Recap / Daredevil S1 E8 "Shadows in the Glass"

"Shadows in the Glass" is the eighth episode of Daredevil.

In his lower Manhattan penthouse, Fisk awakens in the middle of the night after experiencing an intense nightmare. He gets out of bed, and stares briefly at the painting he bought from Vanessa's gallery. Unable to get back to sleep, Fisk decides to make himself an omelette. After eating, he goes through his closet, selects a black suit, and a specific set of cufflinks. As he finishes dressing, he pauses when he looks at himself in the mirror and sees himself as a young boy, covered in blood.

Matt awakens in his apartment, still very much sore from his fight with Stick. Despite the pain, he gets himself dressed and heads to the office. At Nelson & Murdock, Karen and Foggy are debating whether or not tell Matt about getting jumped outside Mrs. Cardenas' building, only for Matt to show up and render the whole point moot because he overheard everything they said. He is unhappy that they're putting themselves in the line of fire, and that they've decided to rope Ben Urich into their investigation, but with Karen making clear she refuses to back down in the face of recent events, he settles for suggesting that they should try to work within the confines of the law.

At the docks, Fisk and Wesley get into a heated argument with Nobu about the loss of the Black Sky. Nobu is furious, since Fisk used his connections to ensure Nobu's shipment would have safe passage with minimal interference. Fisk gets defensive, arguing that he upheld his end of the deal and that perhaps Nobu should've informed him of the value of his shipment. He backs down, though, when Nobu makes a thinly veiled threat against his life. After Nobu leaves, Wesley questions why Fisk puts up with such blatant disrespect from Nobu, considering the circumstances under which they just purged the Russians and the fact that of all their current partners, he can't for the life of him figure out just what Nobu's supposed to bring to the table. All Fisk can tell him is that they're a "necessary evil".

In a flashback set in 1972, 12 year old Wilson Fisk lives with his father Bill and mother Marlene in a Hell's Kitchen tenement. Wilson is helping Bill with campaign posters as he prepares to run for city council. As they work, it becomes clear that Bill is controlling and outright abusive, as evidenced when he coaxes Wilson into taking a swig from a bottle of beer, much to Marlene's chagrin. Marlene also gets on Bill's case about the fact that they've missed a lot of bill payments, making her question how exactly he plans to pay for all his campaign expenses. Bill reveals that he took out a loan from Don Rigoletto, which worries Marlene given that his reputation as a mobster is well known in Hell's Kitchen.

In the present, Fisk is having a pleasant evening phone call with Vanessa, fondly reminiscing about his travels abroad in Asia. He's forced to hang up, though, when Wesley calls him with some urgent news: Detective Blake has come out of his coma, and they need to deal with the fact that he's unlikely too thrilled about the fact that they had him shot. Fisk determines that Blake needs to be killed before he can snitch, and asks if any of the cops on their payroll are in a position to do the job. Wesley reports that, unfortunately, Blake is being heavily guarded in case the man in the mask comes for him, and none of their contacts are posted by the door to his room. Fisk thinks about it, and wonders if they should have Blake's partner Hoffman do it, as he's the one person who could get into Blake's room without it being suspicious. Wesley is skeptical, since Blake and Hoffman are longtime friends who go way back, but agrees to set up a meeting.

At Nelson & Murdock, Matt, Karen and Foggy are working late going through their leads on the tenement case. Matt is surprised when he finds that Westmeyer-Holt Contracting, the group that sent the contractors who busted up Elena's building and attacked Karen, are affiliated with Confederated Global Investments, the firm that Wesley claimed to represent when he hired Nelson & Murdock to defend Healy. Wondering why Confed Global is interested in forcing tenants out of their homes, Karen suggests that Armand Tully might know something, which Foggy sees as a possible lead. Their work is brought to a halt when the news breaks on the Bulletin website about Blake waking up in the hospital. As Karen and Foggy argue about the vigilante's involvement, Matt realizes that Blake is in grave danger because he knows too much about what Fisk does to be kept alive.

