Daredevil: Born Again Recap: Hard Cases

Based on the large announced cast for the Daredevil revival, it was hard to know what a typical episode might include. The premiere had a lot on its plate: setting up a time jump, justifying Daredevil’s retirement, and introducing several important new characters. But now that Foggy is dead, Dex is in prison, and Karen is in San Francisco, the series can start to show what it’ll actually look like week to week.

“Episode 2,” compared with “Episode 1,” feels like a more standard episode of Born Again, splitting its attention between Matt and Fisk without bringing them into direct contact. However, these stories still feel like they take place in the same universe. For one, this episode promises some messy overlap now that Matt’s new girlfriend is providing couples therapy to Fisk and Vanessa. But Fisk’s televised anti-vigilante screeds (one of which mentions Spider-Man, his original adversary in the comics) also loom large over Matt’s continual efforts to bury his violent side and get stuff done by the book.

We’ve seen this same internal conflict play out over and over in the original show, and it can get tedious to watch Matt refuse to accept that he’s both Matt and Daredevil, not just one. Then again, that’s what his story is all about. Born Again does seem to leave off right where season three ends, for the most part, and watching Matt wrestle with these same questions helps with that continuity.

In this episode, Matt represents his first vigilante client: Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes), a.k.a. White Tiger, Marvel Comics’ first Hispanic superhero. Hector got himself in trouble when he saw two men whaling on some guy in the subway and got involved. The men turned out to be cops, and the fight led to one of them tripping and falling in front of a train. Now everyone thinks Hector is a cop killer, and he’s getting roughed up by the NYPD as well as guards and inmates alike at Rikers.

When Matt first decides to represent Hector, he doesn’t realize he’s a vigilante; it’s Matt’s private investigator, Cherry, who eventually visits Hector’s wife and finds his White Tiger suit hidden away with his amulet. But Matt’s lie-detecting skills allow him to see that there’s something the guy isn’t sharing, even if he’s telling the truth about the subway encounter. Kirsten is skeptical of Matt taking on such a high-profile and difficult case, but he started this practice wanting the challenge.

Cops protect their own, and Hector knows the deck is stacked against him, especially up against District Attorney Ben Hochberg (John Benjamin Hickey). Sure enough, he’s denied bail immediately at the hearing; his wife’s absence, seemingly driven by her distaste for his vigilante lifestyle, doesn’t help with optics. But Matt gets a win after convincing the judge to grant a motion in limine to suppress Hector’s double identity, knowing it would bias the jurors against Hector.

The other missing piece is the testimony of Nicky Torres, the key witness Hector defended from the two cops. To find him, Matt follows the not-dead cop home and listens to him arranging to track and kill the loose end — then shows up at Nicky’s house to warn him in advance and send him off to get protection from Cherry at Fort Tryon Park.

There’s not much action in these first couple of episodes outside of that big Bullseye fight, but “Episode 2” ends by giving us what we’re waiting for: Matt kicking some ass after a lot of provocation from the two cops who show up to kill Nicky. There’s a sickening, satisfying weight behind each strike here, especially with the sprays of blood when Matt repeatedly throws one goon against the wobbling refrigerator. Cherry says he likes the version of Matt in a normal suit, but this show needs both identities. Matt can scream and resist this side of himself as much as he wants, but Daredevil will always be there — his Dark Passenger, in Dexter parlance.

Fisk also can’t move on from his mob-boss tendencies, nor does he really want to. He’s not interested in sticking to the status quo at the start of his mayoral term as Sheila urges; the requisite meet-and-greets for shareholders sound boring and performative. Buck and Daniel agree, encouraging big moves and flashy gestures — like Fisk’s idea to show commuters he can get shit done by preapproving the filling of a hole to save them from a traffic jam. Sheila actually likes the strategy too, but Fisk knows he can’t come to her for everything.

Take, for example, his threats to police commissioner Gallo (Michael Gaston), who hates Fisk and planned to resign from his post tonight. Fisk doesn’t actually have to break any kneecaps or even mention violence in his threats; all he has to do is show Gallo a photo of his secret child, some easy blackmail material. His hilarious idea of a “compromise” is forcing Gallo to keep his job while giving him precisely nothing he wants for the department. That “once a thug, always a thug” rant might really bite him in the ass.

This episode introduces BB Urich in earnest, showing her as an ambitious young journalist looking for an in with Fisk. Dorky, submissive Daniel is that way in, her new “friend with political benefits” who sets up a five-minute meeting between her and his boss. Though we don’t know BB well at all, there’s some built-in tension to knowing that Fisk killed her uncle Ben. Based on his displeased reaction to her aborted Vanessa question, it might not take him much to target another Urich.

As always, Vanessa is Fisk’s sensitive spot, even (or especially) when the two of them aren’t in the best place. In therapy with Heather, Vanessa admits she felt lonely while Fisk was away in recovery and now she doesn’t know how to feel about him being back in her life and in her business. But if he wants to look good for his more traditional constituents, he’ll need Vanessa at his side, part of his narrative.

“Episode 2” is a shorter, much less thrilling and emotional episode of TV than the premiere, primarily focused on setting up the story to come without even closing the loop on the Hector trial (a story that has a whiff of case-of-the-week procedural about it, though it could extend deep into the season for all I know). Still, it feels good to watch Daredevil again and see these two men giving in to the instincts they pretend to reject. Once they both start really breaking their own rules — and once Matt learns about Heather’s privileged relationship with Fisk — things could get pretty complicated.

Devil in the Details

• We don’t see much of Matt and Heather together in this episode, but they’re full steam ahead, already fantasizing about vacations and discussing their sex life over dinner. Good for them, but it’s also kind of funny to see how quickly they’ve solidified a real relationship compared with Matt’s extremely brief romantic entanglements in past seasons.

• And speaking of Heather, I’m curious to hear more about her thoughts on vigilantes. Apparently, her next book is about “projected personas,” including masks.