The Dark at the End of the Tunnel

The Dark at the End of the Tunnel
Season	2
Writer	Lauren Schmidt Hissrich Douglas Petrie
Director	Euros Lyn
First Aired	March 18, 2016
Marvel Cinematic Universe
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Next →	A Cold Day in Hell's Kitchen

"Daredevil... must die."

―Nobu Yoshioka

The Dark at the End of the Tunnel is the twelfth episode of the second season of the television series Daredevil.

Synopsis

Daredevil goes underground to save an old friend. Karen follows a dangerous lead. The law firm of Nelson & Murdock may have reached its final chapter.

Plot

Years ago, a young Elektra is training with the Chaste under the tutelage of Stick, showing impressive fighting skills. Star is concerned that she lacks refinement and the Chaste will need real warriors when the time will come. Elektra almost kills her opponent during a sparring, which Stick chastitises her for but Elektra does not feel that what she did is wrong, since they all preparing for the war. Stick tells her that she must tame the fire burning inside her but there will be time in the future when she can let herself loose.

Later, the Chaste member she fought tries to kill Elektra, but she overpowers him and kills him instead. Star is furious that his student got killed by Elektra, saying that it was a mistake to bring her in, but Stick argues that it was not her fault and there were larger pieces in place. Star tells him that they must kill "it", but Stick is strongly against that and kills Star himself to protect Elektra. Stick then arranges for Elektra to be adopted by the Natchios family, and although Elektra does not want to leave, Stick promises that he will never abandon her.

In the present, Elektra fights Stick at the Wall of the Chaste, as the latter refuses to explain why he tried to have her killed. Daredevil arrives to break the fight and prevents Elektra from killing Stick, who thinks that he should have killed her a long ago, while she thinks that Stick is just afraid of Elektra overgrowing Stick. The fight is interrupted by the Hand warriors breaking into the Wall, so Daredevil, Elektra, and Stick now have to fight them, however, the fight ends with Stick being kidnapped by the Hand. Daredevil is determined to thwart Hand's plans and rescue Stick, to which Elektra tells him that she is still going to kill him, and she will kill Murdock if he gets in her way.

The NYPD arrives at the scene of the Blacksmith's ship explosion, where Karen Page looks at the bodies, believing that Frank Castle might have survived. Page insists that there might be a chance, since there are still unidentified bodies but Brett Mahoney assures her that Castle is dead and she can put the whole situation behind of her.

At the office, Murdock tries to find the Hand's hideout, where he meets Foggy Nelson who came to pack his belongings. Nelson tells him that he got scouted by a high-grade law firm and Murdock says that he would do much better as a lawyer without Murdock dragging him down. He then mentions his attempts to track down the Hand, and Nelson suggests that they might be using the abandoned subway tunnels. He then leaves the office, as both of them make peace with the fact that Nelson and Murdock is done for.

Page meets with Mitchell Ellison, telling him that with Castle likely dead, she can no longer work on his story. Ellison persuades her into not giving up, asking why did she care about Castle so much. Page admits that she pursued the story because no one saw Castle is anything more than a crazed murderer and she wanted the public to know that there's more to him. Ellison suggests changing an expose into a profile story about Castle, which meant that she now needs sources, while also telling her to take Ben Urich's office.

She visits Ray Schoonover, who appreciates that Page wants to write a story about his old comrade. Page asks Schoonover about his personal experience with Castle, and he says while the soldiers are not expected to develop personal connections with each other, Castle was very close to his comrades. As Page reveals that Castle died in the shipyard explosion, she suddenly notices the photo of Gosnell, Schoonover's fellow marine and recognizes him as one of the Blacksmith's men from the explosion. Realizing that Schoonover was the Blacksmith all along, she abruptly tries to leave but Schoonover points his gun at her.

Daredevil walks through the abandoned tunnels, fighting the Hand warriors, using the sounds of their weapons and the scent of blood to his advantage. However, the ninjas soon realize what he is doing and go at him without weapons, which disorients Daredevil and leaves him vulnerable. He then overhears the voice of Stick with his enhanced hearing, who is being tortured by Hirochi and his men, who tells that they have a chance to get out alive if he can hear him. Stick tells him to change his tactic as well and start tracking the ninjas breathing instead, which allows Daredevil to incapacitate them. Hirochi brushes his messages as delusions and continues the tortures, getting impatient to find the answers the Hands needs from Stick.

Holding Page at the gunpoint, Schoonover demands her to sit with him in the car and drive, without telling her where. When she turns on the car, Urich's old cassette with Castle's favorite song plays, which startles Page as she realizes that it might be a message. Schoonover brushes it off and tells her to drive, saying that she made a mistake by pursuing Castle's story and thinking that she never actually cared about him. Just as Schoonover tells her to pull over, another car suddenly rams into their, which severely injures Schoonover.

