Sarah Shatz/Netflix Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra
In the second episode of The Defenders, the heroes finally met each other, but they still haven’t fought together yet. That all changes in “Worst Behavior,” with the mini-series finally starting to leave the train station after two episodes.
When we last left our heroes, Jessica Jones found out that her search for John Raymond was way more dangerous than she thought and Matt Murdock swooped in to represent her. Danny Rand and Luke Cage finally met, with Danny getting to sock Luke right in the face. Meanwhile, Alexandra’s plan has been set in motion and she needs the not-dead-yet-somehow Stick for something.
Read on to find out what happens in Episode 3: “Worst Behavior” and if there are any Easter eggs along the way.
Prologue: It’s ALIVE!!!
NetflixElektra – brought back to life!
Have you been wondering how Elektra is still alive or have you just said, “Well, this is based on comic books, so no one really dies and I don’t care”? Well, even if you don’t care how Elektra came back to life, the first 15 minutes of the episode explains her resurrection. It involves blood. Lots of blood.
The episode opens several months in the past at a restaurant in New York. We find Alexandra waiting for her meal, and thankfully she likes. She tells the owner to tell his wife that she makes her meal better than they do in Constantinople. The owner corrects her, since Constantinople is now Istanbul. Perhaps this means that Alexandra is much older than we think.
Sowande, a.k.a. White Hat (Babs Olusanmokun) then walks in. “The Black Sky. We have it.” The Black Sky is Elektra, who died at the end of season two of Daredevil. At a warehouse, they put the body on a table, where Alexandra slowly unwraps Elektra. Sowande warns Alexandra that reviving Elekrtra will use up all of their remaining resources. It’s still worth it for her. “I have never been more sure of anything,” she says.
The process involves wrapping Elektra in red, then putting her in a sarcophagus. Monks then pour blood into it. After a fade-to-black, the cover starts moving. It’s alive! Elektra suddenly wakes up screaming and jumps out of the sarcophagus. Alexandra tries to calm her. “This is your home now. We are your family. I have waited so long to meet you,” she tells Elektra.
Next, there’s training. Alexandra tells Elektra that language will come back, as will her instincts. But the rest of her memory “wasn’t worth keeping.” During their (one-sided) conversation, Alexandra reveals that she’s seen the darkness after death “more than once” and never wants to see that again. “But now that we’ve been brought together, that’s not something we need to worry about.” Elekra tries to ask who she is. “You… are everything,” Alexandra says.
Then, Alexandra tells Elektra to pick a weapon. She chooses the Wakizashi. Up next, Elektra has to put her weapons to good use by fighting repeatedly. She’s pushed to her limits, but no challenge seems too big. She even kills a whole group of swordsmen in the dark. It’s a very long montage of sword-swinging, kicking and bones breaking.
Alexandra presents a box of red and black clothes. “This is who you are.”
After the title, we’re still with Elektra, but now it’s present day. Sowande tells her that Alexandra is ready. We find Alexandra confronting Stick. “The war that you’ve been fighting your entire life, Stick, it’s over,” Alexandra says. But as long as Iron Fist is still alive, nothing is over.
Alexandra demands to know where Danny is, but Stick has no idea where he is. Stick tells her that she’ll be looking over her shoulder for as long as she lives… and he’s heard that it won’t be very long. Elektra comes out of the shadows, putting her sword at his neck. Stick insists that he’s not sure where Danny is, then begins fighting and grabs Elektra’s sword, even though he’s handcuffed around a stick. Alexandra tells him he’s going to die, but he doesn’t think that’s will happen. Instead, he cuts his own hand off to get out of the cuffs. As the lights swing, he escapes through a ventilator shaft.
“Son of a bitch,” Alexandra says.
The Cutting Edge: Jessica Jones & Daredevil
NetflixKrysten Ritter as Jessica Jones and Charlie Cox as Daredevil
Meanwhile, Matt and Jessica get to know each other in the police station. He reveals that Hogarth sent him. “I didn’t know she did diversity hires,” she says to the blind Matt. He tries his best to defuse the situation, but Jessica is her usual snarky self. Matt tells her that she can actually leave the police station, since the police have nothing to hold her on. Her office and apartment is still an active crime scene though.
Matt then tells her that he read her file and knows who she is. He mentions that he knows about Kilgrave (the “Purple Man” David Tennant played in season one of Jessica Jones) and offers to help her in any way. “I’m good,” Jessica says before leaving. As she leaves, Matt overhears Jessica talking to Malcolm over the phone. “Are you OK? What exactly did you tell them?” Jessica asks Malcolm.
