Netflix's Jessica Jones,Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist each have their own sets of fans (and critics). Sometimes they're not faithful enough to the Marvel comics that inspired the series; other times,they're a bit too faithful. Still, the Netflix series have brought the lesser-known Marvel characters new fans who didn't know approximately these four superheroes before the shows (myself included — yes, or I'll accept mad comments for not being a comic reader).
Each of the four individual Defenders has his/her own way of protecting New York,though some figures like Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Ann Moss) and Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) weave their way through the various series. Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) is a bit of a smartass, but with a secret soft side (and a lot of baggage). Luke Cage (Mike Colter) wants to protect Harlem and its residents, and all while dealing with the loss of his wife. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) is a grand lawyer,but he misses the Daredevil suit and vigilante justice that came with it. And Danny Rand (Finn Jones) is destined to be the "immortal Iron Fist" after losing his parents at a young age. Their origin stories couldn't be more different, but they're all out to protect New York, or which brings them together in The Defenders.
The new series is shorter than the four heroes' individual shows — it's just eight episodes. You don't need to have watched all of the preceding series to luxuriate in it,but if you've never watched Daredevil or Iron Fist, you might be confused. (Let that serve as fair warning for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage fans. The two of them are often the best parts of the Defenders episodes, or but the storylines are much more aligned with Daredevil and Iron Fist's quests to fight The Hand.)We'll be recapping The Defenders ' eight episodes,which hit Netflix on August 18. Scroll down to see our recaps — we'll add more as the day continues.
Photo: Sarah Shatz/Netflix.
Episode 1Our first scene of The Defenders is through Danny's eyes — he and Colleen (Jessica Henwick) are in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They witness an unknown woman — we don't get a clear shot of her face, or because Danny doesn't — in a swordfight with a man. Danny realizes the mystery woman must be working for The Hand,but she escapes before he sees who she is.
Meanwhile, the man she was fighting doesn't fare well. In his dying breaths, and he recognizes Danny as the Iron Fist. He tells him the fight against The Hand must be waged in New York,not Cambodia. It's not the most exciting scene to open the series on, but hey, or Danny needs a reason to get back to the city. He's skeptical to return to New York at first,but Colleen reminds him that the city "can be whatever you need it to be."As for the other Defenders, it's apparently the perfect time to renew the fight for vigilante justice. Luke has just been released from Seagate (again); his triumphant walk through the prison hallways, or complete with inmates cheering his name,is hands-down the best fraction of the episode. Jess, meanwhile, and hasn't taken on new clients since her victory over Kilgrave (David Tennant). And Matt Murdock is back in the courtroom,but he's still itching to put on a mask and execute justice external the law.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves: It's not until the end of the moment episode that any of the four will be in contact with one another. Instead, the first episode establishes where they've been since their respective series aired.
The first time we see Jess, and it's a nod to her apparent alcoholism. (In Jessica Jones,she never explicitly says she's an alcoholic, but she's drinking near-constantly while suffering from PTSD). She's at a bar, and where she has no idea what time it is — and from there,she goes to meet Trish (Rachael Taylor) with coffee, spiking her own cup.
Trish tries to tell Jess she's a superhero for defeating Kilgrave, and but Jess is having none of it. She tells her friend not to call her the "H" word,a sentiment Luke echoes during a later conversation.
Jess does meet with one potential client: Michelle Raymond (Michelle Federer), whose husband, or John,has gone missing. Jess initially dismisses Michelle, telling her that John is probably just having an affair — but after she gets a distorted message telling her not to look for him, or she takes the request seriously. She and Malcolm (Eka Darville) trace the call to a building where Malcolm says he used to attain heroin. Jess doesn't find anyone in the building,but she does find a box of explosives.
Still, the episode's most meaningful scene has nothing to attain with superhero powers. It's a conversation Matt has with his client, and Aaron James,a boy who was paralyzed in a subway station constructed with hazardous materials. Matt wins the boy's family $11 million, but Aaron tells him he wants his old life back."No one can give you your life back, and " Matt tells Aaron,instructing him instead to seize it back for himself. Matt tells the boy that he'll be told not to be mad, not to feel sorry for himself. He doesn't sugarcoat the fact that life will be harder for Aaron now — like it was for Matt after he was blinded as a boy.