Fisk and Wesley meet with Hoffman at the docks. Hoffman gets defensive about Blake's mistakes, arguing that Blake getting jumped by the masked vigilante and getting his arm broken wasn't worth Blake being shot over. Fisk clarifies that actually, that's not the reason they shot him: they shot Blake because he lost his phone, and the masked vigilante subsequently used it to track down Vladimir. Hoffman holds back tears as it dawns on him that his best friend of 35 years is dying one way or another, and the only choice he has is whether or not he wants to do it or see Fisk hire someone else. He reluctantly agrees to do it. He smuggles a syringe full of poison into Blake's room inside a meatball sub sandwich (to get it past Brett Mahoney and another cop who are guarding the door). Once inside, he hesitantly injects the syringe into Blake's IV line. As he does so, Blake begins to stir, and realizes what's happening to him. Moments later, Matt breaks into the room through the window and strangles Hoffman unconscious. After using a chair to bar the door, he goes to Blake's side and tries to get some information on Fisk out of him, and Blake gives up their participation in Fisk's operation before he expires. Matt is then forced to flee as Brett and the other cops break into the room.

Fisk brings Owlsley to the shop of Melvin Potter, his tailor, and gets him to design a protective suit for him too now that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen knows who he is. As they talk, Owlsley subtly threatens Fisk when he suggests that Fisk's finances will be in danger if he's compromised down the line. The conversation is disrupted when Wesley arrives to inform them about the situation with Blake. Hoffman has been able to spin his partner's death as the work of the masked man, though due to being incapacitated has no idea what Blake might've told him before he died. Owlsley voices his concern, and openly wonders: how much does Hoffman know about Fisk's business? Fisk tries to assure him that the situation is under control, but Owlsley isn't convinced and leaves while suggesting that he's going to handle the matter in his own way.

In another flashback, Wilson is crying at the dining room table, and bleeding from the mouth. His mother gives him some zuppa inglese to cheer him up. Bill is revealed to have lost the council election, and Wilson is upset because he confronted another neighborhood kid, Bernie Walker, who was vandalizing Bill's signs. When he begged Bernie to stop, Bernie hit him and called him a loser, and told him that his dad's a loser too. When Marlene tells Bill about this, Bill is incensed. He decides to go out and teach Bernie a lesson, and takes Wilson along with him.

Bill and Wilson confront Bernie as he's smashing beer bottles with a baseball bat. Bernie admits he did call Wilson a loser...but was simply repeating what his own dad has been saying about the Fisks, and insinuates that such sentiment is pretty widespread amongst the neighbors in Hell's Kitchen. Things get heated, and Bill attacks Bernie in a rage. He throws Bernie to the ground and begins beating him up with his bat, much to Wilson's horror. After landing a few hits, Bill ushers Wilson over, and explains that guys like Bernie want to keep people like them down, and he shouldn't tolerate such disrespect. Despite Wilson's obvious discomfort, Bill goads him into kicking Bernie repeatedly...

...and in the present day, Fisk awakens from a nightmare. Like before, he can't get back to sleep and instead settles for making an omelette. As he's getting dressed, Wesley calls him. Madame Gao is coming over to his place and needs to talk to him. Fisk momentarily panics, but relaxes once Wesley assures him that he's already en route and will get there before she does.

Fisk brews some Chinese tea for himself and Gao as they prepare to discuss business, with Wesley standing off to the side to translate for Gao. Fisk is shocked when Gao suddenly addresses him in English, revealing that she's known all along that Fisk has been pretending not to know Mandarin Chinese or Japanese so that she and Nobu will underestimate him...which she applauds him for because she's been doing the exact same thing. Since this renders Wesley's presence completely unnecessary, Fisk reluctantly dismisses him and continues speaking to Gao in Mandarin. Now alone, Gao reveals that she, Leland and Nobu are all displeased with Fisk's handling of recent events. She notes that Fisk's penthouse here is one of his most closely guarded secrets, and the fact that she found out where he lives should be a warning about exactly how neglectful he's become. She leaves after threatening him with death if he doesn't get his house in order. Fisk manages to hold in his terror over the implications of Gao's words until she leaves, then upturns his massive dining room table. He also sends Wesley away when he rushes into the room and tries to check on him.

As Fisk stares mindlessly at the overturned table and chairs, he begins to think about a certain fateful night from his childhood...

