ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Daredevil: Born Again Episode 4 BREAKDOWN - Marvel Easter Eggs You Missed!

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Daredevil Born Again features the official return of Frank Castle's the Punisher, as Matt Murdock goes on a personal journey of forgiveness. The Kingpin reveals what happened to Adam..and maybe there's a tease for the Young Avengers!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

He got life. I bet old foggy. He got life. Hey, welcome back Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Erie. And this is all of the Easter eggs, references, and little things you might have missed in Daredevil Born Again, Episode 4.

The title of this episode is Sick Simper Systema, which means thus always to the system. In an episode that is all about how the system fails ordinary people, this title is about how the system is flawed and must fall. And it ties into the main theme of the episode, forgiveness.

Now, as always, we're going to be talking a lot about Matt Murdoch's Catholic beliefs in this video because I think it informs the theme of this show. When somebody is sent straight to hell, it means that they are denied the forgiveness of God. And as we will talk about throughout this video, we see that Matt is unable to forgive himself, just as his mirror opposite, Fisk, is unable to forgive Adam. Or is it my penance, but what I did? No. You're punishing me for Adam.

I'm not punishing you for anything. Leaving me out of the cold. And real quick, I want to remind you guys that you can now listen to Screencrush on Spotify, Apple, and anywhere you get your podcast. And we have awesome new Daredevil parody merch like The Hallway Fight Tribute. Fisk will fix it, yard sign and shirt, rabbit in a snowstorm,

the classic Nelson and Murdoch, and many more. Links for those are below, and you can now become a store member to earn free stuff. So we begin the episode watching as Hector's white tiger suit is packed up into evidence bags. Now, much of this episode deals with

the system, meaning our laws and the people who enforce those laws. Here we see the system reducing Hector's life to objects. It doesn't matter that he was a man who loved the ocean and his family, and that he just wanted to do right by the world, now he's only the sum total of the objects he possessed when he died.

So I thought it was appropriate that his wedding ring is bagged just before his white tiger gear. It shows how he ended up putting his superhero identity ahead of his marriage. Now, the last object to be bagged up is his amulet, and I think there's a reason why the show keeps focusing attention on it, you know, like Matt did in the judge's chambers. He wasn't in possession of his mystical amulet or in the white tiger outfit at the time of the incident.

Give it to Charlie Cox, though. That is one of the silliest lines of dialogue ever, but he delivers it with total sincerity. So in the comics, the White Tiger Amulet gives powers to members of the AIA family. Both his sister and his niece become the second and third white tiger in the comics after his death. Oh yeah, she's in this episode. Well, exactly. So she could end up being the next white tiger and maybe even join the Young Avengers.

Notice she's even wearing white sweatpants. Foreshadowing. And the vending machine in the background here also reminds me of an Easter egg that I missed last episode. Max Taff on Twitter pointed out this ad for Pingo Doce Pop, which they bottle at the plant where Bruce Banner worked in the Incredible Hall. This is the first of three conversations that Matt has about how the system is failing ordinary people. They killed him, didn't they? Every conversation Matt has in this episode moves him through three different stages of his life.

In this scene, he confronts a child whose loved one was killed, and her rage is just like Matt's anger after he discovered his father's body. Now remember, the reason that Matt first put on the mask is because he heard the cries of a little girl who was being abused by her father. He tried to call child services, but they didn't do anything. So... He spent the next month in a hospital, eating through a straw, and I never slept better. Now, as a lawyer, Matt Murdoch has swore to work within the legal system.

But these three conversations gradually help him to realize that the system is designed to protect the people in power and just exploit the lower classes. I hate this city. No one's doing anything about it and no one's ever going to do anything about it because he was just Hector from the hikes and they're the fucking cops. And this is also showing us how ordinary citizens have a growing distrust toward the power structures of the city, which is what led to the election of Wilson Fisk. I mean, Mayor Fisk. That's the coolest thing on the planet. Appropriately, this episode also shows us how Fisk feels constrained by those same power structures. With all due respect, you can't just decide something and then speak it into existence. And why is that, Sheila? This is the city government. But more on that later. And then we get a good look at the mural that Muse was painting of Kingpin in Episode 1.

