- "I thought you understood me."
"Yeah, I thought I did, too." - ―Elektra and Matt Murdock
Kinbaku is the fifth episode of the second season of the television series Daredevil.
Synopsis[]
A former lover arrives in Hell's Kitchen and turns Murdock's world upside down. Karen digs for the truth about the Punisher.
Plot[]
Ten years ago, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson crash a faculty party, and while Nelson helps himself to caviar, Murdock encounters Elektra Natchios who takes an interest in him. The two have some banter and end up hitting it off, so Elektra takes Murdock off the party to spend more time with him. One night, Murdock brings Elektra to Fogwell's Gym, telling her more about his childhood and his father who died for refusing to lose a fixed match. They talk some more and get into a mock fight, before having sex on the boxing ring.
Later, Elektra takes Murdock to a mansion that she says belongs to one of her father's associates and the two spend the night there. However, Elektra then reveals that it actually belonged to Roscoe Sweeney, the fixer who got Murdock's father killed, whom she tracked down and ambushed there. Elektra ties Sweeney to a chair and encourages Murdock to release his pent-up anger, so he mercilessly beats Sweeney up. She gets thrilled by Murdock's violent nature and tells him to kill Sweeney, but to her disappointment, Murdock stops himself and instead goes to call the police, while a disappointed Elektra disappears.
In the present, Murdock is not pleased with his reunion with Elektra, and after a few snarky comments, she says that she is sorry about how their breakup went. Elektra tells him that her father used to do business with Roxxon Corporation and after his death, they acquired most of his wealth. She requests Murdock's legal help to get her money back, but Murdock refuses to help Elektra even though she promises to pay well, while also citing the lack of time to prepare the case. Murdock says that Elektra does not know him as much as she thinks she does and after what happened in the past, he cannot trust her, asking her to leave his place.
Murdock comes to the office where Nelson points out that Nelson and Murdock is still not doing well financially, but hopes that things will improve now that Frank Castle is off the streets. Karen Page tells them that the press is discrediting Castle, omitting all facts about his injury, his military record, or his family. Page then shows them the picture of the Castle family and admits that she broke into Castle's old house, which Murdock and Nelson do not take well. Page insists that something is going on behind the scenes and Samantha Reyes is trying to suppress the truth, but Nelson argues that they cannot take any more risks. While Murdock and Page share a moment with each other, Nelson tells them that the firm received a large deposit, and Murdock realizes that it must be Elektra, although he does not tell them about that.
Blake Tower visits the office for a private talk with Nelson and requests to hand over all Grotto case files, promising to get Reyes to stop going after his firm. Nelson asks for a subpoena, as he cannot share private client information without a court order, which frustrates Tower. He tells Nelson that Reyes is staking her political career on Castle's conviction, implying that he might become the next District Attorney if things go well, and pressures Nelson to cooperate. Nelson does not give in to Tower's implications and insists on a subpoena, causing Tower to walk out and telling Nelson that Reyes will not let it slide.
Murdock comes to Yakatomi Building and listens to Elektra attending a meeting with Hirochi and the representatives of Roxxon's Japanese branch. Elektra talks to Stan Gibson about Roxxon's subsidiaries, but then he and Hirochi get informed by the security that someone hacked into their servers. Gibson is concerned that the hacker might get sensitive information from the servers, while Hirochi asks Elektra to reschedule the meeting to another time.
Page comes to New York Bulletin and talks to Mitchell Ellison about the inaccuracies in the article about Castle and how it does not mention anything about his military accolades. Ellison claims that they looked up his background and did not find evidence that he actually served, but Page says that she had seen Castle's Navy Cross herself. She also points out that the official report has no reference to Castle losing his wife and two and children, asking Ellison to look through old Bulletin articles to find something else they are not aware of. Ellison agrees and lets Page look through the archives, remarking that Ben Urich would have enjoyed this.
Nelson meets with Marci Stahl at Josie's Bar, talking about how Murdock is dating Page and their firm is losing clients due to the feud with the District Attorney's Office. Stahl, who now works at Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz, tells him that Reyes is aiming for Mayor's office and is desperate to get Castle convicted to give a boost to her career. She also mentions that Reyes' actions also put other vigilantes in New York City like Jessica Jones under scrutiny, with Daredevil likely being next.
Looking through old newspapers for hours, Page fails to find anything that could be relevant, as if somebody wanted to keep it off the papers. Ellison recalls a Central Park shootout that happened a while ago and finds a newspaper for Page, saying that no injured civilians were reported. They notice that the gangs involved were the Kitchen Irish, the Mexican Cartel and the Dogs of Hell, the same gang that Castle targeted, which could not be a coincidence. Page then pulls up the Castle family photo and sees them on the same carousel, confirming that it must be where they died and Castle got shot in the head.