It's been a few days since the incident with Bernie. Bill pulls up a chair in the living room, and points it at the wall. He directs Wilson to sit in the chair, stare at the wall, and think about the man he wants to be, as he puts on his cufflinks (which are shown to be the ones Wilson wears as an adult) and prepares to head out for a late night errand. To Marlene's dismay, Bill's on his way to speak to Rigoletto regarding the money he borrowed from him for the campaign. As Marlene lays into him for deciding to do something so shortsighted and stupid for the sake of his ego, Bill flies into a rage and clocks her in the face. He then proceeds to mercilessly beat her with his belt as a horrified Wilson stares at the wall, too afraid to turn his head.

As night falls, and a thunderstorm rolls in from New Jersey, Fisk is briefly pulled from his thoughts by Wesley's appearance. He's miffed, since he didn't call for him, but Wesley admits that he thinks that there's something Fisk could certainly benefit from now at this time. To Fisk's surprise, Wesley reveals that he's brought Vanessa over. He dismisses himself at Vanessa's request. Despite Fisk's urging Vanessa to leave, she reminds him of his promise to be honest with her, and suggests that he tell her what's troubling him. Fisk takes a deep breath, and the flashbacks resume...

Wilson continues to stare helplessly at the wall, quivering with fear as Bill continues beating Marlene with his belt, all the while raging and blaming her and Wilson for his losing the election. Eventually, Wilson can't take it anymore. He picks up a hammer and screams at his dad to stop. Bill turns on Wilson, and begins taunting him, daring him to use the hammer against him. When Wilson hesitates, Bill decides that his unwillingness to attack him proves he's nothing more than a coward. Wilson snaps, and as Bill turns and prepares to resume hitting Marlene, he strikes Bill in the back of the skull with the hammer. As Bill falls to his knees, all of Wilson's pent up rage comes rushing out, and he resumes hitting him with the hammer over, and over, and over, and over, until his skull is completely caved in. He stops when Marlene comes over, and pulls him into a comforting hug. She holds him still and assures him everything will be all right...and then tells him to get the saw. Wilson and his mother cut Bill's body to pieces, stuff the parts into garbage bags, and toss them in the Hudson. Everyone in Hell's Kitchen is left assuming that Bill skipped town to avoid repaying Rigoletto, and the Fisks do nothing to correct them on that. Marlene sends Wilson away to live with relatives until the heat cools off.

As Fisk finishes his story, Vanessa assures him that what he did wasn't his fault. He did it to protect his mother. But Fisk doesn't see it that way, viewing it as something he did to benefit himself. To that end, he reveals that he wears his father's cufflinks in an effort to convince himself that he's not the kind of person that Bill was. Not that it will matter, given that he has enemies who at this moment seek to expose him in the press and ruin whatever work he's tried to accomplish. When Vanessa pointedly asks him if he intends to let them do so, he admits that he shouldn't, and it would be best to do something about it.

At that moment in time, Matt finds Ben Urich walking to his car as he finishes up a phone call with Ellison about another story regarding a conspiracy theorist. After assuring Ben he's not the one responsible for the cop killings, they pool the information they've gathered from their investigations into Fisk. Ben is skeptical, as the information Matt has isn't going to send Fisk to prison without corroborating evidence or sources to back it up, but Matt suggests that they don't have to do that. Rather, he can simply take the information he has, and run Fisk's dirty laundry in the Bulletin, so he'll have no opportunity to hide his true colors.

Fisk has another nightmare, but this time, when he wakes up from it, Vanessa is there to calm his mind. They consummate their relationship, and the next morning, she dictates his wardrobe, selecting a lighter gray suit from his closet, and a different set of cufflinks.

While this is going on, Ben sits down in his office, and begins typing his article.

As Ben finishes typing, he unmutes the TV in his office. To his shock, Fisk is on TV at that very moment, delivering a press conference from the steps of City Hall, with Vanessa, Wesley, and Owlsley by his side. Before an assembled group of reporters, Fisk paints himself as a generous philanthropist seeking to make Hell's Kitchen a better place amidst the threat of the masked vigilante who seeks to put him down.

Noticing that everything coming out of Fisk's mouth is eerily similar to the very things he just put in his draft, Ben deletes the article, realizing that Fisk has just rendered himself untouchable. In his apartment, Matt listens to Fisk's speech, and angrily sweeps his laptop off his kitchen table at the fact that Fisk just made a public declaration of war upon him.