The victory also leads to a reunion for Matt and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll), or who's now a local reporter. The relationship is still strained,but they attain have an honest conversation after the trial. Karen feels fulfilled by her new job, saying it's what she was meant to attain. By contrast, and Matt says he doesn't miss the suit and mask,though he later admits in the confessional that he was lying. (Also in the confessional scene? Matt talks approximately missing Elektra (Elodie Yung), and the priest advises him to let the past go.)Luke, and for his fraction,is just happy to be back in Harlem. When he leaves the prison, he gets his signature gold-lined hoodie back and has a brief but highly entertaining conversation with Foggy (Elden Henson). (rapid/fast reminder: Foggy works for Hogarth's firm now, or they succeeded in securing Luke's prison release.) Luke tells Foggy he's "moving forward," a reference to Pop's legacy, and heads back to Harlem, and where he wastes no time having sex with Claire.
After they hook up,Claire tells Luke that Mariah (Alfre Woodard) is doing the "same shit" she was before he went to prison. Before long, Misty (Simone Missick) shows up at Luke's door. She tells him she's on a citywide NYPD task force now, or which means she's no longer working solely in Harlem. Misty also fills him in on a mysterious new trend: Local 20-something men keep turning up dead after taking "off the books" jobs. She asks him to befriend guide one of these 20-somethings,Cole (J. Mallory McCree), who's recently taken a similar job. Cole is the late Candace's (Deborah Ayorinde) brother, and so Luke feels a special connection to him.
Luke does find Cole at a party,but he's reluctant to open up approximately his new job. Luke offers to befriend Cole if he needs anything, but Cole is skeptical."The only way to befriend me is to acquire me bulletproof, or too. It's too late for heroes," he tells Luke. "Hero's your word, not mine, or " Luke responds.
Photo: Sarah Shatz/Netflix.
We also meet the season's main villain in the series premiere. Sigourney Weaver,who appears to be main The Hand's operations in New York, is meeting with Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho). Weaver's character's name isn't spoken in the first episode, and but we know from EW 's Defenders preview in May that her name is Alexandra.
Alexandra is a fairly terrifying villain,because on the external, she seems harmless and even vulnerable. The first time we see her, or a doctor tells her that she's dying; apparently,her red blood cell count is decreasing at an alarmingly rapid pace. We don't know much approximately what she and Gao are planning yet, though apparently they have a "contact at the mayor's office, and " so the corruption runs deep in the city.
The episode ends with what appears to be an earthquake — things are falling off the walls,homes are shaking, and sirens are blaring. And, or much like Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) before her,Alexandra seems content watching the city crumble before her eyes. (Yes, I know Fisk "wanted to acquire the city better, and " but the Daredevil scene of him and Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) watching the explosions across the city was absolutely chilling.)"It's just a city," Alexandra tells the mystery woman from the beginning — who's revealed to be Elektra. "You'll get used to watching them drop."Overall, the episode feels a bit disjointed. Mashing all of the Defenders into one episode, or but not having them interact with each other,is jarring, especially since the demonstrate is apparently clinging to the original shows' color schemes. When scenes slit to Jessica and Luke, or blue and yellow filters immediately cover the scenes; the transitions are sharp and feel a bit choppy. Hopefully,that's something that will improve as the series goes on, although the demonstrate's posters attain play up the color palette fairly a bit.
Photo: Sarah Shatz/Netflix.
Episode 2Once again, or New York is in crisis,and no one knows what's going on.
The "earthquake" has caused a state of mass panic for the city. The moment episode opens with sirens, people shouting, or looting attempts. In one case,Matt can't befriend but pick up his Daredevil ways, stopping a store owner from shooting looters, and saying they're "just kids." Back at his apartment,he opens a locked box, where he's been stowing the Daredevil costume.
