Daredevil - 'Stick' and 'Shadows in the Glass'

MASTER NINJA THEME SONG!

How does a blind orphan in Hell's Kitchen become a nigh-superhuman vigilante? Enter Stick (Scott Glenn, channeling the fuck out of David Carradine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues), a blind, Caucasian ninja who teaches the young Matt Murdoch to hone his skills and senses and embrace his 'gifts'.

The notional plot of the episode 'Stick' is that Matt's mentor has returned to ask for help in destroying a weapon called Black Sky which the Yakuza are bringing into New York. In actuality, it's about the relationship and the differences between Stick and the future Daredevil. Stick is, in many ways, exactly what the public thinks the Devil of Hell's Kitchen is, a ruthless - although principled - killer. He hopes to turn young Matt into a soldier, constantly declaring him too soft, but is eventually revealed to have kept a sentimental token that Matt made for him and which he outwardly spurned.

Wilson Fisk faces his past in a super-literal fashion.

As 'Stick' looks at the making of Daredevil, so 'Shadows in the Glass' looks at the backstory of Wilson Fisk. In the 1970s, we see Fisk's aggressive, upwardly mobile father taking out his own failings on his wife and son, forcing Wilson to kick another boy while he is down and beating his wife until Wilson intervenes. It's a harsh series of flashbacks, perhaps the most chilling moment of which is when Fisk's mother, seeing what he has done, coolly instructs him to 'get the saw'.

Across the two episodes, first Foggy and then Murdoch are introduced to Ben Urich, leading Murdoch - in his Devil persona - to deliver his information on Fisk to Ben, determined to force him into the light. Guided by Vanessa, however, Fisk preempts them, announcing his plan for Hell's Kitchen and being hailed as a hero willing to stand up to the Devil.

'Stick' and 'Shadows in the Glass' are very heavy on the flashbacks, and as far as the arc plot goes are primarily marking time to the big reveal at the end. Interestingly, because the Devil's mask is cloth and Fisk's is his expression, at this stage of the game Fisk is by far the more compelling character. His struggle to control his rage - another link between the two characters - his big-picture good intentions, and the juxtaposition of his equally powerful mind and body make for an intriguing villain, whereas the Devil is basically Batman if he had to walk everywhere.

One of the stranger aspects of these two episodes is the introduction in 'Stick' of the paranormal, something that has had little place in the MCU up until now (even Loki's magic has been portrayed as sufficiently advanced science) with the Black Sky (a boy who is in some unspecified fashion a terrible weapon) and references to 'the doors opening' in a conversation between Stick and a heavily scarred comrade.