Hirochi continues torturing Stick but he simply laughs through the pain, as Daredevil bursts into the room and attacks the ninjas on the guard. Stick uses his opportunity to kill Hirochi by biting his neck, before Daredevil liberates him. Stick tells Murdock that he is proud of him but as the two are about to leave, Elektra confronts them, intending to kill Stick. Elektra remarks how naive she used to be, believing that Stick would never abanon him, and tells Murdock to step aside, so she could finish what she came for. Daredevil is determined to stop Elektra and protect his teacher, however, Stick simply remarks that now they have all lost, since Elektra walked right into the Hand's trap.

Nobu Yoshioka appears in front of them and reveals that Elektra is actually the Black Sky, an entity that the Hand worships. Daredevil tells Elektra that Yoshioka simply manipulates her but Elektra pieces together that revelation with the way Sitck and the Chaste treated her. Elektra accepts the sword from Yoshioka and turns to Stick who knew about it all along, while Daredevil tries to get her to snap out of it. Daredevil stands firm in front of Elektra, saying that if she succumbs to the Hand, she must kill him, the enemy of the Hand. He then uses Elektra's hesitance to his advantage and reaches out to her, so Elektra joins Daredevil and Stick against the Hand.

Castle attacks Schoonover, who tells him that it was never about his family and reminds him of what they did in Kandahar. Page pleads with Castle, trying to talk him out of killing Schoonover, but Castle ignores her and drags into the shed. Schoonover taunts Castle, saying that killing him would prove that he is nothing but the Punisher, and Castle coldly kills him with a shot in the head. Page decides for herself that Castle is dead for her, hearing the gunshot before leaving him behind. Castle discovers an arsenal of heavy-grade weaponry and a special bulletproof vest, which he decides to take.

Elektra walks the wounded Stick through the tunnels, as Stick says that he still wants Elektra dead but he will not do it for Murdock. Elektra is frustrated that Stick only cares about Murdock even after she saved him, but Stick replies that Murdock actually came to save Elektra from herself, as killing Stick would be a point of no return. Daredevil then fights Yoshioka and pushes him from the ledge, while he escapes with Stick and Elektra. Yoshioka rises in front of his men and realizing that Daredevil proved himself to be too much of a hindrance, declares that Daredevil must die.

Cast

Main Cast:

• Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil
• Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
• Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson
• Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher
• Élodie Yung as Elektra

Special Guest Star:

• Scott Glenn as Stick

Guest Stars:

• Clancy Brown as Ray Schoonover/Blacksmith
• Royce Johnson as Detective Sergeant Brett Mahoney
• Geoffrey Cantor as Mitchell Ellison
• Lily Chee as Young Elektra
• Peter Shinkoda as Nobu Yoshioka
• Ron Nakahara as Hirochi
• Katt Masterson as Detective Sergeant Thompson
• Laurence Mason as Star
• Takeo Lee Wong as Specialist
• Unknown Actor as Hugo Natchios
• Unknown Actress as Christina Natchios

Appearances

Locations

• New York City, New York
  • Wall of the Chaste
  • Nelson and Murdock Law Office
  • New York Bulletin Building
  • Schoonover Residence
  • Metro-General Hospital (mentioned)
  • Central Park (mentioned)
  • Hudson River (mentioned)
• Yonkers, New York (mentioned)
• Kabul, Afghanistan (mentioned)
• Bahamas (mentioned)
• Kandahar, Afghanistan (mentioned)

Events

• Kidnapping of Stick
• Frank Castle's War
  • Assassination of Ray Schoonover
  • Destruction of the Blacksmith's Ship (mentioned)
  • Assassination of Samantha Reyes (mentioned)
• Attack on Elektra Natchios (mentioned)
• Massacre at Central Park (mentioned)
• Operation Cerberus (indirectly mentioned)
  • Ambush in Kandahar (mentioned)
• Battle of New York (newspaper)

Items

• Daredevil's Suit
• Daredevil's Billy Club
• Elektra's Twin Sai
• Stick's Katana
• Punisher's Arsenal
  • Punisher's Vest

Vehicles

• Blacksmith's Ship

Creatures

• Leviathans (newspaper)

Organizations

• Hand
• Chaste
• New York City Police Department
• New York Bulletin
• United States Marine Corps
• Fire Department of New York City
• Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York
• Nelson and Murdock (mentioned)
• Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz (mentioned)
• Cerberus Squad (mentioned)

Mentioned

• Marci Stahl
• Foggy Nelson's Grandfather
• Samantha Reyes
• Ray Schoonover's Wife
• Ben Urich (picture)
• Doris Urich (picture)
• Gosnell (picture)
• Maria Castle
• Lisa Castle
• Frank Castle, Jr.

Trivia

• Ray Schoonover says "If you joined us, you could have taken your family to the Bahamas instead of the park". In the 2004 Punisher film, Frank Castle's family was killed in the Bahamas.

Music

Song title	Artist	Location(s)
Shining Star	Earth, Wind & Fire	Karen Page drives away with Ray Schoonover when the car is hit by the Punisher.

External Links

• The Dark at the End of the Tunnel on IMDb
• The Dark at the End of the Tunnel on Disney+
• The Dark at the End of the Tunnel on Marvel Database