Notice how we can actually now see his signature. Okay, so who's Mears? Well, in the comics, Muse is an inhuman who can create a sensory vortex around him, so Matt can't hear his movements or smell him, and cameras cannot record him. He's a deranged artist who creates a mural from the blood of 100 victims, and he believes that he was actually doing his victims a favor. By turning their bodies into art, he thinks that he gives their lives meaning. Scary guy? Scary talented!

Now, after Fisk becomes mayor, Muse taunts him with pro-vigilante graffiti all around the city, like we see here. So this shows two sides of the kingpin. The higher half shows the city within him, like it's a part of his essence. And also notice it's composed of a dollar bill, including the Eye of Providence. Now, this is the simple that, you know, we see on our currency that is used to imply the presence of God. And the eye is placed on top of a pyramid where pharaohs were buried, pharaohs who ruled their kingdoms like gods.

So this inclusion is implying that Wilson Fisk rules the system and controls all. all of the power structures, city hall, religion, and the police. After all, he is the king, with the crown hovering over his head like an angel's halo. But the other half made up of inverse colors depicts his hidden self, in black, actually ruling over the fires of hell. Now notice this version is fatter, more like the kingpin that we're used to. Now this imagery of hell comes back later in the episode where we see Fisk's dungeon, but more on that in a bit. Notice, of course, we see Muse's signature at the bottom, and we also see it beneath the triggered

Punisher art that we saw last episode. Also, notice that the running paint from the skull at the bottom, forms the statue of liberty, implying that the city is literally shaped by vigilante justice. And then we see him carrying his victim to an underground layer, similar to one that he had in the comics. A.A. Ron on Blue Sky had a great theory, by the way, that this mentally unstable guy at Heather's book signing is actually Muse. Dr. Good, I need help. Are you picking any new clients? And then we go to the club where B.B. Eurek is partying with Daniel Blake, who is played by Michael

Andilfini, who you might have seen playing a young Tony Soprano and the Many Saints of Newark. After all, he is the son of James Gandalfini who played adult Tony. Now, I smiled when their conversation in the club was about union garbage workers because, in the Sopranos, Tony always said that his job was in waste management. I'm in a waste management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up. And props to Beebe here. She took Daniel out specifically to get him drunk so she could get him to leak information about Fisk. Now, when he talks about Green Initiative, she calls him. Now, Captain Planet was this cartoon in the 90s where five teenagers with magic rings could create a mulleted superhero who had the power of wind, fire, earth, water, and heart.

Right, heart? Yeah, heart. What did it do with heart? Actually, and this is always bother me, the heart ring was the most important one, because it gave Mati, empathy, and limited telepathy. But it's also what made Captain Planet a good guy. Otherwise, he would have been like Captain Pollution from the mission to save Earth arc. I am Captain Pollution! Oh, okay.

Now, outside, we see a new muse mural. This one depicting the white tiger mask framed by giant tiger eyes with a script that reads vigilante justice. But there's a hidden detail here. If you look at the gap between the tiger's eyes, that's your mom. So across the street, Leroy Bradford is being arrested, which shows us the two sides of the city. You have the well-to-do kids who live consequence-free, drinking all night and still going to work. But on the other side of the street, you have a guy who just wanted some fiddle faddle, which by the way is a real product, but the term also means nonsense talk or something trivial. The meaning here is that Leroy is being arrested for a crime, which, in the grand scheme of things, was pretty meaningless.

It's so meaningless that the cops just consumed the dessert in front of him, underscoring this double standard, that the system can steal whatever it likes, but people like Leroy go to jail. Then we cut to Matt up on the roof where he used to patrol as Daredevil, but now he's just holding his broken horn. Last week, we did a video about mass descent into being a bad lawyer and a bad person, where philosopher Nicholas Michaud told me about an interesting passage from the book of Daniel, where Daniel has a vision about a ram. The ram's horn became broken, splintering into four kingdoms.

Now, in the Bible, the ram represents Alexander the Great, whose kingdom was shattered into four after his death. But in this show, the broken horn symbolizes how daredevil's control of the city is gone, and a new kingdom, ruled by Fisk, has risen up to take its place. I love the framing of this phone call with Kirsten. They're both in wide, empty spaces, showing how each of them in different ways are alone. Now, these are the two worlds that Matt Murdoch lives in, the roof and the law office, and right now they are both lonely places.