Tropes

• 0% Approval Rating: Bill Fisk's campaign ratings aren't exactly clear, but if his general community opinions and his attitude towards his own family are anything to go by, he's not well liked and for good reason.
• Abuse Discretion Shot: Bill's beating Marlene with the belt is kept offscreen, with us only hearing the sound of it as the camera stays focused on Wilson listening in terror to it.
• Abusive Parent: Bill's idea of "making a man" out of Wilson involves demeaning him, teaching him to blame others for his problems (including blaming Wilson himself for his own problems) and playing cruel jokes on him.
• Actor Allusion: "Brown Sugar" is playing in the first flashback to Fisk's childhood. Domenick Lombardozzi, who plays Bill Fisk, is known for playing Herc in The Wire, and in that show he was part of a scene where Prez uses the opening lyrics of the song to demonstrate how thoroughly he listened to the Barksdales' wiretapped conversations in order to decipher their messages.
• Almost Dead Guy: Justified, since Blake was poisoned, rather than shot or stabbed, he does have a few seconds to give Matt some info.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Fisk swallows a threat from Nobu that he would never have taken from the Russians, and is clearly afraid of Madame Gao.
• Analogy Backfire: Foggy, upon realizing that Matt somehow overheard his entire debate with Karen over whether or not to tell him about what happened at Mrs. Cardena's building, tries to use "blind as a bat" to describe Matt's good hearing.
  Matt Murdock: Bats aren't blind, Foggy.
  Foggy Nelson: They're not?
  Matt Murdock: It's a myth.
• Apologetic Attacker: The only reason Hoffman is going through with killing Blake is because Fisk has threatened him with the implication that someone else will be hired to do it if he refuses, and the offer of a lot of money. He's in tears and apologizing to Blake as he injects the syringe into Blake's IV line.
• Asshole Victim:
  • After Wilson kills his father, he and Marlene cut up his body and dump the remains in the river. It being widespread knowledge that Bill owed money to Rigoletto, the public largely assumes that Bill either skipped town to avoid repaying Rigoletto or the mobsters killed him and buried his body where it couldn't be found. Either way, no one loses sleep over it and there didn't seem to be much of a police investigation into his disappearance.
  • Bill forces Wilson to beat up a kid who was messing with his campaign signs...after the election was over. However, Bernie was picking on Wilson, wasn't exactly being respectful even when Bill intervened, and was dumb enough to mess with a politician's son in the first place. So while his beating was horrible, you're more likely to feel bad for Wilson for being forced to engage in violence than for Bernie.
• Bald of Evil: Bill Fisk is balding, borrows money from mobsters, and is abusive to both his wife and son.
• Bedmate Reveal: After waking up twice with nightmares and turning to the painting that reminds him of the wall his father made him stare at as his mother was beaten, Fisk turns the other way to Vanessa who's in bed beside him and curls up with her.
• Beneath the Mask: We get a look at the fear and trauma that lies beneath Fisk's confident façade, and a hint at how dangerous Madame Gao really is.
• Berserk Button: After Madame Gao leaves, Wilson flips his shit (and his multi-hundred pound table) in rage over his entirely secret home invaded and being called out on his errors.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: After young Wilson beats his father to death, Marlene holds him as he sobs and says it'll be all right...then calmly tells him to get a saw so they can dispose of Bill's corpse. No one ever finds out the truth of Bill's death, assuming he'd moved to escape the mob.
• Book Ends:
  • Fisk's Morning Routine showing his luxurious but lonely life, is contrasted to when he has a Relationship Upgrade.
  • Fisk flips over his table partway through the episode in fear following Madame Gao's thinly veiled death threat. Matt does something similar at the end at the realization that Fisk has just neutralized their plans to expose him in the press.
• Broken Bird: Marlene due to the abuse suffered at Bill Fisk's hands. She tries to raise their son with gentleness and compassion, but Bill thinks it makes him too soft and less of a man.
• Call-Back: Don Rigoletto, the loan shark Bill borrows money from, was mentioned during the conversation between Ben and Manfredi as having recently "retired".
• Chekhov's Gunman: Melvin Potter had been mentioned when Fisk was inspecting the place where Anatoly stabbed his suit with a switchblade, and told Wesley he'd need the suit replaced. Now we see him finally appear.
