It’s Time To Be Honest: Daredevil: Born Again Has A Major Pacing Problem
Muse finally gets the spotlight in Daredevil: Born Again — but is it too little, too late?
For all its moving parts, Daredevil: Born Again is all about the struggle between two reluctant foils. The series is a two-hander shared by Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil (Charlie Cox), and the omnipotent Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) — no matter where this story goes, it always leads back to these adversaries, their similarities and differences. And for the most part, that strategy really works: it allows Born Again to invoke its predecessor on Netflix and gives it a thematic focus. But it can also undermine the aspects of the show that stray from the central brief, turning great ideas into mere tools to serve the narrative.
While the problems plaguing Born Again were subtle at first, its pacing issues have only gotten more pressing, and its latest episode shines a harsh light on that reality. After weeks of subtle build-up, the series finally gives the spotlight to a new, dangerous villain, Muse. Our hero has clearly met his match in the tortured graffiti artist: the threat he poses is enough to get Matt to suit up for the first time in months, and their fight finally puts the devil back in Daredevil. Their rematch in Episode 7 doesn’t disappoint either, especially with so much on the line for Matt. It’s just the kind of kinetic, urgent storytelling Born Again has been holding back on — but is it enough to save the show this late in the game?
Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again Episode 7.
Episode 7 has a lot of problems, chief among them its treatment of Muse.
Episode 7, “Art for Art’s Sake,” may be the weakest of the series thus far. It does deliver a kickass rematch between Daredevil and Muse, all while fleshing out the mystery of the latter’s identity. But it also rushes through a reveal that should have been built up throughout the season. This week’s episode builds on Muse’s emergence as New York’s latest serial murderer, drawing the character into the web of tensions between Matt, his girlfriend Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), and Fisk’s anti-vigilante crusade.
As the NYPD gets closer to identifying the man behind the Muse mask, Heather attends a therapy session with her latest client, Bastian Cooper (Hunter Doohan). We first met Bastian in Episode 2, at Heather’s book signing, and the pair have been working together ever since. With the help of some heavy-handed exposition, we learn that Muse and Bastian are one and the same. He’s a rich kid who’s been in and out of mental institutions since he was 15, burdened by lofty artistic goals and suppressive obligations to his family. He’s also well-versed in taekwondo, which explains how he’s able to hold his own against a brawler like Daredevil.
After clumsily connecting the dots, Born Again blurs the lines between Bastian and Muse entirely. He plans to use Heather’s blood for his latest piece, as he believes she’s the key to unlocking his artistic genius. Daredevil fortunately intervenes before Muse can murder again — but it’s Heather who eventually takes Muse out, and Fisk’s anti-vigilante task force who swoops in to take the credit for his demise.
Heather gets the spotlight alongside Muse in Episode 7 — but it all feels rushed in the grand scheme.
Muse’s introduction to the MCU provides some excitement here and there, but it’s ultimately too rushed to fulfill the character’s potential. He’s essentially here to escalate tensions between other characters: Heather was already wary of vigilantes, but after nearly being slaughtered by Muse, there’s no way she’ll be sympathetic to the plight of heroes like Daredevil. Muse will likely stir anti-vigilante sentiment throughout the city as well, bolstering people’s reliance on Fisk’s corrupt task force. He’s effectively made things much more difficult for both Matt and Daredevil, but is that all he’s good for in the grand scheme? Was there really no better way to use a villain like Muse, and did he have to be taken off the board so quickly?
It’s clear that Muse’s rushed arc — from Fisk’s team discovering the blood in his graffiti paint, to his quick reveal two episodes later — was a casualty of the show’s creative rehaul. Bastian Cooper’s introduction all the way back in Episode 2 is nearly forgotten by the time he pops up again five episodes later. One can imagine, in the original version of the show, Muse played a more prominent part. And while the show’s overhaul to bring back returning favorites like the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) was mostly a net positive for Born Again, it’s rushed storylines like this that make you think of what the show could have been.
The series missed a prime opportunity to build Muse up into a major Daredevil antagonist, on par with someone like Bullseye or even Punisher. Netflix’s original series took its time introducing those characters, diving deep into their psyches to understand why they did what they did... and why Daredevil needed to stop them.
Born Again takes that same strategy and truncates it to one episode, using convenient tropes to get us up to speed. It comes dangerously close to reducing Heather to a damsel in distress, and it doesn’t bring all that much to Matt’s own struggle as Daredevil, either. On its own, Episode 7 is a fine episode, but when juxtaposes with the rest of the season, it only highlights the narrative flaws that have been accruing from the very beginning.