She asked Matt to do a freebie for the public defender because... I'm underwater on this Madison case. And I wonder if this is the Madison she's referring to. Madison is with two ends, one Y, but it's not where you think. She also thinks that Matt will enjoy helping out somebody who is down on his luck, because this is exactly the kind of case that he used to take with Foggy. But as we'll see, meeting with Leroy has the opposite effect. It highlights how powerless Matt feels,

and makes him feel like Foggy was actually a much better man than he could ever be. Wilson and Vanessa are making progress in therapy. Note how they are sitting closer together on the couch. And they discuss Adam, the man that Vanessa had an affair with. Now, in the original series, Vanessa once talked about one of her exes, and it made Wilson visibly jealous. I slept with him. I assume you've had lovers.

And here, as she talks about Adam's cocksmanship, she compares him to an artist. His hands drew, beautiful sketch. Now, Vanessa is a great lover of art. She even fell in love with Wilson, in part, because she saw an artist in his desire to remake the city. I want to carve something beautiful out of its ugliness. Set free its potential.

You sound like an artist. Fisk always had imposter syndrome with Vanessa. He had to ask his assistant to pick out a wine for them. I don't know much about wine. My assistant, he recommended it. He was never the most handsome man nor the wealthiest, so her describing Adam as an artistic paramour cuts to the heart of his insecurities,

saying his hands could create art, while we know that Wilson's hands can only create pain through violence. And this also means the muse is a kind of marriage of Vanessa's fantasies, because he is a violent artist. Now, Vanessa had an affair when King Pim was gone. Or like he blipped? No, when he was in Oklahoma trying to recruit Maya to join him. Also, notice he still has the scar over his eye

from where Maya shot him in the Hawkeye finale. And then Vanessa describes her own traumatic experience with her, which frankly explains a lot. She was attracted to Wilson because they both had abusive fathers. To remind myself that I'm not cruel for the sake of cruelty, that I'm not my father. But also, she recognized that Wilson was also a violent man like her dad. So, seducing him gave her the chance to feel control over that violence. And eventually, she extended this control to another group of violent men, the five families of the mafia.

Now, when Vanessa says her mother missed her father, she says, I never respected her for that. Now, this is a really sad moment because when Wilson left Vanessa, she finally understood what her mother was going through all those years ago. Now, both of these people believed that the other person betrayed them. Wilson thinks Vanessa's affair was a betrayal, and Vanessa resents Wilson for leaving her alone. And then Heather touches on the main theme of the episode. About forgiveness, and I say this to both of you,

there can be no real healing. Forgiveness isn't just the highest act of love. It is the only way forward. Now, this reflects Matt's Catholic beliefs, which are rooted in seeking God's forgiveness for our sins. But Wilson Fisk lacked this amount of grace in his life, because he was only taught to seek retribution rather than to forgive others. Like when his dad made him beat up a bully. Keep kicking him! We will revisit this theme twice more in this episode.

We get more BB on the street talking to the old man who lived through 1970s, New York. Vigilantes love him. Should have that a long time ago. Now, this kind of idolization of armed vigilantes was, pretty common in the past, partially inspired by movies like taxi driver, Dirty Harry, and the Death Wish series. New York in the 1970s showed a systemic breakdown in city functions. High crime, garbage strikes, corrupt government, and the show is trying to draw parallel with New York in the MCU. Personally, I think they need to give us a few details about how this alternate New York

is worse. Is it overcrowded after the blip? Is there constant damage following superhero battles? But I'll dive into that in tomorrow's video. Now, like I was saying, I, Doug, what are all these boxes doing up here? Oh, that's all of our old merch. We ran out of room in the basement, so now it's got to be up here. Okay, well, we have a basement. I didn't know that. And also, we can't make videos with all of this stuff in the way. All right, then? Let's set it on fire. Uh, no, but I got an idea. Let's have a fire sale. Guys, we have to get rid of all of our old designs in our merch store. So, for a limited time, we are selling these items and then they will be gone forever. So this is the last chance to buy, the top five, the hello there, the who I'm about to make a name for myself, and many, many more.

