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 Episode 7, which is forty minutes, maintains the momentum while gradually raising the stakes. Matt (Charlie Cox) is wearing the clown suit, and Mayor Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) is in the house with a new set of henchmen, The Punisher PD with Chicago born Sargeant Cole North (Jeremy Isaiah Earl) in command and legacy cop Powell (Hamish Allan Headley) in the crew. Muse (Hunter Dooman) is on the run, and Angela Del Toro (Camila Rodriguez) survives thanks to Daredevil.
All the relationships get tested, and Episode 7 is about the chain reaction of Kingpin and Daredevil reprising their roles. On Team Matt, Matt’s law firm partner, Kirsten Mcduffie (Nikki M. James), finally gets lines and make waves, but it is with Cherry (Clark Johnson), who is my least favorite character when Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) is not around, so do not get too excited. Let’s hope that Mcduffie walks away and takes her clients with her. Don’t let Matt ruin your professional reputation. There is lots of vague talk about the big Madison case but no one even fleshed out the details enough the last time to bother revisiting it here. This story line will fail to raise the pulse and could have been cut entirely without missing a beat.
On Team Fisk, Buck (Arty Froushan), Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) and Luca (Patrick Murney) place their bets on who Wilson is today: Mayor or Kingpin. Buck is dancing on a thin line and finally seems to be aware of his precarious position. Last week, rebellious crime boss, Luca (Patrick Murney), turned up in an unlikely place, and this episode determines whether the conflict will follow the expected beats or surpass expectations. My take: a draw. Vanessa showed restraint by not doing the “I told you so” dance after Luca appeared. The big Buck revelation will make you hungry for more. He is no Wesley. The Punisher PD gets some action, and it is yet to be determined if they are a credible threat against the masked vigilantes and villains.
Fisk is experiencing some PTSD with Daredevil coming back, but with his elected position as his security blanket, he recovers. Matt is back to ruining his healthy relationships, including his professional one, which is a long walk off a short pier, but it is good news for the viewers because the action steps up. Fisk and Matt are unaware that they have a person in common: Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva). Levieva gets the lion share of the storyline. Kudos to writer Jill Blankenship for tying up a loose end from Episode 2, which screamed foreshadowing then felt like a “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) suspenseful bait and switch at her office door that finally pays off here. While the actual dialogue is nothing to write home about and is a glorified prose dump that once again gives short shrift to other supporting characters and the comic book lovers, it is a superb showcase for Levieva to display her character’s complex range: a mixture of professionalism, honest emotion and animal instinct.
Heather felt like the real hero of the show. For all his brawn and power, Kingpin is shitting himself and hiding behind a glorified fan club of outlaws with the veneer of respectability. For all his soft-spoken demeanor and professionalism, Matt has not had an honest day of hard, excellent work, faced his demons and accepted responsibility for his violence. Heather has none of their advantages, yet she does more than they would be capable of doing if they had to switch places and possessed her disadvantages. I did not realize that she was a character in the comics. Blankenship’s reinvention of the character makes her a three-dimensional, independent character. Relationships do not define her. Matt and Kingpin are supporting characters in her story, and it will be interesting to see how she will develop after this pivotal episode. If she discovers the truth about Matt, it is really up in the air whether she will approve or not, especially after this episode. She made her true feelings known.
There were fights, and it really felt more like a Netflix episode of “Daredevil” than it has in the past. Director David Boyd did an even better job than he did in Episode 7, so I won’t deduct points for the opening feeling like a flashback episode, and the hospital scenes feeling a smidge excessive. Some fight scenes had a sense of humor and others felt critical, so it was nice for Blankenship and Boyd to acknowledge that fights do not always have to serve one purpose. It made the plot exciting. I am glad that I was wrong about “Daredevil: Born Again” not bringing Muse back, but he was the expected monologuing psycho that gets to be annoying. I was more concerned about the pattern of two episodes then ushered out the door or a repeat of Deadpool in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009). The two-episode arc for White Tiger felt underwhelming so even though Muse’s storyline was a bit trite, it did feel complete.
I am disappointed that Episode 7 did not reprise showing how Matt/Daredevil see the world: as if everything is on fire. It is relevant considering that Muse paints everything in blood. The decision to navigate it another way felt dumb. Touching a face and a painting seem as if they would result in different sensations. Would blood on sketch paper be the equivalent of textured painting to a blind person? Inquiring minds want to know. It is a stretch but will not be added to the list of improbable events on this series.
Episode 7 was bold and audacious for giving the spotlight to a supporting character once Daredevil and Kingpin returned to center stage. It was an unexpected move. Everyone made bold moves, and some were more interesting than others, i.e. not you, Daniel (Michael Gandolfini) and BB (Genneya Walton). It was a real game changer for the romantic relationships. Buck is intriguing, but I do not think that he is out of the woods. I hope that Angela does not come back. Detective Angie Kim (Ruibo Qian) seems to be stepping up, and I’m hoping that they give her more to do. Will Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) feel compelled to check his fanboys?
