Born Again Season 1, Episode 7: "Art for Art's Sake" (SPOILERS)

[Lily Adler]

Discuss the new episode on April 1, 2025.

 

[Gu3ree]

So I'm just about to watch this episode. Starting with the "Previously On" recap...holy sh**. The young guy that went to Heather's book convention. There was something off about that guy and there had to be some reason. So he has to be Muse. Let's see if I'm right in an hour.

 

[Web-Head]

I knew it! I had a feeling this episode was going to start with Sebastian in Heather's office and then it slowly gets revealed he's Muse. Didn't start that way but it still happened.

Good episode, you could tell the scene early on between Fisk and Buck was edited and re-done, the way it was shot, the way it sounded...Pretty dissapointed if that's just it for Muse though.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I am pretty sure it is lol!

Loved the episode. Show is cooking with gas

 

[Lily Adler]

I am pretty sure it is lol!

Loved the episode. Show is cooking with gas

So it's illegal and killing our planet.

 

[kguillou]

GOOD episode!

So...the ending though...whats going on there? Does Fisk know Vanessa tried to have him killed? Or was Vanessa just leading that guy into a trap knowing her husband would take care of him?

 

[Web-Head]

GOOD episode!

So...the ending though...whats going on there? Does Fisk know Vanessa tried to have him killed? Or was Vanessa just leading that guy into a trap knowing her husband would take care of him?

Pretty sure it was a trap hence Fisk asking if Vanessa wanted something

 

[Gu3ree]

GOOD episode!

So...the ending though...whats going on there? Does Fisk know Vanessa tried to have him killed? Or was Vanessa just leading that guy into a trap knowing her husband would take care of him?

My question. She seems to have pulled away from him. Perhaps she's come to her senses finally on what a dangerous man her husband is. I don't quite get it. Has she just grown attracted to the power of the crime business?

 

[kguillou]

My question. She seems to have pulled away from him. Perhaps she's come to her senses finally on what a dangerous man her husband is. I don't quite get it. Has she just grown attracted to the power of the crime business?

Thats why i'm not sure because the arc of this season SEEMS to be the divide between Vanessa and Fisk so it would make sense from a narrative standpoint that she would make a move against him. But...i'm not sure.

 

[Gu3ree]

Episode was only about 36 minutes. Damn. All of Vanessa's scenes were part of the reshoots, weren't they? Or they weren't even finished shooting the whole season before the writers and actor's strike happened if I'm not mistaken, so then they had already made new decisions. Yet Karen has still been absent from the show.

All this conflict is interesting once again with Matt having problems with his double-life and Heather. Would worry Heather wouldn't trust Matt if he told her the truth right away, considering she isn't a fan of people wearing masks.

 

[Gu3ree]

I'm still trying to figure out this Daniel Blake kid. Could he just be hired by Vanessa to investigate, use Fisk? But it sounds far-fetched. Why does he love Fisk so much and so blind? Granted, that's a very current theme with our times. In Born Again...people voted for a criminal to be mayor...and...oh, yeah...look what happened in 2024...oh.

 

[Spider-Fan]

So it's illegal and killing our planet.

Killing our planet with its sheer awesome!

 

[kguillou]

Also, maybe its just me, but prior to this show's release there was so much talk from the producers and the critics who had watched all the episodes about how violent and gory this show was and...I'm really not feeling that. I mean yeah we had a few disturbing images and a couple of bone crunching fight scenes but the violence in this really isnt different from the netflix series.

Now, granted, we still have 2 episodes left and maybe those episodes go nuts with the violence but so it seems tame to me.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I knew it! I had a feeling this episode was going to start with Sebastian in Heather's office and then it slowly gets revealed he's Muse. Didn't start that way but it still happened.

Good episode, you could tell the scene early on between Fisk and Buck was edited and re-done, the way it was shot, the way it sounded...Pretty dissapointed if that's just it for Muse though.

There are rumors that he's coming back for season two.

If Matt still has a relationship with any of them, I can see him introducing Angela Del Toro to the other street level characters. Like Angela can get martial arts training from Colleen Wing.

Going back to episode 5 last week, it would be interesting to see if Kamala's heard of the Defenders and if she feels the same way about them as she does with the Defenders.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

That office fight was intense asf eventhough I pretty much figured out Muse's identity a long time ago. The set up was super obvious but man I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and that fight choreography was on point.