• Completely Unnecessary Translator: Fisk speaks Mandarin and Japanese himself just fine, but has been having Wesley translate as an excuse to keep him on hand during meetings with Gao and Nobu (who themselves speak English). When Gao decides it's convenient, she calls him on his act, and dismisses Wesley from the room.
• Corner of Woe: Turns out the reason Fisk bought Rabbit in a Snowstorm and hung it on his bedroom wall is because it reminded him of the wall in the apartment he grew up in, and the memories are not comforting ones.
• Corrupt Politician: Bill has aspirations to be one, which is why he runs in the local elections. He funds his campaign by borrowing money from Rigoletto with the understanding that if elected he will repay the money through kickbacks. However, he loses and Rigoletto wants his money back.
• Delivery Guy Infiltration/Delicious Distraction: When Hoffman goes to the hospital to kill Blake, he smuggles the syringe into the room inside a meatball sub sandwich, allowing the syringe to escape Brett Mahoney's cursory inspection.
• Disposing of a Body: After Wilson kills his father, he and his mother cut the body up into pieces and dump the remains in the Hudson.
• Domestic Abuse: What finally drives Fisk to kill his father is him beating Marlene with a belt, something it's implied Bill has done many times before.
• Evil Counterpart: As we can see here, Bill Fisk was the complete opposite of Jack Murdock in all the ways that mattered. When Jack offered Matt a sip of alcohol, it was clearly a case of father and son bonding. When Bill does it to Wilson, it's clear cut peer pressure and abuse. While both try to teach values to their kid despite hard living conditions, Jack wanted Matt to be an educated man who wouldn't have to take beating for a living like him, while Bill wanted Wilson to be just like him.
• Flipping the Table: Fisk overturns his massive dining room table in a rage after Madame Gao threatens him.
• Food Porn: Fisk sure makes some tasty-looking omelettes.
• Foreshadowing:
  • As Wilson helps his father make campaign signs, Bill repeatedly hammers a nail right into his portrait's forehead, the exact spot where Wilson is going to kill him with said hammer.
  • That Fisk has completely understood Nobu and Madame Gao this whole time is much more noticeable on rewatch. When Fisk is speaking with Nobu to renegotiate the terms of their partnership, notice that Fisk's facial expression darkens before Wesley begins translating.
  • That Nobu is part of the Hand and connected with Madame Gao is hinted at when Wesley questions why they have to put up with him and his demands when he doesn't contribute anything to the organization.
  • As Fisk and Owlsley discuss business in Melvin's shop, Owlsley notes that "if [the masked man] drops me off a roof, an awful lot of money's going along for the ride", which Fisk notes sounds like a threat. Then when Wesley comes in and informs them about Blake's death, Owlsley pointedly asks them how much Hoffman knows about their enterprise and says, "The situation is being handled, alright. Just not by you." Suggesting he might have his own plans for Hoffman.
• Frame-Up: Hoffman manages to improvise a statement blaming Detective Blake's death on Matt.
• Freudian Excuse: Through flashbacks, we see the defining moment of Fisk's childhood. To protect his mother, a young Fisk killed his abusive father with a hammer and helped dispose of the body.
• A Friend in Need: Despite being ordered to Get Out!, Wesley fetches Vanessa to provide much needed moral support for Fisk, even though Fisk refused his help earlier.
• Funny Background Event: Wesley starts looking uncomfortable and useless as Gao and Fisk start conversing without his assistance.
• Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Fisk is revealed to have had a full head of hair as a kid.
• Hate Sink: Bill is nothing more than a petty, hateful, cowardly abusive loser who makes his crimelord of a son look better in comparison. Even In-Universe, nobody misses him after he dies.
• He Knows Too Much: Because Detective Blake has survived the attempt on his life, Fisk and Wesley know that he'll probably snitch on them. So they threaten Hoffman into injecting a syringe of poison into Blake's IV. Matt shows up and overpowers Hoffman, and gets vital information before he dies.
• Hypocrite:
  • Matt reprimands Foggy and Karen for getting attacked outside Mrs. Cardenas' building because they'll get themselves killed. Nevermind that Matt is currently risking his life every night beating up criminals, and had a near-death experience dealing with the Russians. Matt could be arguing that they shouldn't be getting into the situations he gets himself into because they don't have Stick's training, but still...
