Bam Smack Pow
Fansided

Daredevil Recap And Review – S01E08 – Shadows In The Glass

By Steve Lam

facebooktwitterreddit

More from TV

A hero can only be as compelling and interesting as the villain he’s up against.  That concept has been proven multiple times.  What type of hero would Batman be if he didn’t have Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)?  What kind of team would the Avengers be if they weren’t up against Tom Hiddleston’s conniving Loki in The Avengers (2012)?  To balance out the hero-centric series of Daredevil, the writers bring us an episode dedicated solely to Wilson Fisk.

Though Matt Murdock is sparsely shown in this eighth episode, Shadows in the Glass, it still makes quite a parallel of Fisk’s life with that of our protagonist’s.  After viewing this installment, I’m putting Vincent D’Onofrio’s Fisk up there with Heath Ledger’s maniacal Joker.  Daredevil will surely have his hands full when he meets the Kingpin.

A Daring Recap

Wilson Fisk awakens from a nightmare and stares at the “Rabbit in a Snowstorm” painting by his bedside.  He goes on about his daily morning routine of cooking an omelette, eating it, and getting dressed in a dark suit.  Though he has multiple cuff links in his drawer, he only chooses the ones previously owned by his father.  Before he leaves, Fisk stares at the mirror and sees his young self covered in blood.  He reacts in a mundane manner and goes on about his day.

Matt awakens to a disheveled apartment (from his fight with Stick) and dresses to go to work.  He walks in on Foggy and Karen talking about hiding their investigation of Union Allied from him.  Foggy attempts to divert the conversation to something else, but Matt already knows the two are up to something.  Pressing them for answers, he learns about their activities.  Matt admonishes them for putting themselves in danger and not working within the confines of the law.  Knowing that the two aren’t giving up, Matt agrees to help, but on his terms, which will keep them safe.

Fisk meets with Nobu, who’s angered that Black Sky was destroyed.  Fisk made a promise to keep the docks and roads clear of all police interference, of which he did.  When Nobu presses further in renegotiating their relationship, Fisk backs off and apologizes.  As Nobu leaves, Wesley suggest to Fisk that the Yakuza are not needed anymore.  Fisk states that Nobu and his organization are a necessary evil.

Flashback: From the scenery and technology, we’re sometime in the early 1970s.  A young timid overweight Fisk helps his father, Bill, assemble campaign signs while his mother, Marlene, goes through overdue bills.  From his interactions with his family, Bill is a bully who dreams of being a councilman so he can use that power to get his family out of financial ruin.  To Marlene’s protest, Bill has recently borrowed money from area crime boss Rigoletto

Back to the Present: As Fisk nervously talks to Vanessa on the phone, Wesley calls in and interrupts them.  Detective Blake has awoken from his coma which has prompted Wesley’s concern.   Fisk puts a hit out on Blake, but a 24-hour security detail will make it impossible.  He decides to reach out to Blake’s best friend and partner Detective Hoffman.

Doing their research, Matt, Foggy, and Karen discover that Confederated Global Investments (the company Wesley claimed he represented when he hired them to defend Healy in Rabbit in a Snowstorm) has a subsidiary that’s forcing tenants out of their homes.  Foggy decides to look into Tully — the sleazy landlord forcing Elena out of her home — to see if he’s connected to anything.  Their attention is diverted when Karen finds breaking news of Blake coming out of his coma.

Fisk meets with Hoffman to get him to kill Blake.  When Hoffman refuses, Fisk ups the offer and asks the amount of money it would require to get the deed done.  Hoffman, knowing that there’s no way out, starts to well up with tears.

Hoffman arrives at the hospital and gets through the security detail by hiding a syringe filled with poison inside of a sandwich.  The second he injects Blake’s intravenous line with the solution, Blake wakes up.  Daredevil appears and chokes out Hoffman.  He barricades the door with a chair and tells Blake that his death is inevitable.  The only other option is to tell him everything so that he can get vengeance on Fisk.  Blake tells him what he can before dying.  By the time the cops break through, Daredevil has disappeared.

At Fisk’s personal tailor, Leland is being fitted with a bulletproof suit.  Leland requests protection from Daredevil and notes that if he dies, the money goes with him.  Wesley enters and updates Fisk on Blake’s death.  Hoffman was able to spin it so that Daredevil is once again blamed.  Wesley is still worried though because Blake had enough time to divulge crucial information to Daredevil.

Flashback: Marlene tries to comfort Fisk after he’s bullied for standing up for his father.  Bill returns and sees his crying son as an embarrassment.  He forcefully takes his son to confront the bully, Bernie Walker.  Meeting Bernie, Bill engages him in a fight.  Bill gets the upper hand.  Using this incident as a learning experience, Bill forces his son to brutally kick Bernie.  Reluctant at first, Fisk’s full rage is put on display when he releases a barrage of brutal kicks to the bully.

Back to the Present: Fisk awakens from his nightmare of which we now know.  His morning repeats the same way as before sans one detail — the phone interrupts his ritual.  Wesley alerts him that Madame Gao is on her way to meet him.

When they meet, Madame Gao reveals that not only does she speak English, she speaks every language.  Her keen observatory powers are further displayed when she also reveals that she knows about Fisk’s knowledge of Mandarin and Japanese.  Wesley leaves them to speak in private.  Madame Gao is losing faith in Fisk and feels that he’s gotten sloppy as of late.  She threatens to cut him out if he continues his incompetence.  After Madame Gao leaves, Fisk flips the table in a fit of rage.

