POSTMORTEM - Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 1 -

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“New York is back and better than ever.“

Is it? That’s the propaganda Mayor Wilson Fisk is pushing on the people of New York City. It’s a lie he’s selling, using an array of multicultural people in candy colored clothes, on the streets of an NYC that doesn’t exist—about a mayor they don’t have. But New York has a hero. Call him a vigilante, a costumed freak, or the devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Whatever you call him. Daredevil is back for a second season of Born Again. Julian and I will be here with the things to look for and anything you might have missed with episode postmortems.

After a recap, we go straight into the frenetic and ferocious fight sequence at the start of Episode 1. An arms shipment is coming into the port on the way to Red Hook, but our street-level hero can’t have that. He shows up in an all-black suit with the red double-D logo emblazoned on the chest, and we know things are about to get lethal. Daredevil absolutely pulverizes a bunch of sea-faring criminals in a ballistic ballet. But the highlight moment for me is when he grabs the security camera, wraps his gloved hand around it, and points the lens at the interlocking red Ds on his chest. That’s him putting Fisk and everyone who works for the mayor on notice.

How did you feel about the opening of S2, Julian?

Daredevil Born Again - Season 2 episode release schedule

Julian: It has a great opening sequence that’s brutal in the ways DD beats the crap out of those guys on the ship. Connor Powell very quickly rises up the ranks of the worst people in the MCU easy. Mr. Charles, I don’t know if I care much about him, even though I love seeing Mathew Lillard. I like seeing Heather Glenn going bonkers from her trauma, and we always need more Swordsman since he can’t be in the MCU Avengers. The little Mr. Robot-like Kingpin video was interesting. The DD vs AVTF cops in Cherry’s apartment is great. Passing out fades and receiving fades is the Daredevil way.

Sherin: They’re giving us so much ground to cover. Before I get into that, I need to talk about the fact that Matt is cracking Karen or Karen is cracking Matt. I don’t discriminate. I do have to say I’m a romance girly, but I don’t care about their love lines. I do care about their connection to each other and character development, and we’re getting a lot of it in the first half of this season.

Matthew Lillard is officially in his villain era, going from Cross to Daredevil: Born Again. His character feels pretty standard right now, but I’m hoping he turns out to be someone we know.

Dr. Glenn is in a serious spiral. She’s given up all kinds of integrity for the safety she thinks she can get from the Fisks, but Vanessa and Wilson ain’t nothing to play with.

This second season has more plotlines than MTA (New York City Transit). I’m seated to see how they’re going to play out. Swordsman is hemmed up, the streets are heating up, and Bullseye comes to the rescue. Friends, what? That blade says, “You’re welcome,” and I feel like that’s Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 talking.

To close it out, you got any Marvel Comics insights we might’ve missed?

Julian: Episode one, not so much. Focusing on setting the groundwork. Folks can read up on the Devil’s Reign era of Daredevil, Spider-Man, and other street-level Marvel characters’ comics to see the storyline that inspired these two seasons of the show. Don’t go for the actual Born Again trade because it’s nothing like this at all. It would only confuse you. It’s also easiest to read on the Marvel Unlimited app than trying to find all the trades. They have a way to just read whole story arcs digitally that might take forever, and hard to know where to switch titles at what times with print.

Sherin: That’s it for episode one. Daredevil: Born Again is a full-blown crime drama in Season 2, but with the beats of a psychological thriller—that duality makes it magnetic.