Daredevil: Born Again S02E08 Review: Kingfall

Daredevil, Born Again, Season 2, Episode 8: The Southern Cross

Okay, that's an... all right ending? It's not as epic as episode 7's big Daredevil and Kingpin fight. And mostly, I think, is that once again, like any big Marvel project, they see the need to inject a massive big epic action showpiece. Which really ends up bringing in some huge logic leaps, at least from how I reacted to it. 

Basically, I felt like the courtroom scene was neat. Again, not sure if it makes sense legally or not, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief that Matthew Murdock revealing that he is Daredevil and how he could corroborate the evidence from the dead sailor guy from the Northern Star is a very cool moment. The tense dialogue between Matt and Wilson; Matt's huge speech as people yell out 'overruled' and 'sustained'... pretty nice performances. Kingpin gets to give a speech; Heather and Karen get to trade some barbs as well, and Hochberg is a fun, smarmy antagonist. And of course, the "I'm Daredevil" moment, followed up by him doing wacky billy-club stunts in the courtroom. It's a great moment, and a nice bit of Matt using Kingpin's own pride and machinations against him. 

The ending is also something that, in a vacuum, I like -- Matthew Murdock won the trial and saved Karen, but his revelation as Daredevil ended him in jail. Meanwhile, Kingpin failed to humiliate Karen and lost his mayorship, but took a deal from the government and lives a peaceful life in exile... but he's alone, looking at the beach. Love is a prison he never expected to be trapped in without Vanessa. 

But inserting a gratuitous action scene in the middle, with very explicit scenes of Kingpin finally letting loose and murdering protestors -- extremely violently, too! -- between those scenes? And Daredevil making Kingpin accept the government deal... in front of an angry mob? And Wilson, who's spent the lat three episodes refusing to accept reason over revenge... agrees, what the heck? I felt like none of these scenes really worked logically, and I felt like that kind of ruined the finale a bit. 

The season has been building up to the discussion of Daredevil's mercy and what he shows to Kingpin and Bullseye, but... it's just weird. Matt forgives Kingpin and that's a good thing for Matt's moral compass, but it's just so weird that Matt doesn't see this as Wilson crossing over a massive line -- a massive line made up by the blood of a couple dozen random protesting youths he just leaped across. Even if he's all about due procedure, what about those brand-new deaths? What about the deaths of Daniel Blake, Commissioner Gallo, Hector Ayala, and all the people that the AVTF brutalized? Again, there is a way to keep Kingpin alive for another season and still say something about the themes of the show, but this one is just a bit muddled. 

Bullseye's freedom didn't just last for the subdued moment of saving the governor, either. He walks up, slaughters a contingent of AVTF trying to masquerade as him (ironic, considering Bullseye pretended to be Daredevil in season 3), and instead of taking a shot at Matt as he walks out of the courtroom, Bullseye tries to kill Kingpin... and kills Buck instead? Or at least wounds him that he gets some tender scenes later with Wilson and Heather. Did he die? We didn't get the confirmation. 

Speaking of Buck, Kingpin's little supporting cast... really ended up not doing quite as much, as it seems like they're out. Sheila just kind of disappears this season, and ends up being the one sane person that ends up entirely unscathed. Buck is (maybe?) dead. Blake is dead. Heather throat-chops the asshole DA Hochberg, and later ends up donning the Muse mask properly at the end of the episode. Eh. After how much we built them up across the last two seasons, it really is kind of disappointing. 

There are also a bunch of stuff with BB Urich, who ends up also unmasking herself as the Anti-Kingpin videomaker. This led to the gathering of the aforementioned army of protestors wearing Daredevil masks. Mostly it's just an excuse to have Brett Mahoney, Angela del Toro and a bunch of others gather in front of the courtroom. The AVTF storyline also ends very blandly as expected. Powell is a hammy but one-dimensional character, and when he gets to be too much of a jackass, Cole punches him out and lets the protestors in. 

(That is a very unconvincing heel-face-turn from Cole, by the way, regarding how he reacted to the Hector order... I really wished there was a bit more obviousness that Saunders' fake death two episodes ago bothered him. There's also nothing about the forgiveness theme between Angela and Cole, which surprises me and makes Angela feel even more like a gratuitous comic-book-character cameo). 

There are some other characters that are wrapped up in this episode as well. Jessica Jones ends up sticking around throughout the entirety of this episode, even long enough in court to actually interact with Kingpin, steal the local booze, and do some superstrength people-tossing. Jessica ends up going home to Danielle in Alias Investigations. Also, Luke Cage comes back! Mr. Charles (or 'Mr. Robinson', as he calls himself now) got a new attack dog, and that attack dog is Bullseye.

(Mr. Charles is, by the way, another character that was kind of disappointing and really didn't do much after hamming it up so much. I really wished that he either contributed more to Kingpin's downfall, or properly interacting with Jessica, or if you want to make it a Thunderbolts tie-in be more blatant about it...)

Again... I don't know. I felt like this season finale wasn't terrible, but it was definitely clunky. I felt like it would've been a lot more poetic if Matt/Wilson had the huge fistfight in episode 6, and a huge wordfight in this final episode. Maybe switch them around if Marvel really demands an action-packed finale. Maybe have Matt fight Bullseye or something. A lot of the themes about forgiveness and mercy really do end up muddled a lot, and a lot of the side characters really ended up not doing much. The huge long-term 'conspiracy thread' of Mayor Fisk being in cahoots with the government and the Red Port/Northern Star also didn't end up amounting to much, which is another slight disappointment. Ditto for the 'voice of the people', which took up so much space in the first two episodes, and was abandoned until now BB comes out and rallies a whole army of protestors. It would've been a lot more authentic if this was done a bit better, a bit more gradual, and maybe in place of some of the less interesting supporting characters. 

Again... I did enjoy watching these episodes. But there definitely is a sad step-down in terms of narrative consistency compared to the previous season. I don't know how much attempts to mirror and/or distance itself from real-life American politics has affected the writing here, and that might be fair on the portrayal of Mayor Kingpin or the AVTF... but there really are a lot of parts of this season that didn't work as well as it should. Oh well.

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Luke Cage appears after last being seen at the conclusion of his own show, which left at a cliffhanger; and then having a brief cameo in Jessica Jones's final episode.
• Mitchell Ellison makes a return after last being seen in Daredevil season 3, although his name was glimpsed in BB's phone earlier this season. The office that he gives BB was the one used by Ben Urich in season 1. 
• Speaking of old sets, Jessica Jones revisits the set of Alias Investigations, albeit having renovated it to being more baby-friendly. 
• Fisk begins a speech with 'when I was a boy', which is a phrase he repeats a couple of times throughout the original Daredevil when discussing his past. 
• In the comics, Daredevil did go to prison after his identity was leaked, in the "Devil in Cell-Block D" story arc. 
• In the comics, Bullseye has worked for the government several times -- once as a nanite-controlled villain under Iron Man in Civil War, and more well-known as the 'Hawkeye' of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts team. 

Daredevil: Born Again S02E07 Review: The Trial of Karen Page

Daredevil, Born Again, Season 2, Episode 7: The Hateful Darkness

So this episode is an... interesting one. The trial of Karen Page is an interesting one. Again, as I've emphasized throughout all the different Daredevil episodes, I don't have much in terms of knowledge or interest in courtroom drama, but the performances of the actors tend to be able to elevate it and make it interesting. And this episode has part of Karen's trial under the anti-vigilante laws, which is... all right. Kirsten McDuffie and mean DA Hochberg get to trade barbs, but it only really gets interesting when Matthew Murdock decides to enter the courtroom as a co-counsel. I don't know if this is a valid legal strategy, but it sure looks cool. Again, having the climax of the season be Wilson trying to bring down Karen Page and break her through the law system is an interesting one. We also start off with a rare scene in this series of Kingpin and Karen interacting with each other, leading to a brief choke-hold but otherwise a relatively civil one. 

The trial itself is... it's whatever. Presumably we'll get more excitement next episode. Apparently, the cameras rolling and it being public means that there's a proper jury of public opinion (but the Swordsman trial was also broadcasted live, so I dunno). Oh, and the AVTF -- in full uniform -- try to straight-up assassinate Matt, Kirsten and Cherry in the parking lot. That's gotta be dumb. 

