Title: Marvel’s The Defenders Season 1 Episode 7: “Fish in the Jailhouse”
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Superhero
Platform: Streaming – Netflix
Director: Felix Enriquez Alcala
Writers: Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and Marco Ramirez
Rating: TV-MA
Release: August 18, 2017
Cast: Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones
Feature image: Source
[Spoilers]
“Like it or not Ellie, more death is coming. And you and me gotta get out of its way.” Stick – The Defenders
Some Time Ago
Stick (Scott Glenn) and Elektra Natchios (Elodie Yung) discuss Matt. Elektra can’t get Matt over to the Chaste’s side. She tells Stick that he has violence within him, but he won’t kill on command. Stick figures out that Elektra has fallen for Matt. He tells her they have to move fast, he knows the Hand are up to something. “Like it or not Ellie, more death is coming. And you and me gotta get out of its way.”
“Karen, this is my life.” Matt Murdock – The Defenders
The Defenders
Back to the present, Stick is lying in a pool of his own blood. The other three Defenders are still unconscious. Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) wakes up at the police station being interrogated by Misty Knight (Simone Missick). She informs Jessica of the two bodies they found, one headless. She asks what is going on. Jessica tells her that she won’t believe her. Misty says, “try me”. Jessica tells Misty about the Hand, and that Danny was taken. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) wakes up confused, wearing a NYPD t-shirt. Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) rushes in. He tells Matt they took his shirt to get blood samples. Luckily Matt wasn’t wearing his Daredevil outfit. Matt informs Foggy that Elektra killed Stick. Foggy can’t believe it, since he thought she was dead. Misty walks in and tells Matt he is a person of interest since he is a witness. Matt jokes does she want him to describe what he heard. Misty: “Cut out the shit.” Claire Templeton (Rosario Dawson) is holding Luke Cage’s (Mike Colter) hand. He is still unconscious because of the drugged incense. Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) is in the room worrying about Danny. Claire asks her what they are doing there. She has tried not to get involved with these people. Colleen tells Claire that she isn’t a person who runs from trouble. Luke wakes up and asks if Danny is okay.
Luke, Jessica, and Matt are being questioned by Misty and her boss, Captain Strieber (Ron Simons). Strieber threatens them with jail time if they don’t cooperate. They give him the same information they gave Misty. They add that only they can stop this. Strieber scoffs at them; he informs them that vigilantes don’t run the NYPD. Misty tries to calm him down. Matt asks to speak to his clients alone. As they are walking down the hallway, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) asks to speak to Matt for a moment. She softly scolds him for being in this mess, especially since he was getting his life back together. Matt: “Karen, this is my life.” Misty pulls Luke aside, she asks him to tell her what is going on. He won’t because he is trying to protect her.
Once they are alone, the Defenders try to figure out what is going on amongst themselves. Matt thinks that Elektra took Danny alive because he’s the key. He and Jessica tell Luke about the blueprints and the architect’s plan to implode the Midland Circle building into the hole. Foggy interrupts them to speak to Matt alone for a moment. He tells Matt that the police must never connect Matt to Daredevil. It would be disastrous for Matt and Foggy. He gives Matt a bag containing his Daredevil suit. He wants him to finish this. Matt goes back in with Jessica and Luke. They both want to go back Midland Circle. Matt agrees. Strieber is threatening Misty’s career if they can’t make Jessica, Luke, and Matt talk. They hear a crashing noise; the Defenders went through a wall and have escaped.
“This is not how we do business.” “It is now.” Madame Gao and Elektra Natchios – The Defenders
The Hand
Elektra is with Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho), Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez), and Murakami (Yutaka Takeuchi). Henchmen are taking Alexandra’s body out of the room. Gao: “This is not how we do business.” Elektra: “It is now.” They are upset, Alexandra was important to their business deals. They like staying in the shadows, that is what gives them power. Elektra doesn’t think that hiding in the shadows displays power. She doesn’t care about the Hand anyway. She just wants the substance.
Elektra is in an elevator with a tied up Danny Rand (Finn Jones). The surviving Hand members are plotting against Elektra. When they reach the bottom of the hole, Elektra shows Danny a wall; he is astonished. Elektra tells Danny an Iron Fist sealed this entrance, and it will take an Iron Fist to open it. Danny tells her he won’t help her, his mission from his masters is to destroy the Hand. Elektra tells him that she had Masters, but now she is free and Danny can be free too.
“It’s been a long week.” Jessica Jones – The Defenders
The Defenders on the Lam
Strieber orders Misty to find the Defenders or else. Colleen sneaks into the evidence room to get the blueprints and some explosives. Jessica, Matt, and Luke are heading towards Midland Circle but they agree that they need to get off the streets. The police have their wallets, but Jess has her metro card. The Defenders are taking the subway to Midland Circle. Jess takes a can of beer from a sleeping homeless man’s six pack, and chugs it. Jess: “It’s been a long week.”
Back at the police station, Foggy tells Karen what he did. Misty asks Claire where they might have gone. She tells Misty that she doesn’t know, but she knows that Luke is going where he is needed. Misty told him he could turn around this city. He is trying to help people. Misty looks around and asks where the chick with the sword is?
Jessica and Luke ask each other if they have any second thoughts. Both say no and then maybe. Matt has changed into his Daredevil outfit and Jessica teases him about it. They head to the parking lot to get in. Matt senses that, “they are not alone.” Jess: “MJ deep cut.” They are greeted by Madame Gao, Bakuto, and Murakami. Matt tells them they are there to get Danny. The Hand members tells them that Danny belongs to them now. Everyone prepares to fight.
The Key Opens the Door
Elektra keeps picking on Danny to make him mad. They start fighting. Up in the parking lot, they fight. Matt fights Murakami and Bakuto. Jessica and Luke double-team Madame Gao, but she uses her mystic powers on them. Colleen shows up and helps Matt fight Bakuto. Murakami and Luke fight each other. Jessica continues to fight Gao. Down below, Elektra gets the upper hand on Danny. She mocks him and tells him that the people of K’un-Lun screamed when she killed them. He gets mad and his hand starts to glow. He starts throwing wild punches and he hits the wall cracking it open. The lights in the city go out. The Hand escapes the parking lot. Misty and Claire show up. Misty is there to help them. When the rest of the police show up, Misty tries to stall them. Colleen shows the explosives she brought to implode the building. Jessica, Luke and Claire are against this. Matt’s not crazy about it but he thinks it’s the only thing that they can do to stop the Hand’s plan. Everyone stops to think about it. Danny wakes up surrounded by a large animal’s skeleton.
Can we just say that Danny Rand is a complete idiot? Elektra made him mad so he would use his Iron Fist to break through the wall. Most seven year olds would have seen through her plan. It’s not like the rest of them were acting like geniuses. It was a dumb episode. The characters didn’t seem that sharp, the writing wasn’t that sharp. The police captain seemed like the type of police captain you would see in 70s TV shows, just full of bluster, getting in the way of the cool cops. It would have make some sense if Luke had confided in Misty. Maybe it would have helped if they linked the Hand to the tremors, showing that the city was in danger. They never gave the police a reason to believe that only they could handle this problem. I kept telling Karen to shut up already. I like her on Daredevil, not so much on The Defenders.
After the last episode, this one was really disappointing. I didn’t even enjoy the fight scene that much. It wasn’t choreographed as well as the other fights. With the dark setting, it was hard following what they were doing. It felt like the stunt people were doing the bulk of the fight scenes and the show was trying to hide it. The only thing I enjoyed were the banter and interactions of Luke, Danny, and Jessica. That has been one element of the show that hasn’t disappointed.
Grade: C
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