It took Daredevil: Born Again six episodes to put Matt Murdock back in the suit, and I think that was a tactical error. I liked both of these episodes. I’m still saying it.
Welcome back to the Daredevil: Born Again after show. Joining me again is my good friend Gonzo, a best friend of mine. We go back years and years in this stuff. We met at a comic book shop, so when I said to myself I wanted to start talking about some of this, he was like, yeah, let’s do it, man. And I want you to know who he is, because he’s not just Joe Blow who doesn’t know stuff. When I had a production company, he was one of my writers in the writers’ room. He knows exactly what a filler episode means and how those things work, which is one of the reasons I’m really happy we’re doing this together. We can talk industry speak and it makes sense. (He’d tell you he talks like Joe Blow anyway.)
We got two episodes, and I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting that. Midway through the first one I’m texting him that there’s a second, and he’s telling me he’s not physically ready for it because he’s old.
With Interest Is a Bottle Episode, and It Works
Gonzo’s first thought on “With Interest” was that he’s glad they started fighting again. He liked all the lawyer drama with very little action, and he said last time it was needed, but he was ready for a fight and they gave him one. It felt quick to him. He had to check the time, and he figures the action is what kept him engaged.
This is what they call a bottle episode. I heard people online this morning calling it a filler episode, and I’d say yes and no. To me this was the first one that felt like an episodic episode of television. He’s thrust into a situation and he has to figure it out. It was jarring for some people when it comes to how that fits into the overall narrative, but this is what everybody’s been wanting. You guys wanted normal TV type stuff, and this is normal TV type stuff.
I also thought it worked really well. He’s in a very real situation they’d already set up, which is that the firm needs more money to grow. And we got the cameo from Kamala Khan’s father from Ms. Marvel, which I thought was cool. Gonzo saw him and thought, I think this is the guy, and I told him it is. He tried that show and it wasn’t his cup of tea. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t for him.
I’ve seen it said that this episode is one of the few holdovers from the first version of the show. A lot of people know this show was basically almost completely done, and then Kevin Feige got his power back from Bob Iger, Iger said quality over quantity, and Feige said oh thank God, redo all this. This is one of the few episodes that’s almost completely intact from that version. It did feel totally different, and I didn’t mind it. I enjoyed it.
Gonzo’s point on the filler question is the one I’d keep. It felt like a normal television show, and it was needed, because it builds them toward becoming full-blown Daredevil and Kingpin. Both of them are trying to go different ways and those lives keep pulling them back in. They needed certain scenarios to bring that about, and the bank robbery was one of them.
And the Irish robbers on St. Patrick’s Day were great. That guy was real Irish. He’s calling Matt a solicitor, which is clearly what they call lawyers overseas, and I was like, oh, they flew these guys in. These aren’t local gang guys.
Muse Is the Villain Before the Big Villain
“Excessive Force” is where we get the full-blown introduction to Muse.
I’d been worried about the Kingpin anti-vigilante thing, because in the comics it was a very different thing that involved a lot of the Defenders. It had Luke Cage, it had some other characters in it. This episode told me the direction they’re going. He’s lumping everybody with a mask in under the anti-vigilante legislation he’s trying to push in New York, Muse now falls under that, and it’s the excuse he needs to create this pseudo army of Punisher police. I thought that was cool.
Gonzo said it felt like an issue of a comic book, some guy who came and went, on to the next issue. They used Muse to be the breakthrough. He compared it to Amazing Spider-Man right before Carnage came about, where the villain of the issue was a guy in blue and black with a staff and the lightning. Neither one of us could pull the name. I knew exactly who he meant, though, because Erik Larsen introduced him. You read it and think okay, that was good, and then all of a sudden there’s Carnage in the jail cell with Kasady. That’s what Muse was for Gonzo: the villain right before the big villain.
He Just Says Eff It and Goes
One of the things I loved is they didn’t over-romanticize Matt making the decision. He’s sitting there realizing he needs to do something, and he didn’t go to a church and pray. He literally just goes, eff it. He goes and gets the thing and next thing you know he’s on the roofs. You’ve had enough buildup, let’s just go. I was really happy we finally got daredeviling in Daredevil.
Then he finds Muse, and I know it’s a television show and there are time purposes, but man, how did he find him so fast? That was very contrived. My comic book loving brain does what we do and fills in the gaps, because it’s got to make sense somehow, so I immediately decided he keyed in on the girl’s heartbeat. But how did he hear her from that far? Gonzo said the maze of the subway must have been really small, dude.
I feel like they’ve been pushing the boundaries of his powers just a tiny bit. He’s supposed to be extra sensory. Superman can be above the city and pick out Lois Lane’s heartbeat, and that’s not who Matt is. Gonzo brought up the vault in the previous episode. When he picked that lock, that was believable because of his heightened senses.
