Episode five of Daredevil: Born AgainOpens in a new tab is the first truly stand-alone, “bottle episode” of the series so far. It focuses on Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and several guest stars, with no Kingpin or Vanessa in sight. But it was still an intense and entertaining 45 minutes. Here’s what went down in the series’ fifth episode, “With Interest.”
Revelations From Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, Episode 5, “With Interest”
Matt Murdock’s Eventful St. Patrick’s Day
The episode opens on St. Patrick’s Day. Matt Murdock is waiting for an appointment at New York Mutual Bank. Thanks to his hyper-sensitive hearing, he can hear the regular lives of every bank customer and employee around him. He fondles his broken devil horn as he waits, clearly contemplating getting back into the Daredevil suit. The last few incidents have clearly put him back in a vigilante headspace. Can Matt ever be happyOpens in a new tab leading a normal life?
A Surprise Ms. Marvel Character Appears (And a Young Avengers Hint?)
Matt then meets with his bank representative, who is none other than Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan’s father, Yusuf Khan (Mohan Kapur), who is the assistant bank manager. He’s filling in for his absent boss, one Steven Aldrich. He mentions his daughter Kamala is in California on vacation. Now, is she on vacation, seeing her friend Bruno at Caltech? Or, is she perhaps visiting Cassie Lang in San Francisco, and this is another Young Avengers teaseOpens in a new tab? We can’t help but wonder.
After mentioning he’s from Jersey City, Yusuf Khan makes sure to namedrop Ms. MarvelOpens in a new tab as his hometown hero. He even shows off his custom Funko Pop of her, always the proud papa. (By the way, this may be our first confirmation that Funko exists in the MCU.) Matt is there trying to get a loan to keep his law practice afloat, after so many pro bono cases. Sadly, Matt and Kristen’s practice is over leveraged, and Mr. Khan has to turn them down. Although he does so in the sweetest way possible, because he’s just a nice guy.
In the Wrong Place at the Right Time
Not long after Matt leaves, an armed Irish gang enters and attempts to rob the bank, each wearing a different colored ski mask, holding all the customers hostage. Yusef hides in his office, and manages to call the police. As Matt is walking home, he hears the bank robbery underway. Matt walks back into the building, and becomes a hostage himself. Our masked robbers are making the standard threats, and Matt reminds the leader that if they kill anyone, their armed robbery charge converts to first-degree murder (Matt, always lawyering it up). He decides to respond to Matt’s legal expertise by punching him in the stomach.
The green-masked hostage taker in charge, whose name is Devlin, asks for the bank manager, Steven Aldrich. But as Mr. Khan stated earlier when talking to Matt, he’s not on the premises today. Devlin (Cillian O’Sullivan) asks Yusuf to open the bank vault, and he agrees, just as the SWAT team arrives outside. But Matt realizes that Mr. Khan doesn’t actually know how to get into the vault. Matt whispers to him that when Devlin takes him to the bank vault below, he stalls for as long as possible. Detective Angie Kim (Ruibo Qian), who we saw in episode one, takes on the role of chief hostage negotiator. After trading sarcastic pleasantries, Devlin asks for three armored AVPs, so he and his crew can escape. And then he reminds her that if they don’t give him what he wants, every hostage in the building gets a bullet to the head.
He May Not Be in Costume, But Matt Lets the (Dare)Devil Out
Devlin decides to let two of the hostages go, as a sign of good faith, and picks a random woman from the crowd, and also lets Matt go. Maybe he feels bad for punching a blind dude in the stomach? But the woman doesn’t want to leave her husband behind. Matt offers to take his place. At first, Devlin uses the opportunity to mock “the solicitor,” as he calls him. He finally relents, allowing the woman and her husband to leave, and Matt stays behind. Of course, our man MattOpens in a new tab has a plan.
One of the robbers in a blue mask then takes Yusuf down to the vault. Matt then says he has to go to the restroom, but we know he’s planning something. One of the bank robbers then takes him “to the gents.” Yusuf starts spitting out useless historical facts about the bank in front of the vault, to stall just like Matt told him to. Meanwhile, Matt can hear the whole thing as he’s being taken to the men’s room. Of course, as he’s being taken down the stairs, Matt busts out the Daredevil moves, and after an intense struggle, knocks the robber guy out flat.
“What Kind of Lawyer Are You?”
The blue-hooded bank robber quickly realizes that Yusuf is stalling, and doesn’t know the vault combination. Right as things are about to get violent, Matt appears and knocks the blue mask guy out. He pulls out his best Irish accent (probably learned from every Catholic priest and nun who raised him) and convinces Devlin via walkie-talkie that he’s the blue masked robber, and that everything is going smoothly. Yusuf tells Matt the vault has millions of possible combinations, but Matt uses his hearing to sound out the internal gears, thus opening the vault. “What kind of lawyer are you?” an astonished Yusaf asks, to which Matt responds “A really good one.” Hey, isn’t that what he told Peter Parker in No Way HomeOpens in a new tab when he caught a brick flying through his window? He must just love using that line.
Matt and Yusuf Khan Get Stealthy
Detective Kim is trying to convince Devlin to give her one more hour for his escape vehicles to arrive. Devlin tells Kim she has exactly three minutes to tell him a joke, and if she makes him laugh, he’ll give her three more minutes. She then tells him a very tasteless joke, and it actually gets Devlin to laugh. He then gives her a full ten minutes, or he starts killing hostages. Inside the vault, Matt and Yusuf find thousands of different safety deposit boxes. Yusuf tells Matt the boxes each requires two keys, one for the bankers, the other, the owners. Matt realized the robber he knocked out had the other key in his jacket. Once he discovers the right safety deposit box, inside of it is a rather impressive diamond.
Yusuf realizes this is a very precious stone for a bunch of low-level thugs, and realizes they are working for someone bigger. Just then, Matt starts hearing the hostages whimpering upstairs, and also hears that the SWAT team is preparing to storm the bank, and knows that some of the hostages will likely die. So Matt tells Devlin the cops are about to enter the building, and offers him the diamond. Right as he tosses him the gemstone, the SWAT team busts in with tear gas cannisters, and chaos ensues.
Daredevil Puts on a Different Red Mask
In the confusion, Devlin sneaks off, and changes into a police uniform. He hands a woman who (we thought) was one of the hostages a bag with the diamond, and says “Give this to Luca.” Now we know he’s working for the head of one of the five families from previous episodes. Dressed in a police officer’s uniform, he hopes to walk out incognito with the rest of the cops, but Matt follows him out. He puts on one of his gang’s red ski-masks, and does serious damage to him in another brutal fight in the street. He may not be Daredevil yet, but he somehow found a way to be a red-masked vigilante. Meanwhile, Devlin’s accomplice realizes the diamond in her bag is nothing but a piece of candy.
Matt meets Yusuf at the bank the next day, and he tells Matt the stolen diamond never turned up. He invites Matt over for dinner to his home in Jersey City, which Matt happily agrees to. Does that mean we get a Daredevil/Ms. Marvel crossover soon? How is it that Matt always meets superheroes at family cookouts? That’s how he met Bruce Banner in She-HulkOpens in a new tab. As Matt gets up to leave, Yusuf realizes that in the bowl of candies on his desk, Matt has left him a little gift—the missing diamond.
And that is our recap of the fifth episode of Daredevil: Born Again. We get back to the main plot of Born Again in the next installment, where the serial killer Muse makes his move. And then things get really dark.