A less... well-built-up story is the Daredevil/Bullseye connection. Daredevil ends up trying to forgive Bullseye and lets him go. Which... uh... there's a huge jump from not murdering him in cold blood and letting him loose, isn't there? He's still a murderer? Matt talks a bit about how there's a good thing that Bullseye can do, and in this episode it's protecting the Governor from Wilson Fisk's assassin. (His one lone ninja assassin... the governor didn't warrant Buck, apparently). While I did enjoy the other stuff in we had from previous episodes with Bullseye and Daredevil, this encounter felt muted. 

As the court trial is going on and Matt undoubtedly runs around to gather evidence and build a case, we get a bunch of side-plots going around. After being built up across the entire season, the Daniel Blake / BB Urich storyline finally gets a conclusion. Blake almost goes through with bringing BB to get killed mafia-style by Buck Cashman. His morals get in the way at the last minute, and he gives a USB to BB before telling her to disappear. He meets up with Buck anyway, and actually gets killed for his trouble. 

BB herself has been such a reactive character, which is the big problem with this plotline, really. But Daniel Blake's actor does manage to deliver quite a great performance in the last couple of episodes. It's just such a shame that this ultimately doesn't really connect emotionally with the Daredevil/Kingpin plot, but it's well-performed if nothing else. I'm quite happy that this is over, frankly. 

Jessica Jones also gets a couple of scenes. She confronts Mr. Charles about sending troops to her house, and Mr. Charles gets away unbroken because he's also Luke Cage's government handler. Thanks to the previous episode, though, Mr. Charles and the government has pulled out their support of Fisk and Jessica gives this message to Matt... before buggering away from the show. Again, I really wished that the episode 6 and 7 Jessica Jones cameos were wrapped up together cause this just feels so off and weird. 

Officer Brett Mahoney also gets a welcome cameo as the police officer protecting Karen. This is a much more subdued -- and honestly, sensible -- cameo than Jessica's, which really goes back and forth between her wanting to help and just buggering off every episode mid-point. 

Heather, who has been a bit of a nothingburger this episode other than the slow and obvious buildup that she's going to be Muse II, gets a face-to-face scene with Karen. Karen does ham it up quite a bit in this encounter, and I love that. I still think Karen needs a bit more focus than just arguing with Matt as the Frank Castle surrogate, but this conversation with Heather is a neat (if forced 'our original love interest is the better one' shipping bit) conversation that shows off why Karen's a major supporting character. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Recurring police officer Brett Mahoney was last seen in The Punisher, season 2. He's gotten a promotion since! 
• Again, the establishing shots of New York show off the Thunderbolts' Watchtower. 
• In addition to Foggy's murder, Father Lantom and Ray Nadeem's murders on Bullseye's hands on Daredevil Season 3 are brought up by Matt.
• In addition to bringing up Karen's killing of James Wesley, her flashback episode and Kevin was brought up by Heather.

Daredevil: Born Again S02E06 Review: AKA The Defenders

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. 

Daredevil: Born Again S02E05 Review: The King's Tears

Daredevil, Born Again, Season 2, Episode 5: Grand Design

This is a great episode. 

Part of it is due to the obvious 'nostalgia bait' of the original Netflix Daredevil cast returning in a flashback, and we get Foggy Nelson and (unexpectedly) James Wesley back. I recognize the obvious fanservice for what it is, but it also works a lot in context of this episode. 

The episode goes around different characters and different time periods, but let's go through them one at a time, since technically not a whole ton happened. In the present day stuff, Vanessa becomes lucid for a while before dying; Matt and Dex evade the AVTF; while Buck and Blake have a bit of a mafia moment. But the way the present-day stories tied to each other and to the flashbacks really did work in making this a really good character focus for our characters. 

Vincent D'Onofrio is one of the best castings that elevated Kingpin so much during the original run of Daredevil and all of his subsequent appearances (by and far being the strongest actor in Hawkeye and Echo as well) and the present-day scenes with him babbling with joy at Vanessa's brief moment of lucidity, his rage at the nurse, and his utter distraught expression at the end of the episode is amazingly acted. You really do feel sorry for Wilson Fisk -- regardless of the handling of Vanessa's writing in this season, the show has been quite consistent at portraying Wilson's love and care for Vanessa. 

And for a moment, it does seem that Vanessa's back -- a little changed, a little loopy -- but she's back and I would like to highlight, again, how amazing that performance is as Wilson Fisk drops all of his mask and just asks what he can do for Vanessa. All of that disappears by the end of the episode, of course, as Vanessa eventually succumbs to her wounds. 

On the flashback side of things, we get to see a bit of a reinterpretation of Vanessa's original meeting with Wilson. Vanessa's meeting with Wilson was a combination of both characters' ruthless pragmatism as well as their own longing in life. There is always something about that painting that strikes both of their hearts, and Vanessa even mentions to her old boss that this painting will 'speak' to someone. But they're both ruthless businessmen as well, with this episode having Vanessa reveal that... yes, she likes that art piece but she also ripped off Wilson a whole ton for it. Meanwhile Wilson also does like the art, but went there to diversify and move money into different forms under James Wesley's suggestions. That's neat.

In a way, too, this helps to reconcile the sometimes-inconsistent portrayal of Vanessa over Daredevil and Born Again, incorporating how Vanessa could be the 'normal person in Wilson's life' as well as the more ruthless 'co-conspirator' she would be portrayed as under different writers. 

Meanwhile, Daredevil and Bullseye are running around town, avoiding the AVTF members. Bullseye continues to rant about how he's just balancing the scales, and I think stops short of telling Daredevil that Vanessa deserved it for ordering the hit on Foggy... but Daredevil cuts him off there -- he's not willing to justify Vanessa's death as anything but murder, and notes that it's the same reason why he's trying so hard to save the murderer of his best friend. Whether it's to make up for the past crimes of seriously attempting to kill Bullseye last season, or Matt's own way to balance the scales, it's a neat enough nod to the character's mindset. 

Of course, not everyone agrees with Matt -- least of all Karen, who is less than impressed that Matt brought Foggy's killer to their base. 

Foggy himself appears very prominently in Matt's side of this episode's flashback. The two burgeoning 'avocados at law' get to muck around as young lawyers with huge ambitions. Ah, we were all there, once. Their client, this time, is Lionel -- an asshole that used to bully Foggy. Lionel is scared shitless about going to prison, noting that the mysterious organization that he crossed will have him killed within 24 hours. There was an argument between Matt and Foggy later on, where Matt argues that Lionel is a drug dealer and deserves the punishment... but Foggy counters by listing the fact that Lionel was screwed by the system; and more importantly, now that they know the punishment won't be fair, that knowledge precludes them to ask. 

Again, the ethics of this argument could be debated over and over, but ultimately Foggy takes things into his own hands. Taking the money out of the pile that he and Matt have been saving up to open their own firm, Foggy gives Lionel a second chance to get out and do something with his life. 

(This happens right at the same time that Kingpin and Wesley send their hitman Buck Cashman, who's retconned to be one of Kingpin's enforcers and a nice little tie-in for one of the many side-characters introduced last season.)

But more importantly, Foggy's optimism -- regardless of whether you agree with it or not -- is something that's clearly struck a chord in Matt as he interacts with Bullseye. Even if Bullseye did kill Foggy. It's an interesting decision for the show to explore this storyline, and while I'm not fully convinced that it will be wrapped up in a manner that satisfies everyone, it does help to bring a wrinkle and some explanation as to why Daredevil isn't beating up Bullseye and leaving him for dead. 

Meanwhile, in the C-plot, Daniel Blake gets confronted by BB Urich and under the price of a hug, ends up blabbing about Vanessa's condition to her. It's... it's a bit silly and after episode 3, Blake surely realizes fully that the (very dangerous) leak is BB, isn't he? But he dose so anyway, and BB leaks it to the media. Buck comes in and we get a bit of a tense sequence where he makes it appear as if he's going to take Blake out to a forest and shoot him; but instead gets him to help dispose of another body. The tension is palpable, and well-done, even if I don't really care about Blake all that much as a character the acting between the two characters are excellent.

Still, the highlight of the episode is still Kingpin and D'Onofrio's acting throughout scenes both past and present. Curious to see how this will develop as Born Again's second season zooms to its final three episodes. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• The events of the flashbacks all lead to Wilson and Vanessa's initial meeting in 'Rabbit in a Snowstorm'.
• James "Owl" Wesley makes a surprising return in the flashback, having only been seen as a major supporting character in Daredevil season 1, where he was killed. In addition, the status quo of how the criminals describe the Kingpin in hushed tones, almost as like an urban legend, fits with the pre-Daredevil-season-1 status quo as well where Kingpin works through a lot of intermediaries.
• The specific word Daredevil uses for someone who can help, 'nurse', is a clear reference to Claire Temple, a.k.a. Night Nurse. 
• Bullseye lampshades that he should have died after being thrown off the roof by Matt. Daredevil season 3 did end with Bullseye receiving an operation that gave him a version of his comic-book counterpart's adamantium skeleton (changed to 'cogmium'), but I'm not sure if Bullseye even knew about this. 