We are also slashing prices on these shirts and merch, so smash the link below to get your discount today. Now, back to what I was saying. So Matt begins the defense of Leroy, who asked this extremely loaded question. Also, I saw them cops eating two boxes of that shit. That I'm entirely willing to believe. Then how come they don't arrest themselves for stealing? Now, the rule of law actually states that no one is above the law. But in the MCU's New York, the police are allowed to fiddle faddle with impunity.

And if the police, aka the system, won't police itself, then the city needs to needs heroes who work outside the law, like Daredevil, or, you know, put better, who watches the watchman. Now, like I said earlier, these conversations are moving us through Matt's life. And the Learoy interview is about showing how Matt's career as a lawyer is kind of futile without his vigilante life to balance it out. So, Leroy, looking for an out, asked, could it have been a squirrel? And thank God, someone has finally acknowledged the end of secret invasion, which showed us a world steeped in paranoia following the public reveal of shape-shifting aliens at the highest echelons of government. But Matt dismisses this idea right away.

Nope. Now remember, in Sheehawk, we saw kind of a similar case where a light elf was changing her shape to defraud someone. So I think by now, in the MCU's legal system, they must have established legal precedent for things like scrolls, mind control, and illusionists. The burden of proof must be on the defense or else every criminal could just say that a scroll was impersonating them. But back to Leroy, who gets on Matt's nerves by making blind jokes. But, you know, Leroy's not wrong. It's not that Matt can't physically see, it's that he has lost his moral clarity.

He doesn't care about Leroy or this pro bono case. To him, it's just filth out. See, when Matt defended Hector, he tried to be a good guy, like foggy, and then it blew up in his face. So now he just wants to go back to that selfish lifestyle that he was leading after equipping Daredevil. This episode also showed us a more realistic look at our legal system.

Like most cases never go to trial. They are negotiated in back rooms and run on charm. Notice how, in this scene, Matt is still using his super abilities to help out his legal career, literally sniffing out Sophia's sweet spot as he flirts with her. How'd you know he was not fian? Pretty sure you snuck a piece of honey cake for breakfast. Wow.

It's a blind thing. Heighten senses, him. But this brings him back into contact with Officer Powell. Hi bitch. And this scene lays out a theme in this episode about inherited power. After Matt accuses him of murder, he pushes his badge into Matt's chest, literally using his authority as a weapon. And then he talks about how many guys,

and his family are cops. My grandfather wore this badge. My father wore this badge. My brother wears this badge. All my cousins wear this badge. Now, a family of cops are known as Blue Bloods, but Blue Blood is also a term for royalty who inherit power and authority. So Powell subtly is saying that his family are the ruling class of the city, like Angela implied earlier. For Powell, the badge isn't about justice. It's about inherited wealth and power. But as Matt listens to his heartbeat, we find out that he's actually not lying. He does not know who killed Hector. Now, I love, love how they show us Matt's senses at work, using visuals as well as sound. And I don't know nothing about nothing to do with what happened to Hector.

Last week, we did a video about how Matt's becoming a selfish person, outing the white tiger and acting like a jerk. And now we see him threatening violence against Powell. You'd have to bring a few more than the last time we met, wouldn't you? It's like when he no longer has a secret identity to protect, Matt has no other place to channel his rage. I also think that Matt's having a nervous breakdown from not actually grieving and processing Foggy's death. The same thing happened to him in the comics after Bullseye killed Karen Page. He got more and more reckless with his secret identity, even operating without his mask on in the underworld. And then we go to Fisk, bringing his entourage to the docks to show off his model.

Now, his plans to clean up the city have not changed since season one when he wanted to demolish eyesores and put up clean, unaffordable condos. Called gentrification. Now, Sheila mentions that a shooting happened not 50 feet away from there, referencing the checkpoint skirmish that we saw at the beginning of episode 3. And here, we see why Red Hook is off limits. Wilson wants there to be no crime, so he's free to completely renovate it. Side note, though, I think it's hilarious that Fisk set up a little model to impress people.

Like, how long was it waiting there for them? Who set it up? It's such a tiny model. Why so little? Now, here we see that Fisk is not interested in red tape. So, he has surrounded himself with a young enthusiast with no experience to help him do whatever he wants inside of government without the trappings of bureaucracy. But just like in the comics, Fisk struggles with the realities of the legit world. He is used to circumventing the law and not following it.

