Before the creative overhaul that resulted in the show we see now, Daredevil: Born Again was supposed to be lighter and less serialized with more self-contained episodes. “Episode 5” feels like a holdover from that old vision: a mostly standalone installment centered around one isolated incident in which Daredevil saves the day. (It’s also a St. Patrick’s Day episode, appropriate for the Irish American Matt Murdock.) And while I’ve had some issues with the show’s decision to emphasize that lightness, especially with Daredevil off the streets and out of Hell’s Kitchen, I have to say this one worked really well for me. I expect the lack of forward plot movement to bother some viewers (plus the MCU tie-in element), but in my book, a Fisk-less mission makes for a refreshing change of pace. Besides, two episodes dropped tonight, so it’s easy to just keep watching if you’re really craving more plot.
At the beginning of the episode, Matt is at New York Mutual regarding a loan application for the firm. The friendly assistant bank manager is Yusuf Khan, Kamala’s dad from Ms. Marvel, and he can’t stop gushing about his daughter. But he can’t help Matt out with the loan, even if he sympathizes with his desire to represent many clients pro bono.
Enter a group of Irish lads mostly identified by the colors of their masks, with Green (Devlin) as the leader. Their objective: Take $1.8 million, enough to get Fisk off their buddy Luca’s back. Unfortunately for them, Matt picked today to visit the bank.
A pretty standard hostage situation plays out here, and Matt makes his presence known early with the usual hero-lawyer routine. He sacrifices an opportunity to leave with one other hostage so she can leave with her husband instead (and so that he can stay inside to save the day). Yusuf is the most senior bank employee present, so he’s sent to open the vault with Blue while Red stays with the hostages and Devlin handles the cops who’ve pulled up outside. Matt urges him to stall as long as he can down there — and Yusuf really doesn’t have any other option, considering the fact that he couldn’t open the vault even if he tried. Only his absent boss knows the combination.
Matt manages to intercept Yusuf at the vault and knock out Blue after Red takes him to supposedly go pee. Once again, people underestimate the blind guy: During his fight with Red in the stairwell, he manages to reach out and catch Red’s fallen gun in midair before it can clatter and draw attention below, simultaneously choking out his captive using his legs. It’s a great action beat: an easy highlight of the episode. Knocking out Blue and impersonating him on the walkie is Matt’s second act of Irish-on-Irish violence in this St. Paddy’s Day episode, and it won’t be his last.
While all this is going on, acting hostage negotiator Angie Kim is outside with the police and SWAT, hearing out Devlin’s demands over the phone. He wants transportation out of here, but also just to toy with her and fuck around while his associates finish the job. When he threatens to kill a hostage if she doesn’t make him laugh, she pulls an Irish joke out of nowhere about a leprechaun nun and keeps him at bay.
One thing I always love about Daredevil, especially in its current iteration, is the way it depicts Matt’s sort of sensory omniscience. The premiere’s choice to layer in the audio of a dying Foggy (and pleading Karen) during the fight with Bullseye was striking, and it’s a treat to see that type of mixing return throughout this episode. Matt can hear Angie’s conversation with Devlin, and really all of the conversations going on nearby, and that’s how he knows about the cops’ plans to enter the bank soon, no matter the risk to hostages.
Part of the brilliance of Daredevil as a superhero is his impeccable timing. On a micro level, he can zero in on the inhales and exhales of attackers and knows precisely when to dodge — or, in a visually inventive touch in this episode, listen close to the turning pins of the bank vault lock to figure out the combination. But he can also stay apprised of exactly how much time he has left before innocent people start dying. After making it into the vault, he and Yusuf quickly start checking the many safety deposit boxes for the one corresponding to Blue’s key. Its contents are pretty impressive: a pouch with a glowing diamond worth $1.8 million.
Matt offers the diamond to Devlin in exchange for the hostages’ freedom once they’re back upstairs, tossing it just as the cops blow their way in. In the chaos of the scene, Matt dons Red’s mask and follows Devlin (himself now disguised as a cop) outside to beat his ass and snap his leg like a twig. Devlin already passed off the diamond to another associate, planted inside as a fake hostage, but it turns out her baggie only contains a butterscotch candy from the bowl on Yusuf’s desk — and the bowl on his desk contains the real diamond, as Yusuf finds in the closing moments.
As someone who always enjoyed Daredevil for how little it resembled a typical Marvel property, I can see why Yusuf’s appearance here might be polarizing. But he makes for a mostly endearing, only occasionally annoying scene partner whose energy contrasts strongly with Matt’s, so I don’t really mind the fan service of seeing Yusuf invite Matt over for dinner with his family in Jersey City at the end. “Episode 5” is probably the installment that least feels like the old Daredevil and least interested in serialization; a diamond heist on Luca’s behalf follows up on the Red Hook thread from previous episodes, but the coming war with Fisk is still, well, coming. Still, in my book, it’s a worthy diversion. Sometimes I don’t need plot; I just want to watch a character I love weasel his way out of a tough situation.
• Matt’s interactions with Yusuf do feel reminiscent of the times he popped up in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk.
