Daredevil: Born Again - S01E07 - Art for Art's Sake

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Daredevil is back and races Fisk to stop Muse from killing again.

Runtime: 40 minutes IMDB score: 8.1

 

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I didn't post earlier, because I was suffering from migraines several days in row. I can feel one brewing for today as well, but I feel responsible to post and not post bone. After all, we had to wait years for this show to materialize because Netflix had put clauses in the contracts, preventing actors from playing the part in other shows. So I am putting an effort to get it done, even if I'm in pain.

Let's see how this short episode rolls...

Mayor Fisk and the yes-men. "When you look out from this window, what do you see?"

"Starbucks!" Number 1 yes-man said, while the other suggested, "Voters?"

"Voters," number 1 corrected.

Man, it did a world of good to see this morning pictures of protestors shutting down the Manhattan island. It felt as if all millions of people, living in the city, had come out to show their mind about the corruption and autocracy. Then again, I also saw a picture from 9 police officers protecting one lonely cybertruck. Mayor Fisk has never seen such a thing, even though you'd think he's as corrupted as the agent orange.

But that's the thing, I don't believe that Marvel would allow Mayor Fisk to get into such a situation, even though it very much suits the storylines. Just like you might have seen happening in the Captain America: Brave New World. I don't think Fisk would go into prison again, willingly.

The number 2 asked: "What do you see, sir?"

"Fear," Mayor Fisk answered. "City churching to stop... And I promised this city that I'd protect it from this... freak, and we have nothing."

To him, just like it is to the DareDevil and two webslingers, the city is the big picture. It is in their heart, but for different reasons. Fisk trying to turn a new leaf, even though deep inside him, he's battling the demon called Kingpin. That is his main essence, not matter how much he tried to build an image of goodman. And the city knows it, even if the man itself tried to deny. Deep inside of him, he knows the truth, just as his yesmen told him about Daredevil bringing Muse's victim in the one of the city hospitals.

He's not the only monster that the city holds. And yet, the main monster showed fear, when he uttered: "He's back..." to no one to hear.

Afterwards he told Buck, the number 2, about how he really felt about "masked vigilante," and suggested that he'd used "Institutional resources" to hunt down vigilantes. But Buck talk him down, suggesting that the people in the city would see it as abuse of power. wink-wink-nudge-nudge-say-no-more

Oh Matthew, the sins. No matter how much you wish, you cannot wash them away. Yet, it is interesting that it's Matt that feels the pangs of guilt, and not the devil. It is the man inside the mask that always goes through the torment. Someone could say that he's addicted and every time that adrenaline dump hits, the side effects brings out the guilt. As if he'd sinned...

Yet, it's delightful that the man doesn't feel the same about the other activities. After all, the man is catholic. He even brushed it off when the current girlfriend brought it up after the sex. He lied about how he got the bruises on his body. All that's related to the devil is hidden under the lawyer level of lies. Even if it would be beneficial for him to bring out the fact, then to keep it hidden. But what the man can do when the other side is an author level psychiatrist.

She saw through the lies and were upset about it, and yet, all Matt could do was to be himself. A lying weasel.

So, it's no wonder for why Cherry the Private Investigator walked away and stated that he wanted no-one if it, if Matt as a DD was going blow his life away. After the refusal, Matt's own investigation led him to Angela's hospital bed, but she couldn't help much. Just that she saw Muse being obsessed painting faces and not murals.

In the private, under Heather's the shrink's observations, the Muse turned out to be the rich boy that Mayor Fisk under earthed through the official investigation. Yet, he didn't tell the shrink the truth about his first victim, a Ta Kwan Do teacher that daddy had hired to teach him privately, turned out dead when he was sixteen. That would explain why he was able to compete with DD all on his own.

With Heather being who she is, she figured out who the boy was when he painted a face with blood from nose bleed. Not being able to hide her feelings, she shed a tear, feeling anxious and scared. The muse noticed it and went close to her, "No, no Doctor," he said. "You don't understand, this is a good thing."

