‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Premiere Recap – It’s Not Entirely Unpleasant Seeing Matt Murdock Again

Let me just be clear out of the gate. Yes, they did it. Daredevil: Born Again is like the Netflix shows, which is worth mentioning because the prevailing suspicion among fans who have become weary of Disney’s treatment of the MCU over the last few years – including, notably, me –  was that it wouldn’t be. Regardless of recurring characters and deliberately uncensored trailers and potentially empty promises to the contrary, it just didn’t seem like Disney would commit. So, if nothing else, Episodes 1 and 2 of Born Again really do feel like that version of Daredevil.

And thank goodness. It’s worth remembering that the Netflix take on the character wasn’t like that to be edgy and provocative; it was like that because it was right for the character, a street-level vigilante who prowled Hell’s Kitchen dispensing justice with his fists because the system was too corrupt to do its job. He styles himself on the devil, for crying out loud, all while being an avatar of masochistic Irish-Catholic self-penance. He’s a deeply miserable character, and he deserves a proudly cynical show.

This, it seems, is that. But it’s also worth mentioning that this isn’t strictly the Born Again you might be expecting. It isn’t a live-action redo of Frank Miller’s seminal comics arc, which is probably just as well since the third season of the Netflix show already did that. There’s a cheeky self-referential element to the subtitle. Matt Murdock has been reborn on a new platform after an unjust cancelation and subsequent mismanagement, only having cropped up rather lamely in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man most recently. But this isn’t going to be as simple as a direct continuation from where the Netflix series left off, as Episode 1 quickly makes clear.

“Heaven’s Half Hour” begins by reintroducing Karen Page and Foggy Nelson only to kill the latter off immediately. He’s shot by Bullseye outside Josie’s Bar, and in the ensuing one-take fight sequence meant to evoke those iconic ones in all three seasons of the Netflix show, Matt tosses him from a roof in his grief and fury. Bullseye survives – and is subsequently sentenced to life in prison – but Matt knows he crossed a line. So, he hangs up the cowl, Karen disappears except for a brief appearance at Bullseye’s sentencing, and Matt moves on as a proper, law-abiding lawyer, albeit one who can’t help but take on the most obviously unwinnable cases.

Using the lingering elements of Daredevil Season 3 as table-setting and then fast-forwarding ahead a year is a bold move. But it’s an important one. This is a new story, connected to the old ones by loose threads but determined to knit them into something different and evolved. Hence, Wilson Fisk as Mayor of New York City, having run on a staunch anti-vigilante campaign, and Matt’s new firm, colleagues, and love interest. It’s the same, but it’s different.

Matt is now working with a hotshot attorney named Kirsten McDuffie and their salaried investigator Cherry, who knows about Matt’s past as Daredevil. They also take on a client, Hector Ayala, who accidentally killed a cop while intervening in a subway scuffle but who also happens to be the White Tiger, a vigilante who filled the street-level vacuum in Daredevil’s absence. And Matt’s new beau is Heather Glenn, a therapist who, in Daredevil: Born Again Episode 2, is discreetly hired to play marriage counselor to Wilson and Vanessa Fisk.

Charlie Cox in Daredevil: Born Again | Image via Disney+

So, you can see how all of this is going to come together, thematically and plot-wise. But it’s surprisingly textured and well-crafted on the way there. Fisk feels notably different, especially after Echo. He’s still a bad guy for sure, but Vanessa took the reins of his criminal empire during his extended convalescence, and she’s under very deliberate instruction to keep it all looking above board so as not to jeopardize his mayoral campaign. You don’t need me to tell you how obvious some of this arc’s commentary can be – where else have we seen a rich, controversial non-politician ascend to public office despite a shady criminal past? – but it doesn’t feel like that’s going to be the point.

Matt and Fisk only cross paths once, as it happens, in that diner scene you’ve already seen most of in the trailers, and while their conversation is brilliant and laden with foreboding, we see more of Fisk greasing the wheels of New York’s bureaucratic systems and Matt doing standard investigatory legwork and going on dates than we do any costumed crime-fighting. And that’s fine since you know the latter is coming. The two-part premiere of Daredevil: Born Again ends with Matt reluctantly laying the smackdown on some crooked cops with Punisher tattoos who are trying to off an important witness in Hector’s case. His primal scream of frustration that he’s being dragged back into a life he has tried once again to leave behind is great fun for the audience, if not necessarily for him.

And Another Thing…

Here are some random observations and speculations from Daredevil: Born Again Episodes 1 & 2 that didn’t fit snugly into the recap proper:

• Bullseye seems to have been out for revenge after the events of Daredevil Season 3 and Fisk later claims he had nothing to do with him killing Foggy. This seems true, but if I remember correctly, wasn’t it Fisk who broke Bullseye’s back? Why wasn’t he after revenge on him? This and the fact that Fisk is prone to lying about more or less everything does make me suspect that he perhaps had a hand in Foggy’s death and that it might be connected to a long game that involves him becoming New York’s mayor, since I’m not being his claims that he wants to “fix” the city either.
• In an interesting gimmick, Episodes 1 & 2 of Born Again frequently cut away to B-roll footage of everyday New Yorkers being interviewed about the current state of the city, including vigilante justice and the political climate. It’s a neat way of taking the temperature of the setting – and making those all-important real-world parallels – but it’s also worth mentioning that these interviews are being conducted by BB Urich, niece of the late Ben Urich, who was a journalist in the Netflix show.
• Fisk and Vanessa being in marriage counseling is interesting; for the first time, I’m starting to wonder if perhaps their marriage won’t survive the season. The balance of power seems to have shifted, and it’s very much Vanessa who controls New York’s Five Families, even though they continue to live in fear of her husband. Is there a rift coming? And will Heather be collateral damage?
• The Punisher tattoos the cops have seem like an extreme form of fanboyism. Matt clearly notices them, giving him an excuse to track down Frank Castle in a later episode.