Daredevil: Born Again S02E04 Review: Boxing Match of the Century

Daredevil, Born Again, Season 2, Episode 4: Gloves Off

At the rough mid-way point of Born Again's second season, we finally get a confrontation between the lead characters. And it's... it's a bit sad, really, that it took so long to reach this point. The show has been spinning its wheels so much with less interesting characters and I'm continually surprised to be reminded that each of these episodes are 50 minutes long. 

But after being awkwardly set up and disappearing, we start off this episode with a fantastic Bullseye killing spree of Taskforce minions in a diner. Love that whole sequence as Bullseye sits down to order a milkshake, fools the Taskforce into coming, and then just uses cutlery and at one point a lobster claw to brutally take down the goons. Still not sure about how 'look so realistic' his balaclava supervillain outfit looks, but I love this interpretation of Bullseye's craziness. MCU's take on Bullseye changes him from being a psychopath who kills 'just because' into someone who sees a warped version of the world due to a combination of trauma, psychological disorders and evil people pushing him in different directions. He's still undoubtedly not sympathetic, but it does make him so much more interesting than a lot of other villains I've seen lately in superhero TV. 

The minor sequence of Bullseye going through his daily life also pays off rather well. Matt goes on his own investigation, tracking down the very specific coin back to his church (which was the random scene in episode 2) and detectives his way to where Bullseye is hiding. And despite the showcase of 'Tom' bonding and being nice to the old neighbour with the cat, Bullseye doesn't hesitate to hold her hostage with a gun while yelling stuff about how he's "the hero" and how he's going to balance the scales of Foggy's death with "one good deed". 

This is a very cool reorientation of Bullseye and a proper spotlight for him not dissimilar to the one Punisher received around the mid-way point of Born Again's first season. The wacky props like lobster claws, lunch trays and Walkman CD's being used in the fights that Bullseye does against his opponents makes it extra fun. 

Meanwhile, the Kingpin takes literal center stage as he sets up a trap for Bullseye that he can't resist by making a huge boxing match. We get some buildup to this and a nice sequence of brutality as Kingpin beats up his opponent (who's just some random guy) while the crowd cheers around him. It's a nice little setpiece. And after spending so much of this season just either sitting around giving orders or trading barbs with Mr. Charles, it feels like a nice release for Kingpin as well as he's allowed to indulge in some physical brutality. 

Oh, and Mr. Charles finally makes a reappearance after the first episode, doing another confrontation of Kingpin over the whole smuggling business. Charles tries to make Kingpin feel small by noting what a tiny part of the world he's controlling, but Kingpin refuses to be intimidated and his main goon Buck Cashman murders Mr. Charles's two bodyguards before Kingpin walks out of the meeting. That was cool as well. 

But the boxing match is, of course, the main highlight. Kingpin tries to send away Vanessa for her safety, but Vanessa refuses. I... I would've really loved this more if the previous two episodes actually highlighted Vanessa and Wilson's relationship a lot more. Instead, she gets a nightmare and tries to ship two minor characters together and just feels so unfocused. Really, instead of Angela, BB or Blake, you'd think that Vanessa Fisk should've gotten the spotlight episode early on in the season -- especially considering what happens at the end of this episode. 

Vanessa's unexpected arrival in the boxing match triggers a fervour in Kingpin as he accelerates his brutality over his boxing opponent, but also a panic as he's expecting Bullseye to arrive. Vanessa does have a bit of a motive discussion in this episode, talking about how she wants to be Wilson's partner, and manages to talk down the Governor in a short scene. It's a nice rereailment after last episode focuses way too long on their marriage counseling, but it also comes at a bit too little, too late. 

That said, Bullseye's attack on the boxing match is fantastic. The fight between Bullseye and the Taskforce as he launches stuff into the crowd, and when Daredevil comes intent on... saving everyone? Vanessa and Fisk both have their moments of pulling out a gun at Bullseye. But ultimately, Bullseye throws one of those tacky glass souvenirs, and despite Kingpin blocking it, the glass item shatters and a huge piece pierces Vanessa's temple. Daredevil and Bullseye manage to escape with the AVTF in hot pursuit, but Kingpin is left at the end of the episode cradling a bleeding, dying Vanessa. 

(The show did spare Cherry for seemingly no reason, but Vanessa's death looked pretty final -- and, all right, I did take a peek to see if it sticks)

It's definitely a massive escalation and a surprising one, and a great one because I actually care a lot more about the Daredevil/Kingpin/Bullseye conflict. I do feel that there are some weaknesses here, of course -- Vanessa's lack of buildup, and maybe we could've had more scenes devoted to Matt's struggle on his stance about killing/sparing Bullseye and/or Kingpin. But that was pretty great to look at. 

Other stuff happen in the background of this episode, too, which I felt are the right amount of times to be dedicated to a lot of these more minor characters instead of the meandering we've gotten in the first 3 episodes. Kirsten gets her office harassed by AVTF goons, and the frustration leads her to accept Karen's offer to help Christofi. Blake and BB are present but aren't taking up precious screentime. Jack Duquesne/Swordsman exits the resistance after handwaving and giving some resources to Matt and Karen, so there's one less character to look out for. Angela is intent on sticking around and being the new White Tiger. Angela helps to smuggle some plot devices around to BB. Buck is sent away by Kingpin on a mission to kill Christofi, plugging up that loose thread. 

There's a world where any of these less interesting storylines are given entire episodes on their own to develop, but I am happy that they're all sped-run in the background here. It does really help to add to the chaos of everything that's going on in the boxing match for sure. 

But of course, the main spotlight of this show is the confrontation between the three primary movers of the show. It's a nice breath of refreshing air after the show twiddled its thumbs so much in the first couple of episodes. With some plot threads resolved and some slammed shut, I look forward to what the second half of the season has to offer. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Just like Bullseye's spotlight episode in season 3 of the original Daredevil show, this episode opens with a sequence of Dex going through his morning routine. 
• Fogwell's gym being associated with Matt's dad is brought up.
• The shot of Vanessa falling mirrors the shot of her being poisoned (less brutally) in Daredevil season 1. In this episode, Vanessa also makes a fuss about being 'sent away' for her own protection, similar to season 1. 
  
• Vanessa Fisk does die in the comics, but died due to terminal illness (and after launching a villainous scheme of her own against Daredevil), and in a much more hostile relationship against Wilson.

Daredevil: Born Again S02E03 Review: Trial of the Swordsman

Daredevil, Born Again, Season 2, Episode 3: The Scales & the Sword

Yeah, this feels like it probably should've been the big bombastic moment at the end of the premiere of the season, or at least the second episode. After a fair amount of meandering, "The Scales and the Sword" kind of... goes through with the Jack Duquesne trial. And while I do appreciate Duquesne's actor hamming it up with his commentary of the sequence, it just feels... quite one-sided. Which I suppose is the whole point of the kangaroo trial, but considering how long it took us to get here, it really did feel like we could've gotten here in a lot faster. The other Daredevil seasons do take their time with the trials, but they actually took the effort to go through some attempt at making up defenses and discuss legal strategies. Which I don't pretend to understand... but if the narrative for this season calls for a sham, kangaroo trial that the lawyer doesn't have time to prepare for, why not just rush through this trial and get it over with in the first episode? 

There is some nice bits with Kirsten as she tries her best to help Duquesne in a trial that's clearly rigged against her. She gets to call out Heather early on in the episode, but otherwise her blindfolded journey through the AVTF prison just serves to let Daredevil 'work with' the descriptions and get into the prison to stage the jailbreak. I'm... I'm not convinced that Kirsten is sensitive enough to provide Daredevil with all the descriptions, but sure. (This episode is also particularly clunky with exposition. Matt and Karen wants to destroy the weapons in Red Hook... but Matt interrogates Kirsten about Duquesne. So Matt infiltrates the evil base seemingly to rescue Duquesne... but then Matt and Karen later act as if freeing the prisoners was an unexpected development?)

The actual jailbreak is entertaining, with Daredevil being joined with Jack "Swordsman" Duquesne as they beat up AVTF agents and make liberal use of baton weapons, but even for a superhero show, it is rather odd that there's only so few prisoners of the AVTF raids. Enough to pile into a car. Sure, maybe Matt didn't free everyone, but considering only Daredevil and Swordsman had the vigilante abilities to fight back against trained, armed soldiers, it feels like we're stretching the credibility a bit. 

