The initial buzz around Daredevil: Born Again faced its share of skeptics, particularly those who feared the series would stray too far from the sad-sack Catholic themes and hallway punch-em-ups that made Netflix’s first season of Daredevil so memorable. While the early episodes of the Disney+ revival largely squashed those concerns with a strong emphasis on procedure and character, this week’s fifth and sixth episodes—featuring a curious St. Patrick’s Day bank heist with a guest star from so far afield they might as well hail from the DC Universe and a major Muse development—have Marvel Television’s fussed-over Born Again finally spiraling into chaos. And not in a fun way.
Despite its brisker pace and lack of vigilante fisticuffs, the first four episodes of Born Again struck a similar dramatic chord to Netflix’s Daredevil while establishing new emotional and civic stakes beyond our hero’s old Hell’s Kitchen stomping grounds. Episode five, set primarily inside New York Mutual Bank, where Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) navigates a hostage situation alongside Ms. Marvel’s dad, Yusuf Khan (Mohan Kapoor), tosses out this approach. Blending the earnest tone of Ms. Marvel with Born Again just after the White Tiger assassination and the Punisher Cops/Mayor Fisk intrigues feels like we’ve slipped through a Sling Ring portal into the broader, sillier MCU. The bottle episode has arrived for the Devil Of Hell’s Kitchen, and its timing couldn’t be worse.
I freely admit that accusing Daredevil’s St. Paddy’s Day mishap of disrupting Born Again’s edginess is embarrassing. In isolation, it’s lighthearted and inoffensive enough. Edit out the bank robbers’ Oirish sailor talk and the few mentions of the series’ broader storyline, and this could fit snugly into a second season of Ms. Marvel or one of those “One-Shots” Marvel Studios used to produce. It has a dumb sweetness that should appeal to fans who go ballistic over stuff like Marvel name-drops: Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) gets at least five (we learn she’s hanging out with “friends” in California), and Yusuf shows off her bedazzled Funko Pop. Fun! But why is this here? And why now?
This episode’s existence might be a remnant from before Born Again‘s extensive reshoots last year, reflecting a softer vision of the series that skewed closer to the Matt Murdock of Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. One could interpret it as a deserved, intentional break from Daredevil‘s overt seriousness, giving Charlie Cox a chance to showcase some breezy comic chops, as he does by using his native accent to trick his almost offensively Irish kidnappers via walkie-talkie. His banter with Yusuf outside the bank vault recalls the single-room, empty-calorie character work reminiscent of The Flash and DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow. (And, interestingly, this episode is written by Flash and Legends CW vet Grainne Godfree.) Jammed into the frantic heart of Born Again, the momentum established in the season’s first half stalls out.
Still, some faint character development occurs in episode five. In foiling these bank robbers (recall Cillian O’Sullivan’s Devlin from the Red Hook execution scene earlier this season), Matt is compelled to wear one of their colorful masks to chase down the leader in broad daylight. Of course, the mask is red. This marks the first time he’s taken part in extrajudicial action since Foggy Nelson died, another baby step toward Murdock’s eventual return to vigilante darkness, which makes it unintentionally funny that the episode featuring this moment is so bright and weightless.
After Matt’s Bank Adventure, we return to the familiar rhythms of Born Again, where the previously hinted-at Muse subplot is suddenly thrust into the spotlight. The development of Murder Banksy (a mysterious artist who paints with his victims’ blood!) has been almost nonexistent, relegated to a couple of pre-credit stingers and shots of those dreadful street tags criticizing Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) for vague reasons. Muse’s role in Fisk’s plan to eliminate masked vigilantism in New York City is equally ambiguous: What are his goals other than to create terrible art while looking ridiculous?
Before we spend too much time on Muse, let’s return to Matt’s confrontation with the bank robbers from the previous episode. The criminals who orchestrated this mess have further disrupted Vanessa Fisk’s (Ayelet Zurer) criminal operations, leaving a $1.8 million debt unresolved between Luca (Patrick Murney) and another gangster unresolved. This prompts Luca to visit her husband during office hours. Oddly, their tense standoff is interspersed with a scene of Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) sharing her new idea for a book with sweetie-pie Matt—exploring people’s fascination with vigilantes and other social taboos. This creative choice undercuts both moments: The Kingpin-versus-Luca one ends in a stalemate, and Matt and Heather have a minor tiff, presumably hinting at more serious rifts to come. (Maybe Murdock can hit up Sofija from the third episode after he eventually breaks up with Heather?)
Back to episode six, where the Hector Ayala tragedy is frustratingly grafted onto Muse as an afterthought. Matt meets with Hector’s grieving niece, Angela Del Toro (Camila Rodriguez), who visits the Murdock & McDuffie offices to discuss her uncle’s secret investigation into—what else?—the Muse murders. She can’t turn to the police (after all, an NYPD officer may have killed White Tiger), but Matt falls back into the indifferent attitude he displayed back in episode four: “What do you want me to do about it?” (Angela, speaking for all of us: “How about literally anything, Mr. Murdock?”) Naturally, Angela, motivated by one of her uncle’s last pieces of advice—”Don’t rely on anyone to do what you can do for yourself”—decides to do some investigating on her own. I doubt hunting down a serial killer was what he had in mind, Angie.
