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| Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com |
In the fourth episode,
“In the Blood,” the villains get their own episode, and the episode is all the
more tragic for it. We grow to care for
one group of Kingpin’s business partners, and that makes their eventual fate
all the more heart-wrenching for us to watch.
And this is one of the best elements of this series: It makes us care about the villains
we’re supposed to hate.
The episode begins
with Anatoly and Vladimir in a Siberian prison, plotting to escape and return
to Moscow. However, Vladimir says that
instead of Moscow, they should set their sights on a more inviting target: America.
Because the guards decided to leave the dead body of their cellmate in
the cell with them, they were able to rip a couple of ribs out to use as shivs
for their escape (which we do not see, though we do get to see Vladimir pull
off a rib). This scene at once
demonstrates the Russian brothers’ brutality towards others and care for each other. It definitely sets the stage for the rest of
the episode, particularly the focus on Anatoly and Vladimir and their
relationship.
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| Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com |
In the present, Matt
is cracking skulls on the streets to track down the lead he got at the end of
the previous episode—the name “Wilson Fisk.”
At present he is beating his way through the Russians, who are
attempting to escape from him. Anatoly
flees to the brothers’ taxi garage and base of operations, where he and
Vladimir meet with Wesley, who is displeased with their handling of the “masked
man” situation. This scene is an
excellent exploration of the relationships between Vladimir and Anatoly and
Wesley/Fisk. The Russians—especially
Vladimir—do not want to be in Fisk’s debt, or to be receiving assistance from
him for anything. Vladimir in particular
is shown to be hotheaded, rash, and prideful.
Anatoly is more discerning and more willing to explore the idea, but
ultimately does not want to be in Fisk’s debt.
They are extremely mistrusting of Fisk and Wesley. As soon as Wesley left, the brothers went to
the hospital to visit Semyon, the man Matt threw off a roof in “Cut Man”
(1x02). Vladimir and Anatoly are
surprisingly bad at doing their own dirty work—evidently Semyon was the man
responsible for doing the dirty work up until his “unfortunate accident.” They wake him up, and he manages to give them
a little information—just enough to find Claire’s apartment. I didn’t give that particular scene much
thought at the time, but thinking back they were really making us sympathize
with Vladimir and Anatoly and everything they had to do to maintain their
position. Again, this is just setting us
up for what happens at the end of the episode.
Meanwhile, Matt went
to Claire earlier in the episode to get stitched up after his latest bout with
the Russians. While there, Matt
instructs her to put her number in his phone and to memorize the number herself
in case she needs him. When the Russian
thugs track her down at her friend’s apartment, she calls Matt, who rushes over
too late to save her. However, when Matt
does track the Russians down at their taxi garage, he engages them in a brutal
fight. The concept of a blind vigilante
sounds absolutely ridiculous; the concept of a blind vigilante fighting Russian
mobsters armed with automatic weapons sounds like a death sentence. Turn out the lights, however, and the odds
all favor Matt. Through surprise,
stealth, and strategy, it is as though Matt is everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The Russians’ numbers steadily dwindle until
there’s only one left, and Matt and Claire together finish him off
quickly. After escaping from the
Russians, Matt and Claire return to Matt’s apartment where he stitches her up
and asks her to stay with him until they figure something else out. Shockingly, this is the end of Matt’s
involvement in the episode. While in a
movie it would seem counterintuitive for the hero to become a minor player in
his own movie, in the TV format it makes a lot of sense: Reducing Matt’s part leaves a lot more time
for the other plots, particularly the one with the Russians.
After Matt defeated
the Russians and freed Claire, Anatoly and Vladimir returned to find what had
happened. At this point they have
nothing to go on: no prisoner, no names,
no leads. They have nothing to do but go
to Fisk for help. Vladimir refuses to
go, so Anatoly goes on both of their behalf.
At this point the audience can really see that they have no other
options. They do not want to do it, but
they do not think they have a choice. We
almost have to sympathize with the difficulty of their situation.