Jessica heads over to Raymond’s home, where she talks with his wife Michelle (Michelle Federer). She tells Jessica that it didn’t make sense that Raymond wanted to get away. Jessica says she’d still like to investigate his disappearance. She’s so interested in the case that she won’t take money.
Jessica thinks someone was targeting Raymond, but Michelle is stunned. She says there’s nothing she’s not telling him. Someone knocks on the door, interrupting the conversation. Jessica looks at one of Raymond’s awards, so it looks like the next place to go is his office. As she leaves, she tries to talk to his daughter Lexi (Chloe Levine). She apologizes, but Lexi doesn’t say a word.
While walking, Jessica clearly feels like she’s being followed. However, she doesn’t see anyone. She pushes through the crowd and the camera stops for a moment as we find Matt walking behind her. He can single out her footsteps. But then Matt walks out of the frame, revealing Jessica behind him. Jessica follows Matt as he turns a corner, then turns into an alleyway. As he uses his “Daredevil skills,” Jessica snaps a few photos.
As Matt disappears, Jessica gets a call from someone asking for a “Ms. Anna Asher.” (Sadly, this doesn’t appear to be an Easter Egg. Also, this was easily the best sequence of the series so far.) The phone call was from Duncan and Dotter Design, Raymond’s employer.
At the architecture firm, Jessica pretends to be trying to plan a workspace. An architect shows off some recent designs he’s come up with, but she says she wants something more recent because the company wants to make sure it is “the cutting edge.” He says he hasn’t worked on anything new himself. He secretly tells her about a building Raymond designed in Hell’s Kitchen – Midland Circle! The architect won’t tell her who the client was or where Raymond is (hint: he died right in front of Jessica in the last episode). He goes off to get another design. While he’s gone, Jessica does takes a picture of the building’s address and leaves.
Heroes for Hire (Eventually): Luke Cage & Iron Fist
Sarah Shatz/NetflixMike Colter as Luke Cage and Finn Jones as Danny Rand
Luke catches up Claire on everything he knows – there’s a man called “White Hat” recruiting kids to help clean up messes. He also feels terrible about leaving Cole behind to get arrested by kids. She tells him not to worry. “You’re better off not in prison,” she tells him. Luke tells her that a “skinny white kid” hit him with a glowing fist. “There’s someone that you need to meet,” Claire said.
At the dojo, Claire introduces Danny to Luke. It doesn’t go so well. Luke can’t possibly believe Danny’s story about K’un-Lun, but then Danny reminds Luke that it’s also crazy to that he has impenetrable skin and super strength. “Is this why you went to China?” Luke asks Claire. (This references events in Iron First. We can talk about why on earth she went all the way to China with two young strangers she hardly knew another time.)
Claire suggests that “White Hat” could be linked to The Hand that Danny and Colleen are trying to stop. (Colleen also links them to the men who attacked Claire’s hospital, referencing Daredevil events.) Danny thinks that White Hat is working for The Hand. Colleen gives a brief overview of what The Hand is, adding that they have the power to bring back the dead.
“This sounds insane!” – Luke
“So does being bulletproof!” – Danny
Claire tells them that they have to talk it out. They’re both on the same side and they both trust Claire. Colleen and Claire then leave so the two can have a superhero-to-superhero chat.
Needless to say, the conversation doesn’t go so well. The two go over their backstories, but Luke isn’t really taking it. They do realize that both of them want to do well, but when it comes to the events of the previous day, Luke is having none of it. Luke scolds him for nearly killing Cole. Danny defends himself, saying that Cole was working for the Hand. But Luke says Cole had nothing to do with all that. He just needed a job. Then Luke schools Danny on how the world works. Danny could help people with his money – he doesn’t need a glowing fist to be a hero. Danny insists that his money doesn’t define him, but Luke reminds him that just being white helps him.
“I’ve seen my share of injustice,” Luke says. Danny tells him that he’s not thinking about the big picture.
“You’re not thinking about anything but yourself,” Luke snaps back.
“You know nothing about me!” Danny says.
“I know enough. And I know privilege when I see it,” Luke says. “You may think you earned your strength, but you had power the day you were born. Before the dragons. Before the chi. You have the ability to change the world without getting anybody hurt.”
“These people won’t be stopped that way.”
“Oh so, you’re taking the war to the ones at the bottom, is that it? If I were you, I’d think twice about using that think on people who are trying to feed their families,” Luke says as he walks away. “This isn’t going to work out. It’s obvious. Good luck man.”