Angela del Toro and her White Tiger amulet also show up randomly (and unexplainedly) with a vague 'I can help', apparently having done stuff offscreen? Karen lets her, and while she gets to free her aunt and slash some tires, it feels shoehorned -- either show us the new White Tiger actually be a badass fledgling vigilante, or keep her elsewhere. Her inclusion just felt odd. 

I did like the callback to the Mr. Charles discussion with Kingpin in the first episode, however, where Kingpin gets the 'foreign workers' on the Northern Star and then orders the ship to be blown up, killing all the witnesses and pinning the crime on the evil vigilante Daredevil. That was neat. If only it happened in closer proximity to the foreshadowing. (Where is Mr. Charles, by the way?)

On the villain side... we see a lot more meandering, really. Vanessa just feels airy, and she feels so off compared to the more intelligent and ruthless character we're more used to. Even if she's paranoid or scared, she's not really showing it. Heather continues to be an asshole, but she gets to trade barbs with Kirsten instead so I suppose that's a bit different? Buck gets to go through a discussion of Kingpin's little 'kingdom', which I felt, again, would've worked a bit better earlier on before we've spent two episodes in the season giving so much focus on Blake. Vanessa's also... shipping Buck and Heather? Which feels so random and unnecessary, and feels like not something she'd think about considering the whole Bullseye situation. 

Blake continues to a bit more focus, this time trying to look for blackmail information on the Mayor (who I think is a new character) that's coming down hard on the legalities of the Northern Star's sinking. Again... not very interesting. BB Urich goes live with another TikTok meme-wacky Fisk parody, which has to count at self-indulgent at this point. 

The Punisher is noted to be absent in the show, and... and I really don't understand why. I get that he has his own mini-movie or whatever planned, but to just handwave him aside without at least a cameo? Karen, for a moment, seems like she's entertaining filling Frank Castle's role in the series -- which would be a neat development that wouldn't even be out-of-character for her -- but we just don't get much development, again, from either of these characters. 

I'm not sure if Officer Saunders is going to be relevant as one of the few anti-Powell, anti-Kingpin members in the task force, but I've already complained a bit about the side-character overload. Bit of a shame. Born Again's first season did a great job focusing on different characters and themes, but this one just seems intent on jumping around and dragging its characters all over. (No Bullseye either in this episode, disappearing just as he gets a bit of focus.)

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner: 

• Matt and Karen's interrogation of Taskforce Officer Saunders has callbacks to previous interrogation scenes in the Daredevil show -- the 'unhappy man' threat is a callback to season 1, episode 2; Karen and Daredevil doing an interrogation aided with Daredevil's lie-detection powers is a callback to season 3, episode 6. (Thanks, internet!)
• Angela del Toro, of course, succeeded her uncle Hector in the comics as well as the second White Tiger. Comics!Angela was a lot older than her MCU version, though. 

Daredevil: Born Again S02E02 Review: Bull's Eye

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 2: Shoot the Moon

I thought the episode opened up in a rather splendid fashion, ratcheting up a fair bit of tension. Bullseye is back and we get to see him be a wildcard in-between Kingpin and his taskforce; as well as Matt's 'resistance' allies. What seemed to be another taskforce-vs-good-cops standoff regarding the hospitalized Cherry ends up being unexpectedly brutal as Bullseye does that cool elevator moment, complete with an actual (sadly overmodernized) supervillain suit.

On the other side, Kingpin pushing up the hunt for Daredevil while also making a brilliant manhunt for Matt Murdock -- framing him as a poor blind hero who is a victim of Daredevil and someone that he wants found due to saving his life in the previous season -- was also fantastic. We... don't really get any of these cool threads followed up in the second half of the episode, which just kind of meanders around with the side characters until we land at the requisite fight scene. 

Some of these are entertaining, of course. Vanessa Fisk (and Wilson too, to a lesser degree) having paranoia about Bullseye and having conversations about legacy and escaping New York is nice. The action scene at the end of the episode is neat, too. The AVTF try and arrest Josie, leading to Daredevil fighting them as they breach the bar and find out Matt and Karen's little hidey-hole. I do like the close-quarters combat of Daredevil ziplining and beating up the two AVTF members that entered all the way to the basement, particularly the bit where he jumpscares the taskforce members with the gun (that he wasn't going to use). This action scene leads to the cliffhanger of the episode showing that Karen actually subdued a task force member for interrogation. 

But I must admit that the secondary cast really isn't the most exciting part of the episode, and more importantly it really does take away from Matt, Karen and Kingpin. Again... not all of them are interesting. 

Angela del Toro, the niece of the late White Tiger, ends up being caught smack dab when AVTF members come in and arrest some thieves, the store owner that pulled a gun on them, and Angela's aunt for 'assaulting an officer'. The unfairness and the power abuse is clearly shown well, and it's a nice contrast to the word-on-the-street interviews with random civilians who talk about how good the Fisk regime is to New York. This leads to Angela going off to Kirsten and finding her uncle's superhero amulet, which presumably will lead to White Tiger II in the upcoming episodes. That's neat, I guess, if I didn't feel that the show has too many characters, many of whom are struggling for airtime. 

Blake gets into a confrontation with Kingpin, and manages to weasel his way out of suffering the same fate as the overeager boxing coach in the episode's earlier scenes. His fooling around with BB has caused a data leak and Kingpin is really not liking it. The confrontation between BB and Blake is very muted and I must confess I don't find either character particularly engaging. The reveal that BB is also producing the 'fake Kingpin parody' propaganda isn't a huge surprise, either. 

Both Blake and Sheila (who's kind of protecting Blake? Sort of?) get implicit warnings from Fisk, who shows off the reports of Gallo's unfortunate death. I do find Sheila to be a fair bit more engaging and I like that she's kind of protecting the overeager puppy that is Blake... but again, all of this is coming at the expense of potentially more interesting storylines. 

The titular 'shoot the moon' comes from Taskforce goon Powell, who gets a couple of scenes establishing how much he hates vigilantes (and hates them even more after Bullseye kills two of his men that were clearly trying to arrest/murder/brutalize Cherry). We also get Cole from Born Again season one, who inexplicably survived Matt's apartment blowing up to kingdom come with some scars. Not sure if he's going to be particularly relevant. 

Meanwhile, up until the end of the episode, Matt and Karen kind of just do some vague investigating that doesn't really add up to much. Karen's frustrated that they can't do more (hence her capturing a Taskforce member at the end of the episode) and... Kingpin prepares for a gala and they're paranoid because of Bullseye, but nothing really happens in this episode. 

(It also doesn't help that most of the other side-characters spotlighted last episode -- Duquesne, Heather, Mr. Charles, the missing sailor Christofi -- essentially disappear in this one)

Again, I get the need of a setup episode, but considering how Daredevil: Born Again's greatest strength has been in Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk (and sometimes Karen) even as it builds a world around the two main characters. Honestly, it is quite baffling that we haven't really given either of the leads any particular huge moments or character spotlights two episodes into the second season. I wouldn't have minded if Karen, Bullseye or Vanessa had been given the spotlight to build them up a bit, but the focus has been so scattershot and it's even harder when I sit down and have to review the episodes and I have to sit down and really think about what has happened in the episode that's notable. Still enjoying myself, but I'm waiting for something actually interesting to happen. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Bullseye looks for Sister Maggie, who was last seen in Daredevil's third season before the channel hop from Netflix to Disney+. Maggie's on a sabbatical to Rome, apparently. 
• Kingpin in His Gym is a trope named after Kingpin's comic-book incarnation, and this is certainly a demonstration of the trope as Kingpin trains in boxing and ends up maiming his coach. 

Daredevil: Born Again S02E01 Review: The Devil's Back

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 1: The Northern Star

And so, we begin my coverage of season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again. Real life conspired to make me unable to watch this series as it was coming out weekly throughout March through May this year, but I did manage to slowly make through the season and do some episode reviews. While the blog would see these reviews be released in close proximity to each other, they're written very sporadically as I watch the episodes throughout the year. (Other Marvel projects will be released similarly as well.)

Season premiere 'The Northern Star' is a pretty simple status-quo setup, taking part six months after the events of Daredevil: Born Again's first season. 