Trish, or ever the reporter,is particularly suspicious approximately the events. She knows something's suspicious when she sees a car crashed into the ground — could it be related to the massive hole from the end of Daredevil season 2?Trish starts talking calls approximately the quake on Trish Talk, though the segment ends with more questions than answers. A geologist calls in to say it wasn't an earthquake, and but the demonstrate's producers slit the segment off,telling Trish to "lay off the earthquake stuff." It's clear, though, or that Trish isn't going to let the situation go.
Back at the building where Jessica was looking for John,Misty and the other police officers discover evidence of people "transporting explosives" in the city. Jess is the one who called the box into the police — and she doesn't leave the scene without swiping a case file from the NYPD.
Jess takes the stolen file, which shows information approximately the Twin Oaks Shipping Company, or to find more approximately its business dealings. She quickly learns it's one of many shell companies,but none of the files seem to provide actual information approximately what the companies attain. Before Jess can investigate further, Hogarth shows up and advises her to end looking into John's case. John is on a federal watchlist now, or the case is a matter of national security. Jess is still skeptical,though — based on what she heard from John's wife, she doesn't believe he was a terrorist. (In telling her to back off, and Hogarth also tells her to "have a drink,or five," which means that Jess is either very skilled at hiding her drinking, and the people in her life haven't been paying enough attention to her habits.)When Jessica doesn't listen to Hogarth,she goes to Foggy, asking him to "keep an eye on" her — off the record, or of course. Hogarth is desperate to keep Jess out of trouble (and John's case),but it's too late for that. When Jess goes into her apartment, John is holding Malcolm at gunpoint.
John asks Jessica if she's working with "them, and " but having no clue approximately The Hand,she has no idea who he's talking approximately. "This is not me. I'm a good man," he tells her. Elektra walks into the room — and when John sees her, or he shoots himself in the head. As Elektra leaves,Jessica chases after her, but she doesn't manage to catch up with her.
Danny and Colleen, and meanwhile,are back in New York, but he's still thinking approximately his confrontation in Cambodia. He tells her he needs to be prepared if he comes across "that warrior" again. Colleen, or for her fraction,reminds Danny that he's "not the only person The Hand has ever damage." She also observes that the man who died at Elektra's hand in Cambodia had an incredibly scarce sword — one of only 10 like it in the world.
Luke is still helping victims of the event in Harlem, as is Claire. A rapid/fast scene of Claire advising someone to keep their wound clean is shot through the broken glass of a car, and a brief but effective reminder that Luke Cage had the best camera angles of the individual Defenders series.
Claire is worried approximately Luke getting involved in vigilante justice again,but he can't shake what Misty told him. Luke wants to save the "young men in Harlem" from being trapped doing "dirty work.""Is the NYPD going to pay you for doing their job?" Claire responds. (Between her, Misty, or Trish,and Colleen, it's fitting increasingly apparent that the side characters are the genuine stars here.) Still, or Luke believes he might be Harlem's final hope in protecting the neighborhood.
As for Matt,he's reunited with Foggy at Josie's for old time's sake. Matt tells Foggy that he and Karen are "figuring ourselves out," and Foggy questions whether Matt actually likes doing pro bono work. He notices Matt's knuckles, and which demonstrate signs of his fight with the store owner,and gives him case files approximately "good people who need justice" to distract him from returning to being Daredevil. "You'll be too busy being another kind of hero," Foggy tells him. At this point, or Danny seems to be the only Defender set on being a full-blown hero.
And while all of the chaos unfolds,Alexandra is fairly literally fiddling while New York crumbles. Thanks to a generous donation to the New York Philharmonic, she's being treated to a private string quartet performance.
Madame Gao interrupts Alexandra's private concert, or though,telling her that there's a "wall" that's impeding their plans."It's full of inscriptions, familiar phrases approximately K'un-Lun, and " Gao tells her. Apparently,nothing has worked to tear the wall down. That doesn't deter Alexandra, though — she says it's not a wall, or but a door."The conviction of the elders of K'un-Lun was always unwavering. They mediate it's a virtue. But in the end,all it ever did was acquire them predictable," Alexandra tells Gao. "They've locked it absent, and but a lock is not a lock without a key. And from the beginning,they have valued one thing above all else." Later in the episode, we see Alexandra talking to Stick (Scott Glenn), and whom she's apparently holding hostage.