Luke heads over to see Cole, who refuses to give him helpful information, although he tells Luke they were cleaning up dead bodies. “They’re watching everything,” Cole says, referring to his bosses. Cole wants Luke to stop asking questions. “Is this the Hand?” Luke asks. Cole nods, then tells Luke to get scratch-off lottery tickets for his mother.
Sarah Shatz/NetflixJessica Henwick as Colleen Wing.
At Colleen’s dojo, Danny is meditating. Colleen says that she’s at least happy they didn’t destroy anything. Danny suggests that Luke might be right. There could be ways other than fighting to stop the Hand. He thinks that it might be best to try to use Rand Enterprises to beat them.
At the Rand building, Danny learns that Ward (Tom Pelphrey) is out of town, but he still enlists an accountant to help. It turns out that the Hand did business with Rand under different shell company names throughout the world. They closed three of the short-term holdings on the same day and deposited their holdings into a company called “Midland Circle Financial.” (Why did Danny not think of doing this before he traveled aimlessly around the world?) Colleen suggests that they go to the company’s address at night to fight, but Danny wants to confront them by himself and in the middle of the day.
Luke visits Cole’s mother Dolores (Debbi Morgan) to deliver the scratch tickets. She’s wise to her son’s predicament. Luke vows to stop the evil men Cole worked with. He hands over the tickets, proving that there is a little bit of goodness in her son’s heart. Dolores gets up to get cookies for Luke and tells him that there’s a box with the other lotto tickets. Luke reaches up to get it and notices a bundle of cash hidden, with a receipt that reads “Midland Circle.” Then the phone rings with the worst news possible – Cole has been killed in prison by an “accident.” Now, Dolores has lost all of her children.
At the dojo, Colleen is left by herself. She hears a knock on the door and gets her sword. It’s Stick! “Where’s the Fist?”
Midland Circle Mayhem
Danny arrives at the Midland Circle building, and is taken to the boardroom. There, he announces everything he’s figured out. He knows they killed his parents and they are the Hand. Then, Alexandra walks in. She tells him to continue in a condescending tone.
Jessica later arrives, with Matt just behind him. He warns her that she has to leave. Remember, Jessica still hasn’t had anything to do with the Hand at this point. Matt has been here before – apparently, in the time since Daredevil Season 2 ended, The Hand completed construction of the building. Matt warns her that she’s getting into something really over her head now. Jessica threatens to reveal the pictures she took of him jumping around. Matt doesn’t care, as he smashes her camera in the wall.
Back in the boardroom, Danny says Rand has put together a case to stop The Hand. He tells them they can’t hide any longer. “Does it look like we’re hiding?” Alexandra asks. Yes, Danny says and says he wants to expose them. “I am the Immortal Iron Fist. Weapon of K’un-Lun,” he declares. “And I’m fulfilling my destiny.”
“K’un-Lun. How is it these days?” Alexandra asks, referencing its destruction (as seen at the end of Iron First). Danny shakes off the remark, telling her that she will lose everything like him. “You haven’t lost everything Mr. Rand. Not yet.” The woman behind her pulls out a gun… and the fighting begins.
Downstairs, Matt hears the gunshot and snaps into action, ripping off Jessica’s scarf and running up stairs. Jessica just uses the elevator and gets there at the same time.
Alexandra tells Danny that she’s faced Iron Fists before… but this time she doesn’t plan on killing one. All the executives are actually fighters and snap into action. Lots of punching, kicking, shooting with tranquilizers, bashing heads into tables, etc. Just when it looks like things aren’t going to end well, Luke shows up. (How did Jessica not see him in the lobby? Was she on the elevator already?)
Matt and Jessica finally show up as Luke throws a guy through the wall. It looks like it’s time to celebrate, but it’s time to get Black Sky into action. (Cool! Elektra is wearing an outfit that resembles her comics uniform!) This leads to more action in the hallway and Matt gets a solo fight with Elektra in a smaller room. Matt is clearly out of shape. After he’s knocked to the floor, he recognizes the sound of Elektra’s breathing. Elektra moves over to kill Matt, but Danny shows up just in time. The Iron Fist smashes Elektra’s sword, knocking her back through a wall. (It’s a good thing these walls are easy to break.)
Danny and Matt get on the elevator with Jessica and Luke.
“Who are you people?” Danny wonders. The doors close and the credits start.
Stay tuned for the recap of episode four!
