The fun of a Marvel team-up has always come from watching two characters with very different ideals and skills coming together against a common enemy. The best part of Punisher team-ups is watching characters who refuse to kill try to a) rein him in and b) ultimately fail because the Punisher never learns anything. While this episode was far from a team-up, it's still an interesting clash of Daredevil and Punisher's worldviews, as they're both men defined by tragedy, determined to get back at the criminal element that scarred them through drastic measures.
That's pretty much the major focus of "New York's Finest", and it's fantastic. Bernthal and Cox are both giving terrific performances here, and they're actually boosting off each other and making each other better. Some credit should obviously go to the writers as well, as the show does a great job of making both Matt and Frank's arguments credible, without making Matt come off as preachy or Frank come off as psychotic.
This dialogue ultimately comes to a head when Frank reveals that he's captured Grotto, and in a recreation of a scene from Garth Ennis's "Welcome Back, Frank", tapes a gun to Matt's hand and forces him to either shoot Frank before he kills Grotto, or let Grotto die and allow that blood to be on his hands. In an interesting play on the comic, Matt manages to free himself, but can't stop Frank from shooting Grotto in the chest. Grotto's interesting because we've actually been given time to know this deeply flawed (he did kill that old woman) character, and it makes his death sting. Of course, that's nothing compared to what comes next, as it's revealed that Frank set up shop right next to a base for the Dogs of Hell motorcycle gang (I meant to mention Foggy's run-in with them in the first episode, but forgot because it didn't seem important at the time.) As Matt holds a dying Grotto, Frank blows up the gang's bikes before he can be subdued, forcing Matt to fight his way through an army of pissed-off bikers.
The fight scene in question is a clear attempt at one-upping the hallway scene from Season 1, as Matt, armed with a chain and one duct tape wrapped hand, clears out three floors of bikers. Like the hallway fight, he doesn't come out unscathed, but he comes out on top. The scene is well-shot, though the usage of quick cuts near the end of it somewhat weakens it, as there were no cuts in the original hallway fight. Victorious, the adrenaline wears off as Matt realizes that Frank took the opportunity to escape.
"New York's Finest" more than makes up for the wheel-spinning of last week, and leaves me greatly excited to see where the show goes next.
Overall Score: 10/10
Notes:
*I completely forgot to to mention Foggy and Karen's plotlines, in which Karen is mad at Foggy for not standing up to the DA, then uncovers evidence of a further conspiracy surrounding the Punisher, while Foggy visits Claire (the always great Rosario Dawson) to see if she's heard from Matt, then breaks up a fight between two injured thugs. Henson's really stepped up this season, and the speech he gives to the thugs is intense.
*"I like to keep it thuggish."
*We get another "Awww Frank's a good guy" scene this week, as Frank has a polite conversation with the Vietnam veteran who owns the building he's keeping Matt on. It's a brief scene, but really does a good job of further helping us understand Frank's worldview. "Hey, marine. Semper Fi."
*Having Matt break out of the chains was a nice twist on the original story, in which he simply goes with the Punisher's choice and tries to shoot him, only to discover that the firing pin has been taken out. Either way, he still couldn't save Grotto.
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