In all fairness to Ms. Del Toro, at least she’s taking matters into her own hands while the series lead twiddles his thumbs. This proactive energy doesn’t last. Muse snatches her up outside his sewer lair, prompting Murdock to make his most consequential decision of the season so far—stepping back into the red boots of Daredevil. The escalation of Muse at this stage in the season, draining the White Tiger saga of its potency and jutting out like a sore thumb in a beanie, is disheartening. What does a crew of rogue NYPD officers bearing Punisher’s symbol matter when there’s a serial killer out there racking up a stupefying body count? Cherry (Clark Johnson) tells Matt that Muse has claimed sixty (!) victims, which raises the question: Why are folks only now giving a shit? After listening to Cherry rattle off Muse’s stats, I found myself in the rare position of supporting Team Fisk—because when Wilson’s right, he’s right: When the sanitation department uncovers a new serial killer before the cops (they’re the ones who found the “blood paint” situation), that’s bad news for the city. (It also further diminishes the intimidation factor of this secret cop gang, I must say.)
Dramatically, Matt finally suiting up as Daredevil to rescue Angela from some third-string goof is anti-climactic, especially with the Hector Ayala/Punisher story arc stirring up a long-abandoned sense of street justice. Its Seven-adjacent shocks cheapen the stakes of Hector’s murder and make Matt’s earlier refusal to embrace his hero’s call feel even more arbitrary. “Fuck it,” he says and runs off into the night as the Devil Of Hell’s Kitchen. Indeed.
While this Muse rush job does little for Angela, Hector, or Born Again, it greatly undermines Matt’s moral struggle. The series establishes his resistance to accepting his alter ego and internal conflict between justice and personal responsibility, only to toss it aside to keep the ball rolling. After the bank heist detour, Matt’s embracing of his darker persona is even more jarring. (It’s wild to be complaining about Daredevil finally getting to be Daredevil in a show called Daredevil, but damn.) If his guilt for exposing Hector as a vigilante weighed on our Catholic superhero’s decision to hit the streets again, it’s now a footnote. Sure, it’s thrilling to see Matt finally jump across rooftops decked out in his street gear, but considering how much narrative energy was spent on his denial of the hero’s call, this feels less like the progression of a satisfying arc than a speed run to the season’s finale.
As this week’s puzzling two-fer comes to a close, Murdock and Fisk share another scene juxtaposed against each other. This time, Daredevil battles Muse (who surprisingly holds his own despite being a dork) while Kingpin violently beats on Vanessa’s beau, Adam (Lou Taylor Pucci). (Hizzoner was in a sporting mood and offered Adam an axe for self-defense.) Similar to the dual introduction of this episode, both sequences end with a thud, as Muse disappears into the NYC sewer system and Adam’s fate remains unresolved for now. Born Again barrels into its second half, though the cost to its quality is significant.
Stray observations
- • It’s worth mentioning that Born Again executive producer Sana Amanat co-created Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel with G. Willow Wilson, Stephen Wacker, Adrian Alphona, and Jamie McKelvie.
- • I would have compared the bank episode to Spike Lee’s Inside Man (it feels like that’s what they were going for), but the chemistry between negotiator Angie Kim (Ruidbo Quan) and Devlin is a faint echo of Denzel Washington and Clive Owen—but then, anything would be. (For the record, the delivery of that leprechaun joke was awful.)
- • Matt hears the police planning their breach from inside the bank? How good is that guy’s range?
- • “Just checking in.” Isn’t it odd that Matt’s Catholicism has been completely broomed this season? I realize his confidant Father Lantom is dead, but shouldn’t a Daredevil show have its repentant/guilt-besotted Catholic lead spending at least a little time in a confessional booth—or, at the very least, atop a church looking cool?
- • Heather asks Matt to hook her up with Punisher for an interview. Doesn’t she know he’s a maniac? Why is she written this way?
- • This exchange between Matt and Angela is revealing: “‘Therapy talk?’ Was I doing that?” “Straight up, and I hate that shit.” “Sure. I hate it, too.” Dr. Glenn’s sleepovers with Matt are reaching their end, I think.
- • This week features the return of Tony Dalton as Swordsman, who shakes Kingpin’s hand and then disappears. We know Swordsman is doing some vigilante stuff in the background of the series, but for now, Born Again is stashing him in the periphery.
- • I can’t be sure, but I think the artist who handled Muse’s graffiti jobs was Daredevil cover artist and Echo co-creator David Mack.
- • Also, Muse’s double-murder of his fans is lifted from a Charles Soule/Ron Garney issue of Daredevil, and if I remember correctly, he poses the bodies under a Punisher art piece.
- • One development that will certainly escalate Born Again is Fisk’s new task force, a gang of bad cops hand-picked by the mayor to patrol the city streets with special powers and privileges—no body cameras, for example—and no oversight.
- • Officer Cole North is a recent addition to Daredevil comic-book lore. Co-created by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto, Cole is considered an upstanding officer, not the Punisher-aping goon he’s made out to be here. I wonder if he’s a secret Nice Guy.
- • Josie’s Jukebox: The Young Dubliners’ “The Rocky Road To Dublin,” Valentino’s “Bossa Nova Linda.”
