Daredevil: Born Again S01E02 Review: Cop Killer

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 2: Optics

"Optics" continues the pretty amazing storyline. I think I'll go with one character at a time, starting off with the newly-elected mayor Wilson Fisk. There's an interesting balance on seeing how the show will handle 'Mayor Fisk'. Because... well, it's not a matter of 'if' he's turned good, because that's never going to happen here. But exactly what does Fisk want, and just how will we see him slip. So far he's shown a fair amount of restraint with Matt Murdock, and we get an actually cool scene for him walking up and literally handwaving red tape to fill up a hole in the street. (And there is something to be said about the sheer amount of bureaucracy stopping politicians from doing simple, good things like this) It's very simple, and very good for 'optics', as Fisk's little gaggle of political support staff note. 

The rest of the events that Fisk does in this episode is a bit interesting as he interact with the side-cast. We glimpsed plucky reporter BB Urich last episode, and now we get a full scene with her interviewing Fisk and asking him about some hard-hitting questions. There is the drama behind that meeting, of course, because BB seems unaware that Fisk killed her uncle, and Fisk seems content in using BB as an unintentional mouthpiece. 

A more sinister sequence takes place around Fisk's encounter with commissioner Gallo, who hates Fisk's guts. This leads to Gallo antagonizing Fisk a little during the funeral of a policeman (which we'll talk about in the 'A' plot) before Fisk turns the tables around by blackmailing Gallo and preventing him from resigning and giving Fisk a poorly-managed police force. It is a dirty trick from Fisk, of course, finding out the information about Gallo's illegitimate son and threatening his life, but it's a nice sequence in a 'shades of gray' deal. Is Fisk threatening Gallo just out of regular villainy (or spite, that works too) or is this his way of keeping stability among the police force of his city? 

In a rather interesting note, Wilson Fisk also trying to bring his life together, going on a couples' therapy with Vanessa -- with Matt's new love interest, Dr. Heather. That's an interesting plot thread mostly to see how Fisk is reacting to Vanessa's new lover, especially considering Fisk's previous control-freak tendencies. Notably, of course, his attempt to actually reach out to Vanessa properly as a husband only comes after his campaign staff noted that he needs his wife to appear supportive in front of the constituents. 

The 'A-plot' revolves around a trial. And we see the events that led to one Hector Ayala being pegged for killing a policeman. And I think it's important that the audience sees with unambiguous certainty that Hector was just trying to break up what he thinks is two people beating up someone helpless. A scuffle happens and one of the aggressors falls and dies in the path of a train, a very brutal and unfortunate incident. The dead policeman's partner is understandably upset, but what's not understandable is the brutal beatdown that Hector suffers under the hands of the angry policemen, and the fact that they're trying to get him to take an unjustly unfair punishment. It's an interesting gray area where a vigilante (or a well-meaning citizen) accidentally causes the death of an undercover cop, which I last saw in Punisher: War Zone. 

Matt ends up coming across the case, and uses his super-hearing abilities to determine that Hector, at least, isn't lying about not killing the cop. Matt ends up representing Hector in his case, which is nicely presented as a particularly difficult case to pull off. The judges are not inclined to be open-minded, and the entire NYPD is already quite muffled at the cop-killer, standing together in unity. With the 'I-said-you-said' way that the event happened, however, it is really hard for Hector to mount any sort of defense.

An additional complication arises, of course, when Kirsten and Cherry goes to talk to Hector's wife Soledad. And it turns out that Hector Ayala isn't just some well-meaning dude trying to stop a fight... he's also a vigilante, the White Tiger. One that's admittedly not operating as White Tiger when he fought the cops, but the circumstances behind it isn't particularly good for him -- the cops hate vigilantes, and Mayor Fisk is operating on an anti-vigilante platform. Somehow, Matt manages to convince the judge to keep the superhero identity out of the record... but the case still doesn't look particularly good for Hector. 

We get a very nice scene between Matt and Cherry, with Cherry asking Matt some hard-hitting questions about his own past as a vigilante. Matt goes off on his own investigating to look for Torres, the guy being beaten up by the cops and the only other witness there. Matt manages to track own Torres, but so do the cops... and I am kind of disappointed that the cops turn out to be dirty cops all along -- I'd much rather have an argument where the police genuinely misunderstand the situation. But they are quite literally willing to murder Torres, and when they find Matt alone in Torres's apartment, they get ready to blow his brains out. 

This leads to a very awesome scene as Matt finally lets the devil out again, brutally breaking limbs and overpowering the two dirty policemen. That cathartic scream is excellently acted as Matt, who has been trying to work within the system to defend a mostly-innocent man, finds out that the system is still broken.

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• I didn't do it last episode, but here are the other 'civilian' characters and who they are from the comics:
• Kirsten McDuffie is the assistant D.A. in the comics, and had a playful relationship with Matt, trying numerous times to prove that he is Daredevil. She dated Matt on-and-off, and remains one of his allies throughout most of his adventures .
• Heather Glenn in the comics is a love interest of Matt Murdock. In the comics, she is the daughter of the CEO of a major company, but would end her relationship with Matt after her family was drawn into the superhero world and caused the death of her father at the hands of the Purple Man. 
• BB Urich does not exist in the comics, but notably Ben Urich does have a prominent nephew instead of a niece in the comics -- Phil Urich, a villain that has taken the mantle of Green Goblin, Hobgoblin and Goblin King over the years.
• While the rest of Kingpin's staff appear to be original character, the stoic Buck Cashman is the supervillain Bullet in the comics, a highly paranoid member of the U.S. military who is secretly working for Kingpin. He would face off against Daredevil various times. 
• In addition to Daredevil, Fisk alludes to the Punisher and Spider-Man in his speech. Both superheroes operate in New York and have traditionally fought the Kingpin a lot in the comics. 
• In the comics, White Tiger is also represented by Matt Murdock in a trial where he is accused of killing a policeman -- though the circumstances are different. In the comics, some burglars White Tiger was trying to stop shot a policeman dead. When other police came, White Tiger, in full costume, was found holding the stolen merchandise over the dead body of the policeman, leading to the iconic "The Trial of the Century" storyline in Daredevil 1998 #38-40. 
• While we don't see the amulet being used, the dialogue Hector uses implies heavily that he shares his comic-book counterpart's ability to gain additional strength from his tiger amulet.