[After Madame Gao calls Fisk out on pretending to not understand Chinese just so that he could keep Wesley on hand for meetings]
MGMadame Gao
It is the clever man who plays the fool. And a foolish woman who does not recognize it.
“Unfinished Business” · Season 1, Episode 15
In this episode: Dean Winchester (940), Damon Salvatore (715), Sam Winchester (665), Olivia Benson (637), Stephen Fry (608), Narrator (554), Clark Kent (523), Nate (486)
"You get what you deserve." It's an old saying. One that survived the years, because it's true. For the most part. But not for everyone. Some get more than they deserve. Because they believe they aren't like everyone else. That the rules, the ones people like me and you, the people that work and struggle to live our lives, just live, don't apply to them. That they can do anything and live happily ever after, while the rest of us suffer. They do this from the shadows. Shadows that we cast with our indifference. With a pervasive lack of interest in anything that doesn't directly affect us, we, in the here and now. Or maybe it's just the shadow of weariness. Of how tired we are, struggling to claw our way back to a middle class that no longer exist, because of those who take more than they deserve. And they keep taking, until all that's left for the rest of us is a memory of how it used to be before the corporations and the bottom line decided we didn't matter anymore. But we do. You and I, the people of this city, we still matter. There's someone in Hell's Kitchen that doesn't share this belief. He's been among us for quite some time. You've never heard his name. You've never seen his face. He's stayed in the shadows. Because men like him, men that want to control our city, our lives, fear the light and what it reveals. This man must no longer be allowed to operate in the darkness. If he has nothing to hide, let him step forward.
[Fisk calls a press conference]
I'm not very good at this, out, being in public. But I felt the need to speak up for this city that I love with all my heart. No one should have to live in fear. In fear of madmen who have no regard for who they injure. In fear of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, who has inflicted untold pain and suffering. This masked terrorist and psychopaths of his kind, we must show them we will not bow down to their campaign of coercion and intimidation. We must stand up to them. As this man, my dearest friend, Leland Owlsley, a pillar in the financial community, stood up when he was recently assaulted. But this assault was for no other reason than to send me a message. A message warning me to stop. To give up my dream that I have for this city. A dream of a better place. A place for its citizens to feel safe. To feel pride. I tried to do this quietly, not wanting to draw attention. The last thing I wanted was for anyone close to me to become a target from those who do not share my dream. For those who will have this city stay exactly as it is, mired in poverty and crime. But I know now it was foolish to make that decision. That I can no longer do it alone. That I cannot keep living in the shadows afraid of the light. None of us can. None of us should be forced to. We must do this together. We must resist those who would have us live in fear. My name is Wilson Fisk. And together, we can make this city a better place.
Do you believe in the Devil, Father?
You mean... as a concept?
No. Do you believe he exists? In this world, among us.
You want the short answer or the long one?
Just the truth.
When I was in seminary I was more studious than pious, more skeptical than most of my peers. I had this notion which I was more than willing to speak about, at length, to whoever I could corner, that the Devil was inconsequential. Minor figure in the grand scheme.
Not very Catholic of you.
Uh-huh, yeah. In my defense, in the scriptures, the Hebrew word "Satan" actually means "adversary." It's applied to any antagonist. Angels and humans, serpents and kings. Medieval theologians reinterpreted those passages to be about a single monstrous enemy. And, in my youthful zeal, I was certain I knew why: propaganda. Played up to drive people into the church.
So you don't believe he exists.
Am I done talking?
Sorry.
Years later, I was in Rwanda trying to help local churches provide aid and sanctuary to refugees. I'd become close with the village elder, Gahiji. He and his family had the respect of everybody, Hutu and Tutsi alike. He'd helped them all through famines, disease. The militia liked to force Hutu villagers to murder their neighbors with machetes. But nobody would raise a hand against Gahiji. They said, "Well how can we kill such a holy man?" So the militia commander sent soldiers with orders to cut his head off in front of the entire village. Gahiji didn't try to put up a fight. Just asked for the chance to say goodbye to his family. By the time he was done, even the soldiers didn't wanna kill him. So they went to their commander and asked permission to shoot him. At least give him a quick death. The commander wanted to meet this man who had won the respect of so many. He went to Gahiji. Talked with him in his hut for many hours. Then he dragged him out in front of his village and hacked him to pieces along with his entire family. In that man who took Gahiji's life, I saw the Devil. So yes, Matthew. I believe he walks among us, taking many forms.
I was worried you might've gone out and done something foolish, after our talk this morning.
I haven't done anything. Not yet.
Sounds a bit on the ominous side.
I went to visit someone close to the... close to the Devil. Not to hurt her, just to get a sense of him. Of who he is and what it would take to... do what I have to.
And... what did you learn?
That he has someone he loves... who loves him, who'd mourn his loss.