Buck warns, The other bosses will continue to create havoc until one of them ascends or they all die. Which is essentially what happens in the comics. Kingpin's absence creates a gang war. Also, like in the comics, he loses control of the gang world at the same time that he can't integrate into the legit world of politics. And as he gets told everything he cannot do, we cut to another man who has helpless. against the system, Leroy. Leroy spells out how the legal system may look good on paper,

but it doesn't hold up the scrutiny when you actually apply it to real people. Last time I got 30 days, know what happened? I miss my SSI appointment and they cut my benefits. Bad enough trying to live off food stamps, but when they cut it, but it takes forever to get that shit back regular. He can't get a decent job because of his rap sheet, so he has to be on food stamps, but then he gets arrested on a small charge, misses his SSI appointment, loses his food stamps,

so then he has to steal to eat. He is caught in a vicious cycle, whereas, if some rich kid had shoplifted, then an expensive lawyer would have gotten him off with community service. The police and other power structures in the city see Leroy as a thing, someone that they can arrest just to meet a quota. He attacks neoliberal policies that cut funding for food stamps but increase money for police and jails. And then people like him are just reduced to paperwork. But remember, Matt does not want any of these complications. He wants to believe that the system is serving the people so he can keep on not being daredevil. And then we cut to what the system is really doing,

setting up photo ops to make it seem like the government cares about people when Fisk doesn't actually give a crap about these kids. He has forced to listen to children sing off-key. Listen to radio. Don't you have heard. Now, this song, of course, is called We Built This City by Starship, a band that used to be called Jefferson Airplane back in the 60s. Now, the song is a total bop, but completely ridiculous. They're saying that all the good things in the culture of the 80s,

were built on the foundation of rock and roll the Jefferson Airplane helped to build in the 60s. In other words, it's a fantasy. I love the irony here, though the Fisk actually cannot build his own fantasy city, and instead he has to listen to children thinking about a different fantasy city. Remember, Fisk hates this kind of thing, like in season one when he talked about how easily distracted people are. This world around us is preoccupied with celebrity weddings and videos of cats. You can visibly hear him restraining his rage when he says no to a second verse. Now for our next one.

No, no, no, that's fine, fine. He's almost forced to hear the same song, this time by a junior Latvian choir. You know, like Matt said, it's Latvian Heritage Day, before Sheila and Daniel reveal his accidental leak to the press. Now, right away, Fisk seems relieved to have someone to yell at, but then Daniel accidentally gives Fisk the one thing he needs, loyalty. For I have a grateful for the opportunity, and I'll spend the rest of my life forgetting how badly I screwing.

it up. I believe in you. You'll have my vote forever. And whatever happens to me, I'll do whatever I can from afar. Fisk doesn't get loyalty from his wife, but he gets it from this boy. And then the therapy kicks in, and he decides to reward loyalty with the theme of the episode, forgiveness. I'll pack my things right away. I said, I'm not going to fire you. They're just like Penguin and Victor. I'm sure these guys will be best buds forever. Now, as they talk, the camera rack focus. This is on Sheila, the career bureaucrat who is frightened by the threat that Fisk makes. If you ever do anything like that again, it will be the last thing that you ever do.

Do you understand? What the f***? Now I think this is where it really hits her, oh my god, a mob boss is the mayor. Now to underscore this, BB gets an interview from a woman who says, How can we trust a guy like that who makes all of these promises to actually have our back? And then Matt investigates Hector's murder scene. And again, notice the Dolly Zoom as he wants. listens for how objects roll.

So this is a technique where you zoom in while you dolly the camera back. And it's been used countless times to show the environment reshaping around a subject. And here it's a brilliant way to show a visual of how Matt perceives the world. I also like the small detail that he reaches straight for the casing instead of trying to find it because he would be able to smell the gunpowder and know exactly where the casing is. Now, when he fills the Punisher logo engraved on the casing, Matt tracks down, Frank Castle to his hideout. Now, in case you haven't seen the Netflix shows in a while, Frank Castle was an army vet who watched his family get gunned down at a carousel. So he swore vengeance on the gangs that did it.