And in a way, it's... interesting to see how muted the first episode is. Sure, we do open up with a typical grand-scale action scene as Daredevil in a fancy new black suit beats up a bunch of guys on the titular cargo ship that's smuggling large amounts of weapons, before the captain sends the ship into crashing and sinking. Daredevil survives, of course, ostensibly crippling part of the Kingpin's operations... but this also sets up the storyline of both Daredevil and Kingpin's forces hunting down the loose ends of the surviving captain and first mate. 

Much of the episode flashes around to see random videos made by citizens of New York as well as some anti-Kingpin videos, in a somewhat more in-your-face version of the 'voices in the street' storyline they did in the first season of Born Again. It's always nice, even if I felt there were maybe one or two too much in this episode. I felt that actually showing random civilians -- like the Greek restaurant owner that resisted the Taskforce and later befriends Matt -- worked a lot better than the in-your-face videos. 

We don't really get to see much of the big 'resistance' that was set up at the end of the first season, and it really does seem that the team is just Matt and Karen for now. Which is all fine and good -- the two at least are in good relations, bonding over both their vigilantism and their still-lingering grief over Foggy's death. 

A bunch of storylines happen with much of the B-cast involving Kingpin's regime. BB Urich is still forced to do the 'people in the street love Kingpin' videos, but is still getting close to Blake. Not the most exciting storyline or characters, but BB being in contact with Karen, and Karen bringing up Ben Urich, promises at least some nice drama and/or character development for them.

Jack "Swordsman" Duquesne, having minor roles in the first season of Daredevil: Born Again and briefly glimpsed a half-decade ago in Hawkeye, is being interviewed with Matt's ex-girlfriend and psychiatrist Heather Glenn. Glenn's descent into villainy caused by her own trauma -- she hallucinates Muse all throughout the episode -- is solidified as she goes from 'trying to do her job for a cause she thinks is right' to actively changing her psych evaluations at the gentle urgings of dirty DA Hochberg. 

Matt's ex law partner Kirsten McDuffie gets a brief confrontation with Hochberg, refusing to close the aid that she's giving to all the anti-Taskforce clients; and McDuffie is also still working with Cherry, who's also doing information gathering for Daredevil. This leads to the climax of the episode as the Taskforce ends up attacking Cherry for digging around for the missing sailors, leading to the episode-ending action scene. Cherry gets injured (and maybe killed? He did have a death flag earlier in the episode) and the trauma of being reminded of Foggy's death causes Daredevil to freeze up mid-fight, get subdued... and unmasked. 

But before that bit turns out to be the huge status-quo changer, the Taskforce soldiers that recognized Matt Murdock's face all get instantly killed (that's what happens when minor characters accidentally find out the superhero's secret identity, I guess), before a knife emblazoned with Bullseye's symbol gets tossed into the room.

Oh, and I suppose I need to talk about Kingpin's side of the story. As with most of the show's lifetime, any time Kingpin stars as the main villain, he usually stars in a B-plot. It's not terribly exciting this time around as, again, it really does feel like a reintroduction and realignment of his position of the mayor-with-a-good-reputation-but-an-iron-fist that was established last episode. I'll... refrain from any timely political commentary in these review series; but as a villain concept, it's definitely done well. 

The 'Freeport' plan is definitely working out for Kingpin at the very least, until the Northern Star incident that forces Kingpin to have to take more drastic measures. While he does manage to handwave it as a terrorist attack by vigilantes, and his Taskforce and head henchman Buck manages to track down and kill the captain. But while Kingpin still manages to throw his weight around the political stage, the arrival of CIA representative "Mr. Charles" ends up throwing him off the hook. 

Mr. Charles is rude, abrasive, flamboyant, and clearly isn't intimidated by Fisk. He's at least tied somewhat to the quasi-villainous Valentina de Fontaine, last seen in Thunderbolts and having slowly been built up as essentially an evil Nick Fury. There's a nice discussion where Fisk is seemingly a bit disturbed by Mr. Charles's initial suggestion of having all of his men that helped to salvage the ship all killed, showing that Kingpin at least has some lines he won't cross pragmatically. Charles seems to be working for Fisk's mysterious powerful customers/clients (or just Valentina), and it's interesting to see what direction this will be taken. Charles is a fun character, and I do want to see more of him. 

It is a good, if not great, opening to the second season. I understand there's a fair bit of directional change as the show goes into its second one, but I did feel like this episode ends up being a bit of a recap more than anything. It's still always nice to return back to this setting and characters, though, so I'm not complaining. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Daredevil's new black suit with a red logo costume is based particularly on the outfit he wore in the Shadowland arc in the comics -- ironically, an arc where Daredevil actually became evil due to demonic possession.
  
• She doesn't show up in person, but Karen's source is Jessica Jones, who gets name-dropped as 'Jess' and identified as someone who's an expert at information finding. 
• Valentina de Fontaine was last seen during the events of Thunderbolts*, clashing against the titular team. 
• The Watchtower from Thunderbolts* is seen in shots of the New York skyline. 
• Matt references his 'old, psychotic sensei' Stick, who made appearances in the first couple of seasons of Daredevil as well as The Defenders. 
• Karen refences the events behind Ben Urich's death in Daredevil Season 1, and while she doesn't go to the details, she does note that Ben died to save her life. 
• Karen's red-haired wig when she goes undercover is a short hair patterned after Black Widow, particularly her comic-book incarnation. Black Widow is nominally one of Daredevil's major love interests in the comics. 

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S01E06 Review: MAN WITHOUT FEAR!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Season 1, Episode 6: Duel With The Devil

I really, really like Netflix's Daredevil, as you guys can probably tell by my excitement throughout my coverage of the excellent Daredevil: Born Again. So I don't think it's a surprise that I really, really like this episode, which brings in Charlie Cox back as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in a rather substantial voice-over guest star. 

Which is a really unexpected blip of joy in this otherwise rather slow episode. No fault to the voice actors, which give their lines and explore the emotions of their characters quite perfectly, but maybe I'm just not in the right target demographic to really care to suffer through the awkwardness of Peter trying to bring spoiled-rich innocently-insensitive Harry Osborn and prickly, jealous-that-her-BFF-is-being-stolen Nico Minoru together for a movie night. These scenes are, admittedly, quite important for the narrative to get us to really care for Nico and Harry beyond their abstract concepts as Peter's friends. It's just that... well, I just don't find it particularly interesting, and we've already had several sequences of the episode hinging around the anxiety of Peter mismanaging his time. Oh, this episode ends with Harry accidentally blurting out Peter's identity to Nico, thinking that she already knows. That's an honestly understandable fuck-up for these inexperienced superheroes. 

I do like, however, that this incident nicely fits into the Norman/Peter relationship. Norman keeps framing Peter's work with him as an equal partnership, but in this episode he puts his foot down and straight-up orders Spider-Man to investigate Oscorp because it's being burgled by someone mysterious. Well, he doesn't order so much as emotionally gaslight Peter into investigating like an asshole parent, but something that the episode doesn't actually point out is that this isn't too different from the tactics that Big Ben and the 110th did to Lonnie Lincoln last episode.

Unbeknownst to Peter, Norman is going around making deals about Spider-Man behind his back, meeting with Secretary Ross. As a reminder that this takes place during the Civil War storyline, Norman essentially promises a superhero that's under the control of people who are aligned with the U.S. government, treating Spider-Man as essentially an asset or an employee. 

Of course, instead of another villain of the week, Spider-Man instead finds... Daredevil, in all his glory with a black version of his Netflix costume. A much more experienced superhero, with the skills to dodge and parry everything Spider-Man can throw at him. Very cool sequence, and a nicely 'real' confrontation as in this universe, both Daredevil and Spider-Man are still relative unknowns. In typical superhero fashion, both Daredevil and Spider-Man realize that the other isn't exactly a villain, so Spider-Man lets Daredevil go... but not before Daredevil warns him that Norman Osborn isn't as nice as he makes himself out to be. 

In the gang wars storyline, Lonnie's old life is slowly getting destroyed. His popularity among the gangsters is increasing with his whole 'Tombstone' moniker, but the coach pulls him out of his team, and this has also torpedoed his grades and his relationship with Pearl. The Otto Octavius storyline also gets a nice little tie-in here, because his role as a supervillain tech broker has a brand-new customer... Mac Gargan of the Scorpions, who gets a Scorpion-themed powered armour as the cliffhanger. 