  • Bill Fisk lectures his son about giving respect to get it, but shows nobody respect while expecting it from others.
• I Am a Monster: Fisk wears his father's cufflinks not to honor his father, but to remind himself he's not like him. When he urges Vanessa to believe that he's not a monster, she agrees and supports him.
• Ironic Echo:
  • Fisk complains to Vanessa that people don't appreciate what he's doing is for the greater good. Matt makes a similar complaint to Ben in the next scene.
  • Ben deletes his exposé on Fisk when the man himself goes public, giving a speech that unconsciously reflects the article he's writing.
• Jerkass: Bill is a pathetic, smug, childish, cowardly ass-clown who abused his family over any petty slight he could think of, if he wasn’t tormenting them for fun. It gets to the point that when Wilson fatally whales on his ass and makes a missing person out of him, most people, if not everyone who has ever associated with him, don’t give a toss that he’s gone.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: For every time Bill gives a nugget of advice to his son or shows affection, there's an imminent swing in the opposite direction, or it's given at the expense of his wife.
• Karmic Death: You wanted to toughen your son up, Bill? Congratulations! You did exactly that, and he has your blood on his hands to prove it! Oh, and your biggest wish about being known and respected? Well, Wilson's had all public records of you erased, making sure no one remembers you, and those who do remember you only remember you for your bad traits.
• Leitmotif: The Prelude to Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major plays when Fisk wakes up, watches the painting he bought from Vanessa, cooks himself an omelette for breakfast and dresses for work.
• Left the Background Music On: The first flashback to Fisk's childhood starts with "Brown Sugar" playing over establishing shots of a Hell's Kitchen street in the 1970s. Then we cut to the Fisk family apartment, where the song is playing on the radio, and Marlene asks for Bill to turn the music down.
• Limited Wardrobe: Fisk's wardrobe is solely composed of black suits of various shades.
• Loan Shark: Bill is borrowing from Rigoletto to fund his campaign. It's expected that Bill will pay back the money he borrowed through kickbacks. When Bill loses the election, naturally, it's implied Rigoletto wants his money back.
• Madness Mantra: As he beats his father's corpse, Wilson keeps screaming "Keep kicking him!".
• Major Injury Underreaction: After Wilson hits him in the head with a hammer, Bill pauses for a moment, touches the back of his head, stares at the blood on his hand for a second, then falls to his knees.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: When Madame Gao explains how she found Fisk's apartment, she asks if she did so using magic or through more realistic means. She never completely explains herself, but implies that it was mundane and it's because Fisk has been getting sloppy. She also mentions knowing all languages, which is the first hint she is not what she seems.
• Mob-Boss Suit Fitting: Fisk and Leland discuss business at Melvin Potter's shop as Melvin is fitting Leland for a suit made from the same bulletproof material that Fisk's suits are made from.
• Morning Routine: Fisk goes through his at several points throughout the episode to show his reliance on routines. The last time is different as we see him going through it together with Vanessa, who chooses lighter colors for his suit and shirt, and cufflinks other than his father's.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Melvin is taking Leland's measures and puts the green cloth on him, Leland looks a bit like his comic book counterpart, the Owl, who wears a green outfit.
  • Also, in the final montage of his Morning Routine, Vanessa chooses a lighter, grey suit jacket for Fisk, instead of the black he has exclusively worn until this point. This is a step closer to the iconic white suit Fisk wears in the comics, as part of Fisk's gradual transformation.
• Never My Fault: Bill believes that the reason he lost the election is because his wife and son don't show him enough respect at home. Not because he's a vile, vicious, petty loser.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Downplayed, discussed and lampshaded example, as both Fisk and Gao have been pretending all along not to speak each other's language in hopes of gaining an advantage.
  Wilson Fisk: How long have you known?
  Madame Gao: Since the beginning. It is the clever man who plays the fool. And a foolish woman who does not recognize it.