Flashback: Bill forces his son to think about being a man while staring at their apartment wall — which resembles the present day “Rabbit in a Snowstorm” painting.  Needing to step out to talk to Rigoletto, Bill is admonished by Marlene for taking the loan.  Bill, annoyed by his wife’s questions, strikes her and continues the beating with his belt.

Back to the Present: Vanessa has come to visit Fisk.  Initially wanting her to leave, Fisk has a quick change of heart when she makes sure those are his wishes.  She approaches him and reiterates his promise to her: to always be honest.  Fisk is afraid of what she would think of him if she knew his history.  Vanessa urges him to tell her.

Flashback: Bill continues to beat Marlene.  Fisk, in defense of his mother, picks up a hammer and tells his father to stop.  Bill confronts his son and insults him.  When Bill turns, Fisk kills his father by bludgeoning his head.  The brutal hits only cease when Marlene stops and comforts him.  Fisk now resembles the blood-covered visage he saw in the mirror at the start of the episode.  Marlene covers up the murder by cleaning the crime scene and dismembering Bill’s body.  She then gives Fisk Bill’s cuff links.

Back to the Present: Fisk tells Vanessa that he and his mother placed his father’s body parts in individual bags and disposed one bag per night for a week.  Bill’s disappearance wasn’t looked into because he owed money to Rigoletto anyways.  Fisk was later sent to live with relatives at a farm.  Vanessa, initially disturbed by the recollection, shows sympathy towards Fisk.  Fisk states that he did those action for himself and that he wears his father’s cuff links to remind himself that he isn’t cruel like his father.  Fisk’s worries about people trying to bring him down, preventing him from helping the city.

In the rain soaked street, Daredevil pays Ben a visit.  Daredevil wants to know if Ben believes the stories of him being evil.  Ben, keeping things objective, has heard stories about Daredevil doing bad and good.  Daredevil denies causing the explosions at the Russian warehouses and shooting the cops.  He wants Ben to expose Fisk for the criminal he is.  Ben’s never heard of Fisk’s name and questions why Daredevil chose him out of all the other reporters.  Daredevil states that there are good people he knows that trust him.  Ben hypothesizes that to mean his work on Union Allied.  Daredevil piques Ben’s interest and offers to give him information.  Ben is reluctant because none of this comes from credible sources.  Daredevil doesn’t need Fisk to go to trial, he just needs Fisk to be exposed.  The public will take care of the rest.  Ben finally asks Daredevil for everything he knows.

It’s morning again and Fisk wakes up from another nightmare.

Ben provides a voice-over while writing his story on Fisk:

Vanessa is in bed next to Fisk.  He later goes about his morning ritual.  He has the same breakfast, but is now joined by Vanessa.  When he gets dressed, Vanessa picks out a lighter colored suit and selects a set of cuff links other than his father’s.

Fisk holds a televised press conference pledging aid to Hell’s Kitchen and introducing himself to the world.  He sets himself and Leland up as saviors, and demonizes Daredevil.  Matt, Foggy, Karen, and Ben watch Fisk’s speech in frustration.  Ben ends up deleting his story.  And Matt throws his laptop across the room in anger.

Moments That Blind You with Awesomeness

  • Daredevil approaching Ben for the first time.  This reminded me so much of Batman Begins (2005) when Batman enlisted the help of Gordon.  It’s two heroes joining forces to do the right thing.
  • The brutal killing of Fisk’s abusive father.  I’m going to give props to the actor portraying the young Fisk.  The expression of dead eyes and raw emotion were pretty unsettling.
  • Fisk’s and Vanessa’s interaction.  Her interest in Fisk has gotten me interested in her agenda and history.
  • Fisk’s powerful speech at the end.  If I didn’t know this guy’s true agenda, I probably would’ve drank his Kool-Aid.

Final Thoughts

We finally have Fisk’s story and it’s one that can parallel Matt’s in some ways.  Both of them grew up in broken homes, but Matt, even though he only had one parent, got all the love in the world.  Matt’s father also shielded his son from the brutality of the world.  He wanted his son to be better than him and used himself as an example of how no education can hurt a person later in life.

Fisk, on the other hand, grew up having both parents.  His father was a loudmouth who used himself as a shining example to live up to.  Fisk wasn’t treated like a son, but as an object to be improved.  The hatred within Fisk was developed over time.  As we saw in this episode, Fisk wasn’t always a monster.

Another standout of this episode was Vanessa and how her character was written.  The writers could’ve gone down the clichéd route and made Marlene and Vanessa physically or characteristically similar in an attempt to explain Fisk’s attraction towards her.  Because they didn’t, Fisk’s interest in Vanessa is quite intriguing.  Did he choose Vanessa because she’s the opposite of his mother who might’ve been viewed as weak?  Or is there something else in Fisk’s history that made him choose her?  Also, Vanessa’s unwavering commitment to him also raises some eyebrows.  She never flinched when Fisk raised his voice.  It’s like a lion tamer not afraid of putting her head inside of the beast’s mouth.  I’m now fascinated by what Vanessa’s backstory could be.

Shadows in the Glass certainly mixes up the formula without jumping the shark.  It switches perspectives and allows us to understand the villain and what makes him tick.  I’m very excited to see what other angles the writers have in store for us in the remaining episodes.

Next: Check out our previous recap of Episode 7 - Stick

More from Bam Smack Pow

Home/TV