“For the entertainment of the masses, presented in all its ugly glory, by the man whose hand holds the scale.”
The end of “Shoot the Moon” carries right into “The Scales and the Sword” with Karen’s prisoner/helper revealing that the resistance is bigger than they thought, and it’s spreading to even some task force members. And though Matt is not a lawyer in Duquesne’s trial, the workings of the law and others’ manipulation of it bring Matt back to that question of how effective his method of using the law is compared to the methods of Frank and/or Dex.
Heather is an interesting character this season. At times, last season, it felt like she was supposed to be a stand-in for Karen as Matt’s romantic partner. But now, seeing the effects of Muse’s attack on her, and her response to it, allows the uncanniness that Muse had in the previous season to pour over into this one. In this episode, Heather begins to spiral over a crack in her wall and stares at the Muse mask to calm herself down. Her refusal to let him go keeps him alive in a sense.
Back to Karen and Matt, they continue their conversation about effectiveness. Matt believes “Murder is not how we win this,” however, Karen’s faith in the law is not, and has never been, as strong as Matt’s. This is something the Netflix series touched on a lot. Matt needs his faith in the law and in God to be able to justify his acts as Daredevil, and it’s nice to see that aspect of Matt’s character remain in this iteration. In the Netflix series, Foggy was the angel on his shoulder to remind him of his faith when he sometimes forgot it. With Foggy gone, so is that angel. But as we see later in the episode, no matter how hard some people try to do things the right way, it doesn’t matter because the system has been broken. Duquesne’s trial was, as expected, a mess. Despite having no evidence, Duquesne was found guilty due to the manipulation by Fisk, Heather, and Hochberg. And where that leaves Matt, only time will tell.
Thanks to the task force agent Karen found, and Kirsten’s trip to Red Hook, Matt can infiltrate. But Matt’s plan of torching the weapons gets sidetracked when he discovers Fisk keeps all of the “vigilantes” that have been rounded up in cages (ringing another bell?), marking the start of the one-shot action sequence of the episode. Seeing the camera bounce back and forth between Daredevil and the Swordsman is so fun to watch, and has been the peak of the action in this series so far.
It was a good idea to put these two episodes together, rather than release the second episode with the premiere. So far, the show is three-for-three with its ending sequences. And the fact that Jessica Jones has yet to arrive only makes me more excited for what else is in store, and for her arrival (hopefully in the next episode). These two episodes were especially realistic in some parts, and I just want to remind everyone that art imitates life. There is something to take away from these episodes beyond their fun-to-watch action scenes.
Rating: ★★★★
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