Ten years after the hero’s Netflix Original Series premiered, the MCU has pulled Daredevil and Wilson Fisk out of Hell’s Kitchen, for better and for worse.
★★★★☆
SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for season one of Daredevil: Born Again.
In 2015, Netflix re-introduced the world to Marvel’s Daredevil, following Matthew Murdock the lawyer by day, and Daredevil, the vigilante by night (Charlie Cox)—its first collaboration with Marvel. Daredevil, along with the shows that followed, offered darker, grittier, street-level heroes: something altogether different from what was occupying the Marvel space on the big screen. Drew Goddard and Steven DeKnight’s writing, paired with Cox’s deeply human portrayal of the blind superhero made the original show beloved by fans and critics alike. Daredevil wrestled with questions of morality, faith, friendship, romance, and the darkness that pervades in each of us.
Ten years and a number of MCU appearances later, our favourite purveyor of justice is back in his first solo outing since the Netflix run, in the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again. We meet an older Matt, still practicing law, and still seemingly practising vigilantism, on a normal night at Josie’s bar alongside his partners (and best friends), Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll). However, Matt’s entire world is turned upside down, when former nemesis Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) reappears and shoots Foggy. On the roof above Josie’s, he finds himself pushed to a point he’s never reached before, of attempting to kill someone, pushing Bullseye off the roof. Between this, and Foggy’s death, Matt’s worldview is shattered, and he is determined to leave the darkness of Daredevil behind.
The rest of the season takes place a year after these events, following Matt as he attempts to rebuild his life and continue to repress his darker urges, which he previously poured into his alter ego. Simultaneously, here to unsettle and uproot Matt yet again, we are reunited with iconic villain Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), now attempting to control the city through an incredibly public mayoral campaign, rather than their previous underground dealings.
In its parallelism of these two characters, the show remains unmatched, and tight editing throughout the season shows us that as much as they hope to deny it, Murdock and Fisk are truly two sides of the same coin. Born Again is a fascinating character study of both of these complex men, meeting them in the middle of a twisted moral fight with themselves as they reckon with the men they have been, want to be, and truly are.
However, due to the show’s tunnel-vision focus on these two journeys, it often loses its way when it comes to surrounding elements, particularly doing a disservice to supporting characters and episodic subplots. The season, much like its predecessor, makes the most of the legal element of Murdock’s character to create a case-of-the-week format, introducing new heroes and villains, both in the courtroom and outside of it. There is the potential for some great running narratives, particularly that of Hector Ayala (Kamar De Los Reyes) and the serial-killer Muse (Hunter Doohan), but both storylines are rushed in the limited capacity of a nine-episode run. The show introduces a fun regular interlude in the form of street interviews by journalist BB Urich (Genneya Walton), but even these can seem like lazy ways of telling us what New York is feeling under Fisk’s rule, rather than showing us.
The new love interest for Matt, Heather Glenn, (Margarita Levieva) feels particularly underdeveloped, and while the end of the season set her up in an interesting angle for season two, this season takes nowhere near enough time to get us invested in her and Matt’s romantic relationship. Fisk’s mayoral team demonstrate more promise, with Zabryna Guevera, Michael Gandolfini, and Arty Froushan all beginning to shape up as a compelling villainous ensemble, but yet again, never really being given enough of a chance to shine.
When the announcement was made about Disney+ doing their own take on the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, there was the concern that being ‘Disney’ would prevent the show from retaining its original tone. In some aspects this is true, with Born Again embodying the MCU aesthetic, complete with its backlit scenes and thoroughly unappealing colour grading, as well as some CGI-heavy action sequences. Born Again is as dark as the franchise ever was, and continues to have some incredibly impressive stunt choreography. The show’s team of cinematographers do their best to provide moments of visual intrigue, but craft-wise, it is the sound design that stands out. The Newton Brothers’ score is a highlight, but when it is paired with the prominent sounds of the city, heightened and centred as they are for Matt, the viewer can be fully immersed into Matt’s frame of reference, and the score truly shines.
The aspect that elevates this show beyond its writing and standard MCU fare, however, is the incredible performances that ground the whole thing. Having spent a decade in these roles, Cox and D’Onofrio know these men deeply. D’Onofrio playing his iteration of Kingpin with a melodramatic soap opera flair never feels at odds with Cox’s much more naturalistic portrayal of Murdock, because both characters are so well realised by these actors. There is something to be said in every twitch, every glance, every clench of their jaw.
Ultimately, Born Again suffers from what most introductory chapters in a franchise do, the need to build up and establish the world. However, due to our familiarity with these characters already, the audience has less patience and grace for this slow burn. Nevertheless, it has set up a second season perfectly, and the gradual growth/decline of Murdock and Fisk is nothing but deeply promising.
The Verdict
While it lacks some of the warmth and detail of the original series, Daredevil: Born Again is a welcome reunion with two of the most fascinating characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s dark, messy, and it is just the beginning.
Words by Rehana Nurmahi
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