Looking back at this episode after having finished the season, this sequence is admittedly a huge bit of cameo-for-the-sake-of-a-cameo. Daredevil doesn't really show up in a relevant way for the rest of the season; and this meeting doesn't really feel like it's particularly pivotal in shaking up Peter's faith towards Norman -- it's just one among many. (And the Ross stuff also doesn't really come up, which is a bit of a disappointment. So in that regards this episode does feel a bit self-indulgent. But it's Daredevil, so I can't honestly say I'm particularly upset. A bit of a shame, because I really did like the storylines brought up by the events in this episode, but the season simply doesn't follow up on them properly. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Daredevil returns with a black version of his MCU/Netflix suit (a few months before Daredevil: Born Again released). Charlie Cox returns to reprise his role, making him the only live-action actor to do so. Some musical cues from the Netflix show also are used here.
• Eleanor Bishop, Kate Bishop's mother and a rich businesswoman, is mentioned as one of the guests of the charity ball. 
• In the comics, the Scorpion's traditional origin story involves a combination of genetic experimentation and a scorpion-themed armour. This version of the Scorpion seems to fully utilize just a power-suit, appropriately enough provided by Dr. Octopus who himself is known for his technological tentacles. 

Daredevil: Born Again S01E09 Review: Devil's Punishment

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 9: Straight to Hell

We have a huge finale for Daredevil: Born Again's first season, and... a good part of what the episode is about has to do with the fact that the key word in that sentence is 'first'. That's right, baby, we're pulling out an Infinity War and ending this on a cliffhanger!

I'm... I'm of two minds about this episode. On one hand, we get some really, really good character moments for Daredevil, Punisher and Karen Page. That apartment fight as Daredevil and Punisher takes on Fisk's task force is a great action scene that puts a lot of Disney/Marvel's recent efforts to shame. On the other hand... some aspects of the cliffhanger also feel forced. I do absolutely love that we're giving the storylines introduced in this season the time in a future season to breathe, because there absolutely was not enough time to cover everything in this final episode.

Let's get my main gripe out of the way... I'm not a huge fan of how the show handles the Punisher in the last run of the episode. On one hand, it just feels utterly stupid for Frank to just waltz into Red Hook Pier that way -- and while the audience doesn't see it until a bit later, the fact that Daredevil and Karen call off their own assault makes it feel like the Punisher kind of got fucked by bad communication. But there's also a bit of a suspension of disbelief -- in a series that has otherwise been good at being more grounded and "realistic" in its portrayal of vigilante violence -- that none of the Task Force's bullets so much as wound Frank beyond knocking him around, while he's blowing people's heads and limbs off. Sure, the Task Force wants to bring Frank in alive, but it really does feel off. I didn't mind the spirit and idea of the scene of the Punisher biting off more than he can chew, but the way it's portrayed just feels really off to me.

I also know that we're saving it for next season, but the absolute lack of Bullseye (other than a brief cameo at the end) feels really odd, especially after last episode's cliffhanger. While I agree that him going underground after the botched assassination is a smart thing to do, I felt like they could've showed the audience that a bit earlier. 

With that gripe out of the way, though, this was an excellent hour of television. We start off with a flashback to Vanessa hiring Bullseye prior to the events of Daredevil: Born Again, with a lot of great showcases of just how much Vanessa is intent on destroying whatever progress Bullseye has made to being 'stable' just to get an assassin to do her dirty work. This is a nice bit of twist that makes MCU Bullseye a lot more compelling than the evil-psycho of the comics.

After taking the shot for Wilson Fisk last episode, Matt recovers in a hospital, but since the two people he has with him there -- Heather Glenn and Kirsten McDuffie -- are his allies that aren't aware of his (or Kingpin's) double life, they just think he's obsessed and kind of crazy. Again, as I mentioned in my review of the previous episodes, I really do think these two characters are just lacking that je ne sais quoi for me to really care. The performances are done well enough, and Heather at the very least has some interesting plot threads, but I really didn't miss them at all when Karen and Frank show up as our deuteragonists for the rest of the episode.

Which is odd, because Wilson Fisk's side-cast, who are made up of new characters as well, end up being a bit more interesting. Sheila Rivera ends up being the surprising star of this one despite her limited screentime. Having been the one sane person in Fisk's payroll (with Buck Cashman being a glorified hitman, and Daniel Blake really drinking Fisk's kool-aid) she's seemingly set up to join Commissioner Gallo and BB Urich as betraying Wilson eventually. And for a good chunk of this episode, Sheila seems to struggle with this in a really excellent showcase of her realizing that this isn't just her being an aide in a game of politics, that 'those loyal to me' meant something far more dangerous than just votes or negotiations, but something far, far more dangerous and dystopian. The slow realization that Wilson Fisk is not above using methods to harm those who go against her, and finding that she is in a spot where she needs to pick a side... Sheila ends up being the Judas against all of Wilson's enemies, although we get some great acting for this relatively minor character that shows just how much she hates being placed in this position.

Wilson, meanwhile, monologues to Vanessa about his master plan. Something that Matt would find about later on. Red Hook Port is important for their business because it's a free port that they have been using to smuggle a fuck-ton of goods before, but now they can make it utterly thriving, to the point that they can make New York essentially their own city-state. It's... it's a tilt towards a more ridiculous, comic-book-y supervillainy that I didn't expect from Daredevil: Born Again, but it's also close enough to the spirit (if not the logic) of having a more grounded villain scheme that I didn't mind it so much. 

What about the follow-up of Matt taking the bullet for Wilson? It's handled rather succinctly, but I think in a way that makes sense for the character. After a brief moment of thought as the Kingpin struggles with what honour he has within him, he decides to send off his hitman, Buck Cashman, to kill Matt Murdock in the hospital and use him as a martyr. Matt escapes amidst the blackout (which I think is also part of Fisk putting New York under lockdown? The episode isn't the clearest on this part) but it's still a somber nod towards Wilson Fisk's character. Was he conflicted? He seemed like he was, but then he sends off the Anti-Vigilante Task Force after Daredevil's apartment anyway. 

Which, yeah. Fisk puts New York City under a dystopian lockdown, which is protested by Commissioner Gallo, who keeps yelling about how insane and unethical this is just to catch Bullseye. But a combination of anger at the direct attack on his life, and his general control-freak tendencies, cause Kingpin to put New York City in a horrid night of martial law... and one scene that ends up being particularly chilling was the Anti-Vigilante Task Force gunning down just some punk who's looting televisions, and putting a mask on him to pass off the death as a 'justified' vigilante killing. 

Meanwhile, Matt returns to the apartment and dresses up as Daredevil... to find the Punisher waiting for him for some reason. There's no time to really debate (though they do some fun banter before and after) as the Task Force arrives and we get a glorious fight scene against them. A lot of great use of the physical prop and set around them, and the darker surroundings really do help in selling the scene. Again, just a really fun action scene to watch all around, and I especially love how the Punisher initially tries -- by god, he tries -- to not kill any of the attacking Task Force members until he just goes 'fuck it' and starts maiming and killing. 

The best moment, however, comes when the Punisher picks up one of the bullets emblazoned with his mark, noting that they found the 'fanboy' that killed White Tiger. We get a confrontation between Daredevil and Cole North, who, just like Bullseye before him, shows absolutely no remorse for killing someone good and decent. We get a really great moment as Daredevil tries his best to hold his temper, settling for knocking North out cold, while the Punisher... just cocks his gun and wordlessly offers to do it. Hell, he wants to do it. And it's at this point that Daredevil gets into a scuffle with the Punisher, who is rightfully angry that Daredevil is doing stupid shit like jumping in the way of bullets meant for scum like North... and Kingpin. 

Their little argument about justified killing and villains who deserve them gets interrupted by a fucking grenade that obliterates Matt's apartment. Our heroes manage to escape with the aid of Daredevil's billy club, and we learn why Frank knew to be there at the right time. He's contacted by Karen Page, who asked him for a favour. Again, her shared history with both Frank and Matt really helps to sell the subsequent scenes, which really thrive on the history that these characters have across multiple seasons. Karen helps to ground both Frank and Matt, getting them to essentially sit down and recap on what's been going on. Frank tries to wave off his help as just paying off a favour, but Karen accurately notes that Frank Castle is not the type of person who doesn't care. 

Matt and Karen then goes off on a bit of a lawyer-mode, as the two of them go off and dig around just what made Vanessa Fisk order the hit on Foggy Nelson, leading to them discovering the Red Hook Port plans. This is set back-to-back with Fisk's minions rounding up the disloyal politicians, with Cashman and Blake having blackmail ready on every single person who would go against Fisk. But the clear focus is Matt and Karen's relationship, as they reminisce about Foggy, and about their shared past. It's the very thing they were both running away from back in the first episode, and I like that this gets called out a bit. 

