Recap: Matt Murdock Investigates the Death of his Friend in Latest "Daredevil: Born Again"
Last week’s shocking third episode of Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again left fans heartbroken and with a lot of questions. Mayor Fisk has declared war on vigilantes and the Punisher is apparently back in play. How is Matt Murdock going to respond to the brutal murder of his new friend? Things continue to get more and more intense in New York.
The episode opens with Matt meeting with the coroner who take care of Hector’s body. Their meeting is interrupted by Angela, Hector’s niece, who demands to see his body. Matt talks her out of it though and she professes her hatred for the NYPD and the city as a whole. As she cries, Matt tells her she has to believe they’ll find her uncle’s killer. Elsewhere, we see a man in a white mask with what appears to be blood dripping from his eyes, carrying a body across some train tracks. This man would be a comic villain known as Muse. The artist-turned-killer is known to murder people and then paint images of his victims. He is likely the one responsible for the murals we’ve been seeing around the city and hearing about in the news reports, but is he also the man who killed Hector while masquerading as the Punisher?
After the title sequence, we find Daniel Blake, BB Urich and a friend in a club. Daniel says he has to leave to get ready for work and professes his love for Fisk. He tells BB about a recycling plan Fisk has a meeting about the next day, which BB questions before he shoots her down. They head outside and Daniel gets in a cab to head home. Behind them, on the walls, we can see murals, with a signature below them that reads “Muse." As Daniel’s cab pulls away, we see a man being arrested outside a convenience store.
Kirsten calls Matt and tells him he has to take a client because they owe someone a freebie. Matt agrees and it turns out his new client is the man we saw being arrested.
We then see Wilson and Vanessa in a therapy session as Heather urges them to discuss Adam, the man with whom Vanessa had an affair. They reluctantly discuss the topic for a few moments before reaching the end of their session. Heather asks Vanessa to stay back so they can briefly speak alone. She asks Vanessa if she feels safe in her marriage and Vanessa assures her she does.
The BB Report shows a man saying he is a fan of vigilantes before we see Matt meet with his new client, Leroy Bradford. Matt informs Bradford he has been caught on camera stealing Fiddle Faddle from a bodega. Bradford tries to present Matt with the case that a skrull impersonated him and stole the Fiddle Faddle, a hilarious and interesting reference to Secret Invasion. Matt tries to convince his client he needs to be prepared to accept 30 days in jail but Bradford tells him he won’t take anything less than probation.
Matt goes an meets with Sofija Ozoloa from the DA’s office. This does not seem to be an existing character from the comics but Matt clearly has some flirtatious chemistry with her. He argues her down to 10 days in jail for his client, a deal he is very happy to take.
On his way back to his client, Matt runs into officer Powell. He questions Powell about Hector’s murder and accuses him of doing it in order to get a rise out of him so he can listen to his heartbeat. Powell tells Matt he didn’t do it and Matt knows he is telling the truth. He also tells Matt the police will be coming for him after their fight before Hector’s trial.
Fisk and his team meet at the port in Red Hook and Fisk unveils his plan to rebuild the port and clean it up. Sheila informs him he they have a long process to get to what he wants and he needs to slow things down. He agrees to follow the protocol and Sheila tells him they have a full schedule for the day. Before they head off, Buck tells Fisk privately the crime families are going to continue fighting until one of them takes over or they all die.
Matt gets back to Bradford and informs him of the 10-day deal. Bradford is not happy and goes off about how the system is broken and he’s essentially trapped in it. Matt is clearly affected by his story and he eventually agrees that Bradford is right, but there is nothing he can do about it.
Fisk uncomfortably watches as children sing “We Built This City" for him at what is effectively a photo op for him. Meanwhile, Daniel shows Sheila a story from BB about Fisk’s new recycling plan, in which she calls him a union buster. Sheila tells him not to say anything and to cancel their recycling meeting. After the song, Fisk claps for the children and tells them how talented they are, while simultaneously stopping them from singing another song and putting his coat on to leave.
Sheila informs Fisk of the story and that she canceled the recycling meeting. Fisk is infuriated by the leak and calls for an all hands meeting before realizing he doesn’t know where he is. Sheila informs him they’re at the Latvian cultural center for a celebration of Latvian Heritage Day. When Fisks questions why, She informs him they are an important constituency and leads him to a room where a presentation is already in progress. Fisk takes the stage and a group of Latvian singers perform “We Built This City" for him, in Latvian of course.
Back at his office, Fisk berates his team and promises he will find the leak. Daniel interrupts him and confesses and Fisk tells everyone else to get out. Sheila says she will stay with Daniel and take the blame as well. Before Fisk can say what he wants, Daniel apologizes and explains everything that happened. Fisk is moved by his honesty and decides not to fire or punish Daniel or Sheila.
Matt investigates the scene of Hector’s murder and finds that the bullet casing rolled into a sewer close by. He picks it up and clearly finds something interesting. He follows a trail that leads him to a dingy hideout where he is attacked by Frank Castle, the Punisher. When Frank sees it is Matt, he backs off.
Matt tells him his client was killed by a bullet with his logo on it, and reveals the bullet to bare the familiar skull. Frank points out that he has copycats, and Matt acknowledges this to be true, with many of them being police. Matt tries to tell him he could be of service, which sparks a heated debate. Eventually, Frank brings up Foggy and pushes Matt until he eventually strikes him. Matt apologizes and tries to draw himself away from his darker side, but Frank keeps pushing. He tells Matt he should have killed Bullseye, which prompts an outburst from Matt. This is a continuation of the contentious relationship between these two and their differing philosophies on what it means to be a hero. Matt eventually leaves after and emotional conversation (and incredible scene), getting no answers from Frank in regards to Hector’s murder. It’s unclear if we’ll see Frank in action going forward.
Wilson and Vanessa have dinner and discuss their therapy session. Vanessa asks him if she is right to feel safe with him and he tells her his father was not a forgiving man. He continues however to say that he is trying not to be like his father.
Matt returns home to find Heather waiting for her. Their relationship has clearly progressed and they are now very close. These kinds of things typically don’t end well for Matt Murdock or, more specifically, the other person.
Matt lies awake in the middle of the night and gets up from his bed, leaving Heather sleeping. Meanwhile, we see Fisk heading down some stairs. Matt heads up to the roof where he has a hidden closet of sorts and opens it to find his Daredevil equipment. Fisk enjoys a meal while a man pleads with him from off camera. Matt practices with his signature billy club, clearly having not lost a step. Fisk reveals the man pleading to be Adam, the man with whom Vanessa had her affair, and we see that Fisk has him locked in a cell.
Finally, we get back to Muse carrying the man we saw earlier. We see some very disturbing artwork on strewn throughout another dingy hideout. The man wakes up on a table to find Muse draining him of blood. He screams in pain as we see Muse’s face, still masked, and the episode comes to a close. It’s a horrific ending to an episode that evokes a whole range of emotions.
On the topic of Muse, the character’s identity was never revealed in the comics. However, the credits of this episode give us an idea. Actor Hunter Doohan is once again credited as playing Bastian in this episode. He was last seen meeting with Heather at her book signing and telling her he needs help. It appears that disturbed young man is the one in the mask who is killing people and “painting" these murals. If so, it would be very dangerous for Heather to get close to him. Like I said, relationships with Matt Murdock tend to not end well.
This episode was an emotional roller coaster. From a couple of the biggest laugh out loud moments to a wildly dramatic scene between Matt and Frank to something straight out of a horror movie, this episode did it all. Now, we have to wait and see if Matt is really willing to put the suit on once again. And what exactly does Muse have to do with all of this?