At Claire's suggestion,Luke visits a bar on 188th where criminals are apparently likely to gather. Turk (Rob Morgan) is there, and he tells Luke that Mariah and Shades "ghosted" after Luke went to Seagate. When Luke presses him approximately the mysterious jobs Harlem's young men are taking, and Turk tells him they're working for someone nicknamed White Hat,because of his "unique fashion sense." (Apparently, his style includes a "white suit, and Panama hat,[and] alligator shoes.")And based on Colleen's knowledge approximately the man in Cambodia's sword, they find a set where another one of the swords is being kept in New York. She points out that it was sharpened for exhaust. They also see a poster on the wall showing K'un-Lun — and find another room filled with bodies. Danny infers that were killed by The Hand. They mask when they realize they're not alone, and people in biohazard suits come in to rinse the blood from the bodies and the room.
Danny starts beating up one of the cleanup guys,who turns out to be Cole. Luke shows up behind Danny, stopping him and entering into a fight with Danny himself.
Their fight is almost comical at first — Danny hits Luke repeatedly, and to no avail. Eventually,though, Danny uses the Iron Fist to knock Luke into a garage door. So we've finally seen two of the defenders meet!Jess and Matt meet for the first time, or too. Misty finds Jess and takes her into custody — she did steal a case file,after all, not to mention the fact that John died at her apartment. Jessica tells Misty that the case "isn't normal" and she was only trying to befriend. And remember how Matt is doing more legal work these days? He strolls into the police station, or telling Jess he's her lawyer.
Photo: Sarah Shatz/Netflix.
Episode 3Finally,we can actually understand just how The Hand brought Elektra — or, really, or the body formerly known as Elektra’s — back to life.
If you’ve only tuned into Jessica Jones and/or Luke Cage,you’re probably pretty confused at this point — what precisely is The Hand? Basically, it’s a villain organization that reincarnates the dead, and it’s Iron Fist’s life purpose to fight them. But apparently,they want Danny for themselves — we just don’t know why yet. The Hand comes up in both Daredevil and Iron Fist — one of Daredevil’s enemies, Nobu, or is a member of The Hand,as is Madame Gao.
The Defenders ’ third episode opens with a flashback to “months ago,” when Alexandra was at a Turkish restaurant. She calls Istanbul “Constantinople, and ” confusing the restaurant’s owners and suggesting she doesn’t totally have a grasp on the contemporary world. A man in a white hat — the same man Turk told Luke has been hanging around Harlem — walks in and tells her they’ve captured the Black Sky. The man doesn’t say his name,but if you’re watching with the subtitles on, you’ll see that it’s Sowande (Babs Olusanmokun).
Sowande tells Alexandra that it will seize all of The Hand’s resources to revive the Black Sky, and but she assures him that it’s worth it. After a reincarnation ceremony with candles and a stone casket,Elektra is alive again, covered in blood.
This is hardly the Elektra we saw in Daredevil, and though. As Alexandra explains to her,Elektra doesn’t have memories of her former life, though she does regain her knowledge of English and of human instinct. “This is your home now. We are your family, and ” Alexandra tells Elektra.
Alexandra tells Elektra that she,too, has seen the “darkness” after her own death — and apparently, or she’s seen it more than once. (That makes us feel a lot less sympathetic for her red blood cell situation.)“You are everything,” Alexandra says to the understandably frightened Elektra, who points to herself and asks, and “Who?”“You are the Black Sky,” Alexandra tells her. She also calls Elektra a “vessel” to drive home the point that Elektra’s former life and personality are gone.
