Dylan Masvidal | Staff Writer
Do you believe in miracles?
I’ll tell you this much, the fact “Daredevil: Born Again” has seen the light of day is nothing short of divine intervention.
After Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige rang the fire alarm on the series in late 2023, new showrunner Dario Scardapane and directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead were tasked with damage control duties.
The result is inconsistent as all hell, both narratively and visually.
Then again, color me surprised when the thematic elements of this Frankenstein’s monster of a season came close to challenging Daredevil’s original television stint.
Season one of “Daredevil: Born Again” truly excites in moments of glorious ultraviolence and internal moral quandary. For a show that was surgically repaired, its crux—the juxtaposition of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk as they attempt to leave their pasts behind—remains effective.
Shifting between their respective arcs as they re-enter their destinies is the glue holding this series together since its Netflix days, so doubling down instead of abandoning it just feels right.
It’s representative of two men who show a different side of the same fabled coin.
They both take matters into their own hands except one is righteously selfless while the other is devilishly selfish.
Ironic, isn’t it?
However, they will always be linked by their shared “violent nature”.
Riveting television it undoubtedly is even in its more light-hearted moments such as Kingpin unsubtly revealing his misanthropy amongst the innocent faces of children or Matt’s inevitable decision to don the Daredevil helmet being accompanied by a reluctant F-bomb.
Where “Daredevil: Born Again” drops the ball in ways its forefather didn’t is the complete and utter mismanagement of its supporting cast and fight choreography.
Creative overhaul aside, three towering episodes isn’t enough of a paint job to mask the scratches and dents spread throughout the other six.
If your name doesn’t rhyme with Filson Wisk or Gatt Gurdock, good luck getting any sort of meaningful characterization.
This lack of character depth bleeds into conversations between Matt and his new girlfriend Heather or the stop-and-start tension between Fisk’s wide-eyed lap dog Daniel Blake and his relationship with hotshot journalist BB Urich.
You’d be hard-pressed to find gripping dialogue this season unless it involved the original Netflix cast—a fact the newly instated showrunners understood when they reincorporated Karen Page, Punisher and Bullseye into the mix.
And while the action has stronger vital signs, an IV bag is still not out of the question.
My head was on a swivel as the hand-to-hand combat fluctuated from seamless, unadulterated carnage to a sequence taking advice from the twisted minds behind a Steven Seagal straight-to-video disaster.
Though this season not shying away from making audiences uncomfortable, especially in the latter half, won me over a smidge.
Limbs being snapped like a Slim Jim commercial. Heads replacing paper silhouettes for target practice. A genuine use of practical effects resulting in beet red gushes of blood!?
I don’t know when Mr. Feige decided Marvel on Disney+ should mimic the stylings of a grindhouse spectacle but I’m all for desperation leading to risks being taken.
I can’t label “Daredevil: Born Again” season one as some flawless display of technical mastery or writing clinic.
There’s very little I can say against this series relying on hype moments and aura for a good chunk of its runtime.
Yet what it does well, it does with a passion.
By the closing moments of the season finale, I felt emotions that weren’t solely indifference or boredom.
Yes, that’s how low the bar has fallen for my enjoyment of a Marvel project.
So let this be a message to the heads (or one specific baseball cap-wearing head) over at Marvel Studios: effort equals good.
6/10
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