Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again is a soft reboot of the 2010s Netflix drama, with Charlie Cox reprising his role as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. The series follows Matt Murdock as he grapples with grief and struggles to suppress his violent impulses after a personal tragedy. Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk, now running for New York City mayor, claims to have given up his mob boss career.

Daredevil: Born Again Review (S1:E1-2)

The opening moments of Daredevil: Born Again is an emotionally charged reminder of the original’s greatness and seem as though they are meant to set the tone for this new iteration right up until it becomes apparent that it’s little more than a controlled burn meant to clear the Netflix brush away and make room for the MCU.

Considering Disney’s track record of mediocrity, especially when it comes to reviving beloved IPs (and let’s not even talk about what they did to DD in She-Hulk and Echo), no one can fault you for being incredibly nervous at this point. Unfortunately, not all of your fears are unfounded. These first two episodes of Born Again are a noticeable step down from the Netflix series. Though miles better than the abomination we saw in Echo, the fight choreography and cinematography pale in comparison to the gritty and bone-crunching visceral experience of the original, as do the secondary characters and their chemistry with both Matt and Fisk. Even the tone has been dialed back and lacks its own aesthetic identity, featuring brighter colors and grander vistas than the original.

This is not to say that the show is without any redeeming qualities. In point of fact, if the original Netflix series didn’t exist, most people would find Daredevil: Born Again to be rather impressive, especially in comparison to MCU’s long list of streaming disappointments. This is primarily thanks to the returning Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio. Both step back into their respective roles like it was yesterday, exhibiting the same dark charm and charisma that made the original so special. While the secondary characters are rather generic, and the setup is starting to run on the long side, the actors and actresses who play them do so well enough,h and we’re given enough to look forward to the next episode.

They say that, once accomplished, you can’t catch lighting in a bottle a second time, but provided that they don’t dwell too long on (as in we never have to hear about it again) weak subplots like Wilson Fisk’s marital problems, Daredevil: Born Again has potential, and that’s more than The House of Mouse has given us in a long time.

WOKE ELEMENTS

Girl Power

• A number of legacy characters have been removed from the program, and a diverse woman has replaced every single one.

Daniel Penny for Your Thoughts

• Matt’s client gets in trouble for saving someone from a beating on the subway, and while they could have taken the opportunity to make a leftist commentary, they didn’t. They did, however, make the bad guys crooked white cops. They don’t seem to be attempting to make any political commentaries, just relying on tropes.

Cuck-A-Doodle-Doo

• Sometime between the events of Echo and this, Fisk’s wife cheated on him. Now, they are in couples therapy, and he has promised not to kill the man.
  • I didn’t mark it down too much on the Woke-O-Meter because it’s clearly only a subplot that exists to show the contrast between the way Fisk starts the season and the Fisk who ends the season (the one who will be as or more violent and evil than he was before). It’s not done well and it’s cliché as heck, but it’s not being done out of a sense of social justice.

Daredevil: Born Again Review (S1:E3-4)

Daredevil: Born Again Review (S1:E5-6)

Daredevil: Born Again Review (S1:E7)

WOKE ELEMENTS

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Church

• It’s pretty clear that Murdock’s new girlfriend is a therapist for no other reason than so secular therapy can replace the Church with her psychobabble.

Not A Mused

• The serial killer (Muse) is, of course, a toxic male and targeter of women whose evil ways are a direct result of the trauma metered out by the hands of a father who forced him into excelling in Taekwondo instead of his true love—finger painting—as a child.
  • Say a chick, or a neutered California liberal man, wrote this without saying a chick, or a neutered California liberal man, wrote this.[/membership]

Daredevil: Born Again Review (S1:E8-9)