Before noting the
outcome of the Russians’ plot, there is also a minor plot with Ben and Karen happening
on the side to discuss. Early in the
episode they meet in a diner to discuss their Union Allied investigation. Karen notes that Union Allied is in the
process of liquidating, and that they are actually moving all of their assets
to a new company, something Ben isn’t too surprised to hear. We also get a hint at Karen’s sordid past in
this scene—a hint which is very tasteful and in line with the characters. We don’t know much, just that it is enough to
discredit her if she goes public. I
really hope that in the future we will learn more about it. Karen next goes to the auction where Union
Allied is being liquidated in an effort to learn who is buying up all their
property. However, Ben convinces her
that she needs to be smart and not draw attention to herself, so she starts
bidding and wins some supplies for the office, including a fax machine (to
Foggy’s delight). Following the auction,
Ben and Karen meet again at the diner, and Ben expresses her concern for her
safety, noting how many of his previous informants have been hurt or
killed. Though it is easy to pass over
this exchange at first, it is a very subtle foreshadowing of what is to
come. This whole plot is actually very
well done in its slow build until it finally merges in with the main plot later
in the season.
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| Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com |
The fourth facet of
the episode comes from Fisk and Vanessa going out to dinner—this is where the
Russians’ story eventually leads. Fisk
and Vanessa are enjoying dinner and discussing their backgrounds: She is not originally from Hell’s Kitchen and
loves the neighborhood; He is originally from Hell’s Kitchen—though he left at
12 and spent several years away from the city—and he wants to see it
reborn. That he is so passionate about
his city makes Kingpin a uniquely sympathetic villain: we can see that both Kingpin and Daredevil
love Hell’s Kitchen, and both are fighting for the same thing. However, because they have different visions
of the future for Hell’s Kitchen, they are inevitably going to conflict. In any event, before Fisk and Vanessa have
finished their meal, Anatoly arrives at the restaurant looking to accept Fisk’s
deal—and making a scene in the process.
Fisk is visibly upset, sees Vanessa home, and instructs Wesley to handle
Anatoly. Once he is finished attending
to Vanessa, Fisk meets Wesley and Anatoly on a deserted stretch of road—and
proceeds to beat Anatoly to a pulp. The
fight scene between the two of them is absolutely brutal—even more so than when
Healy bashed a guy’s head in with a bowling ball in “Rabbit in a Snowstorm”
(1x03). Fisk is practically beside
himself with rage at Anatoly for humiliating him and exposing him in front of
Vanessa. The final action of the
fight—smashing Anatoly’s head clean off his body by repeatedly slamming it with
a car door—was probably the most violent thing they have shown thus far in the
series. That they managed that by only
showing Anatoly’s body resting against the open door, Fisk slamming the door
(without seeing Anatoly at all), and a shot of blood pouring down out of the
SUV once Anatoly’s head is separated is very impressive—and disturbing. This show definitely earned his “TV-MA”
rating in this episode.
The two greatest
tragedies of Anatoly’s death are the sheer senselessness of it and the sympathy
we have for him after everything we’ve seen in this episode. There was no reason that things had to happen
this way. If he had waited, if he had
called, if he had done any number of things differently, he would have
lived. And even with what he did, that
he was there to make a deal with Fisk should have been enough to persuade Fisk
to show him mercy. Instead, Fisk acted
irrationally in killing him in a fit of rage and passion. Perhaps he really thought that what Anatoly
had done was deserving of death. Either
way, it displayed a very twisted concept of justice. Of course, considering the goodwill Fisk had
already earned in this episode for his behavior toward Vanessa, I suppose we
needed to see his darker side to balance it out.
Even more than the
senselessness of the killing, the whole preceding episode made us sympathize
with Anatoly. We grew to like him
because of his dedication to his brother, because of what they were willing to
do to escape Siberia, because he is such a likeable character. And then Fisk brutalizes him. As the audience we are left both saddened by
his death and scared of what this will do to Vladimir.
My favorite part of
this entire episode is how well it makes us sympathize with Anatoly and
Vladimir. Seeing their back story makes
them every bit as sympathetic as Matt and Fisk.
I am very glad that the Netflix platform allows the series to take the
time to develop all of the villains—not just the main villain. I look forward to seeing more of this in
future Marvel Netflix series.
What did you think of
this episode? Did you see Anatoly’s
death coming? Which of Fisk’s allies is
your favorite?
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