Recap: Muse Strikes Again in Latest Episode of "Daredevil: Born Again"
After things came to a head and Matt Murdock had to finally suit up again as Daredevil to stop the serial killer Muse in last week’s episode of Daredevil: Born Again, Mayor Fisk is now faced with the task of keeping his promise of providing consequences for Matt’s return to his old life. But with Muse still on the loose, Matt can’t simply stand back and watch.
This seventh episode opens with Fisk talking to Daniel and Buck about the city being gripped with fear. Daniel tells Fisk that a girl escaped from Muse, naming Angela Del Toro. It turns out her last name is not Ayala. In the comics, Angela eventually takes up the White Tiger monicker. Fisk asks how she managed to escape and Buck eventually explains that she claims she was rescued by Daredevil. Fisk angrily orders them out of the room as he looks out the window.
Angela wakes up in a hospital after having nightmares from her attack by Muse. Matt showers at home before Heather joins him. As she steps into the shower, she notices a large bruise on Matt’s back. When she questions him, he shrugs it off. Later, Heather pushes him for information but he again deflects. They have an impassioned conversation that ends with them both saying “I love you." We know what happens to people who get this close to Matt Murdock.
In his office, Matt is immediately confronted by Cherry. Kirtsen also requests his attention but Matt says he needs to speak with Cherry first. Cherry is angry with Matt for suiting up again and going after Muse but Matt asks him to do some more digging so he can go after him again. Cherry refuses, not wanting Matt to return to his life as Daredevil, leaving Matt to work alone.
Fisk speaks with Buck, explaining what Daredevil did to his old “business." He goes on to explain that things are different now and that Fisk has more resources, including the NYPD. Buck warns him that using these resources to settle and old score could be considered an abuse of power. Fisk tells him he has a responsibility to protect the city from anyone who operates outside of the law, conveniently placing that old score within his responsibilities.
Matt meets with Angela in the hospital, where she tells him Daredevil saved him. He tries to get any more information about her experience, but she falls back on her lack of belief in the police. Meanwhile, detective Kim and a team of officers investigate Muse’s lair, where Kim finds a ripped piece of clothing. Angela tells Matt the only other thing she remembers is that Muse kept talking about his sketches of faces.
Vanessa meets with Luka and they discuss the need for a kingpin in the city again. Luka explains that none of the crime families are earning like they were when she was in charge. He suggests it’s time for someone to step up and Vanessa asks if he’s asking for her help.
Heather welcomes a client into her office, the young man who we saw at her book signing a while back. Thanks to credits, we know his name is Bastian and that he is Muse. Bastian talks about a dream he’s been having and Vanessa shifts the conversation to his parents.
Kim meets with Fisk, presenting Bastian as their lead suspect. She explains that they found a piece of clothing that turned out to be a rare type of canvas. On top of Bastian recently purchasing the canvas, he also has a rap sheet that saw him committed multiple times. We also learn he was trained by a taekwondo master, who wound up dead just a few months later.
Meanwhile, Bastian tells Heather about how his parents forced him to compete in taekwondo, even though he always hated it. His martial arts experience would explain how he could hold his own with Daredevil. Bastian shifts the conversation to his art, saying he is the man he is because of Heather. He grows more intense in his praise for her and says the city if finally starting to see him. His nose begins to bleed as he talks.
Fisk asks Kim about Daredevil and she tells him it is very possible he is back. Fisk thanks her and lets her know he will be taking over the case from here. Heather offers Bastian a tissue, but instead is wipes the blood on his fingers and begins to draw with it. He draws Muse in his own blood and when Heather asks about the drawing, he tells her she already knows what it is. Heather starts to cry and Bastian appears concerned, rushing to her side. She asks again and Bastian says the drawing is his true self. Heather makes a run for the door but Bastian slams her into the wall before she can reach it.
Kirsten confronts Cherry about his frequent secret meetings with Matt. She says she fully trusts the two of them but that she does not feel that trust being returned.
In Muse’s lair, Daredevil arrives as the police leave. He feels several sketches of faces before coming across one that looks like Heather. He feels it, much like we saw Matt fell her actual face during their passionate conversation earlier, and realizes she is a target. Officer Powell walks in and calls out for Daredevil to stop, but the vigilante hits him with his billy club before he can act, knocking him unconscious.
Powell calls Fisk to tell him Daredevil was there and that facial recognition tech identified the sketch as Heather Glenn. Fisks orders Powell to take the task force to her office immediately.
Heather wakes up with her hands tied in her office. Muse, now in his mask, sits in front of her. Heather pleads with him not to hurt her, but Muse cuts her arm to begin draining her blood. He hears sirens outside though and becomes distracted. Muse picks up a gun then starts to lay out a large canvas on the floor. Heather tries to fight back but Muse slams her to the floor and beings to choke her when Daredevil crashes through the window.
The two fight in Heather’s office as Fisk’s task force surrounds the building. Daredevil knocks Muse’s gun to the floor and Matt goes after Heather again. Daredevil fires his grappling hook through Muse’s back and out his chest, violently pulling him back to the ground. Eventually, Muse lunges again at Daredevil but Heather shoots him multiple times in the chest, killing him. She falls to the floor, having lost a lot of blood. Daredevil rushes to her, calling out her name.
The task force breaks into the office to find Muse dead and Heather lying stable on the floor. Detective North calls out that someone has stabilized the victim. Later, Fisk arrives on the scene and North tells him Daredevil was there. Fisk decides to spin a story in which his task force were the heroes and that Daredevil was never there, in an effort to dissuade vigilante justice for the public.
Daniel, sitting at Fisk’s desk, watches a video in which someone says they saw Daredevil enter the office through a window. He is interrupted by BB, whom he called to meet him there. Daniel says Fisk is tending to a personal matter tonight so it’s okay for him to be sitting there. He then tries to tell his friend that she owes him one after she ran the Mayor Garbage story a while back. He wants her to run a story saying Daredevil was never at the scene and that the task force killed Muse. BB refuses but Daniel tells her he can make her life either very easy or very difficult. BB doesn’t give him an answer before we cut away.
Heather wakes up in the hospital, with Matt sitting by her side. She tells him she remembers Daredevil calling her name before she passed out. She turns on the news to hear it being reported that Muse was killed by the task force. Fisk addresses the public to say he delivered on his promise to keep the streets safe from vigilantes as Powell holds up Muse’s mask.
Vanessa sits alone at home and sends a text with an address and “he’s alone." We then see Luka receive the text as he sits in a car. Fisk sits alone in a restaurant, eating. Luka enters and points a gun at the back of Fisk’s head but he is shot first. Fisk calmly thanks Buck, who steps out of the shadows. Fisk tells Buck to ask Vanessa if she would like him to bring her something home as the episode ends. Was Vanessa trying to have her husband killed, or did she set Luka up?
This was possibly the most disturbing episode of this series to date, with the Muse story coming to a spectacular and gruesome conclusion. But now, Daredevil has once again stepped out into the light and Mayor Fisk plans to deliver those consequences he promised Matt Murdock. And if Heather has anything to say about Daredevil’s involvement in her recent traumatic event, you can bet she will be in Fisk’s crosshairs as well.