#PLEASE WATCH THIS AND UNDERSTAND THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT

[sapphire-to-the-rain]

oh plasma the woman you are.

[x]

[farfromstrange]

After doing some screaming, I have managed to collect my thoughts. Sort of. This was the last episode of season 1, so I’m in mourning, but that also means I can finally rewatch the entire season and see if I missed anything the first time around.

That being said, let’s dive in. Spoilers for Episode 9 of Daredevil: Born Again under the cut.

Before this episode, we already knew Vanessa had something to do with Foggy’s death, but watching her use a very mentally ill Dex, who was a mess in that mental hospital but at least he was getting help, for her own agenda was crazy. Good, but crazy, and I actually felt a little bad for him. I mean, yes, he did something horrible, but he wouldn’t have done it again if she hadn’t taken him out of that place. And Foggy would still be alive. She got him out and hired him to kill him, and now here we are.

“Karen?” OSYEUSHEYWIA GET OUT OMG sorry that wasn’t very collected of me BUT THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT Matt, that was the last nail in the coffin of your relationship, I fear. Saying another woman’s name after getting shot because you don’t recognize your girlfriend’s voice will just about do it.

Also, I can’t believe that man walked home in his little hospital gown (with his ass out). Can you imagine if someone stopped him? ‘Sir, you okay?’ And he probably just walked on because that man has no fucks left to give.

“What’re they calling you now? Nightgown Man?” I’m CACKLING Frank please

Frank being pissed about the lack of decent coffee is also so on brand for him.

“You’re gonna do it with your ass hanging out?” And Matt just flipping him off while he struts off to get his suit THEYRE SO FUNNY but also, Frank, we all know you looked. It’s okay. We all would. He has a whole bakery with him.

Anyway. The entire scene was fucking gold. The banter. The ‘Red’. Frank blazing through every single corrupt cop with his gun to the point there’s blood spilling everywhere. Fighting about their different attitudes to killing, again. The very thing they always fight about. And it felt so natural, too. Fucking finally.

Of course, it was Karen who worried about Matt. And of course Frank did it because Karen asked. Because it’s Karen. She cares about both of them so much.

Also, was this episode confirmation that Matt drinks oat milk? If so, I love him even more now.

Frank loves Karen and Karen loves Frank, Matt heard that in their heartbeats, but he also heard her heartbeat when she saw him. She has chemistry with both of them, but hearing them talk in that storage unit made me root for Matt and Karen because the way she asked if he heard her heartbeat was basically her telling him that no, it wasn’t just adrenaline, even though neither of them wants to admit it.

But Kastle will always be my number one ship because I just love the yearning between them. Because Karen knows Frank better than he knows himself, and he knows that. That tends to be a thing with her. She understands broken men because she, herself, has been through hell and back. And she doesn’t judge what they do because she understands. She gets it. She supports it. In this house, we love Karen Page!

And oh my God, the box. I knew I’d cry when Charlie hinted at it, but I wasn’t prepared for Matt to tell the Avocados At Law story again. The way he smiled with those sad brown eyes, I can’t even...

He loves that man so much. Because the only reason he is crashing out like this now is because Foggy’s death made him put on an invisible Matt Murdock suit that wasn’t quite Matt Murdock, and he started this fake life to get away from everything. He was the most collected with Karen this episode than he was all season. I said what I said. Because around Karen, he can be himself (and Frank riles him up just enough to tickle something inside him, and I’m sure he secretly likes it).

Fisk giving the AVTF the kill order and them killing an innocent kid that was just loitering, pulling the mask over his eyes and saying he was a masked vigilante was terrifyingly accurate because we know the police tend to spin things their way when they use lethal force. That’s not just fiction, that’s reality. Love that they weren’t afraid to go there.

Karen being Matt’s voice of reason and him listening. Yes, yes, YES! And not even a day after she came back, that man was opening up to her about how he let the darkness take over. How he didn’t know who he was anymore. And she let him know they were both hurting, but that he is still good. That he is not the darkness or whatever bullshit he keeps telling himself. She cradled his head, gave him a kiss on the forehead, and she gave him hope.

If the last 8 episodes weren’t an indication of the fact that Matt Murdock needs Foggy and Karen or he will become the shell of a man he once was (because he did do that), I don’t know what is.

