With Angela convalescing and her almost-killer still at large, Matt washes off the night’s events with a hot shower with Dr. Glenn, who clocks fresh bruises on his backside. While Matt attempts to shower-sex her mind off it, her concern for his distant behavior sparks a bedside conversation. “Is this some kind of self-harm?” she asks (which, in the context of Daredevil’s whole Catholic deal, is bleakly funny). The defunct firm of Nelson, Murdock & Page comes up, leading Matt to admit that his new situation—fancy attorney gig, beautiful doctor girlfriend, quiet and productive life—feels, well, fake. They share a tender moment, which in prestige-TV language means something terrible is about to happen to one or both of these poor saps.
Rest assured, bad things are coming. For now, we pivot to Murdock & McDuffie, the best place for Matt to avoid practicing law. (Remember when it temporarily felt like Born Again might become a secret justice system procedural? Good times.) It’s chew-out time with Cherry (Clark Johnson); he knows Matt went out last night looking for a fight in his ninja pajamas, a fact that our resident PI doesn’t like even a little bit. “You’re on your own,” Cherry says, which feels like a half-hearted attempt to put his foot down, which Matt all but calls out before their scene ends. “Was a time when you were on the force. Moments like this? You called me.” Right or wrong, Matt’s back in Reckless Mode, and it suits Ol’ Hornhead and Born Again’s drama very well.
Recklessness is something Fisk is coming to know intimately. The mere thought of Daredevil operating under his nose again is intolerable, which, in a strangely vulnerable moment, drives him to vent to his confidante, Buck. (Dr. Glenn’s work is paying off!) Listen to how D’Onofrio delivers the word “righteousness”; it’s revealing. His seething indignation over Daredevil’s brutal, extrajudicial methods almost sounds like admiration—and projection. Sure, Fisk is the mayor of New York, but who does Kingpin think he’s kidding when he says Daredevil—or any vigilante—is out of line for breaking the law? He’s deluding himself, rationalizing the use of his cop gang to wage war against his enemy once and for all. “I have institutional resources, law enforcement resources,” he reassures himself. Buck nudges advantageously: “Using those to settle old scores could be seen as an abuse of power.” Now we wouldn’t want that, would we?
With Fisk distracted by rage, we shift our focus to his better half, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer), who meets disgruntled tracksuit goombah Luca (Patrick Murney) to discuss the state of New York’s criminal underworld—and his outstanding multi-million-dollar debt. “The rules were worth it when you were running things,” he says. “It was better then. You know that.” Luca suggests a change in the way operations are run. If Vanessa is receptive to his scheming, we don’t hear her response, and her enigmatic half-smile clarifies not a damn thing. (It’s this week’s reminder that Zurer is terrific.)
With most of the players in place for next week’s episode, all that’s left is to address the Muse in Dr. Glenn’s office. We learn his true name, which is as goofy as serial killer secret identities get: Muse is professional Random Guy, Bastian Cooper, who has his sad, twisted backstory read aloud to us by the mayor (of all people) while Bastian becomes increasingly twitchy in front of his therapist. Other things we learn: He knows taekwondo (which only partially explains how he could walk away from a sustained beating by Daredevil one night prior), allegedly murdered his master instructor, and resents his parents for forcing him to take the course in the first place. (Bastian is an artist.) Additionally, he considers Dr. Glenn the key to his artistic enlightenment: “You’ve unlocked something in me, Dr. Glenn!”
Hell, maybe she did. Bastian’s therapy sessions were kept from our view for the entire season, so whatever meaning Heather has in Bastian’s life has to be thrown on the wall like so much awful graffiti. Would an extra episode to establish Muse as a growing threat to both the city and especially Dr. Glenn have helped? Can we feel unnerved by someone’s murderous ways if we only learn them from garishly edited shots of a murder dungeon and second-hand factoids from disconnected characters? (Remember: Cherry told Matt he’d killed 60 people last week, a laughably amped-up number to raise stakes that simply were not there before.) It’s difficult to say. But getting to the root of Muse and appreciating the psychic damage he inflicts on Dr. Glenn happens all at once and, for this recapper anyway, felt sapped of drama from the start.
Time seems to buckle at this juncture. Muse goes completely screwy and paints his “true self” with his blood. (The kid gets nosebleeds!) As he smashes poor Heather’s head against a wall, we pause for a scene of Matt touching a bunch of the killer’s sketches (he also tosses a billy club at Officer Powell’s head) before realizing, through the power of his enhanced touching abilities, that Muse has a crush (or the maniac equivalent) on his girlfriend. Off goes Reckless Matt, in broad daylight, to save the day. Muse, kind enough not to kill Heather in the interim, gets dressed for Round Two with the Devil Of Hell’s Kitchen.
Silly and truncated though it may be, the Muse arc serves a purpose. “Look at you!” Dr. Glenn screams at her captor. “Anybody who needs a mask is a coward.” Her opinion on masked vigilantes appears to have fully aligned with her mayor. (Say, how did Heather vote in the last election, anyway?) Her violent takedown of Bastian—gunning him down on his fancy canvas, effectively turning him into a Jackson Pollock piece—seems designed to create a chasm between her and the man she loves. Matt saying her name in uniform, reckless romantic that he is, only confirms that his love life is about to get far more complicated.
Stray observations
- • So when are we getting Buck’s story? This guy seems to be tugging at a few strings to get Fisk to be the ultimate version of Kingpin. Will he press his luck and attempt other forms of manipulation? Is there an endgame for this asymmetrical thinker? We’ll see.
- • When did Angela hear Muse talking about his sketches while she was in his murder dungeon? Wasn’t she completely conked out the whole time?
- • Does Dr. Glenn not have an assistant in her office? Is there no buffer person to prevent strangers from intruding on her delicate therapy sessions with clients like the Fisks?
- • Fisk’s Cop Gang made its first deployment this week, though before they could apply excessive force to Muse and Daredevil, Muse was dead and Hornhead flew the coop. But that doesn’t stop Hizzoner from flipping the script and giving credit for putting the kibosh on Muse to his team of Punisher fanboys. We’ll see if Mayor Fisk can keep a handle on that narrative next week. BB Urich (Genneya Walton) is already on the case.
- • Speaking of BB, this week she makes a deal under coercion with the smarmy Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini). “I’d be so stoked if you made the right call, y’know?” he says with that crooked grin of his. The extent of her obligation to the Fisk administration will have to wait a week, but I doubt Born Again is setting her up for a fall similar to that of her dearly departed Uncle Ben.
- • Muse receives something in this episode that his comic counterpart has long been denied. I’m not completely caught up on my stack of monthly Marvel floppies, but I’m pretty sure Muse was the guy’s only identity in the comics—and that Bastian Cooper is a Marvel Television innovation.
- • Josie’s Jukebox: The Cryin’ Shames’ “Please Stay”
- • There’s a lot of tenuous love going around this week: Did Vanessa set up her husband for a failed assassination attempt, or did he inform on Luca to her husband, ensuring his failure and immediate death? (Kingpin’s position at the table—with his back to the door—suggests the latter.)
