TAP Reviews | Marvel’s “Daredevil” S2 E5: ‘Kinbaku’

Last episode left of with a bit of a sexy spanner in Matt Murdock’s quest for a tranquil like in the form of Elodie Yung’s Elektra. Sorry Jennifer Garner. The fact Murdock’s radar didn’t pick her up already makes her dangerous, and in this episode we get to see just why he’s so apprehensive of her. I know, ex-girlfriends… am I right?

Be sure to check out our previous reviews of Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4.
 

Elodie gets it. Sultry, a voice of honey with hint of vinegar, sensual but purposeful movements hints at something deeper than just a pretty face for Elektra. And even with Murdock being in the know, having Elektra turn up all these years later after an obvious falling out. Matt gets sucked in.
 

Elektra comes with a sob story; her father’s business is in a bit of a dilemma investing in a shady corporation called Roxxon. So she needs a guy with awesome lawyering skills. Matt declines. Good man. So Elektra tries to force his had by paying a hefty retainer fee to Nelson & Murdock’s Law firm for services. So Matt takes it on himself to covertly follow Elektra to her meeting with the board at Roxxon to ascertain if she’s running a game on him. And running game she most certainly was.

It’s the little details that show us Elektra is not above playing docile to get what she wants. She did her song-and-dance for Matt but in the meeting she radiates confidence, refusing to sit in the seat pulled out by one of the board members, taking instead a seat at the head of the table, but not before pouring herself a drink. But Elektra isn’t their for a ‘board meeting’. She’s hacking Roxxon’s system via an invasive device located in her pen. How’d she get it? Who cares. It’s working.

But more interestingly is the past Matt and Elektra share. Elektra is seen as an impish force of delightful mischief, a drug-like escapism from the restraints that have kept Matt darker-self to this point contained. But with Elektra, Matt’s law-abiding self takes a second seat and his libido goes into overdrive. After all, a little B & E never hurt anybody. In this past moment in Matt’s life, Elektra is the Devil from shoulder-to-shoulder pacing. And she is listening to his unspoken prayers.

Matt reveals alot to Elektra when they break into Fogwell’s Gym, his father’s old boxing gym. Matt speaks about his father being killed by organised crime, specifically Roscoe.

Elodie is pretty convincing here; her prodding questions and subtle nuances give us a sense that her initial intrigue is blooming into something else.
 

Oh, and can we just say that the fight / sex scene between Matt and Elektra in the boxing ring was a lot more entertaining than the see-saw fight scene in the Daredevil 2003 movie.

 
Things reach a pinnacle when the Bonnie-and-Clyde couple (Elektra is whichever one that did the instigating) break into a lavish house. Elektra tells Matt it’s a friends house. Turns out to be a lie. The truth is the lovely mansion home was paid for by the revenue piled up from organised crime. And the owner… known by many aliases, was Roscoe. The man that killed Matt’s father. Elektra gives Matt the perfect opportunity to give in to his darkest, most sadistic desires. Like a true devil does. Matt get’s a few licks in to the tied up Roscoe, and we see here Elektra’s sanguineous nature is a cross between pure sadism and orgasmic. But that’s not enough. Elektra pushes for Matt to kill, to reveal to her ‘his glorious darkness inside’. Highlighting all the reason to do it. When Matt refuses to pass that threshold, the one where life is taken, Elektra sees this as an ultimate betrayal. When Matt goes to call the police, Elektra takes the opportune time to split, but not before slitting Roscoe’s throat.

And with all this time-hopping flashback scenes, it’s no wonder Matt and Karen’s present date night was plagued with nervous, awkward dinner talk. But they do find some equilibrium when they move their date night from a pretentious rich-dining setting for a cheerfully dive-like dining experience. Which also sets up a nice contrast between Karen and Elektra. Karen is the homey, girl-next-door. Elektra, is decadence and high-brow culture personified. We know which one Matt should choose, but Elektra is a venus flytrap, for sure.

After Elektra’s little deception at his apartment and Roxxon, Matt goes to confront her, re-opening old wounds, and the Yakuza are not too far behind. Elektra’s little hacking /cyber-terrorist trick rustled some criminal feathers, tracking the address to Elektra’s current location. And her plan to lure the Japanese into a hornets nest also seemed to flawlessly coincide with Matt’s arrival is another instance of movie-coincidence. But we guess that can’t be helped with short-form narratives.
 

And as far as the subplots go, Karen is a bloodhound on the trail of the events surrounding the death of Frank Castle’s family, which leads her to The New York Bulletin (where journalist Ben worked before he was almost unceremoniously killed off in Season 1), searching for articles to corroborate Frank’s version of events that killed his family.

Our first introduction to Elektra delves into the history between the fateful meet between the female assassin and the Man Without Fear. There is definitely chemistry between them, and we suspect, Matt knows that as much he vehemently denies Elektra’s claim that she knows the real him, the shot of her revealing the Daredevil suit she lifted from Matt’s apartment (apparently to either suit up to fight the Yakuza by her side or to play a kinky dress-up fantasy sex game) is proof she knows him more intimately than any current romantic relationship in his life.

And as the title of the episode suggests some binds are a lot more difficult to sever without drawing blood.
 

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

A great intro to Elektra, although at the moment she just seems fresh out of the ‘crazed-ex-girlfriend’ mould.

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