Mmm-hmm. Few things are absolute, Matthew. Even Lucifer was once an angel. It's why judgment and vengeance... are best left to God. Especially when murder is not in your heart.
How do you know?
You're here, aren't you?
I know my soul is damned if I take his life. But if I stand idle, if I... if I let him consume this city, all the people that will suffer and die...
There is a wide gulf between inaction and murder, Matthew. Another man's evil does not make you good. Men have used the atrocities of their enemies to justify their own throughout history. So the question you have to ask yourself is: are you struggling with the fact that you don't want to kill this man but have to? Or that you don't have to kill him but want to?
You don't need sight to appreciate art, but you do need honesty.
Sight helps.
Sure. But there's something very intimate in experiencing art through someone else's eyes. That's a good line, by the way. You should use it.
So, give me an idea what you're after.
I'm not sure.
Good... art isn't furniture. If you knew exactly what you were looking for, you'd be just decorating. Art should speak to you... move you. [Walks up to a piece] This one, for example. One of my favorite pieces.
Describe it to me.
Imagine a sea of tonal reds. The color of anger... of rage... but also the color of the heart... of love... hope. This strikes the perfect balance between the two.
I don't know, it sounds aggressive.
All depends on your point of view.
Okay, so you get these whatever-you-call-thems when you're a kid. How do you go from that to what you're doing now?
When I was a kid, before the accident…I'd lay awake at night listening to the sirens. I liked to put stories to them. Trying to figure out what they were for, ambulance or cops, robbery or fire. I don't know, just a stupid game. But after I lost my sight, after my abilities developed, I realized how many sirens there actually were…how much this city suffered every single night.
You've been running around doing this since you were a kid?
No. I…I tried not to fight…to make my dad proud. To…to block it out. The sirens, the pain, the fear, all strangling Hell's Kitchen. For years, I buried my head and turned away. Then one night, right after we quit Landman & Zack…I heard it.
Heard what?
A little girl. Crying in her bed, in a building down the block. Her father liked to go to her room late at night…when his wife was asleep.
[horrified] Oh, Jesus.
I called Child Services. Like you're supposed to. But the mom, she wouldn't believe it. Said it wasn't true. And the dad, he was smart. [scoffs] He made sure what he did, how he did it, didn't leave a mark. The law couldn't do anything to help that little girl. But I could. [Matt is shown beating said father senseless] He spent the next month in a hospital, eating through a straw. And I never slept better.
We are both one day gonna be fine, upstanding members of the legal profession. El grande…how do you say "lawyers" in Spanish?
Lawyers? Abogados.
El grande avocados!
[laughs] That's not Spanish, that's fruit.
Pfft. It's a vegetable at best.
There is conflict within you.
Conflict?
Man cannot be both savior and oppressor, light and shadow. One has to be sacrificed for the other. Choose and choose wisely. Or others shall choose for you.
You're going to get yourself killed, you keep this up. You know that, right?
I can take care of myself.
What about the rest of us? Me, Karen…we're a part of this now, because of you. And we didn't get a say in that.
What do you think's gonna happen if I give up now, Foggy? Who's going to stop Fisk?
Oh, I don't know. The law?
Tell that to Elena. [pause] If you could have put on a mask and prevented what happened to her…you telling me you wouldn't have?
It's not fair, Matt.
We don't live in a world that's fair. We live in this one.
[Owlsley talks with Fisk about Nobu's fight with the man in the mask]
You burned him alive? Christ.
I never laid a hand on Nobu.
So, you maneuvered that masked idiot to take him out. Same result.
I need you to speak with Gao.
Me? The hell am I gonna say to her?
Reassure her everything is fine.
So, you want me to lie.
Mmm, you weren't particularly fond of Nobu. You thought he was unsettling, if I recall.
I think you're unsettling half the time. See me lighting a match?
You think someone's trying to kill Fisk?
I've been writing about crime in this city since before you were born. The only thing I know without a doubt is you don't get to be the man at the top without making enemies looking to tear you down to the ground.
I have a pretty good idea who you are and what you do. How you do it… That's something else entirely.
Accident when I was a kid. Used to think it was God's will.
Used to?
Yeah, He made each and every one of us with a purpose, didn't He? A reason for being.
I believe so, yes.
Then why did He put the Devil in me? Why do I feel it in my heart and my soul clawing to be let out if that's not all part of God's plan?
Maybe you're being called to summon the better angels of your nature. Maybe that's the struggle you're feeling deep within you.
And how do you know the angels and the Devil inside me aren't the same thing?
I don't, but nothing drives people to the church faster than the thought of the Devil snapping at their heels. Maybe that was God's plan all along. Why He created him, allowed him to fall from grace to become a symbol to be feared warning to us all, to tread the path of the righteous.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Criminal Minds pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.