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This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Episode 3Daredevil: Born AgainEpisode 3, “The Hollow of His Hand,” starts off an indeterminate amount of time after the end of Episode 2. Matt has successfully fought off the cops who came to kill someone who is vital to defending his client, Hector Ayala (AKA The White Tiger) and dealing with trying to figure out a defense against a system that seems specifically aligned against him. So aligned against him that one of the cops he beat up is not remotely scared to approach him in the men’s room at the courthouse. Even if he knows that Murdock can fight, and hasn’t yet put it together that the defense attorney isDaredevil.
Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk finds that it’s not all that easy to run the city of New York while also keeping his criminal enterprise going strong. It doesn’t help that he’s meeting some resistance from his wife, Vanessa. In fact, there’s so much strife between the two partners in crime that they areundergoing marriage counselingwith the same therapist who is dating Matt Murdock. Things are becoming so untenable that various gangs that are supposed to be under the Kingpin’s empire clash in a deadly shooting. Thus is how “The Hollow of His Hand” sets up what’s to come in the rest of the episode.
Directed By
Michael Cuesta
This episode ofDaredevil: Born Againstarts off with things not going all that wellwhen thetrial of Hector Ayala begins. Matt Murdock and his team believe they have found a way to protect their best witness in the form of Nicky Torres.
Torres was the man who was getting beaten by a pair of cops in asubway station when Ayala stepped in, accidentally killing one of them when a tight move threw the man in front of an oncoming train. At the end of Episode 2, Murdock finds out that the cops are going to kill Torres, he saves him, and gets him sent to a safe house where Cherry is protecting him.
Unfortunately,when Torres takes the stand, it appears that his fear of the cops is too much and despite being kept safe by the defense, he testifies that he wasn’t in the station, effectively destroying Ayala’s case. Realizing that there is something more going on with the police because he hears one (who happens to have a punisher tattoo on his neck) telling another that Torres “can’t testify.“Murdock’s desperate attempt to get Ayala found not guilty is to unmask him in court, telling everyone that his client is the White Tiger.
The Legend Of The White Tiger
After Ayala is unmasked as a vigilante, Murdock’s case becomes all about the fact that his client is someone who has only done good in his life. He brings up one person to testify after another who tell stories abouthow the White Tiger saved them.
How Does Daredevil: Born Again Episode 3 End?
Do The Good Guys Ever Get To Win?
The approach by Matt Murdock works and Ayala is found not guilty on all counts. For a brief moment, it seems like the right side wins. However,Wilson Fisk is not happy(presumably because it means another masked crime fighter is out on the streets) and calls BB Uhrich into his office to give an interview where he makes it very clear that he doesn’t believe the not-guilty verdict was the right one.
As he’s talking about how masked vigilantes are not good and right and just, his talk becomes a voiceover as Ayala goes back on the streets as the White Tiger - despite Matt Murdock telling him earlier in the episode that he has to hang up his superhero gig now that everyone knows who he is - but his hunt for wrongdoers doesn’t last long.
As he hears someone cry out for help, and looks as though he’s about to go and stop them, a man steps out from the shadows, and shoots Ayala in the head.
As he hears someone cry out for help, and looks as though he’s about to go and stop them, a man steps out from the shadows, and shoots Ayala in the head. As the man walks away. his coat opens toshow a shirt with the Punisher symbol. It’s not yet knownwhether this is the actual Punisher, or another member of the police force that have seemingly taken up his mantle.
Wilson Fisk’s Reach Is Still Quite Long
The speech, juxtaposed with the murder of Hectory Ayala was very obviously supposed to let the audience know thatWilson Fisk was behind the shooting. It’s possible he’s been behind the entire police force corruption, or vigilantism or whatever the police with the Punisher symbols are.
Just how this story unfoldsis going to be a big part of the rest of the season. At least it certainly seems like it will and the punchline there is that Fisk clearly has more power with the dark underbelly of the city than he’s even letting on with Vanessa.