• Oh, Crap!: Fisk has a brief one when Wesley tells him on the phone that Gao is coming to his penthouse, which is a big deal as it's meant to be a secret no one else is aware of. He quickly relaxes once Wesley adds on that he's already en route to make sure he's there before she can arrive.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: After Nobu departs, Wesley slips briefly into Toby Leonard Moore's native Australian accent ("Did you get that last part?") during his subsequent conversation with Fisk.
• Omniglot: Madame Gao claims to be able to speak all languages.
• Rags to Riches: Fisk grew up in poverty, with his deadbeat dad regularly being late on his bills.
• Right Behind Me: Foggy and Karen are talking about whether or not to tell Matt about what happened at Elena's place. They attempt to change the subject when Matt comes in, to no avail.
  Foggy Nelson: OK, let's say we keep Matt in the dark. How long do you think...[Matt suddenly opens the door; Foggy's eyes go wide] ....I should grow my hair? Matt, what's your take on that? Mullet? Full pony?
  Karen Page: [notices the cut over Matt's left eye] Holy shit! Did you fall down again?
  Matt Murdock: It's nothing. Don't tell me what?
  Foggy Nelson: Damn it!
  Karen Page: You heard that?
  Foggy Nelson: Guy's like a bat! [to Matt] Not blind like a--I mean, you know, with the hearing--
  Matt Murdock: Bats aren't blind, Foggy.
  Foggy Nelson: They're not?
  Matt Murdock: It's a myth.
  Foggy Nelson: So we're good? [Matt turns to Karen]
  Matt Murdock: Karen?
  Karen Page: Yeah?
  Matt Murdock: What don't the two of you want me to know?
• Rule of Three: We see Fisk go through his morning routine three times. The last time is different because Vanessa spent the night.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Karen's response to Matt trying to lecture her for getting attacked outside Mrs. Cardenas' building:
  Matt Murdock: This is what I'm talking about. There are things out there. You can't be doing this. You're gonna get yourselves hurt-
  Karen Page: [angrily] No I—I have already been hurt by those bastards! [beat] You know what, I don't care what I signed or how much money they paid me to forget, I don't. And I'm not just going to stick my head in the sand and let it happen to somebody else because I am scared! Which I am. A lot.
  Foggy Nelson: [to Matt] If you could see her face, you'd know she means it.
• Series Continuity Error: Those sheets on Matt's bed are not silk, despite him claiming to Stick that he used silk sheets because cotton feels like sandpaper on his skin.
• Sexual Karma: Inverted. Matt's been knowingly avoiding the Cartwright Curse, while Fisk celebrates his night with Vanessa by calling a press conference and declaring open war on "the Devil of Hell's Kitchen".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Invoked. After Wilson kills his father, he and Marlene cut the body up into pieces and dump it. Everyone just assumes that Bill skipped town to get away from the mobsters he owed money to, or alternatively that the mobsters caught him attempting to flee and killed him. The Fisks do nothing to dissuade people from this assumption. It helps that everyone in Hell's Kitchen knew Bill was just the type of Dirty Coward to abandon his family in order to save himself.
• Shipper on Deck: Wesley knows that meeting Vanessa is the best thing that's happened to Fisk in recent weeks. So in response to seeing his agitation and outrage over being threatened by Madam Gao, he brings Vanessa over to Fisk's penthouse.
  Wilson Fisk: I didn't call for you.
  James Wesley: No, I just thought you might need something.
  Wilson Fisk: If I needed you, I would've asked!
  James Wesley: I don't think that's always true, sir. [He gestures for Vanessa to step forward]
• Shown Their Work: Bill Fisk is running for the 3rd Council District, the geographic boundaries of which cover Hell's Kitchen.
• Sickbed Slaying: Blake has survived getting shot by the ESU sniper during the standoff with Vladimir and Matt. Since he certainly won't take well to having been shot on Fisk's orders, Fisk blackmails Hoffman into going to the hospital to finish him off.
• Shout-Out:
  • The flashbacks to Fisk's childhood and The Rolling Stones song "Brown Sugar" are a homage to Goodfellas.
  • Wilson Fisk going through his morning routine while classical music (Bach in this case) plays in the background is straight out of Hannibal.
• Stout Strength: We finally get a taste of how absurdly strong Fisk is when, in a rage, he flips over a massive stone table that must weigh hundreds of pounds.
• A Taste of the Lash: Bill Fisk takes his anger out on his wife with a belt. Doing it one time too many gets Wilson to finally snap and use a hammer against him.
