‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Review: Dares To Take Big Swings

The first season of Daredevil: Born Again was a mixed bag. Production was halted during the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, in which it was decided that the original vision for the series wasn’t working out. The new team, now led by showrunner Dario Scardapane, was left trying to frankenstein together a satisfying story together using bits and pieces of the scrapped season. Now, Daredevil: Born Again is fully unshackled of that burden for season two. But the question here is: Does this series have the ability to match the original Netflix Daredevil in quality? Read our Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 review.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 picks up a few months after the previous season, the Anti-Vigilante Task Force is now a fully fledged official sect of law enforcement, which serves as Mayor Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) not-so-secret police. On the other side of the conflict, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) are working at the forefront of an underground resistance movement to undermine the Mayor’s fascist rule.

Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio both, as expected, give really great performances this season. These two embody and know these characters so well, I’m not even sure if it’s possible for them to give a lackluster performance. D’Onofrio especially gets a chance to flex and convey a new side of Fisk we haven’t yet seen.

Deborah Ann Woll is back once again as Karen Page, whose presence was greatly missed last season after only appearing in a couple of episodes. While it is a delight to have Karen fully back, as her and Matt are (in my opinion) the heart of Daredevil, at times it can feel like the writers are retreading old ground with the character, which makes me hope to see something new for her in subsequent seasons.

The secondary cast in Fisk’s corner this time around do ultimately feel better written than last season. Matt’s former girlfriend, Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), gets her own minor storyline, which sees her aligned with Fisk after becoming radicalized due to her near-death encounter with the serial killer Muse. Her characterization is much more interesting here, after not having much of a personality at all previously, which did make for a pleasant surprise. On the other hand, the plot line for Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini) and BB Urich (Genneya Walton) can feel a little intrusive and halt the momentum of some episodes at times. Matthew Lillard also joins the cast in this corner as a mysterious CIA operative known as Mr. Charles, who I would best describe as a professional ragebaiter and is really fun to watch get under Fisk’s skin.

The main highlight of this season though, is Wilson Bethel as the chaotic fan-favorite assassin Benjamin Poindexter aka Bullseye. Obviously, It’s always awesome to get cool action scenes with Bullseye, and this season has plenty to spare. But more interestingly, Dex also gets some of the best developments and character moments of the entire season, propelling multiple inter-character conflicts. Krysten Ritter also returns to the MCU as Jessica Jones for the first time since the end of the original Netflix era of shows back in 2019. Unfortunately, while I did appreciate this connective tissue to the Defendersverse, Jessica’s inclusion in this story doesn’t significantly impact the plot and character arcs as much as I would’ve hoped, mostly coming in to provide some muscle and give an extra person for Matt to talk with about the city’s struggles.

On a visual level this season is a big step up for Daredevil: Born Again. The colors are much richer, with deeper contrast, and the excessive haze that plagued S1 is much less noticeable. One episode in particular meshes this new style with the look of the original Daredevil Netflix series, which is sure to be pleasing for fans.

This sophomore season is ultimately a massive improvement from last time due to the creative team being fully unified and providing a coherent vision. While some of the minor plot lines are less compelling than others, this season truly is a wild ride that takes big swings and can stand toe to toe with some of the best work done on the Netflix series. The first couple episodes do take their time to properly set up the main conspiracy driving the season, but once the pedal is put to the metal, it never really lets up and builds to a deeply cathartic finale.

Daredevil: Born Again is showrun by Dario Scardapane and stars Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, Wilson Bethel, Ayelet Zurer, Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini, Matthew Lillard, and Krysten Ritter. The premiere episode of the second season is now streaming on Disney+.

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