That got us onto what you’d honestly do with Daredevil’s powers. I don’t mean blind, I mean the hearing and all of it. Gonzo says he’s not a chismoso, somebody who likes the drama and listens in on conversations, so he wouldn’t care. For me the most honest version of somebody getting powers is Jumper, with Hayden Christensen. What’s the first thing he does? He robs banks. Can I see inside the vault? Okay, cool. In and out. That’s the most honest Nightcrawler stuff right there.
The Niece, the Blood, and the Task Force
We got to see White Tiger’s niece again, and Gonzo called it a hook so Matt can become Daredevil again. There was no other reason for it, but it enhanced his purpose and ours. Oh no, that’s his niece. He put it next to Kamala’s father. If Kamala’s father had died in that bank, right now you’d be thinking, okay, so what’s Kamala going to do, are they bringing her in? The hook is there to get Daredevil where he needs to get to. That’s fair.
The paint this masked artist named Muse is using has human blood in it, and Fisk gets real mad and uses it as his springboard. When the sanitation department figures out we have a serial killer before the police do, there’s a problem. And did you notice the head of sanitation was the guy who’d been in the bank? I think that’s just the show telling us it’s a small world. Gonzo’s version is somebody said hey, day player, you want to be in the next episode? An extra 300 bucks.
I was with Gonzo on the chemical analysis, too. That seems awfully advanced for Joe the whatever. And the way he presents it: we tried the normal stuff, the high pressure, it didn’t work. Where are you going with this? I know people like that. They need you to know what was going on in their brain when they found out the paint was blood.
Then Fisk has the files. Here are all the guys I want us to use. The commissioner says those are some pretty bad apples, and sure enough he’s arming them up to go fight the masked vigilante element where it lives. Dude, you’re literally creating your own personal army.
Gonzo tied that back to the bank. The robber got some good shots in on Matt. He wasn’t flawless, he got hurt. So when you see a task force of regular cop dudes, it might actually be a challenge, because if Daredevil just kicks everybody’s butt then those guys are nothing to him. I like that too. He really is just a human who can take a beating.
What I love about that stairwell scene is he’s got to do it quietly and fast. The sound mixing is built around him having to be quiet the whole time, and even when the gun falls, he’s got the dude locked up and he catches it.
Why Did We Wait Until Episode 6?
I’ll revisit this when we get to the finale, but I don’t know that Disney needed to go the long way around. Everybody assumed this was going to be the next extension of Daredevil. They could’ve jumped in and given us that. They decided something traumatic has to happen so he’s not wearing the costume, and then we get the character tension and the arc of him building back up to it. Why did we need to wait until Episode 6 to suddenly have him be Daredevil again? I believe that was a tactical error, and a lack of creativity about how to just jump in.
Gonzo reminded me the Netflix Daredevil did the same thing. It took him to the end of the freaking season to put the helmet on, and that’s always been his one complaint about it. Then you’ve got Halo, where he takes the helmet off in the first episode. It’s a pendulum. Dude, in the middle. Just come on, man.
I knew we were in for something with Episode 6, because it started with the intro. There was no cold open. They just wanted the intro out of the way. You’re going to need this whole story wall to wall, let’s go. And I liked it.
Fisk Rips the Suit
Gonzo’s favorite thing was the Fisk fight alongside the Daredevil fight, the two scenes back to back, both of them unleashing their rage. He’d been asking in earlier episodes what Fisk is eating all this dainty food for. Now Fisk has a goulash happening on his plate with sausage links and wine. He’s gaining his weight back, muscle and fat at the same time, and in that last episode his jacket rips.
I love when he throws the axe, dude, unbuttons his jacket, and it’s let’s go. Gonzo says it’s his own fault, but all he can see now is the sugar guy from Men in Black.
Vincent D’Onofrio is a gift. I’ve never seen somebody get so into a role, and I mean off screen as much as on. He’s online supporting it. I know they pay them sometimes for marketing, but he’s been talking about Daredevil and that role for so long, and he’ll engage with fans about it all the time. I’ve never seen him shy away from it. Charlie Cox too. But even before they brought D’Onofrio back for Hawkeye, he was saying it’s one of the greatest roles he’s ever done. Everybody says that’s an actor jockeying for a job. Whatever, man. He’s damn good at it. Let him keep doing it. It sounds like he means it.
Gonzo’s enjoying it. It has its quirks. We’re doing this again next week, and my full review is where you’ll get the normal beat for beat and the rating.
If you’re enjoying these after shows and you want more of this kind of content from Gonzo and me, tell us in the comments on the video above. I enjoy doing them, and I can tell from the watch time that you’re enjoying watching them, which makes me very, very happy. Never forget, everyone loves a know-it-all.
