“Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2 Review

The Devil of Hells Kitchen returns to take down Mayor Fisk and the AVTF with him

CREDIT — Marvel Television

Daredevil: Born Again returns to grace the (small) screens with season two, a year after the mixed bag that was season 1. One thing the creators never have to worry about is the fact that as long as they have Charlie Cox playing Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, they will undoubtedly give their best to turn even the most passable script to quality television. Both Cox and D’Onofrio continues to prove why they’re one of the best casting decisions Marvel has ever done.

If season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again felt like a mess trying to juggle two different canons into one, Season 2 firmly establishes the Netflix predecessor as the canon in more ways than one. We see the returns of many Netflix era characters — Royce Johnson returns as Brett Mahoney, who is now Chief of Police. Geoffrey Cantor pops up in the final episode back as Mitchell Elisson, the editor of the Bulletin, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones who appears in the final 3 episodes and Mike Colter surprisingly appears in the final moments as Luke Cage.

Most notably, Episode 5 titled “The Grand Design” feels like an ode to the predecessor series with parts of the episode being a flashback, complete with the setting, lighting, costumes etc all made to look like something they picked up from the cutting room. Chronologically taking place sometime before the events of the first season. It impudently places Arty Foushman’s Buck Cashman into the wider canon without disrupting any established narrative. It also features the return of Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, who’s infectious personality showcases what the characters and the show in itself is missing badly.

The 8-episode format completely works against the show and just highlights how Netflix’s 13-episodes worked better. A lot of moments do not get enough time to breathe and the aftermaths are just simply ignored, case in point we do not get to see Nikki James’ Kirsten McDuffie reuniting with Matt after months of him being “missing”. She is just one of the few characters who does not enough screentime, Camilla Rodriguez as Angela Del Toro/White Tiger is another one.

One thing season two massively improves from last season is the character dynamics. Something which was admittedly very weak turns into one of the biggest strengths of the show this time around. Especially with Michael Gandolfini’s Daniel Blake, his contrasting dynamic with Foushman’s Buck and Geneya Wilson’s BB Urich is captivating and exciting with every episode that passes. Cox and D’Onofrio still produces the goods every time they share the screen whether it is via fists or words.

The lack of vigilantes when one of the sub plots involves the “Anti-Vigilante Task Force” is a little puzzling. Spider Man is nowhere to be seen, so is the Iron Fist and more. The most confusing is one Mr Frank Castle/The Punisher, based on the role he played in the previous season’s finale you’d think he would be very present, but nope. Remains to be seen if they acknowledge it in his special presentation coming out next week. Moreover, the conclusion to the aforementioned ‘AVTF’ storyline is one of the laziest cop outs to an anti-authoritarian angle.

The Surprise of the season is Wilson Bethell as Benjamin Pointdexter/Bullseye, we see a different side to the character as he looks to in his own words “to settle the scales” by doing one good deed a day. There is a manic energy that lingers over every scene he is, which Bethell looks to revel in playing. Although he’s not exactly part of the resistance, it is many of his timely interventions that led to the success of it. Not in the way he thinks he is, but technically Bullseye did end up being a “hero”.

Season two of Daredevil: Born Again doesn’t exactly measure up to its predecessor, but it is still the closest thing you can find to one. And other than ‘Loki’ it is comfortably the best season of Marvel television you can find on Disney+.