Now the battle begins, but the heroes aren’t sure who to fight.

SPOILERS BELOW

This episode picks up right where the first one left off. At this point, Matt (Charlie Cox) makes his decision. He’s in full Daredevil mode, clobbering looters and thugs threatening victims of the quake set off by Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver). It just takes the sound of someone cocking his gun, and he’s ready.
After he settles the situation, he is still scared of his Daredevil side. He still tries to keep it inside of him. A sudden phone call from Foggy (Elden Hensen), though, relieves the pressure. More on that later.

This episode actually spends a bit more time with Jessica (Krysten Ritter), who’s still looking for the missing James Raymond (Alex Moggridge). After she’s questioned by the FBI and Misty Knight (Simone Missick), she takes a bit of evidence which she shouldn’t have. It does give her some insight about a certain piece of land being transferred several times over at least a couple of centuries. She could go deeper, but Jeri Hogarth, her occasional boss (Carrie-Ann Moss) tells her to stop snooping. The case is now getting attention from the Feds, even Homeland Security. Jess thinks Hogarth is more afraid of how this affects her, and she may be right. Later that night, Hogarth tells Foggy that if Jessica does get into trouble, he should deny Jessica has any connection with her firm.

When Jessica heads back to her office, Trish (Rachael Taylor) tells her that the radio station that airs her show doesn’t want her to discuss the earthquake, as if it’s afraid of something. It may explain why a phone call from a geologist got cut off.

Jess discovers the missing Raymond, holding a gun at Malcolm. Raymond says that he’s being threatened, but of course won’t say who. Suddenly a mysterious girl threatens Raymond, then Jessica, and Raymond winds up killing himself to keep her from taking him. When Jessica goes outside to look for the woman, she is arrested by Officer Knight. While the scene shows something weird is happening, it throws off the storyline. Raymond just shows up to say “my life is in danger”, then kills himself rather than give even one clue. He should have stayed missing. It was just an excuse to put Jessica in jail.

Now, as for Matt, he and Foggy catch up, and briefly discuss the “D” word (Daredevil). Foggy offers Matt some cases to keep him busy and keep him from his super-hero habits. It’s an interesting way to keep Matt on the bench until things get really bad, but it starts to get tedious.

Elsewhere, Alexandra is enjoying a very private performance of a classical quartet.  It’s one of the perks of being a major contributor of the local philharmonic. Gao (Wai Ching Ho) arrives to tell her they’ve hit an underground wall that can’t be broken. It also has inscriptions that refer to K’un-Lun. While Gao wants a “plan b”, Alex won’t hear of it. She thinks the wall is really a door, and they need the right key. Since there are references to K’un Lun, that may be a hint that the Iron Fist will be pulled into this.

If that is true, we may have to suspect Alex is Danny’s long-lost mom. She was connected to the Hand when she married his dad, and her body wasn’t found in the plane crash that killed him and almost killed Danny. It might be possible.

Meanwhile, Danny and Colleen discuss their fight with the Hand, and the chances that maybe there are allies they don’t know about. His response that they’ve had some bad luck trusting other people could have been written better. However, things pick up when she shows him a very rare sword, and that there’s a place in Hell’s Kitchen where there could be more. They do find another sword like it, and a lot of blood at a nearby room. They also find some dead bodies. Since we know Elektra is “alive”, maybe it’s where they train her. They also find a poster of K’un-Lun, and Danny’s response to this is a little underwhelming.

Luke Cage, meanwhile, is trying to get some info. He finds out a guy named “White Hat” gets Harlem youths into a van and takes them somewhere. It turns out they’re a clean-up crew for…you guessed it…the training room.

Danny and Colleen attack the crew, and he questions one of the guys. It happens to be Cole from the first episode. He’s about to hit him when he’s interrupted….by Luke Cage. They fight but Danny can’t knock Luke down. He uses the Iron Fist, which is a punch Luke will never forget. Both leave quickly while Cole winds up getting arrested.

At this point, half of the Defenders know of each other. Alex also has a reunion of her own….with Stick (Scott Glenn), Daredevil’s mentor and expert on the Hand. While this is a nice twist, it’s presented as an afterthought. Such a moment should be much longer or saved until episode three.
The final scene is much better. Jessica does a terrible job explaining to Knight about how Raymond died and faces a ton of criminal charges. However, she is saved when her attorney arrives, which is a surprise to her because she doesn’t have one.

She does now. It’s Matt Murdoch.

Foggy made this happen, of course.

By the way, why is Hogarth eager to desert Jessica? Is Hogarth afraid of the Hand, too, mainly because she helped Danny get back on his feet when he returned to New York?

In the next episode, maybe a team will unite.