If you know me, you know that Daredevil is my favorite Marvel character. I am a FIEND for Daredevil; I own an obscene amount of his comics, have watched the Netflix show more times than I can count, and I buy pretty much any piece of Daredevil merch I find out in the wild. I am a freak for this character, so when I said that I was excited for Daredevil Born Again, I was EXCITED.
After a seven-year-long wait and a fan movement to #savedaredevil, we finally get to see the return of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen in a continuation of the original show. I hold the show to some very high standards because the original, at its worst, is still better than the vast majority of television shows, especially Marvel. It’s an excellently written and edited crime noir thriller that expertly weaves in political intrigue, superhero action, and relatable character dynamics, and I think it is one of the best shows ever made, alongside Breaking Bad.
After watching the first two episodes of Born Again, I can’t quite say that it lives up to the original, but it has a decent enough start to keep me excited for the future.
The first episode is just not great. Immediately from the opening, I was worried as there is an immediate and noticeable visual downgrade from the original. The shot composition feels lazy and uninspired, and the editing often sloppy and disorganized.
In the first 15 minutes, they attempt to do the famous one-take fight scenes that made the original so famous, but this one has much higher emotional stakes. Somehow, though, I felt almost nothing from this whole sequence due to its disorganized focus and lack of visual cohesion that left the fight hard to follow and somewhat unengaging.
This is indicative of a larger issue with the first two episodes: the narrative’s visual language is not given enough attention, whereas it was so tangible in the original.
In general, the first episode feels like it’s rushing through plot points that would take up entire episodes of the original show, which makes it feel muddled and confused. All these events take place, and we know what is happening, but not really why and how it happens. A whole election subplot resolves in 20 minutes without any good exposition for how this character won an election as a notorious criminal mastermind.
However, the second episode starts pulling more weight. The problems with the visuals and editing still remain, but the narrative seems to find its footing and slows down to let the characters, and plot points feel natural. It doesn’t feel like the narrative is trying to rush itself to establish everything, which gives the story the room it needs to breathe.
I want to give this show some grace because a lot of the early material is leftover and reworked from the original plans, which were scrapped. This is a bit of a Frankenstein premiere, where the writers and directors were being pulled between the constraints of reworking already-existing footage and plot points to make sense with the new direction.
The performances, however, are fantastic. Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil steals the show with a riveting performance that carries the entire show. He is just as good as ever and does an incredible job of showing Matt’s inner turmoil, especially when it comes to a tipping point.
Cox is incredible at showing Matt’s growing unease and anger, which follows him for the entirety of the first two episodes. While the visuals are generally muddled, his performance still shines through.
Vincent D’Onofrio also gives a great performance so far as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin. Just like Matt, you can tangibly feel his darker nature tugging at him and eating him from the inside.
The show establishes a compelling dynamic between the two, which I hope has a compelling resolution.
By the end of Episode Two, I was convinced by the direction the narrative is heading in, but I’m still skeptical of how all the pieces will fall into place by the end due to the issues with direction and tone. This show still has a lot to live up to and so far, it’s slightly falling short of the mark.
Score: 7/10
