Daredevil: Born Again S01E03 Review: Character Witness

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 3: The Hollow of His Hand

We get the Trial of Hector Ayala in this episode, which takes up almost the entirety of the runtime. Which slows down the show a bit after the more fast-paced two-part opener. I'm not someone who really understands legal proceedings all that well, and 'The Hollow of His Hand' tries to give us some excitement with several twists regarding the witness, Nicky Torres, and whether Matt's team could get him to court without police interference... and then another twist as Nicky pussies out at the last minute and claims to have never seen Hector before.

All the actors showcase the emotions quite well -- Hector's quiet acceptance (that frog speech!) which burns into a very determined speech about how important the mask is for him; Matt's desperation and frustration as all of his attempts to win a case he knows is right gets blocked; the side-characters in the trial are also well-done as well. Hector's speeches about vigilantism and what it means to him also gets Matt to slowly reflect on his own superhero alter-ego who he did give up. It's just that, well, at the end of the day it is just a long trial episode. Ultimately, the climax of the episode hinges on Matt (rather unethically -- I find the judge's reaction at the end of that display to be understandable) revealing that Hector Ayala is actually the superhero White Tiger.

This does, admittedly, lead to a huge outpouring of character witnesses, and making a lot of the police that White Tiger had saved over the years suddenly decide to -- whether they know the truth of Hector's framing or not -- support Hector on the stand. In this more cynical corner of the Marvel universe, it is quite nice to see just how much good White Tiger has done, and how much people he has inspired. The jury finds Hector not guilty, which is all well and good. Celebrations for everyone! It seems like the series is building up to Mayor Fisk being pissed at this result, and trying to do some political maneuvering... 

Only for the episode to end with Hector Ayala immediately dressing up as White Tiger, rushing into the streets to fight crime... only to be shot dead in a shocking final scene by a shadowy figure that appears to be the Punisher. 

(Of course, it's not -- I don't think the writers will get away with that -- we've seen enough of the dirty cops tattooing Punisher's skull and idolizing ol' Frankie, so it's probably just a copycat... but it was a shocking enough cliffhanger)

It does lead me to wonder if Matt's more reckless attempts at his defense of Hector is meant to deconstruct his victory. I mean, the episode does display just how hopeless it would be thanks to the overpoweringly intimidating factor of dirty cops willing to protect their own, but Matt seems to be taking this case extra-personally with how much of a risk he's taking -- outing White Tiger without consulting with Hector, making an enemy of the big lawyer firms, and even though the show doesn't acknowledge it that much, stepping on Mayor Fisk's anti-vigilantism policies. With Hector dead at the end of this episode, I am excited to see how this will affect Matt's not-so-stable mental state.

The Fisk stuff in this episode is a lot more subdued. He spends some time with Vanessa at therapy, which last episode hinted at, but being, y'know, criminal Kingpins and everything, it's very obvious that the root cause of some of their agreements can't be actually revealed to Dr. Glenn. Vanessa having an affair while Wilson was gone, and her also being quite frustrated at her (and later on, their) inability to handle their former criminal empire thanks to keeping up appearances, also crop up a fair bit. We see a bit of a side-plot of some of the gangsters kept in check by Kingpin's presence break apart, since none of Kingpin's people command the same respect as the Kingpin or even Vanessa. This leads to Vanessa asking Wilson a question I had in the season premiere -- what's Wilson trying to get out of all this? Wilson gives a very PR-safe "for change, for the big picture" answer which doesn't satisfy Vanessa... or me, either.

There is, I suppose, an attempt to mirror Matt Murdock as he tries to move away from the Daredevil vigilante life, but realizes that the system is so inherently broken without someone like him in place. Except for Kingpin, it's organized crime. I feel like this melancholy would've worked better if episode 2 didn't give us a scene of Wilson threatening the police cop, if that's the direction we're going? I'm not 100% sure yet, because Wilson is a bit enigmatic about his ultimate motivations. Regardless, D'Onofrio and Zurer's performances are both strong enough to not make me question their characters' decisions too much. 

Anyway, a nice, mostly-standalone episode. I don't have much to say other than I enjoyed it. Looking forward to more!

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Hector mentions his niece during the trial -- Ava Ayala in the comics would take over the role of White Tiger in the comics after Hector's death.
• One of the police officers who is name-dropped by Matt is 'Officer Morales', likely a sneaky nod to the father of Miles Morales (Spider-Man II), Jefferson Morales, who is a New York police officer. 
• This comic's conclusion is a twist on what happens to Hector in the comics. In the comics, Hector's trial ends with him breaking down mentally and attempting to run out of the courthouse before being gunned down by the police. Here, Matt wins Hector's case... only for Hector to get brutally gunned down anyway shortly afterwards.