Daredevil Born Again Season 2: A Return to Form

I liked the first season of Daredevil: Born Again. However, it was clear that it wasn’t quite on the level of the original Netflix series of Daredevil. Getting the show off the ground proved to be quite challenging and there was even a creative overhaul at one point. In addition, the show was trying to find its footing, especially with all the new characters introduced and trying to connect this show with the original series and other MCU Netflix shows while still trying to stand on its own. It was still good, but not great. However, I believe this season really amps things up and is on the level or at least comparable to the original series. A lot of the new characters introduced in the first season start to become more interesting and the characters from the original series are given more depth and their characters are taken in interesting directions. I am mainly going to talk about the different characters and how their arcs were, as well as what I would like to see from them in the future. I won’t be talking about all the characters, just the ones that stood out to me the most. Now, I have not seen the original Jessica Jones show, so I’m not going to talk about her much. I have only seen the original Daredevil series and the Punisher from Netflix’s era of the MCU. But what I saw from Jessica Jones was cool. Warning, there will be spoilers.

            First, the minor characters. Mr. Charles, played by Matthew Lillard, was mysterious and interesting. However, we still don’t know that much about him. He’s obviously not a good person, but its hard to tell if he’s genuine when talking to people or if he’s trying to manipulate them. He seems to have history with the Governor of New York. I’m not sure if he’ll be in the next season or future MCU projects, but I would like to see more from him, especially with Bullseye joining him at the end of the season. Now, Angela, the niece of the White Tiger of the first season and now the new White Tiger, I am kind of mixed on. In the first season I thought the actress did a great job at portraying a scared and vulnerable kid in which the world is threatening to take everything away from her. In this season I can’t say she’s bad, the actress is clearly giving it her all, but I just don’t find her as this tough kid who will beat you up believable. I know that she becomes the White Tiger in the comics and the suit is supposed to give her powers. However, her transition from being this scared kid in the first season to suddenly wanting to be in the front lines and take the fight to them just doesn’t feel organic. I get that trauma changes people and she want to honor her uncles’ memory, but the actress just isn’t quite as convincing in portraying that. Now, it could be that there just wasn’t much time devoted to that transition. It could be an age thing. The actress is still pretty young. Hopefully in the future, as the actress gets older and has more experience, she will be able to portray this aspect of her character more convincingly. Next, I want to talk about Cole North. He was the officer who killed Hector Ayala, the White Tiger, in the first season. Even though he doesn’t have a huge part in this season, I really liked what they did with his character this season. When he is first introduced in the first season you get a brief backstory on why he is the way he is. While he goes about it the wrong way, I feel like he really does care and tries to make the world the better place in his own way. When he killed Hector Ayala in the first season, he genuinely believed he was a cop killer and was trying to stand up for his cop brethren. It still doesn’t make what he did right, but as the season goes on he starts to have some doubts when the leader of the task force, Powell, shoots another member of the task force. It all culminates in the final episode when Powell tries to shoot Cherry, and Cole knocks him out and lets the people through. I hope we see more of him in season 3. He can try to help Matt, but Matt is still angry at him killing Hector. There could be a debate between them about taking the law in their own hands, in which Cole counters that Matt does the same thing. There also be a scene between Cole and Hector’s niece and wife. There is a lot of potential there.

            Next, I want to talk about BB and Daniel. They clearly care about each other but are on opposite sides. BB is conflicted between exposing Fisk but also screwing over her friend in the process. Daniel, I think deep down knows that it is BB doing the smear campaigns against Fisk and posting all the leaks. However, after realizing that his employers really don’t mess around, he is torn on whether he should turn BB in to them or not. I especially love the scene in which BB is about to post confidential information that Daniel told her, but then she sees his childhood room and meets his mother and ultimately decides not to post it. Unfortunately, things end badly. Daniel is about to hand BB over to Buck but at the last moment decides not to go through with it and ends up biting the bullet instead. I wish we had more scenes of BB reacting to Daniel’s death and her guilt over it. Hopefully we will see it in season 3. There needs to a scene between her and Buck. With Daniel, I wish we had more scenes with him and Kingpin, especially since it seemed in season 1, he saw Daniel as the new Wesley. Still, I liked the dynamic between him and Buck, and it was surprisingly wholesome until it inevitably ended in tragedy.