• Tinfoil Hat: Lampshaded when Ben's complaining about investigating another dead end.
• Too Dumb to Live: Bill Fisk digs his own grave a couple ways at once. Borrowing from a known mob boss to fund his political campaign was a lose-lose situation. Aside from the possible scandal that could have arisen if he had been exposed, there was no guarantee he would win, especially given the community's opinion on him. Naturally he loses, and given what his wife said, Bill likely would have ended up dead even without his son's involvement. And what Rigoletto would've done to Bill probably wouldn't have been pleasant.
• Villain Episode: This episode heavily focuses on Wilson Fisk and his past.
• Villainous Friendship:
  • Detectives Blake and Hoffman have been friends for 35 years, making Hoffman reluctant to be the one to finish him off. Fisk has to offer Hoffman a large bribe, a threat to his own life, and the knowledge that it would be him or someone else finishing Blake off, to get him to agree to do the job.
  • Wesley knows Fisk arguably sometimes better than Fisk knows himself. He decides to bring Vanessa over when he realizes that her presence is the one thing Fisk could benefit from in the wake of his visit from Gao.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: Madame Gao arranges a meeting by going directly to Fisk's penthouse. She points out that its location is his most closely guarded secret, and the fact that she knows where he lives is a sign of weakness on his part.
  Madame Gao: How do you think I knew where you live, Wilson? This is one of your most guarded secrets, yes? The king in his castle. Did I divine the location from bones and spells, chanted beneath the moonlight? No. I discovered it because you have become sloppy. And emotional. Just as the Russians became, in their final moments.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Ben is writing an exposé on Wilson Fisk, only for Fisk to call a press conference, with Wesley, Vanessa and Leland by his side, presenting himself as a hidden philanthropist who's gone public in defiance of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen's acts of terrorism.
• Working the Same Case: Matt meets with Ben Urich to pass on what information he's gathered, finally tying their connected cases together.
• Would Hurt a Child: In addition to the verbal and psychological abuse he levels at Wilson, Bill beats up a teenager for knocking down his signs. After the election is over. And he forces Wilson to participate.
• You Have Failed Me: Fisk decides that Detective Blake is a liability for giving up information to Matt and needs to be killed, especially since it's likely he'll snitch to get back at Fisk for arranging the shooting. He tasks Hoffman with carrying out the deed.
  Wilson Fisk: We can't allow this to happen. I know that you have feelings regarding this matter. I respect that. But if Detective Blake chooses to speak out of turn, the result would be unpleasant, for you and for me.
  Carl Hoffman: Out of turn? You shot him!
  James Wesley: Technically, we paid someone else to shoot him.
  Wilson Fisk: Do you know what made us go down this path? What led to a decision of such finality?
  Carl Hoffman: If you're worried about me, I know how to keep my mouth shut.
  James Wesley: If we doubted that, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
  Wilson Fisk: Being informed, knowing facts as they are, not how we wish to perceive them, can tip the balance between life and death. Unlike you, your partner was inconsistent in his attention to detail.
  Carl Hoffman: Well, that masked asshole beat him senseless and broke his arm! It wasn't his fault!
  Wilson Fisk: Yes, I forgave him for that. What I find indefensible is we were not alerted that the addresses we provided had been compromised. They were given to ensure that any Russian who survived the bombings would be properly attended to, not to aid the man in the mask at locating Vladimir Ranskahov. That led to an unfortunate complication. One that your partner was directly responsible for.
  Carl Hoffman: Yeah. So, how long before I do something that pisses you off?
  Wilson Fisk: Oh, the answer to that is entirely up to you.
  Carl Hoffman: [realizing that Fisk wants him to kill Blake] See, he's more than my partner, right? He's my friend. I've known him since I was a kid. That's 30, 35 years.
  Wilson Fisk: How much are each of those years worth to you? Hmm? In round figures?
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Wesley is visibly not amused when both Fisk and Madame Gao reveal that they speak Mandarin, Japanese and English, making his job as a translator pointless.