(We also get some cute ship teases between Karen and both Frank and Matt with the help of Matt's super-hearing and 'adrenaline', although Karen herself remains dodgy and dismissive. It's nice that it's there, and thankfully doesn't take up too much screentime)

The next scene is then the rather prolonged scene of Punisher arriving and attacking the Task Force officers at Red Hook Pier, while the episode cuts back and forth between Punisher and Kingpin. After getting a recording from Sheila about Gallo's planned betrayal, Kingpin has Gallo brought in front of his subordinates, and Fisk starts monologuing about how Gallo clearly is a piece of shit for not being in the 'front lines' like the rest of them. In a shocking moment, Fisk grabs Gallo by the head, and twists his head off to his death. Or rather, Fisk twists half of Gallo's head off, giving us a surprisingly grisly make-up/prosthetic as his white suit is stained red, and the dirty and/or indoctrinated cops around him barely react. 

Meanwhile, Punisher wakes up in front of a horde of his fanboys, who take him alive. They want nothing but for the Punisher to join their ranks and lead them, but the Punisher growls that none of these violence-happy yahoos really understand him, or his loss. Some really great acting by Jon Bernthal in this scene, which I feel is also a nice middle finger to a lot of Punisher's real-life misaimed fandom as well. The Task Force takes turn beating Punisher up, almost in a ritualistic way. 

And this is when the episode shows us a brief conversation between Daredevil and Karen... and then we get a scene that is a hard cut between the martial law night and the very next day.

And yes, this is where we roll the denouement. Wilson Fisk addresses the people of New York, putting all the blame of last night's chaos on the vigilantes, handwaving Gallo's disappearance (he 'resigned') and enacting the Safer Streets Initiative after getting everyone to vote for what he wanted. He also gets Heather Glenn essentially on his side as the Minister of Mental Health or something. Oh, and also, Wilson and Vanessa visit their base in Red Hook Pier, where they keep their prisoners -- including Jack Duquesne, the socialites that were assholes to Wilson before, and finally the Punisher. This personal dungeon is admittedly the part in this episode that feels the most visually 'comic-book-y', but it's also one that shows just how much Kingpin is really not giving a shit anymore about any consequences with the amount of power and influence he's cultivated. 

Meanwhile, Daredevil and Karen have gathered at Josie's Bar, with Daredevil giving us a cool 'darkness' monologue. He then walks out to a gathered group of resistance, which includes Cherry and some NYPD officers like Angie Kim. Separately, Kirsten McDuffie also gets the case files about Foggy. And in a post-credits scene, the Punisher breaks out of jail after getting one of his fanboys to lower his guard. 

And... yeah, to get the most obvious thing out of the way, I really do think that having one or two of the Defenders show up would've been great. Having an MCU character based in New York, like Spider-Man or Kate Bishop, would've been an actually great move at merging the continuities. I really just don't have that much attachment to the motley crew that Daredevil's gathered for it to be a particularly badass alliance. But ultimately? This episode really does deliver quite a bit as a cliffhanger season finale, and to be one of the absolute best things to come out from Disney+ in a long, long while. It's a great return for everyone's favourite blind lawyer, and while it's not a perfect season, it's still a really wonderful experience for me. Until next year when we come back with season two!

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• While the circumstances are different, just like in the comics version of Born Again, Matt's apartment and a huge chunk of the surrounding building was blown up as a result of Kingpin's actions. 
• Karen Page returns after previously appearing in episode 1 of this season. Karen has been one of the characters most involved with the Punisher in both Daredevil season 2 as well as both seasons of The Punisher. 
• Karen and Matt bring up a conversation they had in the first season of Daredevil, where Matt describes his blindness as 'not dark, but a thousand suns'.
• The 'Avocados at Law' joke was made between Matt and Foggy in the first season of Daredevil, and Karen was notably confused about it in the season 1 finale. Matt finally explains it to her. 
• This isn't the first time Fisk sent an assassin to kill someone hospitalized by sabotaging their IV line -- he had officer Christian Blake killed in season 1 of Daredevil with the same method. 
• Matt calls New York City "the City Without Fear", a spin of his comic-book title of 'the Man Without Fear'. This has been done previously in Daredevil season 3 at Father Lantom's funeral. 

Daredevil: Born Again S01E08 Review: King's Gambit

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 8: Isle of Joy

Oh yeah! After the two-parter focusing on the reactions of Daredevil and Kingpin towards Muse, "Isle of Joy" kicks off perhaps one of the most intense hours in this series.

We start off with another one of the 'Matt and Fisk's life parallel each other' sequences, with this time being an argument with their loved ones about keeping secrets. Matt and Heather get into a massive argument as Heather gets an invitation from the Mayor. Already angry at Matt for keeping secrets from her, and also more than a little bit shaken after being taken hostage by Muse, Heather gets into a spat with Matt about how evil all vigilantes are -- a conclusion that isn't too far-fetched considering what she's been through. Ultimately Matt can't really communicate why he's so frustrated at Heather's views on Daredevil, and why he distrusts Mayor Wilson Fisk so much. Meanwhile, Matt gets really riled up by the Kingpin keeping tabs on him so much that he knows that Heather is living with him... something that Matt thinks is because Kingpin is out to get him. Which isn't unreasonable for both Daredevil and the omniscient audience, but not to Heather.

Meanwhile, Kingpin finally decides to be honest to Vanessa about one thing -- Adam. Wilson brings Vanessa to Adam in his creepy torture basement, finally being honest to what he did with Vanessa's ex-lover. After a brief moment of horror, Vanessa just pulls out a handgun, executes Adam, and this ends up being the most twisted version of therapy for our two villains. 

There is something to be said about how we're in the home stretch and I don't quite have a huge amount of attachment towards a lot of the cast members introduced in this show. Kirsten, BB Urich, Fisk's mayoral team and especially Cherry have really failed to live up to my expectations and grow out their shells as the tropes and roles they were introduced under. Heather gets a fair bit more thanks to the sheer amount of screentime, but I really do wish that they made her a bit less of an accessory to Matt and the Fisks. But no one gets hit by this harder than Adam, who truly just feels like a plot device. I wonder if there was something that was lost during the reshootings, but I really did want to learn more about Vanessa and Adam's affair. Perhaps the point was that it didn't matter, and the idea of a betrayal was what the Fisks needed to sort out, but while the performances from our stars are great, it does still feel a bit off, like I missed an episode or something. 

With that done, though, Matt goes through more shakeups in his worldviews as Fisk continues to get the credit for capturing Muse -- not just in public but in private -- but he's also saddled with complete and utter assholes as clients, and it's really hard for him to think that the law system is just. Which, in real life, it really isn't. One thing that sends him teetering over the edge is that Benjamin "Bullseye" Poindexter is moved to gen-pop, an alleged 'death sentence' for him. Matt was initially glad about it... but then Bullseye asks to meet Matt, wanting Matt to represent his best friend's killer. 

There's also a neat scene with Defenders recurring character Josie the bartender, as she and Matt reminisce about better times that are gone... leading to Matt realizing certain things about the first episode that are nice foreshadowing for this one. That Foggy knew he was going to win -- based on both his behaviour and words. And Bullseye attacking Josie's bar wasn't a random crime, or even an attack on Matt's friends and family (the intuitive theories are that Kingpin hired Bullseye; Bullseye was hunting Karen; or that Bullseye found out Daredevil's secret identity between seasons) but was actually there specifically for Foggy. That someone ordered the hit on Foggy Nelson, and Matt, in his utter grief, never really bothered or had the energy to confront that piece of information. 

That meeting in the prison is quite tense and amazingly done, with Bullseye playing on Matt's "good guy lawyer" side, viewing him (perhaps not unfairly) as the pushover that will sabotage himself just to save a villain. And Matt is that -- as we see both in this episode and the next -- but not without good cause. And the fact that Bullseye was directly responsible for snuffing out Foggy's life? Even with the tantalizing promise that Bullseye will reveal 'more information', Matt lets his emotions get to him, bashes Bullseye's head onto the prison room desk, and walks out with the claim that the unstable madman did it himself. 

This outburst ends up actually giving Bullseye the means to free himself, as one of his teeth is knocked loose, and we get a creepy scene of him killing his way out of the prison to get vengeance against his ex-employers that put him into gen pop to silence him. 

