Disney+ surprised us all with not one but two episodes of Daredevil: Born Again this week, which explains why this review is late. But I’m not complaining, as we got two very solid episodes that are tonally consistent with the rest of the season so far.
One thing I have noticed about season two, much like season one, is how it’s paralleling current political events happening in the US. Fisk rules New York City not as a mayor, but as a King, laments Buck Cashman, mere days after the real-world “No Kings” protests happened around the world in protest of the American President. The AVTF also certainly evoke images and headlines akin to ICE in recent months. Whether you agree or disagree with the politics, there’s no denying that the writers of Born Again have elected to not be subtle with their commentary. Thankfully, it never feels preachy, just comes off as the current conflict for Matt and company to contend with. I did criticize the previous episode for making NYC feel a bit “business as usual” under occupation, but these two episodes definitely cranked up the sense of oppression.
While the show is named after its titular hero, a lot of screentime is dedicated to the side characters of Born Again as well. It’s here where things get a bit more uneven at times. Not that the new characters aren’t interesting, they are, but I feel they lack a certain charisma that the original cast had. I do wonder if Heather, traumatized by her near-death experience with Muse last season, won’t pick up the mantle herself. She clearly is suffering from PTSD, but also has Muse’s mask in her possession, which may be reinforcing her psychosis. There would certainly be a narrative irony to that, as she is on a crusade to lock up the vigilantes as violent criminals, only to potentially become one herself. Likewise, we start to spend more time with Angela, the niece of Hector from last season, who ultimately ends up picking up the mantle of White Tiger as well. I understand these narrative threads. I just feel the show may be a bit too busy with these new characters, so it’s taking away a bit from the legacy characters.
Thankfully, unlike last season, a lot of screen time is dedicated to Karen, a holdover from the Netflix run who is helping Matt take down Fisk via more underground networking and sleuthing. Her segments feel far more cloak-and-dagger, and it’s a far cry from how this character was in the very first season of the show, before crossing paths with Frank Castle, who gets a name drop this week but is still absent. Karen and Matt do make use of his safehouse to hold an AVTF agent captive for interrogation, who very happily and eagerly gives up the goods, citing Fisk’s madness as a reason for his wanting to defect. With the help of his knowledge and passkey, Matt makes his way to the detention cell.
Episode three ends with an infiltration and jailbreak sequence, where Daredevil breaks into Fisk’s detention center and finds all his political prisoners, many of them non-masked vigilantes. What follows is a pretty impressive oner action sequence where he and Swordsman take out the ATVF goons in a confined space. I’m not 100% sure it was a real-oner, as in there may have been digital stitching, but I can’t really find anything obvious at the same time either. Regardless, it was relentless, intense, well-choreographed and creative.
Overall, these two episodes, and the season thus far, have felt consistent in tone and style. It’s maybe a little too busy, but it slots in nicely with the Netflix series, more so than the first season. I like this season’s approach to tone far more than what came last year and am eager to watch the next episode.
