Season 1, Episodes 1-3 Review
[Note: Light spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Episodes 1-3]
Daredevil: Born Again had big shoes to fill after season three of the original Netflix series. Following the release of Daredevil’s third season, the streaming giant announced the series cancellation. Whether it was due to Disney consolidating Marvel properties to prepare for the launch of Disney+ or the rarity of streaming shows living beyond three seasons, Daredevil was finished with only vague promises about Charlie Cox continuing the role elsewhere. Despite the cancellation, the season three finale was a satisfying send off to the series as a whole. It was one of the few times I was content with a series being cancelled.
Three episodes into Daredevil: Born Again I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying Marvel’s revival. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio have always excelled in the roles of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. The new additions to the cast have also been great, although with three episodes under my belt there is little to say so far. Nikki M. James as Kirsten Mcduffie, Matt’s new law partner, and Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake, Fisk’s enthusiastic assistant, are the cast members I’m most interested in seeing develop.
Born Again is far less an ensemble than the first three seasons as Murdock and Fisk are featured in almost every scene. Very few moments have been given to build on our supporting characters beyond introducing them to the audience. It feels a bit damning to write out Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, who have the foundation of an entirely other series and guest appearances, to then introduce a new cast without ever taking the focus away from Fisk or Murdock.
The original run of Daredevil on Netflix often had our hero in a moral crisis drawn from his upbringing as a Catholic. Episode one of season one opens with Matt asking for forgiveness for the sins he’s about to commit. Battling the injustices of Hell’s Kitchen as a lawyer and masked vigilante while remaining a good man are foundational to what drove the original show. In Born Again, Matt has given up the horns after the death of his long time friend and law partner Foggy Nelson. His faith has moved away from religion to the judicial system. Now he is questioning his newfound beliefs as Wilson Fisk has won the mayoral seat for New York City.
Infamous gangster Kingpin, who has battled Daredevil in the past, now holds one of the most powerful positions in the city they call home. Fisk’s plotline being a heavy handed allegory to Donald Trump’s first presidency isn’t lost on anyone, I’m sure. Following episode one, Heaven’s Half Hour, with Optics and The Hollow of His Hand have shown great potential in Born Again having more teeth than I had feared.
Hector Ayala, the White Tiger, is on trial for getting a dirty cop killed for his intervention in stopping these officers’ nightly activities. Across these episodes, a case is made against Matt’s newfound faith in the justice system. Without the star witness, Hector is either going to die in custody or be in prison for the rest of his life. Despite the single cop who was there for the whole exchange, he’s a part of a ring of cops who uphold the law as they see fit. This gang protects their own within the ideology, an ideology clearly inspired by a man with a white skull on his chest. Even as the defense goes through the trouble of securing their witness, it isn’t enough. Despite the cops never getting to him to either threaten or kill him, their glares from within the courtroom are enough to intimidate him to testify in their favor.
In a desperate attempt to save this case, Matt outs Hector as the vigilante White Tiger without even asking him. He does this out of the selfish need to win, to prove to himself that the system works despite the system failing before his very eyes. Now the case is a trial of the character of White Tiger rather than what happened in the subway that night. Even in victory, this outing of Hector’s identity allows what was inevitable to happen, he’s unceremoniously killed with no witnesses.
As The Hollow of His Hand cuts to credits I was immediately eager to see what next week would have in store, against my better judgement. The series has shown restraint by not having Matt return in the costume after the timeskip, but it’s inevitable. We wouldn’t be here otherwise. When he finally suits up again, what will there be left to chew on?
It’s an odd feeling to be optimistic, but these three episodes have been executed with a level of competence that was unexpected. A Daredevil show doesn’t need to be a one to one replication of a show that ran for three seasons and was cancelled in 2018. My only hope is that Marvel had their own story in mind which understood what made the series originally great and where the shortcomings lay.
ChapHazard 