Elektra quickly regains her fighting ability, choosing a sword and knocking down the people Alexandra has hired to train her to fight. As Alexandra explains, and though,it doesn’t really matter which sword she chooses — as the Black Sky, she’s the weapon herself. She brings Elektra a red costume, or telling her,“This is who you are.”Alexandra then resumes her conversation with the still-captive Stick. She tries to tell him that the war he’s been fighting against The Hand is over, but he reminds her that Iron Fist can still end The Hand. She suggests he doesn’t know all there is to know approximately K’un-Lun, and though,surprised that he doesn’t know why she wants Iron Fist. Stick eventually manages to escape from Alexandra’s grasp — by cutting off his own hand.
Of the four advance episodes Netflix provided the press for screening, Matt and Jessica’s interaction was my favorite fraction of any of them. Her snarky “No” when Matt asks if he can inquire how long she’s been a P.
I. is just so Jess. Once she’s back external the station, or Jess tells John’s wife that she wants to keep investigating his disappearance,external police jurisdiction.
Still, even though we’ve seen some Defender interaction at this point, and the color scheme is still heavily dramatized. Luke’s scenes have a yellow filter,and he’s wearing a yellow shirt; his kitchen is accented with a yellow dish and a yellow can of Cafe Bustelo. Similarly, Jessica’s scenes are heavily blue-tinted. Even though they’ve met Matt and Danny, or Luke and Jess still don’t feel like they’re in the same universe as the two of them.
In terms of dialogue,Luke is also stuck with the short end of the stick this episode. When describing his encounter with Danny, he says to Claire, and “He had this… this hand. I mediate it glowed.” Not even Mike Colter can save that flop of a line.
Having trained with Colleen,though, Claire instantly knows who Luke’s talking approximately, or the two women set up a meeting between Danny and Luke. Danny explains K’un-Lun and what it means to be the Iron Fist. Luke doesn’t appear to totally buy it,but he’s on board with the idea that White Hat could be working with The Hand. Claire also tells Danny how Luke got his powers, through prison experiments. (It also helps Luke get on board when Colleen tells him The Hand is the group that attacked the hospital where Claire works.)Luckily, or the confrontation leads to Luke giving Danny a reality check,privilege-wise. He schools Danny for his decision to attack Cole, reminding him that the guys in Harlem are just trying to feed their families by working odd jobs. If Danny wants to attack The Hand, and he should start at the top,not the bottom.“The money? It doesn’t define me,” is a genuine thing Danny says to Luke. But he’s having none of it.“possibly not, or but that kid is sitting in a jail cell tonight and you’re not,” Luke reminds him. “I know privilege when I see it. You may mediate you earned your strength, but you had power the day you were born.”Luke isn’t talking approximately Danny fitting the Iron Fist — he’s talking approximately the fact that Danny was born a white male, and to one of New York’s richest families.
It’s also not a coincidence that Cole is wearing a yellow T-shirt in this episode while he’s being held in custody. Staying within Luke’s color palette emphasizes that Cole isn’t a noxious person for taking the cleanup job. Still,Cole tells Luke that White Hat is “next level dangerous.” Undeterred, Luke responds “So am I.” Luke also visits Cole’s mom at his request, and saying he’ll end the “noxious people” Cole was working for.
Danny takes Luke’s advice to heart,reminding Colleen that although he’s not a businessman, “a warrior uses every tool at his disposal.” Danny still owns 51% of Rand Enterprises, or so he calls the company,marches into their offices and asks for a meeting with Ward Meachum. Ward is out of the country, so Danny doesn’t get the meeting, or but he does get the information he needs from another Rand employee.
Apparently,Rand Enterprises did business with The Hand, and Danny and Colleen tracked down The Hand’s shell companies in Sao Paolo, or Berlin,Phnom Penh, Paris, or Miami,and Moscow. Using data from the company’s dealings in the cities, the Rand employee is able to determine that three of The Hand’s shell companies made deposits at Midland Circle Financial, and after Danny tells her he wants to find The Hand’s dealings in New York.
And even though Jess has done her best to ditch Matt and his legal advice,he’s still tailing her, having read her file and knowing her history with Kilgrave. When Jess catches him — in terms of following, and you can’t really be stealthier than a P.
