We’ve made it to the third episode of The Defenders, “Worst Behavior.” This is a continuation of our episode-by-episode reviews. Obviously, there will be full spoilers for everything through this episode in the series. So if you haven’t had a chance to watch, go ahead and start, now.

This episode gives us Elektra’s resurrection story, from her time in the stone coffin from the end of Daredevil season two until she is a killing machine. Elodie Yung is glorious in every aspect, portraying everything from the confused resurrected girl covered in blood to an intimidating warrior. Perhaps the most glaring sign that this is not the Elektra that we already know is that, when asked to choose a weapon, she went for the wakisashi double sword, rather than her classic weapon, the sai. But later in the episode, Matt Murdock found his Elektra within this warrior.

While Stick joined the show in the previous episode, we get a little bit more of him in this one, where he very impressively takes on Alexandra and Elektra with his hands tied, and manages to escape. More importantly, his banter with Alexandra gives us more insight on everybody’s connections to K’un Lun, which Stick evidently served.

So much of this episode – the first seventeen minutes – is focused on Alexandra and Elektra that it’s easy to forget the awesome pairings that came together when we last saw our heroes. While Matt and Jessica have a short but awkward interaction led by Matt’s creepy stalking (Followed by Jessica noticing Matt’s creepy stalking and reciprocating), Danny and Luke have a magical get-to-know-you session initiated by Claire. God bless Claire Temple.

Luke approached the subject that many Iron Fist critics wanted addressed from day one when he explained white privilege and called out the young fighter on how he wasn’t using all of the resources at his disposal. While this will never undo the Finn Jones casting choice that ruffled many feathers, it did educate Danny, himself, on what he needed to do. And that brought him to Midland Circle, in a business suit, at a very opportune time.

Luke went on to take care of his community, but still made his way to Midland Circle. As did Jessica Jones, as she looked into her deceased client’s work activities. Matt Murdock continued to be a creepy stalker, following Jessica to Midland Circle and stealing her scarf, before taking what looked like the least efficient route to the penthouse possible. Somehow, after all those flights of stairs, he wasn’t even out of breath when he resumed his banter with Jessica Jones at the top.

However, the time it took for Matt and Jessica to make it to the boardroom gave us time to see Power Man and Iron Fist fight together, as partners, and it was everything that fans of the duo could have wanted. Danny had smart-ass comments and Luke blew them off just as easily as the bullets that came their way. We can only hope that this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.

Jessica and Matt join the fight just in time for Elektra to complicate matters. For most of the fight, it is obvious that Matt has no idea who he is fighting, making the whole scene somewhat heartbreaking as she tries to kill him. Whether or not the reborn assassin recognized her former lover is unclear, but it’s a good thing that Danny stepped in when he did.

The episode leaves us with the first image that we ever got of The Defenders as they all load into an elevator. Finally, the gang is all together!

Highlights: 

  • Elodie Yung flying out of her blood pool and playing the confused reborn assassin ninja was fabulously well done.
  • “Do we look like we’re hiding?” Alexandra called Danny’s silliness out.
  • Props to the costuming department for putting Elektra in flat shoes, instead of making another woman jump around in heels.

Rating: 4.5 Undead Girlfriends out of 5

The episode would have been perfect, but the scenes with Elektra, in the beginning, dragged on a little bit too long for me. They were necessary, but during my many re-watches, I anticipate that I’ll be fast forward some in this episode, in order to watch that final fight more quickly. But overall, it was solid and enjoyable.