In season two of the show, this led to a high-profile where Nelson and Murdoch defended him in court. You call me the punisher, right? The big bad punisher. Frank escaped jail with the King Pence help and eventually tracked down the government operative who actually killed his family. In season two of a show, Frank tried to live a normal life, but... Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. season two in New York wearing Punisher gear and ready to murder more criminals. But here it looks like he's out of the game. He's grown a beard and he is on a lot of meds.

Matt and Frank have never gotten along. Matt thinks that Frank is a murderer and Frank believes that Matt will never be able to solve the city's crime problem if he keeps looking for the best in others. When Frank sees the casing, he says, which is exactly his attitude in the comics when he confronts cops who idolize him. This conversation is electric and loaded with subtext. Matt says that he is here because he thinks that Frank, should feel accountable for inspiring copycats.

But really, Matt is there to seek absolution for his sins. So this all goes back to the episode's central theme of forgiveness. The first two people that Matt spoke to in this episode showed him the problems in the city. He met a victim and a criminal who the system had let down. But the point of this scene is that he forces Matt to really confront himself, a vigilante who has given up. The grating on the wall even gives this location the feeling of a confession booth. Now when Frank says, Would you have service read?

It's kind of a big deal. I mean, we never got confirmation that Frank knew Matt was Daredevil in the original show. So this implies that they have run into each other more during the gap between this show and Daredevil season three. Fans did theorize that Frank learned Matt's identity during the Punisher trial when Matt asked. Frank, may I call you Frank? Now, when Matt sees how he's living, he calls him out for not being of service. He pranced around the city in a Halloween costume, beating the snout out of bad guys. Hey, thank you for your service.

So when Frank talks about service, he means serving his country in the military. but also serving his city as a vigilante. So, Matt is a hypocrite for not doing either. To underscore this, the wall behind Frank reads, For the fallen many, your sacrifice brings us purpose. So there is a double meaning here. This is what you might say to honor veterans. But here, Frank is actually referring to his victims.

Their deaths gave his life purpose. When Frank says, See, I think you want my permission. This is actually another way of saying, you want forgiveness for committing violence. Frank even calls him counselor, like they are lawyers arguing in court. But that name is also ironic.

He's mocking Matt for trying to work within the legal system at all. Then he says the magic word. You guilty. Which has a few meanings. He's not only saying that Matt is guilty of letting down Foggy, but he is calling out that Matt actually feels guilty. See, Matt is definitely haunted by Foggy's memory. He has only said Foggy's name once in the show so far when he was on the witness stand.

Last episode, when he's celebrated with Heather, he could only refer to Foggy as, My old partner and I. Now, normally, Matt absolves his guilt in two ways. go into confession or beating people up. But for a year, he has instead let that guilt fester inside him and warp him. Then, like a lawyer, Frank cuts right to the source of Matt's guilt, the attempted murder of Bullseye. You lost him, didn't you, Red?

Then, after Matt slugs him, he immediately feels guilty. Sorry, I apologize. So, for an entire year, Matt tried to live his life like Foggy Nelson would have. He figured that if the world lost a good man like Foggy, then he would have to replace that goodness in the world. In other words, he has been living a lie. yourself, he's eating you up because you ain't done a goddamn thing about it. Frank has always been a manifestation of Matt's id, his most base desires and emotions.

If Matt did not have religion and morality to hold himself in check, he would be exactly like Frank. Unlike Matt, Frank knows exactly who he is and what he wants. I know here his force. He says get him, daddy. Every single one of them get him. And when Matt justifies his actions saying the corrupt system handled bull's eye, Frank shouts the darkest thought in Matt's head. How about old foggy? He'd get life. But Matt knows deep down that Frank is talking about vengeance, not justice.

It was the kindest purest soul I ever met. Guys like you and me, we could work a lifetime and never measure up to his decency. Matt thinks the only way to bring Foggy back is if he tries to live his life like Foggy. Or if Pointe Dexter was redeemed, that would bring Foggy's spirit back into the world. Now, after this conversation, Matt finally confesses his sins. He has been living a lie and not honoring Foggy's memory. But this theme of forgiveness continues with Wilson and Vanessa. Unlike in the last episode, they're sitting close together at the dining room table,

no longer separated by the trappings of wealth and formality. As they talk, Wilson reminds her of his father, a man who taught him that persuasion is linked to violence. Keep kicking him! Kick him! But instead of learning to forgive his dad for this past trauma, the kingpin instead sought vengeance. Keep kicking him! His dad taught him that the only way to get rid of pain is to spread it to others. He and Vanessa are both people who were broken by fathers they could never forgive.

