SEASON 3

Resurrection

Did I ever tell you 'bout the time I boxed a blind man? Nah, seriously, hear me out. Priest told me not to talk, but it was years ago, and he's dead and buried, God rest his soul.

Took me to the convent, down in the crypt among the dead men. There was this guy there – beat up, scars and bruises all over, couldn't see a thing.

If he hadn't been so beat up, he'd have won easy. Had me dancing around that place, until I got a lucky one in and that ended things. But boy, could he box.

Please

Father Lantom's used to seeing Matthew Murdock in church, but the Matthew Murdock standing just inside the doorway is not the same man. He's found some old jacket from somewhere, black glasses, and he's holding his cane, but there's no attempt to come in further than the doors.

Matt's words have often shaken Paul Lantom, but this? Matt's utter conviction that hurling himself headlong into darkness and violence is the only path left to him shakes him more than anything else. "What I do" has turned into "I'm Daredevil", and the priest isn't sure he can save this soul now.

No Good Deed

Matt is alive. Matt's alive. A living, breathing Matt is in the bar, metres from Foggy, and he doesn't know whether to laugh, cry or punch his not-dead-after-all best friend.

Matt's alive, but Matt looks dreadful. Foggy's used to seeing the bruises on his face, but he's never seen him look this downbeat, and what the heck is he wearing?

Matt's alive, but there's something wrong. Something missing. There's no spark, only dull hatred of Fisk, and apparently a stubborn belief that neither Foggy nor Karen need to care about the last months.

Matt's alive, but he's not really back.

Blindsided

The CCTV cameras from the jail are clear and unambiguous. It will be quick, but then Fisk will be rid of the lawyer-shaped thorn in his side. The drug will be painful, but it will kill Murdock.

Only – Murdock, blind since the age of nine, stops the attack and knocks out the nurse.

Fisk puts plan B, the contingency plan, into action.

Then he watches, with increasing astonishment and anger, as Murdock's slight figure battles its way through the corridors. And Wilson Fisk starts to wonder, stitching together the pieces. As Murdock staggers into the light, Fisk has his answers.

The Perfect Game

Matthew Murdock. Not seen for several months. No missing person's report. Compelling evidence from Fisk of wrongdoing. Pile of damp, bloody clothes on the floor of his loft – too nice a place for a defence attorney.

Karen Page. Tough-on-the-outside reporter. Smart. Nadeem tries. There's nothing to get out of her, though there's something she's not saying.

Franklin Nelson. Running for DA on an anti-Fisk ticket. Clever; there's not much Nadeem can get past him, and he is steadfast in the face of questions, but he too is hiding something.

Can a man who inspires such loyalty really be a criminal?

The Devil You Know

There is a man in the newsroom wearing his clothes. Matt can smell the substances used to make the suit – the polymer, the latex, the carbon. It brings back a rush of sensory memory, of how the suit felt when he was wearing it, the emotions pouring off the people he faced in it.

But the man in his suit is not him. The man in his suit can see, with deadly accuracy and lightening speed that are difficult to counter. For the first time, Matt gets a sense of what it's like to face Daredevil. He doesn't like it.

Aftermath

Journalists killed in their newsroom. It's the sort of thing they'd all read about, talked about, even occasionally joked about in the macabre manner a roomful of hacks will always adopt. When you spend your lives focusing on the serious, sometimes you have to laugh about it.

Ellison's not laughing now. He's lucky. His wound will heal. Others will not. Their bylines will never appear again on a Bulletin page.

They'd championed Daredevil, supported his crusade, and it's their local hero who's turned murderer. The prospect of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen against his own makes Ellison's blood run cold.

Upstairs/Downstairs

He examines her. She's pale, but composed, though her eyes look red-rimmed from too much crying. He wonders what Ben Urich, what Mitch Ellison, had seen in this girl, who thinks she's clever, that she can surprise him.

Fisk lays his trap carefully, lulls her into cordial conversation, and springs it. She doesn't say anything – she is not disloyal – but the look on her face shows him he's right. Matthew Murdock is Daredevil.

But then she responds. She's careful too, keeping her voice low. She speaks of James Wesley. She speaks of his death. And Fisk's rage, kept corked, explodes.

Revelations

He detaches the skipping rope handles, untangles the ropes, stretches them out. Long enough, and tough enough for his needs.

He wraps automatically. It's been a while, but he's done this before. Wrap, check the tension. Flex the fingers. Wrap.

In his head, his father's voice echoes. In his head, Fisk's voice rings. He wishes they'd shut up, but they keep on talking at him. He wraps.

Fisk is all his focus. He aims some experimental punches at the air, imagining it's Fisk's head he's connecting with. Again, again, again. Snap the knee, snap the neck. He's ready; it's time.

Karen

The figure looks like the very Devil, silhouetted against the church entrance, and the sight sends a shiver up Karen's spine. It's not the first time she's faced death, but it's the first time she's been expecting it.

She takes a deep breath.

The man in black comes from nowhere, pure rage and power. Matt comes from nowhere, punching and pummelling. He's not fast enough, and he's down as the Devil throws his club. Karen sees it coming in slow motion, braces for the impact.

The priest takes her death from her. Karen knows she must live, for Father Lantom.

Reunion

Before Nelson & Murdock, before Fisk, before Daredevil, they would sometimes come up to Matt's roof, with blankets and beers. Foggy would pretend he could see the stars, Matt would listen and laugh at his jokes. It was good.

Now here they all stand, broken and battered and bruised. The ropes wrapped around Matt's hands are bloodied, but his friend is in conciliatory mood. Foggy thinks he might almost hug Matt; their friendship has always been necessarily tactile and it's been too long.

They might never get back to where they were, but here on the roof it's a start.

One Last Shot

In the darkness of his empty house, Ray Nadeem feels strangely peaceful. He's told his story, three times in one day.

Once, in the grubby old boxing gym which Nelson and Murdock have been using as an office, to an increasingly astonished DA. Once, in the courtroom, with the silent jury hanging off his every word. Once, to his phone, with the knowledge that he never has to tell it again. He never has to do anything ever again.

Beer in hand, he wanders into the back yard. It's a clear, cold night, and there are worse places to die.

A New Napkin

He burns the ropes and the black top, covered as they are in the blood of his enemy. There will be time to replace them, but first it is time to remember his other life.

Suit, tie, red glasses: all things which belong to Matt Murdock, not Daredevil. Friends, too, and he's not denying that it feels good to walk down the street guided by Foggy, or to breathe in Karen's unique scent again.

He's not the same man he was, but he's willing to give this a chance – to give Nelson, Murdock & Page the chance they all deserve.