that show that O'Connor is not someone he should be looking up to.
- Fat Slob: O'Connor is overweight and his house is a mess of old newspapers, catalogues and leftover food.
- Get Out!: O'Connor screams this to Lewis after being called out for his lies and manipulation. He screams this again even as he falls to his chair slowly dying from the knife wounds, which comes out as a pathetic wail.
- Heal It with Booze: Curtis uses alcohol to disinfect Frank's gunshot and arrow wounds while operating on him. And then hands the bottle over to David when it's clear he can't handle watching Curtis work.
- Imagined Innuendo: When Russo tells Frank he's already spoken with Madani, the two of them exchange knowing smirks.Frank Castle: Yeah, I bet you have. You never change.
- It's All My Fault: Frank blames himself for Gunner's death.
- "Leave Your Quest" Test: Russo offers Frank a ticket out of the country, a fake ID, and a job as soldier in the private security industry. He chooses to stay, which is just as well as the whole thing was an attempt to set Frank up for an ambush.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Dinah covers her breasts with one after she and Russo have sex.
- Mythology Gag: When Russo is meeting with Dinah by the waterfront so she can inform him about Frank, Russo makes a comment that the place seems great for a romantic apology, "or a mob hit, or whatever," a subtle callback to his status as a mafia assassin in the comics. This is also foreshadowing when we see Russo has a hit team waiting for Frank at the docks by that ship out of the country he was promised.
- Pillow Pistol: We see Curtis sleeps with a gun under his pillows, and he grabs it when David pounds on his door in the middle of the night to roust him.
- Phony Veteran: Curtis is suspicious enough of O'Connor to look his record up in the wake of Lewis's arrest. While he did enlist and did serve his full (if brief) term until discharged, he never actually served in Vietnam. He didn't sign up until 1977 (long after the US withdrew from Vietnam) and has never even seen any combat, let alone done anything even remotely worthy of the Silver Star.
- Rabid Cop: The cop gets aggravated very quickly when Lewis continues to protest, and falsely claims Lewis tried to seize his sidearm so he can be arrested.
- The Reveal: Billy Russo is working with William Rawlins.
- Shout-Out: When Russo approaches Curtis to see if Frank's been in touch with him, he makes his entrance saying, "Hey social worker, I got a social disease!"
- Spoiler Title: A Judas goat is a goat trained to associate with other goats, to lead them to slaughter. When Russo offers Frank a ship out of the country to a new life, after Frank tells him the truth about Operation Cerberus and the corruption of Schoonover, Rawlins and Colonel Bennett, this immediately makes Russo's allegiances obvious.
- Too Dumb to Live: O'Connor pulls a knife on Lewis after the latter punches him in the face for lying. Note, Lewis was not homicidally angry at this point, and probably would have been satisfied to just kick his ass. Lewis is also in great shape and fresh out of the military, while O'Connor was overweight and way out of practice (and hasn't fought in any battles). This gets him killed.
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: Or the arrow, in Frank's case. Justified in that David has cleaned the wound as best he can, and been giving Frank the correct treatment of fluids and antibiotics, but the wound has become septic due to a foreign object (the arrow) being covered in bacteria.
- Worst Aid: David quite rightly sanitizes his hands before treating Frank... and proceeds to rub them dry on his pants.
