Stream-And-Run: Daredevil, "Stick"

            Episode 7...


            Daredevil's war on Kingpin is put on hold for this hour, as a man from Matt's past shows up unannounced and with a mission for the both of them. This is Stick, the blind ninja master (just go with it) who trained Matt after he was orphaned following his dad's death, played with uncanny cool by Scott Glenn. The 74-year-old actor has never been more cool than he is here, beheading Yakuza and generally showing Matt what for in a no-holds-barred fight in the blind lawyer's apartment. The relationship between the two is contentious at best, with Matt bitter at his old master for leaving him just when they started to really bond. Stick is a proponent of the "tough love" school, and had absolutely no time to play father-figure to the lost, young Matt. Of course, by the episode's end, we see that Stick may not be as hard as he pretends, and his justification of leaving Matt because he "wasn't ready" yet may have more to do with Stick not wanting to express how he really feels about his would-be surrogate son. Stick returns to New York to enlist Matt to help in stopping a weapon called Black Sky, which turns out to be a young boy who we presume has some kind of special powers. Matt thinks he stops Stick from killing the boy, but the old master is able to slip away and do the deed, furthering their already quite strained relationship. The possibilities that are raised here in this hour show not just what Daredevil is capable of, but all the rest of these Marvel Netflix shows, as well. Secret occult societies of ninja and the like are not out of the ordinary for Daredevil in the comics world, and their introduction here helps to open up the world of the television show beyond just the gritty, street-level drama we've seen thus far. Considering the bulk of this season looks to be focusing on the fight for Hell's Kitchen between Kingpin and Daredevil, we can only assume that what's set up here in this episode (especially in the last scene) won't come back into play until the time The Defenders rolls around.