Matt and Mayor Fisk continue to tempt their inner demons.
The latest episode in Daredevil: Born Again felt like Marvel was setting up for crap to hit the fan in the next episode or two. Nearly every storyline was furthered and more importantly, Matt and Mayor Fisk seem to be moving an inch into their darker sides. It’s only time before the two of them revert back to their alter egos of Daredevil and Kingpin. This episode also gave the return of Frank Castle and his official debut into the MCU kicked off with yet another amazing string of dialogue to counter the one he shared with Daredevil in Season Two of the Netflix series. The final moments then gave the audience the chilling first look at Muse, the villain of the season, as he gets himself down and dirty into what will be half the reason this show is TV-MA.
The Aftereffects of White Tiger’s Trial and Murder
The immediate effects of Hector’s death are shown first through Matt’s interaction with Hector’s niece. Last week, it was discussed that Hector’s niece is one of the few people who also take on the White Tiger mantle in the comics, and it appears Born Again may be setting up to have her eventually do this in live action as well. The key word here is eventually, as she still appears quite young in this current iteration. Regardless, she is prepared to get revenge on whatever happened to her uncle and it will be exciting to hopefully watch that come to fruition either in later seasons of Born Again or in another show/movie.
Officer Powell is also still a factor after Hector’s trial. Matt runs into him at the courthouse, where he confronts Powell for possibly being the one to take Hector’s life. According to Matt’s ability to listen to heartbeats, Powell isn’t lying when he says that it wasn’t him, yet it also seems he might have implied who it actually was. As seen earlier, Powell dons a Punisher tattoo and it was seen in the courtroom that he isn’t the only officer to have one. Powell tells Matt that a few others in the force are a little more willing to get their hands dirty, possibly implying that one of these other officers might also have taken Frank’s message a little too aggressively and is the one to have killed White Tiger. If the killer is on the force, it’s going to look pretty bad for Mayor Fisk to once again have dirty cops in the NYPD, even if they weren’t directly working for him this time.
Mayor Fisk and Vanessa
The third episode of Daredevil: Born Again gives Mayor Fisk very little screentime, even though he is Matt’s counterpart throughout this series. This latest episode makes up for that, following Mayor Fisk as he goes through the day of a mayor and works through his marriage to Vanessa. The insight into their relationship allows the audience to see Mayor Fisk’s real driving force, who remains his wife even throughout their issues. Vanessa also shares insight into her character and it appears that therapy is genuinely working for the two of them, allowing them to air out pieces of themselves to each other that they might not have ever discussed.
As mentioned, Vanessa is Fisk’s weakness, always has been and always will be. This being said, we learned the name of the man Vanessa had an affair with during this episode, along with how Fisk is actually handling the situation. It’s fair to assume he never would have taken Vanessa’s infidelity well and his last scene of the episode with himself having dinner while Adam is being held his prisoner depicts that. Yet it also shows the chink in the new Mayor Fisk facade that Fisk has been trying hard to give the public. He has hidden his criminal empire, told Vanessa to stay clear of her new passion and has been trying his best (for Kingpin) to play by the rules in his time as mayor. All this, just for the likelihood that Vanessa’s transgression will make him break and could cost him his role as mayor of New York.
Matt Confronts Frank
The appearance of Frank Castle isn’t shocking as he was featured in one of the many trailers for the new season. Yet, the way in which he was introduced was unexpected, as none of the fans could’ve predicted someone would be parading around as Frank and kill another vigilante. But there Frank is, holed up in his own little bunker, where clearly Matt has been keeping tabs on him as he knew exactly where to go looking for him. It came as no surprise that Frank pleads his innocence, but the entire conversation shifts around instead to Foggy’s death, creating yet again one of the best dialogues to exist in Marvel. If the conversation in Season 2 of the Netflix series was Frank saying Matt never takes it far enough, this one was meant to prove to him he didn’t, even when everyone would have understood if he had.
Although Frank and Matt might have differing perspectives on how they take care of the bad guys, Frank’s point in the entire conversation was to push Matt out of this delusion that he did the right thing by not killing Bullseye and subsequently quitting being Daredevil. He took the easy way out after Foggy’s death and the tough conversation that only someone like Frank could’ve had with Matt is what causes Matt to even consider picking up his weapons at the end of the episode. His resolve is weakening, after the trial and Hector’s death and now this conversation, as he again and again is being proven that as much as he always tried to preach the law would get them, the truth is it will never be enough. And while Frank’s method is not always acceptable, he makes his point once again that the law is never a permanent solution for the horrible people who plague the streets. It creates the question on whether this conversation might have been a hint at what is to come, something like Matt snapping and maybe actually killing Bullseye.
Introducing Muse
The character of Muse alone might be a large aspect of why Daredevil: Born Again is rated TV-MA. We’ve discussed Muse in our reactions to the first two episodes, but for a little refresher, Muse first debuted in a Daredevil comic in 2016. He is deemed a supervillain due to being, “a serial killer artist who plans shocking mass murders, abductions, and torture as a means of creating his “art”, converting them into works of street graffiti.” It’s important to note that he is primarily an antagonist to Daredevil, Punisher, and Blindspot, which likely means that Frank will be returning to help take him down with Matt.
The reason the rating is mentioned is because Muse, as mentioned, does some pretty messed up things with his victims. For those who have seen the show Grotesquerie, that is a great reference to some of the displays or ‘art’ that Muse creates with real people. While we saw a small taste of it at the end of the episode, it remains unclear just how far Marvel really is planning to take Muse and his art, although again, the rating may speak for itself. Regardless, it seems Episode 5 may give way to the first time we publicly see Muse’s so-called art displayed. With both Kingpin and Matt beginning to toe the line to their darker sides, something like a serial killer artist might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back with both of them. Episode 5 is the dead center of the series, so it also seems this would be the ideal place for things to begin building towards the series finale and introducing Muse fully as a villain would be the perfect way to do that.
Image: “Daredevil: Born Again Episode 4,” Michael Patterson, Bam Smack Pow
Sisters Assembled 