He opened a new firm. Got a therapist girlfriend who didn’t know about his past and who he kept just about every feeling he ever had from. He put down the mask. He almost killed Dex the night Foggy died (and he admitted this episode that he wanted to), and he almost crossed that line a few more times ever since picking the mask back up. He was crashing out, going after Fisk without anyone there to remind him of who he is, and without anyone there who really knows him. And now that Karen’s back, he allowed himself to be a little more open. To listen. Because she knows who he is, and she gets him.

And that is nothing against Heather. She didn’t know about Daredevil. She wasn’t dealing with her trauma the way she should have, but the things she said to Matt cut him deep. And if she’s saying those things without knowing about Daredevil, I doubt she would have accepted the truth. They just didn’t fit. They didn’t work. They got together when Matt was at his lowest, and he probably viewed her as a distraction, or the normal thing to do, but now that he’s on the run, Heather is the last thing on his mind. And she’s too hurt to care about him anymore.

She’s now conspiring with the man who declared martial law and allowed his AVTF to kill people. And I do believe that a huge part of this is her trauma with Muse.

That doesn’t make her a bad character, of course. I just think she lacked the foundation necessary to make her, let’s say, a compelling side character. Because we didn’t learn that much about her other than how she interacted with Matt and some of the off-putting things she said.

I have to keep reminding myself that she was treated horribly by her boyfriend (because Matt sucks at being a boyfriend, we all know that), and that she was almost killed by Muse, and that she was curious about vigilantes at first before she almost died. She was hurt, and having her boyfriend be so distant when she clearly needed someone certainly didn’t help. They were two cars of very different and non-compatible makes on a collision course. It was never going to end well.

There are a million different things that come into play here, but I don’t think that makes her a bad character. In the comics (I haven’t read them, only seen snippets) there is a lot more to her, but I personally think Marvel missed an opportunity here because they could have made her more interesting if they wanted.

But by not making her more interesting, everything felt as though it was happening from Matt’s POV (because it kind of was), and he didn’t know anything about her either (not much, anyway) the same way she didn’t know anything about him, so it worked. The relationship was supposed to feel fake and dysfunctional. And I’m not mad about it, either, I just think there’s different sides to this, things that could have been different, but didn’t necessarily have to be. Again, that’s just my opinion.

Characters are meant to be viewed from different perspectives, met with different opinions and interpretations because we as human beings always view fictional characters differently. We view them with prejudice, with things we know about behavior and other human beings from real life, and maybe what we know about fictional characters from school. But it’s definitely a personal thing. Some you like, some you don’t, and some you are conflicted about. Anyway.

Fisk and Vanessa put Frank in a cage, but you can’t put that man in a cage and expect it to go well. For now, he’s restrained, but he will find a way. And if he doesn’t, Matt will. Edit: For the first time I did not see that there was a post-credit scene, but someone kindly reminded me, so let’s just ignore what I said above. In whatever case though, all I have to say is: You go, Frank!

Also, when he said they’d need an army, I was half expecting to see the Defenders pop up. I am kind of hoping for a cameo in Season 2 now. You need someone like Luke to defeat an army with as much fire power as the AVTF has. And Jessica, because someone needs to make sarcastic comments while Frank is in time-out.

I’m just glad Matt let Karen convince him not to do this alone and find people willing to help them. I’m glad he’s not doing it on his own. Matt is not indestructible, after all.

Anyway, I will be screaming about the season finale until season 2 comes out. Thank God for the overhaul and for the writers and Charlie’s sexy ass voiceovers with that low voice that made my belly tingle every single time. Thank you to the accent slips that made me giggle. Thank you to Matt calling Heather ‘sweetie’ and Dex ‘sweetheart’ like a derogatory asshole (affectionately). Thank you to the costume designers who made those fitted suit. Thank you to Charlie Cox for taking his shirt off. Thank you to Charlie Cox, again, for kissing his love interests like Matt eats pussy every day (he probably does). And thank you to Marvel for at least giving us Karen back for longer than 15 minutes, and I hope to God they bring Foggy back, too. And thank you to every single actor on this show for acting the shit out of this crazy patchwork blanket. Hope the Marvel curse doesn’t befall them (it probably will) and they get some awards for this, especially Charlie because he deserves it. Amen.

We had so much to feast on these past two months and now we have to wait? We are about to enter a serious Daredevil drought. Stay strong, soldiers. Stay strong.

I, for one, will be jumping back into the writing pool now. Hope you guys are buckled up.