Murdock and Page go to a date at a fancy restaurant, but both of them feel awkward and out of place there. When Page excuses herself, Murdock receives a call from Elektra who is aware that he has been listening on her meeting with Roxxon, seeing him at the rooftop. Elektra says that Murdock was right and she did not need his help, but tells him to keep the money she sent over to his firm in advance. Murdock then takes Page to a casual Indian place where the two feel more at place, and Page opens up more about her past life in Vermont. Walking home after the dinner, the two share a kiss and Page invites him over to her place, but Murdock declines to not ruin their night.
Murdock heads over to Elektra's penthouse and asks her why did she take him to Sweeney's mansion back in the day. Elektra says that she only wanted to have fun, but Murdock does not understand how pushing him to kill a man could be fun to her. Elektra insists that Murdock should not shy away from the darkness within him, saying that this was the reason why she fell in love with him. Murdock then hears a group of people heading to their direction and Elektra says that it must be the Yakuza, since she hacked into Roxxon's servers during the meeting. Murdock calls her out for manipulating him, but Elektra claims that she does know Murdock well enough, showing him the Daredevil suit she had with her.
Cast[]
Main Cast:
- Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil
- Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
- Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson
- Élodie Yung as Elektra
- Stephen Rider as Blake Tower
Guest Stars:
- Geoffrey Cantor as Mitchell Ellison
- Amy Rutberg as Marci Stahl
- Ron Nakahara as Hirochi
- Susan Varon as Josie
- Kevin Nagle as Roscoe Sweeney
- John Pirkis as Stan Gibson
- Brian Robert Burns as Bodyguard
- David L. Townsend as Waiter
- Dave Bachman as Guest #1
- Donnie Kehr as Guest #2
- Gwen Bucci as Guest #3
- Andrew Ayala as Man in Suit
- Kevin Loreque as Maitre'D
- Lynn Marocola as Bar Patron (uncredited)
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- New York City, New York
- Matt Murdock's Apartment
- Nelson and Murdock Law Office
- Yakatomi Building
- New York Bulletin Building
- Josie's Bar
- Karen Page's Apartment
- Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant
- Elektra Natchios' Penthouse
- Fogwell's Gym (flashback)
- Roscoe Sweeney's Mansion (flashback)
- Columbia University (mentioned)
- Castle Residence (mentioned)
- Central Park (mentioned)
- Stark Tower (newspaper)
- Chrysler Building (newspaper)
- World Trade Center (newspaper)
- Fagan Corners, Vermont (mentioned)
- Angola (mentioned)
- Afghanistan (mentioned)
- Monte Carlo, Monaco (mentioned)
- Santorini, Greece (mentioned)
- San Sebastián, Spain (mentioned)
- Paris, France (mentioned)
- K'un-Lun (newspaper)
Events[]
- Ambush at Elektra Natchios' Penthouse
- Attack on Roscoe Sweeney (flashback)
- Assassination of Jack Murdock (mentioned)
- Battle of New York (newspaper)
- Massacre at Central Park (newspaper)
- Duel of Harlem (newspaper)
- Rand Enterprises Truck Crash (indirectly mentioned)
- 1993 World Trade Center bombing (newspaper)
Items[]
- Daredevil's Suit
- Navy Cross (mentioned)
- Medal of Honor (mentioned)
Concepts[]
- Magic (mentioned)
Vehicles[]
To be added
Creatures[]
- Leviathans (newspaper)
Organizations[]
- Nelson and Murdock
- Roxxon Corporation
- Hand
- New York Bulletin
- Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz
- New York City Police Department
- The Kitchen Post
- The New York Examiner
- New York Daily News
- United States Marine Corps (mentioned)
- Cybertek (newspaper)
- Stark Industries (newspaper)
- Landman and Zack (mentioned)
- Dogs of Hell (mentioned)
- Mexican Cartel (mentioned)
- Kitchen Irish (mentioned)
- Yakuza (mentioned)
- Broadway Bimbos (mentioned)
- Red Cross (mentioned)
- New York Jets (mentioned)
Mentioned[]
- Hugo Natchios
- DiNizio
- Frank Castle (picture)
- Samantha Reyes
- Maria Castle (picture)
- Lisa Castle (picture)
- Frank Castle, Jr. (picture)
- Grotto
- Jack Murdock
- Ben Urich
- Jessica Jones
- Mitchell Ellison's Children
- Nick Manolis
- Brad Kurz
- Hulk (newspaper)
- Abomination (newspaper)
- Tony Stark (newspaper)
- Albert Einstein
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Die on a Rope | The Distillers |
|
| The View | Modest Mouse |
|
| Dripping Chills | John Paesano |
|
| Sparring | John Paesano |
|
Trivia[]
- "Kinbaku" (緊縛) translates from Japanese to "Bind Tightly" (without killing) traditionally referring to prisoners or criminials during the Edo period, the modern day usage referring to "Bondage".
- Elektra refers to the German beer that Matt Murdock drinks as "piss", similar to how Stick described it in Stick.
