Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 TV Review – The most brutal entry in the MCU is also its best

Plot: Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil. But beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home. Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.

Review: While I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Daredevil: Born Again, it was noticeable that the format and approach to the season’s narrative were altered during production to accommodate changes in the showrunners behind the scenes. With some uneven moments, the soft reboot of the three-season Netflix series, Daredevil: Born Again reintroduced Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk as both hero and villain forge new paths as their alter egos, Daredevil and Kingpin. The first season ended with Mayor Wilson Fisk declaring martial law in New York City, sending Matt Murdock and his friends underground to resist the Anti-Vigilante Task Force to save their beloved city. Picking up a short time after the first season, the sophomore run of Daredevil: Born Again opens with a brutally violent action sequence and does not let up for any of its eight episodes. Embracing the brutal duality of the main characters, Daredevil: Born Again is easily the best season of any Marvel Cinematic Universe series to date and finally combines all of the best elements of the original Netflix series within the broader world of the MCU. And it manages to do so without overt connections to the MCU or other superheroes, with a few notable exceptions.

With New York City plunged into a military state by Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) have been forced to operate underground to combat the arrests and imprisonments by the AVTF. With Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) on the run after his escape at the end of season one, Matt and Karen must do whatever they can without being captured by Fisk. When a cargo ship is partially sunk in the city’s harbor, Fisk and Murdock go head to head in a chess game that brings in many new players, including Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard), an operative with powerful government connections, and Governor Marge McCaffrey (Lili Taylor), who does not abide by Fisk’s tactics. As Fisk’s plans continue to evolve, the stakes grow more challenging as Matt must figure out how to take down the Mayor while staying ahead of Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), who has his own bone to pick with Daredevil, Fisk, and Fisk’s wife, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer). Right away, the consistency of this season is felt with a physically intense action sequence within the first minutes of the premiere, including a pretty gnarly arm break that announces that season two is not messing around.

The parallels between the Anti-Vigilante Task Force and ICE will be obvious to anyone who has watched the news over the last year, with some connections to the January 6 events at the United States Capitol building also factoring into the narrative. While the political similarities are pretty glaring, Daredevil: Born Again is careful not to call it out and lets the story speak for itself. Wilson Fisk remains a domineering presence, with Vincent D’Onofrio cementing that no actor could portray this character as well as he can. Equally good is Charlie Cox, who is much less brooding this season, playing a reluctant superhero who here embraces the symbol of Daredevil as a beacon for the oppressed in his city. With the slight time jump, these episodes also show the supporting players in a new light. While Sheila Rivera (Zabryna Guevara) and Cherry (Clark Johnson) have some stuff to do this season, we get a lot of time with Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini) and BB Urich (Gennaya Walton), whose relationship is a key element to the balance between City Hall and the burgeoning rebellion brewing in the city. Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan) gets some solid moments with both Blake and Dr. Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva). Glenn, still dealing with the trauma of her encounter with Muse in season one, has a hell of a time this season.

While many were hoping to see Frank Castle return, Jon Bernthal was busy filming the Marvel Spotlight special for The Punisher. This means Krysten Ritter makes her long-awaited return as Jessica Jones. I won’t get into the details of how the private investigator factors into the plot this season, but rest assured, it is more than just a cameo. This may have you wondering if any of the other Defenders show up to aid Matt Murdock in his battle with Wilson Fisk. To that, I will just say you need to watch and see for yourself. The return of Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson also likely has fans wondering if everyone’s favorite avocado-at-law is actually dead or not. I won’t spoil this for you either, but I will say that Henson’s appearance is not supernatural in any way. Tony Dalton gets a little more screen time as Jack Duquesne, aka Swordsman, as does Camilla Rodriguez as Angela del Toro, who dons her late uncle’s medallion that gave him the abilities of White Tiger. The entire cast is solid this season, with some characters getting a lot more to do than others, but the highlights have to be Krysten Ritter’s return as Jessica Jones and Wilson Bethel becoming Bullseye in more than just name. The most underwhelming is Matthew Lillard’s Mr. Charles, and you will see why.

The first season of Daredevil: Born Again debuted with two episodes, but Marvel and Disney’s confidence in this new season means one chapter a week for the next two months. Having binge-watched the season, I don’t know how audiences will be able to wait patiently from week to week when I couldn’t wait to find out what would come next. Showrunner Dario Scardapane, who took over from original showrunners Matt Corman and Chris Ord, scripted three episodes this season with Moon Knight directors Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson directing the first two episodes. The rest of the directing crew are new this season, with Solvan “Slick” Naim, Angela Barnes, and Iain B. MacDonald each helming two episodes. Visually, this season looks in line with season one, but the action and energy are much more intense. The violence far exceeds that of the first season, as does the profanity, making this season easily the most brutal and bloody entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are multiple moments in every episode that had me audibly gasp or draw back, and it truly drives home the grittiest side of Daredevil from the pages of his comic book legacy.

Daredevil: Born Again nicely continues the story set up in the first season while closing the narrative in a satisfying way. There are definitely threads left open for where the series will head in the already announced third season, which is set to draw on another iconic arc from the comic books. Better than the first season and on par with the Netflix series’ strongest elements, Daredevil: Born Again is easily one of the most enjoyable mature superhero series ever, earning a spot alongside The Penguin. Embracing what makes Daredevil one of the most underrated Marvel Comics characters and turning it into thrilling television, Born Again‘s second season blends timely social commentary, top-notch action, and memorable characters into a fantastic run of television. I cannot wait to see where this series goes next and if the surprises revealed this season portend some big news coming soon from the MCU.

Daredevil: Born Again premieres on March 24th on Disney+.