Welcome, everybody! Every week, I’ll release a review corresponding to the available episode(s) of the nine-episode season of “Daredevil: Born Again” (2025). A week after the last episode airs, there will be an overall review of the season with spoilers at the end. There may be spoilers for anything that happened in prior episode(s) or the Netflix seasons. I’ve never done an episodic review before so thank you for coming along for my experiment!
“Daredevil: Born Again” is back, and it is a brick-laying episode with one fight! Episode 2, which is forty-seven minutes, establishes a regular day in the life of Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) and defense attorney Matthew Murdock (Charlie Cox). They’re day is like yours and mine with some high and low points with lots of tedium in between. Think a municipal government drama involving the executive branch of the city and defense attorneys—Dick Wolf joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). How long before Fisk and Murdock get sick of playing nice and unleash the beast? Put your bets on who breaks first!
A promise is a promise, and here is where you can get the scoop on the supporting characters in “Daredevil: Born Again.” Fisk traded in henchmen for political advisors and staff, and his supporting characters are more intriguing than Matt’s because the good guys are more archetypes than people. Brit Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan) feels like the new Wesley without the life-threatening criminal ties. He acts as a counterbalance to establishment insider Sheila Rivera (Zabryna Guevara), who is the one tutoring Fisk in how to be presentable and seems like a reasonable person so why the hell is she working for Fisk? The money must be good, or she does not realize that he is as dangerous as the reports say that he is. Then there is fanboy turned insider Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini), who is a true believer in Fisk and may be oblivious or minimizing his past but is unbothered.
Michael Gaston, a character actor who always plays haters, appears as a person who is set on the path to defy his boss and make his life a living hell. How Fisk handles that challenge will indicate the tenor of Fisk’s term. Fisk has a firm grasp on turning lemons into lemonade when it comes to optics, but some challenges he cannot fix with all the power and money in the world so Fisk wins for man with the most down-to-earth problems, which includes eating sandwiches that he finds “disgusting,” especially since he is on a diet and would prefer his cheat meal to be something more enjoyable.
Meanwhile Matt practices law and shows that he knows evidence, which is long overdue. Thank you, cowriters Matt Corman and Chris Ord! It is about damn time! The most realistic part of his legal arc occurs in this episode. His fellow law partner, Kristen McDuffie (Nikki M. James), complains about him slacking on the billing clients and going pro bono, but she is all talk and jumps on board the train to being an impoverished attorney. Coming in second as most realistic moment in Matt’s career: Judge Cooper (Andrew Polk) not giving Matt a chance to talk then not being impressed when he does. Hurrah! It is about time. With enough legal reinforcement, our favorite vigilante starts making good legal arguments to help his client win. His client introduces a new vigilante to the MCU without any of the powers showcased in the comics, which was a nice bit of worldbuilding, and I’m looking forward to learning more about him. Then because Matt cannot have close friends, he settles for a retired cop, Cherry (Clark Johnson), no last name like Madonna or Cher, who is his new moral center now that he only goes to church by standing on the sidewalk. Considering that for the audience, it feels like Matt met him yesterday, I’m not feeling the lack of parallelism of something old for Fisk and Matt. Fisk still has Vanessa, but Matt’s crew is brand new.
Matt is doing better on the love front with Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), an author and therapist. My dumb ass mistook their meet cute as a desperate plea for an improvised intervention for Matt from someone who thought that he needed help, but alas no. I think that my storyline is slightly better. Anyway, the writers did a great job with her storyline because there were a lot of options regarding how it would go, and it took a route that I was not expecting and loved. While her specialty is heavy-handed and is a thinly veiled armchair analysis of Fisk and Matt’s secret identities and bloodlust (though she seems unaware), it is great that they are taking their time with getting her acclimated into the universe before things popoff.
A new character gets introduced who is teased in the first episode with man on the street interviews opining about candidate then Mayor Fisk, crime, vigilantes, and Daredevil. The BB Report shows that there is a new reporter in New York, and this person finally gets introduced. The history of this character is devastating and once revealed, will make everyone start shouting at their screen, “Run! Molly, you in danger, Girl!” This character has no idea how in over their head they are. With that said, the actor is gorgeous, but screams should be on a CW action television series, which is not a bad thing, but “Daredevil” always felt very adult when it was on Netflix, and this feels like a grab for the younger demographic.
The most important part: how was the fight scene? Director Michael Cuesta did his job. While the fight is edited and cut into parts, the flow and tension were perfect thus making it feel as if it was one sustained, unblinking shot. It was well worth the wait and quite satisfying. It does not speak well for the action lovers that like Matt and Fisk, we are jonesing to see them unleash the beast so when it happens, it feels very cathartic. It feels like a more dangerous reprise of the first season because it is not safe: no Kevlar suits, no backup, no allies. Just bare-knuckle brawls, taking hits and introducing people to the floor. Also, while Disney+’s take on “Daredevil” loves a montage, there were more still, extended shots to rest and appreciate the onscreen work so if the balance can be sustained, we are in for a treat.
For Episode 3, I’m looking forward to finding out if Fisk was in an off screen fight, the health of Vanessa and Fisk’s relationship, if Fisk manages to be a good mayor in his daytime hours, if Matt can keep being a good lawyer who does not run afoul of the law, the powers of the new vigilante and how long before the therapist realizes that she should move her practice because this -ish is cray cray.
Episode 2 was a solid start though if you enjoyed the flash of the first episode, you may have nodded off to this one. Call me boring, but I love world building and bureaucracy. This episode was dedicated to one of the actors who appears in this and an upcoming episode, so I’ll talk about him next time. If there is a case of the week, which is unlikely, it would be nice if “Daredevil: Born Again” introduced more lawyers at the firm. Will McDuffle get to establish her own personality instead of seeming like a glorified assistant to Matt when she is his equal or his superior considering the firm’s financial success is riding on her back? It would be great to have a memorable moral but ruthless lawyer like Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss).