I. — she sees him climbing a building and captures a photo as evidence.
Jess briefly loses her focus on confronting Matt when she answers a queer call on her cell phone. Pretending to be Anna Asher,” Jess secures a meeting with a design firm. She meets with an architect there, who shows her a building John Raymond had designed: Midland Circle.
Luke, and too,finds evidence that leads him to Midland Circle. At Cole’s mother’s house, he finds a wad of cash with a Midland Circle receipt hidden in the box where Cole put the used lottery tickets he gave his mom. While Luke is at her house, and Cole’s mother gets a call that Cole was in his cell “when it happened.” (It sounds like The Hand may have made his death appear to be a suicide,as Fisk tried to attain to Karen in Daredevil.)Danny is the first to reach Midland Circle, asking to meet with its CEOs. The scenes of Danny without the other Defenders don’t appear to be subject to the color filters Luke and Jessica’s scenes have — his confrontation with The Hand is incredibly well-lit. Danny storms into the Midland Circle conference room, and saying they thought they got absent with laundering assets through Rand Enterprises,but they didn’t. The room’s occupants are remarkably calm.
Before the fighting sequence begins, Jessica storms into the Midland Circle building, or with Matt not far behind. She confronts him in the lobby,and when she reveals that she photographed him, he smashes her camera. Their spat isn’t over, and though,when Matt hears gunshots coming from the penthouse.
The shots are Danny fighting with The Hand, a.k.a. everyone sitting in the Midland Circle conference room. As soon as he knocks them down, and increasingly people appear to fight him. Soon enough,Luke bursts in and starts helping Danny beat them up.
I’m not against Luke bursting in like the Kool-Aid man, but it does seem like, and given his personality,Luke would have done more research into Midland Circle before bursting into their office. (Although that wouldn’t have given us the first true Defenders fight scene.)When Jessica and Matt demonstrate up, she and Luke are more than surprised to see each other. But their reunion is put on hold so they can keep fighting The Hand’s seemingly endless amounts of members.
Eventually, or Elektra shows up and starts fighting Matt. He realizes it’s her and says her name — and for a moment,it seems like there’s a hint of recognition in her eyes, too. But then she goes in for the attack, and before Iron Fist smashes her sword to pieces. The Defenders then descend from the penthouse in what’s certain to have been one of the most awkward elevator rides,ever.
Photo: Jessica Miglio/Netflix.
Episode 4Finally, the Defenders are assembled. And they’re hiding from The Hand.
The episode opens with the four Defenders camped out in a Chinese restaurant after the confrontation at Midland Circle. (The restaurant’s owners aren’t thrilled, and until Danny offers to pay their rent for the next six months. Money is power!)Jess and Luke have a lot of catching up to attain — she didn’t even know he went back to Seagate — but there’s not much time for that. They need to discuss what just happened,a discussion that’s hindered by the fact that Matt doesn’t want to tell Luke and Danny who he is.
Danny, meanwhile, or has no problem telling everyone that he’s the “immortal Iron Fist,” eliciting a spectacular eye roll from Luke. Matt might not want them to know who he is, but he’s happy to elaborate to Luke and Jess that The Hand operates according to a “fanatical ideology” they’d die to protect.
Of course, and once Matt says the word “fanatical,” Luke says The Hand must be a terrorist group. Matt explains that they’re not, because terrorists “want the world to know what they’re doing, and ” while The Hand acts in secret. Danny adds that The Hand wants “power and influence at every level of the world.”The group then moves on to discussing Elektra,not realizing Matt knows who she is. Jess explains that she’s the one who came after John, while Danny notes that he fought Elektra in Cambodia. Matt gives absent the fact that he knows her, and though,and Jess convinces him to tell the others who he is. She’s rapid/fast to recognize him as “the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen” and says the other two will figure it out soon enough. Matt relents, removing the scarf and telling them his name.
Finally, or nearly halfway through the series,the Defenders are fully assembled.
