Welcome, everybody! Every week, I’ll release a review corresponding to the available episode(s) of the eight-episode, second season of “Daredevil: Born Again” (2026). After the last episode airs, there will be an overall review of the season with spoilers at the end if necessary. I’ve only done an episodic review two times before with disaster striking the second time and was honestly tempted to not bother trying again so thank you for coming along for my experiment! There will be spoilers for the prior episodes of Season 2 in this review.
Season 2 Episode 15 of “Daredevil: Born Again” is forty-nine minutes long, which is the third longest length of an episode for this season. Director Angela Barnes and writer Jesse Wigutow are behind the scenes for a second week in a row with the addition of brand spanking new writer Devon Kliger getting top billing. This collaboration works. For me, the biggest question was how many days after the big boxing match does this episode occur because while it is a solid episode, and a lot of major things happen, but it also felt like some characters must be as dumb as dirt to not tighten up their personal security considering that they live in a fascist city, and people get seized all the time.
Episode 15 is about the fallout of what happened in the prior episode. It turns out that Daniel does have a moral code, and he would protect BB (Genneya Walton) even while being completely gutted at the prospect that she is using him and facing the real threat of execution. Just a reminder that as much as I do not want BB to die, I’ve always been team “we do not treat friends this way” and wanted Daniel to dump her. Last episode, Daniel finally saw how BB does not treat him like a human being and also how callous she was about life and death situations. Even she realized that she had crossed a line and backtracked.
Buck (Arty Froushan) is playing mind games with Daniel, and he likes him. He probably thinks of it as a win-win. If Daniel is the leak, then Buck completes his assignment, and if Daniel is not, then Buck is helping him move up in the world. I would go so far as to say that in Buck’s mind, Daniel is one of his favorite people, and he is mentoring him, which is fucked up because he would totally kill him without hesitation. Buck is in his softer phase, which is frightening because he knows that it is Daniel’s birthday, and the day before he made Daniel dispose of a dead body. So Daniel is trying to do his job, realizes that his coworker loves and would murder him, and he has no real friends while celebrating his birthday with his proud mom on Staten Island. I actually think that this storyline is brilliant because it is not often that media captures the problem of moving up in the world. He cannot confide in his mom because she would not understand any of his problems, and he does not want to burst her bubble. On the other hand, he is navigating dangerous waters without any manual or safe mentorship. He is alone, scared and getting everything that he ever wished for. Worst of all: his mom has a cat, and the cat never appears on screen!
Meanwhile on touched by a Buck, he decides to help Heather (Margarita Levieva), and naturally his form of therapy is fucked up, but considering that she is not doing so great, it could be worse. Episode 15 is weird because it is full of depictions of women attacking men and many (not all) of those scenes, the woman seems like an unhinged aggressor. When that violence is the kind that is packaged for our enjoyment, it is hidden, abbreviated or stopped to require rescue. I have been watching the MCU for a while, and normally when the woman is cooking and drawing in between the lines of morality, we get to enjoy these fights in all their glory, but not this time. On one hand, unhinged violence from women happens and to portray women’s humanity, it is valid to not depict them as always good. On the other hand, it is so concentrated in numbers disproportionate to reality that it feels a little less about the evils of killing though it is a theme in the MCU but making it particularly egregious when women do it. I’m not standing with ten toes down on this theory, but to go from zero to ten in a single episode is a lot. It feels like conditioning to enjoy fight scenes, but not when women do it. Random fact: women get more jail time when they hurt their partner in domestic violence confrontations than vice versa.
Naturally Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) and Matt (Charlie Cox) are fighting because he brought Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) home to heal. Duh. Brain cells die whenever Bullseye opens his mouth, and I do not remember him being this annoying when he talked in the past, but it has been awhile. The murder debate is getting less theoretical. It is very last season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” as the City is going out of control without Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) doing much since he set up a well-oiled machine of horribleness. Fortunately, another vigilante returned and stepped up. Hint: it is not the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). It is getting more discombobulating to not get a real flashback episode but have so many allusions to off screen events that are pretty important. Apparently, Charles (Matthew Lillard) has been in Manhattan before and not just to talk with Fisk.
Charles should be embarrassed that Fisk is running circles around him, especially if he has successfully been an international mover and shaker. Fisk should be light work. Charles seems erratic, especially considering whom he decides to attack, and whom he does not. Who is his boss? A day without Lillard is a day without sunshine. Meanwhile Fisk is not even thinking about him and only deigns to talk with one person in Episode 15. While it is a well-executed scene, it does not really move the story forward a centimeter, but it was still fun to watch because it had not happened the entire season.
AVTF agent Cole North (Jeremy Isaiah Earl) seems as if he is going to get an independent storyline apart from just being a sidekick for Powell (Hamish Allan-Headley). Baby White Tiger (Camila Rodriguez) appears, but nothing substantive. The Governor (Lili Taylor) appears and may be Sheila’s only friend, but will the timing put Sheila in danger?
I want to know who is randomly pulling wigs at protests. Who is Charles’ boss? Is Charles going to get his shit together? How will Daniel’s promotion affect BB? How is Aunt Doris (Adriane Lenox)? Will Heather get real therapy or keep having mini breakdowns? Will we get more details on the returning vigilante’s life post-Netflix and prior to “Daredevil: Born Again?” How is Kirsten (Nikki M. James) going to deal with the fallout of this episode? Will Bullseye say something interesting? What will Buck’s next good deed be? Who will come out on top: Fisk or the Governor? Does Fisk understand that Sheila could resign without killing her?
