I had a lot of concerns when Daredevil was moved over to Disney. However, Born Again Season 1 ended up being better than expected. It was still definitely the weakest season of Daredevil, but considering the behind-the-scenes creative drama, the final product turned out surprisingly solid. With Season 2, though, the series was fully under the creative control of Dario Scardapane as showrunner. So, does Season 2 finally deliver a more promising follow-up?
Yes, it does.
The season is far more consistent visually, as well as in terms of quality and writing. It doesn’t suffer from the strange dips in quality or tonal shifts that Season 1 had. The story is much more focused and engaging, making it enjoyable to invest in Daredevil’s struggle and the resistance effort against Kingpin. Watching the characters slowly weaken Fisk’s forces, damage his credibility, and search for evidence makes for a far more entertaining season than the slower-paced nature of the first. There is also a fantastic flashback episode where they even bring back the Netflix screen ratio. I do wish they had gone even further and used the Netflix-style colour grading too, but it is still a great episode regardless.
This season challenges Daredevil not only physically, but mentally as well. We really see him struggle with his faith and his belief in grace and forgiveness. This is especially evident in his feelings toward Bullseye, who killed his friend, and Kingpin, who has murdered countless innocent people. Kingpin himself also has an interesting internal struggle as he tries to maintain his love for New York while continuing his brutal actions. Bullseye also has a weirdly entertaining character arc centred around “balancing the scales” through his own warped sense of justice, which leads to some fun conflicts with other characters. Karen, meanwhile, is far more confident and much more involved in the action this season, which I really liked. We see her fully committed to taking down Kingpin no matter what, even if it means killing him. This creates conflict with Matt that adds an interesting layer to their dynamic.
In terms of action scenes, the show continues to deliver. There is an excellent one-shot-style prison fight involving Daredevil, a really cool diner sequence featuring Bullseye, and of course, an awesome trademark hallway fight with a fresh new spin. The cast continues to do a great job, especially with the return of some fan-favourite characters from the Marvel Netflix shows. The standout is Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, who remains an absolute delight and has great chemistry with Daredevil. The new antagonists introduced in Born Again Season 1 are also much more fleshed out this time around. Daniel experiences internal conflict as he struggles with being Fisk’s ally while also trying to protect his friend BB. Buck gets more opportunities to interact with other characters, developing an unlikely friendship with Daniel and Heather. Speaking of Heather, she becomes a much more intriguing character as we slowly see her grow more sinister while the trauma from Muse continues to haunt her.
Unfortunately, the new Matt Murdock allies introduced in Season 1 are still underwhelming here. Cherry and Kirsten mostly exist to help Daredevil but are not given much depth or development. It’s a shame they weren’t fleshed out in the same way as the antagonists. We also get a new character called Mr. Charles, played by Matthew Lillard. He feels like a very odd and somewhat unnecessary addition. He mostly exists to repeatedly pressure Fisk into getting the port running and to vaguely tease bigger future developments. Outside of that, he doesn’t play a major role in the main plot. He also ends up serving as a plot device to bring Jessica Jones into the story, but even that feels a little random.
Some aspects of the “taking down Kingpin” storyline also start to feel repetitive and even questionable. Fisk commits so many blatantly horrible acts this season that the lack of legal consequences starts to stretch believability. There are also several odd moments in the finale. One character with barely any dialogue suddenly has a random change of heart, and the final handling of the AVTF feels underwhelming. The show also fails to address the fate of one particular character in the closing scenes, which feels strange. Even the ending itself raises questions about whether it really makes sense legally or logically.
Overall, Born Again Season 2 is a major step up from the first season. While it still doesn’t reach the heights of Seasons 1 and 3 of the Netflix series, I would say it is on par with Season 2. That said, I do think it’s time for the series to move on from Kingpin. He has now been the main antagonist for four out of five seasons, and I think it’s time to explore new Daredevil villains. Thankfully, Dario Scardapane seems to feel the same way based on his comments about Born Again Season 3. I’m looking forward to seeing where the series goes next, and hopefully it brings something fresh and new to the table.
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