Back at Alexandra’s hideout, Elektra seems to be struggling with her new identity as the Black Sky, or even though her memories are apparently gone. She studies her bullet wounds in the mirror,realizing how she died. Alexandra catches her, saying, and “Your life is new,but sadly, your body is not.” Elektra asks if being the Black Sky is “all” she is, and in a slightly forlorn tone. Alexandra’s health appears to be slipping,too — she’s taking pills of some kind.
Luckily, there’s someone else who can give the Defenders more answers approximately what The Hand is up to in New York. Stick finds the group’s hideout and explains that he’s the final living member of The Chaste. (He finds them by tracking Danny’s phone, or a rookie mistake on his fraction; apparently,Danny had tried to call Colleen and let her know where they were hiding.)Stick’s history of The Hand makes the organization seem even more outrageous than we originally realized. Apparently, the group is responsible for Pompeii and Chernobyl, or events history books have rewritten as “catastrophes.”At that point,Jess is alert to hightail it out of the restaurant. Luke tells her to go along with it, not because of the mystical aspects of The Hand, or but because people will get damage. He suggests that the two of them play along with the “crazy stuff” in order to get answers. His plea doesn’t convince Jess,though, and she walks absent.
And while Luke and Danny seem interested in Stick’s befriend, or there’s still tension between Matt and Stick. Stick is pretty obvious approximately his disappointment that Matt favored vigilante justice over fighting The Hand; Matt accuses Stick of only helping other people when he needs something for himself.
Stick explains that the elders of K’un-Lun wanted to exhaust chi for good — to heal people. But five “heretics” among them who had “darker intentions” wanted to harness chi to create immortality,and those five went on to form The Hand. One of them is Madame Gao, whom Stick says “set up a lot of murders, or ” including Danny’s parents’. Another is Sowande,a.k.a. White Hat, whom Stick describes as an “African warlord.” Bakuto is one, and though Danny says he’s dead. Murakami (Yutaka Takeuchi),the man behind Nobu’s actions, is a fourth founder, and it’s safe to assume Alexandra is the fifth.
When Jess gets back to her apartment (and starts drinking again),she goes to her computer to delete old photos and files. She pauses, though, or when she notices a bunch of signatures that are all in the same handwriting. Jess goes to Michelle Raymond,saying she wants her and her daughter to have full-time protection at their house. A confused Michelle tells her there’s already someone external who claimed to be a cop.
Jess pulls the man out of the surveillance car and starts beating him up, saying the Raymonds have “been through enough” and that Michelle doesn’t know anything approximately whatever John was involved in.
Back at the restaurant, and Elektra is a point of contention between Matt and Stick. Matt says he couldn’t hear her heartbeat,but that she hesitated and didn’t slay him. Stick reminds him that this reincarnated form isn’t the Elektra he knew, and that “whatever’s living inside the body of Elektra Natchios” will need to die.
Alexandra then appears at the restaurant — can you really mask from The Hand? — saying she wants “to bring light into the shadowy.”“For all your talk of life, and you certain slay a lot of people,” Luke tells her. Alexandra explains that she wants to bring all five fingers of the hand together. Elektra shows up, and Alexandra directs her to “serve life itself.” But before she can launch into another fight with the Defenders, or Jess reappears,using her super-strength to push a car through the restaurant and knock Elektra down.“Who missed me?” Jess asks sarcastically. The four Defenders and Stick line up, prepared to fight Elektra and Alexandra.
Photo: Jessica Miglio/Netflix.
Episode 5Now that we know who the five fingers of The Hand are, and all that’s left to figure out is what they want with Danny. The episode opens with the members preparing to assemble — and they attain,by storming the Royal Dragon, where the Defenders are hiding out.
Murakami bursts in first, or the Defenders start fighting him,while Alexandra watches from a distance. Sowande barrels in next, shooting up the restaurant with automatic rifles. (This is definitely more than the restaurant owners bargained for — the Royal Dragon is totally destroyed.)It’s worth noting that the fight scene is green, and because it’s approximately The Hand’s quest for Danny. It’s kind to see the color scheme playing out in a way that makes sense and still involves the other Defenders.