So now they have to learn to forgive each other. And then we come to Matt's final conversation in the episode with Heather when he is finally able to unload some of his guilt. You never feel like you're pushing a rock up a hill? Now he's actually referring to the Greek king Sisyphus, who Zeus condemned to push a boulder up a hill. And once it reached the top, it would roll down and he had to repeat the process for eternity.

Now, this is a great metaphor for Matt's vigilante life in his Catholic guilt. He feels guilty about not helping so he beats people up, which leads to him confessing to absolve his sins, but then he feels guilty for not helping and so on and so forth. And to underscore that Matt's religion is still with him, we see this subtle cross necklace around his neck as he listens to the sound of the city, so he goes up to the roof. And this is intercut with fist at the top of stairs,

like he's descending from heaven into a kind of hell. He walks into a cellar slash dungeon, which is, of course, a metaphor for hell. After all, this is where he is torturing a condemned soul. He walks past the painting Rabbit and a Snowstorm. Now, this is a painting that Vanessa sold him when they met. In the past, looking at it would calm him down because it reminded him of the wall his father made him stare at as a child. Don't look at me. Look at the wall. Don't take your eyes off till I get back.

It was always a symbol of the purity that he felt with Vanessa and the purity that he tried to force into the city. Now, in the finale of season three, the painting was splattered with his blood, symbolizing that Wilson's New York could never be cleaned because it was created through bloodshed. And here, we see that he never had the painting cleaned. He kept it dirty as a reminder. of his sins. So it's appropriate that it is underground in his own personal hell as a sign of his own original sin. Now all season long, we have talked about the reverse dichotomy of the series. Matt Murdoch, the hero, is in hell, while Wilson Fiske, the villain, looks down from his heavenly seat of power. But now that Matt is embracing his daredevil identity again, we see that dynamic

shift. Matt is on the roof and Fisk is underground. And this is where he opens up the cabinet with his helmets. So this helmet could be from the 2023 Daredevil comic run where we see the purified Daredevil suit, but that's assuming that this is a white helmet that just looks gray in the dark lighting. If the helmet is actually a silver or gray color, it could be a reference to the armored Avenger Daredevil costume. This helmet appears to be his new helmet for the show. Next, we have his yellow helmet that we saw in Shehawk, which was inspired by his original costume in the comics. This black helmet is in reference to the Shadowland Comics from 2010 when Daredevil is essentially possessed and running the hand. We also saw Daredevil

don a similar black costume in the Spider-Man animated series, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which, of course, was voiced by Charlie Cox. And lastly, we have what appears to be his original helmet from the original Netflix series. Matt begins to train again. Now, in the Mayor Fisk run of the comics, there was a long stretch where he stopped being Daredevil, and Elektra actually had to help retrain him.

Doesn't mean she's going to appear in this show, but man, wouldn't that be awesome? I would like to see it. Meanwhile, and hell, the kingpin can actually be himself. He eats a fine meal. Now, remember, when he's above ground, he has to eat crap that he hates, like when he threatened Gallo.

Sandwich, it was disgusting. And like any demon, what Fisk is doing here is actually the inverse of something natural. Eating dinner is an act that should bring people together. And yet, Fisk uses it as an act of torture to show Adam food that he cannot eat. Please, Mr. Pisk. But notice that Fisk's cellar also looks a lot like Mewes' layer, hinting that even though they both pretend to have lofty ideals, they're both just murderers.

We see his victims hanging from meat hooks, just like in the comics. And as Mews straps down his latest victim, probably to harvest his blood, we see his sketches of Fisk as a blinded man, inspired by how he was blinded in the show Echo. And this last scene is the culmination of everything we've seen. When the system fails to forgive people, they become fodder for people like Muse, who uses their flesh to create his art.

So he uses the suffering of the city to literally paint about the suffering in the city. Well, guys, that's all the Easter eggs that we found, but if you found any, let me know down in the comments below or on our free to join Discord server or on Twitter, Blue Sky, or Threads. And don't forget to get a special offer on your own display by clicking the link in the description.

And if it's your first time here, please subscribe, smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.