For no discernible or logical reason at all, fandoms–and in particular Marvel fans–have developed and peculiar and excruciatingly idiotic obsession with runtimes of films and episodes of streaming series. Without ever seeing a Marvel Studios production, a growing breed of fan believes it can judge the quality of that production by its runtime. Ahead of the debut of Daredevil: Born Again, the runtimers focused their faux rage on the series’ fifth episode when a social media source revealed it would only run for a paltry 39 minutes. One month later, “With Interest” hit Disney Plus and while you can’t please everyone, the episode has widely been hailed as one of the best not just of the revival series but of any of Charlie Cox‘s four seasons as The Man Without Fear…but there’s just one problem.
Before addressing that problem–which, like the runtime obsession, seems to be a vestigial construct from the great COVID new media shortage of 2020–all due props must be given to Charlie Cox. As the kids are saying, “With Interest” was essentially an aura showcase for Cox, who flexed every fiber of his formidable talent as the charming and disarming Matt Murdock who has been the focus of the first chunk of the season. Whether in casual conversation with Mohan Kapur‘s Yusuf Khan or distracting the crazy Irish fucks robbing a bank on St. Patrick’s Day (where are the MacManus brothers when you need them?), Cox slayed it as Murdock in the episode. But the time has come for Murdock to take a backseat and let the devil out of the bottle.
Throughout the first four episodes, Matt has slowly been losing control of the devil he’s tried to keep bottled up. In “With Interest”, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen breaks the bottle, kicks the shit out of some bank robbers and gets back in the habit of saving his city. “With Interest” does in 39 minutes what many of the 39 episodes of the Netflix series couldn’t quite do: deliver a slice-of-life episode that stars its star. And while most critics and fans enjoyed it as a “filler episode”, that’s just not what it is.
“With Interest” certainly fits neatly within the criteria that define a bottle episode: minimal cast, one main location, little-to-no major CGI, etc. However, tagging it as a filler episode is, at best, reductive. Without spoiling the remaining three episodes (Episode 6 aired right after and you’ve already seen it if you’re reading this), Episode 5 serves essentially as a bridge from the bright new life that Matt wanted so badly to live back to the darkness that comes with being Daredevil. For four episodes, Matt fought with all his might to be someone he wasn’t. In “With Interest”, Matt–maybe for the first time in his life–stopped fighting. In cutting from 13 episodes per season to 9 in this first season of Daredevil: Born Again, no room was left for filler. Step back and take a big picture look at what’s been going on and you might just reframe your thoughts about “With Interest” and see it for what it is: a killer, very comic book-like adventure for Matt Murdock before things turn Netflix dark.
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