This ultimately leads to the climax of this scene -- Fisk's huge party. With no one realizing that Bullseye is loose, the party gives us a nice little buildup of all the other minor characters. Daniel Blake still thinks that he's managed a quid pro quo working relationship with BB Urich (whose whole defining characteristic is that she hates being silenced), only for BB to go around making allies with Commissioner Gallo. Gallo also gets horrified by the brutal actions of the Task Force, seeing a random reporter get his hand shoved into boiling oil by everyone's favourite psycho cop, Powell. 

Heather continues to pout, and has a brief conversation with Vanessa... until Matt actually shows up in the party. Matt has a lot more on his mind than his bland relationship and attention problems, though as his super-senses allow him to overhear the discussion as Fisk begins to pull off his badass Kingpin deal with the elites that disrespected him before. There is something cathartic in seeing the less-notable rich assholes being bullied, but when Jack Duquesne -- a.k.a. the vigilante Swordsman -- gets to be Kingpin's next target, the audience gets someone we theoretically care more about. Duquesne has admittedly been lacking a lot of focus in both Hawkeye and especially Born Again... I really do wonder if that Yusuf Khan episode, as much as I loved it, would've been much better served as a Swordsman guest star episode?

But anyway, as Heather and Matt argue about their relationship -- a sequence that would've perhaps been exciting in any other circumstance -- Matt is far more concerned about confronting Fisk. A combination of realizing Wilson is up to his Kingpin shenanigans, his recent confrontation with Bullseye, and him getting into conflict with everyone else in his life has left Matt vulnerable and it really does feel like he's going to throw hands with Wilson... until at the last critical moment, he realizes that he got the wrong Fisk -- it is Vanessa, not Wilson, that ordered the hit on Foggy.

(Which, by the way, makes sense based on the timing -- Wilson would be busy doing the things he did in Echo and Hawkeye; Wilson passed Matt's lie-detector sense in episode 1; and Vanessa is shown in the past couple of episodes to be as ruthless as Wilson). 

This leads to the classy, fun conclusion of the episode as we get into a whole dance sequence, as Matt Murdock cuts in the dance between the Fisks. We really don't know what Matt, Wilson or Vanessa would do, and that's without throwing in Bullseye into the mix, who gets ready for a sniper shot. And as Bullseye opens fire, Matt realizes what's going on, jumps in the way of Bullseye's shot and takes the blow meant for Wilson Fisk. As Matt's red blood splatters over Wilson's white suit, this adds a whole other layer of complexity between the two men's relationship, as well as to Matt/Daredevil's views on what really counts as 'justice'. 

Again, there have been some things -- mostly regarding secondary characters and the lack of buildup -- in Daredevil: Born Again that didn't work perfectly for me. But for some of them, particularly handling Matt, Wilson, Vanessa and even Bullseye? Great stuff as we barrel to the conclusion of the first season of Daredevil: Born Again. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• This is not the first time Matt had to go into a prison to meet one of his nemeses near the end of a season; he did the same thing with Kingpin in season two of Daredevil -- though the difference is that this time, it's Matt that's losing control of his emotions instead of the villain. 
• BB's uncle Ben Urich was killed by Kingpin in Daredevil season 1, and we get the revelation that BB knew about this buried case all season long. 
• Bullseye in the comics does have a tooth hole, and him using a loose tooth as a projectile to escape from prison is based on a similar scene from Bullseye: Greatest Hits. 

Daredevil: Born Again S01E07 Review: Death of the Artist

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 7: Art for Art's Sake

It does seem like we're picking up on the pacing with Daredevil: Born Again, as "Art for Art's Sake" picks up immediately where we left off with the Muse storyline from the previous episode. We start off with some wrap-up from the previous episode, like showing Angela being ferried to the hospital, while the Anti-Vigilante Task Force tries their best to investigate Muse's secret lair. 

While Matt (and the audience) are riding that adrenaline high after having Daredevil get an unambiguous victory, his morning moment with Heather Glenn ends up souring as Matt tries to handwave his injuries with "I fell down". Regardless of whether Heather has figured out Matt's double life or not, it's clear to the psychologist that Matt is bullshitting her and is hiding trauma. Later on, Cherry also gets on Matt's case for suiting up as Daredevil and beating up Muse, though I'm not quite as clear since Cherry has been sending Matt a lot of mixed signals on whether he approves of Matt's extracurricular activities. 

Meanwhile, Fisk learns about the potential return of Daredevil, and this troubles him a lot. Fisk confides to Buck Cashman about how Daredevil brought down an empire he's been building for years during their past encounter, and frames it in such a way that makes it sound like Daredevil's working out of the law and depriving a lot of honest workers of jobs. With us knowing that Cashman's probably in on the whole 'Fisk is an ex-criminal' thing, it's a bit weird to show this scene, other than perhaps to show us that Fisk genuinely believes these delusions? 

In any case, Fisk wants to make it his Anti-Vigilante Task Force's victory. When Detective Angie Kim shows up with evidence and data about Muse's real identity of Bastian Cooper -- a troubled rich kid who murdered his taekwondo teacher and disappeared -- Fisk orders the information to be classified and turned over to his Task Force. Daredevil does his own investigation, honing in on a group of sketches that Muse was apparently obsessing about... and realizes from touching the paintings that it resembles Heather Glenn. 

And we get perhaps one of the tensest scenes in the show, as mild-mannered Bastian Cooper show up at Dr. Heather Glenn's office, and starts talking about how he's such a big fan... until Heather realizes that Bastian is way more disturbed than your run-of-the-mill patient. For a character that's been silent throughout the majority of his screentime and relies mostly on his creepy mask, the build-up to Muse changing gears from talking about how his parents forced him to be someone he didn't want to be... when he wanted to be an artist, and Heather's horrified realization, are all done very well. Muse ends up very explosively attacking Heather, planning to use the doctor who inspired him to find his 'true self' as his magnum opus.

As a terrified Heather is being cut apart by Muse, Heather insults Muse's hiding of his identity behind a mask, causing Muse to lash out at her -- and buying time for Daredevil to come in and give us a badass fight scene. Again, it's quite tense and brutal, including a sequence where Matt straight-up shoots his batons through Muse. Ultimately, in an unexpected conclusion, it is Heather, in panic, who grabs onto a handgun and shoots Muse dead. 

Daredevil stabilizes Heather before leaving the scene before Kingpin's Task Force shows up. Despite Daredevil's influence, Kingpin demands that the Task Force take the credit for thwarting Muse, taking advantage of the confused situation and lack of witnesses to shape the narrative as he wishes. Honestly, a very typical action that many real-life politicians do, yeah? 

With the Muse threat over, and Fisk spinning it into a victory for him, we get a couple of short scenes. First is Matt comforting Heather, and Heather letting it slip that within all the confusion, she realizes that Daredevil called her by name. 

But we also have a bunch of other storylines going on the Fisk front. The less-interesting one is Daniel Blake confronting a very unapologetic BB Urich, and essentialy threatening her into reporting Fisk's version of events. BB Urich has been a rather underutilized character that does less than I thought she would when she first appeared in the show, and it's kind of telegraphed a bit that she's going to eventually turn the media against Fisk, yeah?

Speaking of Fisk's empire, there is a B-plot running through this episode of one of the Five Families, Luca, trying to talk to Vanessa Fisk and essentially asking for permission and/or help to take out the Kingpin. At the end of the episode, Vanessa appears to give Luca the location of where Kingpin will be alone... but it leads to a fun Godfather-style reverse ambush as Buck kills Luca the moment he arrives in the restaurant, while Wilson nonchalantly asks for food to take-away to Vanessa. The implication (wihch is confirmed by the next episode) is that it's all a trap done by the Fisks together, and Vanessa's discontentment with Wilson isn't enough to make her betray him. Yet. Maybe. 

Overall, though, the Muse stuff has been really thrilling. I do have to be honest and say that a lot of the new side characters really haven't been doing it for me -- BB, Daniel, Cherry, Heather, Kirsten -- are nowhere as interesting as the main players, nowhere to the degree that I was invested in the supporting cast of the Netflix seasons. But as we rocket into the final two episodes, enough has been set up to get me excited to see what the finale is going to be. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Muse's identity was never revealed in the comics, while this show's version of Muse is called Bastian Cooper, and we saw him as one of Heather's fans in the second episode.
• Eagle-eyed viewers also note that Heather wrote Muse's real name as 'Bastian Sledge' in her notepad. It implies that Bastian is related to two of the billionaires Fisk met with last episode, Arthur and Artemis Sledge.
• Upon learning that Daredevil is suspected to be back, Kingpin mentions that Daredevil dismantled his business a decade ago -- something that happened throughout the events of Daredevil's first season.