Nodding towards the picture, she asked, "Is that your true self?"

Sebastian, the Muse, nodded. He looked her in the eyes and stated, "There's only one thing in your mind right now. Can I make to the door in time?"

Just after the kidnapping, DD found his way into the Muse's lair to conduct an investigation, and he found out this...

Remember what I said about him being able to read through the touch. That's what he was doing when he found out Muse's obsession on his girlfriend. Only his super hearing didn't save him, when Fisk's Task Force member stumbled on the scene. He called the Mayor and got orders to only involve the members in the hunt. The surprising thing is that the Muse had not taken his victim away from doctor's officer. Instead, he'd tied her to a chair and showed split personality disorder while wearing the mask.

Why didn't he seek another lair? Instead, he proceeded to tell Heather that it was her books, that brought out the Mask, as if the irony was itself setting the scene. So, the question is, would a Muse really kill his muse?

Personally, I don't think so, as I know how hard it has been for me since Viv died. But for the story reasons, I can see why he'd kill his obsession. After all, Muse is a madman, because Sebastian would have used his brain instead of staying in the scene, like an obsessed idiot. The most interesting thing is that New York's finest arrived at the house first, just before DD entered through the window.

The fight between the two was even better than the first one in the lair. Maybe because the tension was maximized with the bleeding victim in the room and the task force gathering at the outside. In the midst of the fight, Muse realized that he wasn't able to win it. But he could still get his last victim, the obsession, as he grabbed a knife from the table. Matt sensing what was happening launched his grappling hook through Muse's shoulder, spilling an obscene amount of blood on the canvas that Muse had laid on the floor, as he dragged him away from the victim.

It kind of shows that Devil has gone past the threshold that prevented him from killing people. But, it was Heather who emptied Muse's revolver on his chest, before she went out from the blood loss.

At the evening, when Mayor Fisk found his way to the scene, he could only but smile to see dead Muse on the floor and Daredevil given credit for taking him down. It's just that didn't sit well with the Mayor, as he gave the credit for taking down the Muse to Sgt North. Corruption, man...

 

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I leave this here...

Ars Technica: The Matt Murdock/Wilson Fisk dynamic is so central to the show. How does the cinematography visually enhance that dynamic?

Hillary Fyfe Spera: They're coming back to their identities as Kingpin and Daredevil, and they're wrestling with those sides of themselves. I think in Charlie and Vincent's case, both of them would say that neither one is complete without the other. For us, visually, that's just such a fun challenge to be able to show that dichotomy and their alter egos. We do it a lot with lensing.

In Fisk's case, we use a lot of wide-angle lenses, very close to him, very low angle to show his stature and his size. We use it with a white light in the pilot, where, as the Kingpin identity is haunting him and coming more to the surface, we show that with this white light. There's the klieg lights of his inauguration, but then he steps into darkness and into this white light. It's actually a key frame taken directly from the comic book, of that under light on him.

For Matt Murdock, it's similar. He is wrestling with going back to being Daredevil, which he's put aside after Foggy's death. The red blinking light for him is an indication of that haunting him. You know it's inevitable, you know he's going to put the suit back on. It's who these guys are, they're damaged individuals dealing with their past and their true selves. And his world, just from an aesthetic place, is a lot warmer with a lot more use of handheld.

We're using visual languages to separate everyone, but also have them be in the same conversation. As the show progresses, that arc is evolving. So, as Fisk becomes more Kingpin, we light him with a lot more white light, more oppression, he's the institution. Matt is going into more of the red light environment, the warmer environment. There's a diner scene between the two of them, and within their coverage Matt is shot handheld and Fisk is shot with a studio mode with a lockdown camera. So, we're mixing, we're blending it even within the scenes to try and stay true to that thesis.

Creating a distinctive aesthetic for Daredevil: Born Again

Ars chats with cinematographer Hillary Fyfe Spera on bringing a 1970s film vibe to the Marvel series.

arstechnica.com