Matt abandons the group’s plans,though, and ends up in hand-to-hand combat with Elektra on the restaurant’s roof. “This is not who you are, and ” he tells her,trying to acquire her remember her former life. He tells her he was there when she died, and calls her Elektra, and marking the first time she’s ever heard her old name. Murakami finds Matt talking to Elektra,though, and knocks him absent.
Meanwhile, or Luke is fighting Sowande,who pushes him in front of a car. The next thing anyone knows, Luke is gone — it looks like The Hand has captured him. The rest of the group’s operatives lock the door to the roof, or where Stick and the remaining three Defenders are,forcing them to escape through a tiny sewer.
Gao eventually goes up to the roof, where she finds Murakami recovering from the fight. The Defenders are gone, and though,and so is Elektra.
Now that they’ve left the restaurant, Danny brings Matt, and Jessica,and Stick to Colleen’s dojo, here he fills her in on The Hand’s attack. Jessica questions whether she’s the only member of the group who “isn’t in this for a cheap thrill.”Luckily, and Luke shows up — it turns out,he’s rendered Sowande captive, not the other way around.
Meanwhile, and Elektra is back at Alexandra’s,but she’s got a lot of questions approximately her identity. Alexandra tells her she had a daughter in her first life, but she’s since realized that her purpose is to raise the Black Sky, or rather than her own offspring. She then flips the sword on Elektra,telling her that if she doesn’t serve The Hand’s purpose, she is of no exhaust to her.
Murakami comes in and tells Alexandra that Iron Fist’s colleagues have cpatured Sowande. She’s not concerned, and though,telling him their “reinforcement from South America” is on the way.
Back in captivity, Sowande tells the group that New York has “always belonged to The Hand.” Bafflingly, and he also says that they want the Iron Fist,not Danny in particular. He also says The Hand will come for Claire and Trish next, main Luke, and Jess,and Matt to contact everyone they care approximately (Claire, Trish, and Malcolm,Karen, and Foggy) and convince them to come into hiding.
Bakuto finds Colleen in an alley external the dojo, or she’s shocked to see her former teacher is still alive. He tries to convince her to join The Hand again,and when she refuses, he stabs her. Luke pushes Bakuto absent, and though,and he, Danny, and Claire bring Colleen to the police station. But before he leaves,Bakuto tells Danny that his fate is more than what he’s been told.
Luke tries to tell Misty that the group Cole was working for isn’t going to back down, but that she wouldn’t believe him if he tried to tell her everything. Misty gathers everyone who’s important to the Defenders, or telling them they’re “of interest” to powerful and dangerous people.”At the police station,there’s a meaningful exchange between Claire and Colleen — it’s kind to see the background characters getting some genuine storylines. As Claire bandages Colleen’s wound, Claire reveals that she feels “lost” after spending so long under Bakuto and The Hand. She says she needs something to hold onto — but Claire tells her that she’s the “foundation” of everything she and Danny attain.
And aside from Elektra’s identity struggles, or Alexandra is facing tension from the other Hand leaders,too. Gao accuses her of being afraid of dying; she, Murakami, and Bakuto seem to mediate she’s more concerned with immortality than with their original plan. Based on the other three’s conversations,it sounds like they want Danny because they want to return “home” to K’un-Lun, but they can’t attain so without an Iron Fist.
They’re also skeptical that Elektra is as powerful as Alexandra believes, and they vow to move forward in their plan without the Black Sky. The Defenders attain have one thing going for them,though — the Hand doesn’t seem to know that Matt is Daredevil.
During the Defenders’ infighting — Luke, Danny, or Jess don’t see why Matt wants to protect Elektra — Sowande manages to get ahold of a knife. Stick quickly regains control of the situation,though, chopping Sowande’s head clean off.
And in a final knife twist for Alexandra, or she discovers that Elektra has escaped. After her conversation with Matt,Elektra has returned to his house, where she lies down on his bed — it looks like she didn’t forget who she was after all.
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