Daredevil, Born Again, Season 2, Episode 6: Requiem
This episode is a bit of a mixed bag compared to the previous one. We're setting up a three-episode escalation and conclusion after Vanessa's death, and to that end, actually having the Daredevil moral dilemma pushed front and foremost is amazing.
The argument between Matt and Karen -- emotionally charged and with the show not really doubling down on either side of the argument too much -- is well done. Karen does acknowledge how killing Wesley all the way back in Daredevil's first season is still haunting her, but she doesn't regret it because it was self-defense and it protected them. Karen went quite close to pulling that trigger next to Bullseye's head in this episode, and Bullseye isn't even unwilling to let Karen go through it under his 'balance the scales' mania. There's a great yelling-discussion from Matt's end about how this is the one line that separates them from monsters like Bullseye... something that Karen wonders if they haven't crossed over it already.
It's the eternal argument, and it's something that I felt is quite similar to Matt and Foggy's discussion in the flashback last episode about how much does context matters. The fact that Bullseye is an unrepentant psychopath that killed Foggy is probably as relevant of a context as if their drug-dealing client gets into prison he'll get shanked. But of course, it wouldn't be a Daredevil story if Matt makes all the smartest choices instead of the most angsty one.
The Kingpin, meanwhile, is having a lot of his plans crumble. Protesters outside, Mr. Charles making deals to replace the unstable mayor, and of course Vanessa's death. This ultimately culminates in a confrontation between Daredevil and Kingpin, and the choreography is pretty great as far as these things go, with a nice mix of Daredevil's agility compared to Kingpin's brute strength.
This fight takes place partially in front of the Rabbit in the Snowstorm painting, with blood splattering on the painting and Kingpin throwing Daredevil through the painting at one point. There's a great brief shot of Kingpin looking up at the painting with melancholy for a brief moment, before continuing with the fight, a nice showcase of just how much grief-driven and rage-driven he is now after Vanessa's death.
Daredevil also comes with a rather unconventional request to Kingpin, that they... that they just stop and both leave New York after everyone else that they have both lost.
Of course, Kingpin isn't in a listening mood, and actively mocks Daredevil for his unwillingness to do the difficult choices (i.e. kill him), mirroring what Karen mentioned earlier to Bullseye. Daredevil may have won the fight, but as Kingpin points out -- Daredevil can't arrest Kingpin, and would not kill Kingpin, so how is he going to stop him? That's an interesting thing to end the confrontation on.
There are some side-plots, the most interesting and the one spotlighted by a lot of media being Jessica Jones's big return... which amounts to a great introduction and a bit of a sidequest before she disappears from the episode. That was a bit annoying. Them also slapping Jessica with a bit of a 'her superpowers disappear every now and then because reasons' is also quite lazy and out of nowhere, and while I appreciate that they want to keep down the 'street' level mentality of this show, Jessica's super-strength isn't exactly that big of a game-changer. We did get to see her brutalize the men sent to harass her -- and a cameo by Danielle Cage (that's Dani, right?) and the brief hints that the government has been trying to get her and presumably Luke to work under them.
It really would've been much better to slot this a bit earlier in the season when it's not so hectic, is what I'm saying.
Karen, Angela and Soledad also later end up showing up at an anti-Kingpin protest. Among the AVTF, there's a bit of a conflict as Powell figures out that Saunders is the agent that helped out Daredevil a couple of while back. As the conflict escalates, Powell shoots Saunders (much to the horror of Cole, the dude that was retconned to not have died and hasn't done much since then) and uses his death as an excuse to go weapons-free against the protesters. The episode's cliffhanger is him holding Karen at gunpoint.
Blake and BB's plot goes into a bit of an overdrive, as much as I can get excited about these side-characters. Again, performances are great (especially Blake) but I can't really say that I care since they've really been mostly removed from Kingpin now -- it's just Buck that's dealing with them. They finally confront each other about the spying, and grown to care about each other a bit too much.
There's also a bizarre subplot of Heather hallucinating Muse and trying to strangle Buck. I... I don't care about Heather, honestly; I'm assuming that this season is going to end with Heather embracing the Muse mask and while it's obvious, Heather's kind of just there. Oh, and the Governor seems to be intent on putting Sheila as the replacement for Kingpin, which is... okay, neat.
Again, the focus on Matt, Wilson, and to a lesser extent Karen and Bullseye does really make this episode a lot more exciting than the first half of this season for sure, and the huge confrontation is most certainly welcome.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
- Danielle Cage, the daughter of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, make an appearance in this episode. While this episode tries to drag out the mystery, it's rather obvious for those aware of Danielle in the comics.
- Jessica notes that the government has been recruiting superhumans for black ops, something that we see in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Thunderbolts*.
- With this reference highly implied to be Luke Cage, it would fit since Luke worked for the government leading one of the incarnations of the Thunderbolts at one point; as well as being part of Nick Fury's Secret War (which had Nick Fury send superheroes as black ops agents to different countries).
- Mitchell Ellison, who's listed in BB Urich's phone, is Ben Urich's boss in Daredevil season 1; and made sporadic appearances throughout season 2 and 3.
- Kingpin punching through a brick wall, then reacting in pain, was previously done in the MCU in Daredevil season 3 during the Bullseye fight.
- The slow-motion shot of Daredevil kneeing Fisk in the face after restraining him with the billy clubs is a reference to the Inhyuk Lee cover of Devil's Reign #1.
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