This was the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again that I liked, as opposed to loved. Don't get me wrong. It's entertaining enough, and includes several aspects I typically enjoy such as 1) Matt working his brain even harder than his senses, 2) a generous look at Matt's playful side, and 3) the "slice of life" approach to telling this particular story.
But, if I may start at the end of that short list, I also feel that this episode would have been substantially improved by actually leaning into that more by beginning and ending outside of the bank. With the shortest runtime of any episode of the season, just something like a short montage (2-3 minutes, max) of Matt at home in the morning, and then arriving at the bank would have helped anchor this episode a bit, reminding us of the context that is the rest of the show. Because between the slight change in tone compared to the previous episodes, and the entire episode being set within a one block radius of the bank, it feels like it all takes place in its own pocket universe.
"With Interest" does, of course, connect to other events in the show beyond Matt's need for a bank loan for his firm. The robbers are from the very same gang who have been instructed by the Fisks to pay 1.8 million dollars in restitution to another gang for killing a couple of their members.
There is also the connection to the larger MCU provided by assistant bank manager Yusuf Khan, the very proud father of Kamala Khan. I quite like the character, both here and in Miss Marvel, but with the two shows having what I presume to be not perfectly overlapping audiences requires a little more exposition than is ideal. Though I have to say I quite enjoy Funko Pops existing in both their universe and our own. 😉
The episode also contains Daredevil staples such as cracking open the door to the vault by listening to the tumblers falling into place. This is reminiscent of a similar scene in the original show, and has appeared in the comics as well. I should mention that most modern safes or vaults should be near impossible to crack this way, but it's kind of like how Daredevil will still make mention of smelling cordite despite production of it ending after World War II. It's a fun, genre-appropriate trope.
On the sensory side of things, I was perhaps most impressed by what doesn't happen once Matt and Mr. Khan enter the vault. If you're intrigued (or confused), stay tuned because I'll try to post a video on that, and some other sensory highlights from the episode early next week!
Matt is also truly back in fighting form this episode. Where it gets particularly brutal is, of course, at the very end where he absolutely destroys one of the robber's knees. Excessive? Perhaps. But at least that guy isn't going anywhere. Matt gets in a punch, and more, against pretty much all of the rest of them too at various points, most memorably against the guy in the red hood who's taking him down the stairs, which is another very solid scene.
The rest of what makes this episode entertaining is the verbal sparring match between Matt and the robbers. I must admit that I smiled at the comment about Matt being like a "wee Charles Dickens character." I mean, yeah. Sort of. The mention of the orphanage also leads us to a much appreciated nod to Sister Maggie, though she is not mentioned by name.
As I said, I'll return to some of the details of this episode in a separate video, so for now I'll keep this as short and sweet as the episode. It was entertaining enough, though anchoring it a bit more to Matt's life outside outside of that building would have eleveated it substantially in my mind. I hope to return to a review of the excellent sixth episode tomorrow!
This was actually one of my favorite episodes so far! I thought the pacing was great and the Irish gang members were the perfect comic book villain combo of funny and frightening. Much like his daughter, Yusuf Khan makes any scene he’s in more delightful just by being there. Plus, I personally find Matt stealing a random mask and ripping his cane apart to make improvised billy clubs far cooler than any of the actual daredevil suits. But I totally get how the episode feels disconnected from the rest of the series and why that may make people like it less.
Surprised you didn’t love this, Christine. I get what you mean with the bottle episode feeling disconnecting from the rest of the season. Narratively, it’s dicey but it’s an incredible representation of reading an annual during a heavy arc. It felt the closest to a Daredevil issue even more so than the Netflix show.
I know people will harp on the filler aspect and it’s understandable in the days where 10-8 episodes and year long waits are the norms but getting to spend time with the characters outside of their main narratives where they’re allowed to have their personalities shine and explore conflict resolution. This show handled it well by releasing 2 together even if the next episode is the weakest of the season excluding the incredible third act cross cutting action sequence.
This has been my favorite episode of the season so far. I loved the lighter side, Matt talking about his past, the references to Ms. Marvel, and the relationship between Matt and Mr. Khan. I also liked the candy switcharoo. I didn’t see it coming until it was revealed but immediately saw how it would be resolved and enjoyed watching it coming. (Even though for a minute I wondered if that would resolve the business’ financial woes, but then realized he wouldn’t do that.) The fact that it was a matching color is a bit problematic since no one told him it was a yellow (butterscotch colored) diamond, just that it was big, but I am not going to complain about something that made me laugh out loud.
As for the safecracking, Mr. Khan (when trying to buy time) said that this safe was really old, in fact the building was built around it, which is why it was still mechanical rather than modern electronic locks. An easy explanation for why Matt could open it.
Re: The color of the candy, I think that was just coincidence that they happened to match. He would have no way of knowing what color either of them were. Part of me thinks he’d even forget to consider that. Like when he was asked why he didn’t wear green for St. Patrick’s Day, and he almost seemed to think “Oh right, colors are a thing,” for a split second there. He also did put the diamond near the bottom of the bowl at the end, though he also wouldn’t know whether the bowl was transparent or not.
I guess I’m as suprised as you all are that I didn’t loveit. My friends on the Saved Daredevil team loved it as well. In my defense, I’m Swedish and we are way less generous with the use of the word “love.” 😉
But like I said, just five minutes of something more would have easily doubled my enjoyment of the episode. What’s in it was never the issue, I was just a bit frustrated by what I felt was missing. I don’t mind the filler aspect per se, heck I think Matt eating breakfast could be enjoyable in the right hands. Maybe I wanted even more filler?