            Now the side character I was most invested in this season was surprisingly Buck. The first season he was just a cool lackey for Fisk, but this season really gave him more depth. He does all the dirty work for Fisk, but this season gives a hint that he doesn’t always like what he’s doing. When he kills people, there is usually no animosity there, he just believes he has no choice. The world is a harsh place, and he does what he feels he must do to survive. He is given some backstory before he started working for Fisk. He was in the SAS for Britain, and sometimes serving your country can lead you to do some messed up stuff. The other messed up part is that often your country won’t love you back. However, with all that said, this season shows us that there is still a kindness hidden deep inside. He is empathetic to what Heather Glenn is going through and even tries to help her process her trauma from the previous season. He also grows a soft spot for Daniel, which only makes him killing Daniel in the penultimate episode even more tragic. Before Daniel, Buck never hesitated in killing someone. He would sometimes have a solemn expression afterwards, but he always killed someone without question. However, when he has Daniel on the ground all bloodied up, he hesitates. The scene is drawn out and you wonder if Buck will spare him, only for Buck to finally pull the trigger. Drawing that scene out and having Buck slowly walk out the room with a broken expression on his face just makes the scene even harder to watch. I’m really excited for what’s in store for him the next season.

            While I do like what they did with Heather this season, I still need more before I am completely invested in her character. Hopefully we get that in season 3. From the ending it looks like she will be one of the main antagonists next season. I found her relationship with Buck interesting and am curious if that will lead to anything. Now, she definitely needs to have more interactions with Matt next season, since they practically had zero this season, even though they were dating in the previous season. I would also like to learn more about her past. I would like to know what she was like before she became a therapist. While her encounter with Muse last season was obviously traumatic, I feel like it didn’t change her into a new person; rather I think it brought out something that was already there, she has just been suppressing it until now. Hopefully that is the direction they decide to go with her next season.

            The last side character I would like to talk about is Vanessa Fisk. I thought that she was the most interesting she’s ever been this season. In the previous series, I was mostly indifferent. She was alright, but she wasn’t as interesting as some of the other characters. This season gave her more agency and gave the actress more opportunity to showcase her acting chops. Her death in the middle of the season shifted the tone and raised the stakes. It made Fisk even more unhinged than he usually is. Her actions in the previous season, and even in the original series, finally caught up to her.

            Now I am going to be talking about the main characters, the ones that were in the original series. Namely Bullseye, Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Karen Page, and Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. Their stories all interconnect with each other, and this analysis will do the same. I’ll start with Bullseye. They took his character in a very interesting and unexpected direction this season. He is trying to make amends for killing Foggy Nelson in the previous season. However, Bullseye being Bullseye, he doesn’t do it in the healthiest of ways. Now Bullseye is a terrible person, and even at the end of the season I still wouldn’t say he’s a good person. But this tv series shows that deep down he wants to be a good person, he’s just bad at it. That’s what makes him so interesting. He is a very broken individual and the hand that the world has dealt him has done him no favors. It also doesn’t help that his therapist when he was a child was not that competent. Its good to surround yourself with good people who help you to be a better person. However, trying to put you trust in just one person to tell you how to live is terrible advice. Its good to have people keep you accountable, but at the end of the day the only person that can change you for the better is yourself. Anyways, after Bullseye is wounded it is up to Matt to decide on whether to leave him or save him. This is where we get these great flashback scenes between Matt and Foggy. Foggy’s memory and his speech about mercy is what inspires Matt to put his hatred for Bullseye aside and save him anyways. The mercy that Daredevil shows Bullseye ends up paying off in the end. Bullseye saves the governor and saves Matt from getting shot by a sniper. This becomes instrumental in bringing Fisk down. Now initially, I thought he was going to save Karen at some point, because she was very against Matt bringing him to their hideout. She even tries to kill him at one point before Matt stops her. This leads to a very intense argument and is acted well, but it isn’t really addressed again afterwards. I do wish there was a bit more resolution to that story beat. It is good to see Karen being a main character again though. Her presence was sorely missed in the first season. It is good to see that despite their disagreements, they don’t let those disagreements drive them apart like they did in the earlier seasons, and that they still have each other’s backs. The final scene between them was very heartwarming, even if bittersweet. Now with Wilson Fisk, I have always had a love/hate relationship with him. He’s a great character and villain, and Vincent D’Onofrio does an incredible job at portraying him. However, at the same time I’m like, can someone just kill this guy already. He has had so many chances, manipulated the system constantly, has destroyed countless lives because he can’t look inward and realize he’s the problem. I get why Daredevil doesn’t do it but could Bullseye or even the Punisher do it. Even with all that said, I like the resolution that he and Matt had. What makes Daredevil so great is that he never does the easy thing but the right thing. He falters of course, but he always does the right thing in the end and is able to keep his soul intact. Despite all the terrible things Fisk has done, Matt still sees the humanity in him and succeeds in convincing Fisk to walk away. Even though at the end of the season Fisk is free and at some beach somewhere and Matt is in prison, one is clearly more miserable than the other, and it’s not Matt.

             All in all, this season was a massive improvement from season 1. I think this show has finally started to find its footing. There are still characters that need some refining, and some character interactions that need to happen, but hopefully we will get that in season 3. I am very much looking forward to what this show has in store for us.

Final Rating: 9/10