Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 Episode 7 Review
Episode seven of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ brought audiences a new episode of the show, full of action, though one that ultimately ends in a disappointing fashion. Matt Murdock confronts Muse once more, and Wilson Fisk reckons with the fact that Daredevil is once again back out on the streets. There are a lot of good elements here, Muse’s kidnap and torture of Murdock’s girlfriend, Fisk’s paranoia, but it doesn’t come together and it does go anywhere, with a rather flat resolution to the episode. It points to a dire lack of build up and anticipation for the final two episodes, with minimal threads left to resolve.
If there is one shining success, it’s the gruesome way that Muse is fleshed out more in the episode. His identity is revealed as the police describe his disturbing acts from his past, interwoven with the psycho unloading on Heather, Matt’s new girlfriend. It helps to build up an incredible amount of tension, as audiences desperately want someone to stop him. His tactics of bloodletting are extremely invasive, adding to Muse’s creepy vibe.
This disgusting creep has another fight with Daredevil, somehow even more shocking than the last as Daredevil chucks his hook right through Muse’s shoulder. It’s consistent in keeping with the feel of the Netflix series. Unfortunately though, Heather kills Muse in self defence, meaning this deranged artist is dead. He made for a brilliant but underused antagonist, one could have perhaps brought Murdock and Fisk together.
Fisk’s storyline continues to be enjoyable, with him developing a paranoia from Daredevil’s return, contemplating gaming the system.Buck shows he isn’t afraid to question his master. But Buck proves his loyalty later on when he protects Fisk from Luca, who doesn’t think Fisk’s foray into politics is proving fruitful. It’s purposefully hard to tell if Vanessa intentionally sent Luca to die to remove a problem in her criminal empire, or if she’s acting on her urges that Fisk has left the game. It’s a story that has some stakes, audiences know the love Fisk feels for Vanessa and how heartbroken he would be if she betrayed him. That’s more than Daredevil currently has.
Speaking of Daredevil, Matt faces the repercussions of his earlier actions against Muse as Cherry reprimands him for returning to his old life, something that threatens to upend Matt’s relationship with his co-worker at his law firm as she calls both Cherry and Matt out for being distrustful of her. This feeling of distrust further develops as Heather questions Matt about his injuries and walks alone, only to get evasive answers. It’s that inner turmoil Matt has with being Daredevil, and he struggles to unify his identities. This is put to the side though, and isn’t picked up by the end of the episode, ultimately putting the season on a slowdown.
Matt has no reason to be Daredevil anymore with Muse gone, as Fisk hasn’t presented himself as a threat yet. Sure, audiences know his Anti-Vigilante Task Force will eventually pose a threat, but currently they’re just taking credit for Matt’s victory over Muse and posing for the media. It’s unclear where Matt goes from here, which shouldn’t be the case at nearly the end of the first season.
Episode seven, while providing some incredible scenes where Muse is involved, ultimately cuts short the time the major antagonist could have had. With him dies most of the momentum the show had been building, as Matt doesn’t yet feel like he’s on a collision course to tackle Fisk’s position as mayor or have anyone left to fight. This hopefully remains a temporary feeling, as episode eight is bound to ratchet up the tension as the final episode of the first season of ‘Born Again’ looms.