Also, I have no problems with the violence in this show and this episode was especially more than bloody enough IMO.

 

[BlackFox]

Well, that went in a very different direction than I thought, I didnt expect much to happen this week after last, I assumed this would be a quieter episode but nope we got a lot more Muse and ANOTHER great fight with DD before it all went very bloody and a violent end. I was shocked Muse got taken out as I was sure I read he was back for season 2!!

DD casually knocking out the dodgy cop again with a baton, lol.

But hey a great, great episode again which is the main thing and I like how the story got twisted so that Fisks new task force took all the credit in the media giving them early legitimacy with the mass public, also the scene with BB was great too as these theme's of how the truth can get twisted in the media so easily are a bit more real world relevant than the usual Disney+ show offerings.

The end as well with Fisk casually eating while an assassination attempt plays out around him was so on point, straight out of Goodfella's. The guy didnt even flinch.

 

[inomilan]

I loved it but also felt that they kinda rushed this one a bit.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I liked the episode but I feel like the whole Muse story was completely rushed. It makes me wonder if there was a lot more to it that got cut when they retooled the show, or if it was always this way. I liked what we got of him but we definitely needed more, especially with a great actor like Hunter Doohan in the role. He really only had one scene where we got to learn anything about him. While I liked stuff like the bank robbery and the shoplifter case, they could have easily scrapped that stuff (or some of it) to build up Muse a bit more. I felt this way about White Tiger as well but at least we got some really good scenes with him and Matt.

 

[DeadlyWest]

Blast from start to finish

They really took the "this is really slow" critique of the first half of the season personally, huh lmao

 

[Breogan]

Muse, while well used here, seemed a throwaway character from the go.
With Vanesa outed (or likely she knowingly sent that guy to his death) Murdock has no hold over Fisk, so they are free to end their uneasy truce.
Or rather, with the "Devil" out, Fisk is free to take over and pursue his Criminal enterprise, without repercussions from (lawyer) Murdock, and the door is open for their darker selves to go after each other.

Still have the Punisher vs Fisk's Anti.Vigilante.Task.Force arc.
And Bullseye whose life (sentence) is still a target at the end of DD's dark fall. (speculation).
Well until he realizes Foggy is still alive.

 

[kguillou]

Supposedly episode 8 is a total banger, the best episode of the season, apparently.

 

[DyeLorean]

I hope so because the show is running out of steam for me.

 

[Still Wynning]

Concerning what people are saying about the length of this episode and it feeling a little rushed, from what I’ve researched, this episode would’ve been the last episode shot of the original 6 of the planned 9 before the writers and actors strike and Marvel Studios decided to rework the show. I’m wondering if they were in the middle of shooting it and weren’t able to finish it before all of that stuff went down, so they really had to rework it and add a bunch of new material to make it substantial enough. But, as a result, some things, like the Muse storyline feel kind of rushed, underdeveloped and seem to just kind of end and unceremoniously.

I say that because this was leaked sometime before the show came out, and so far, it matches up with the runtimes for the episodes that been released:




Notice how the episodes that were wholly shot by the new team, like 1, 8 and 9, tend to trend closer to around or within the 50+ minute range (like the original Netflix show), and most of the stuff shot by the original crew are closer to around 40 minutes or less (like a good portion of the Disney+ original stuff.). Episode four, which I read was reworked the most, is probably as long as it is due to requiring a ton of new material to bridge the old material of the previous storyline with a lot of the new stuff brought in by the current regime.

If that pattern holds true for season two, we could probably end up seeing a lot of episodes more in the high 40 or 50+ minute range, since Dario Scardapane and Benson and Moorhead seem to favor longer runtimes. Probably also why it’s been rumored that next season is going to be eight episodes instead of nine, maybe because the episodes are going to be longer.

 

[squeekness]

I thought it was just me enjoying the episode so much that it flew by! Had no idea the run time was that short.

 

[kguillou]

What if…Fisk uses his power as mayor to get Bulleseye out of prison and has Dex join his anti vigilante task force? Fisk must surely know Dex is the only one who can take Murdock down.

Only problem with that theory is Dex hates Fisk after learning what he did to that girl he was stalking in season 3. But maybe they form an uneasy but mutually beneficial alliance.