Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episodes 2 & 3 Redemption or Damnation in the face of a Greater Evil.

I told you this show has a knack for absolutely Cinematic Shots.

This still is from Episode 2, in the very beginning when Cherry is taken to a hospital to deal with his heart attack. Lets start with that, Episode two has two main plot threads that slowly unravel, The Cherry and Bullseye plot and the who the fuck is blackmailing Kingpin Plot.

Both of the above plot threads are set up well in the previous episode, along with the Swordsman and white Tiger plot threads which are resolved in episode three.

At the end of the previous episode we were all left in shock and awe when every single member of the AVTF who dared to see Daredevil's true identity as Matt Murdock was killed in a ruthless manner by quote: "someone with very good aim"

Hearing this Kingpin entirely looses it and punches his trainer hard enough to break the tiles in the wall behind him and draw blood.

Benjamin Poindexter saves Matt and makes sure there is no mistake this is him by throwing a carved knife at the man missing him deliberately.

The message is clear, I may not be on your side, but our interest align, and I most certainly do not want you dead or exposed.

But what are those interests exactly for ol'Bullseye?

We see him at Sister Maggie's church seeking retribution, or at least so he claims.

But why does he specifically ask for sister Maggie who if you didn't know is Daredevil's Mother.

What's his endgame?

And while he did save Matt in a bit of a pickle, the fact of the matter is that by killing all those officers he is just giving kingpin more to pin on Daredevil and making Vigilantes look worse.

Does he care? Does he not?

Who the fuck knows, but it clearly shows that somewhere he is helping the right people, intentionally or otherwise.

Given that Cherry is in the hospital, Kingpin sends the AVTF after him in order to finish the job.

And I guess that is why his security detail is the NYPD, and why Daredevil called the NYPD to take him to the hospital, they are all his old friends right.

And speaking of NYPD, where the fuck is Mahoney??

Hmm.

I mean Idk.

But anyways, two goons from the AVTF are here to kill cherry.

Two roadblocks though, firstly he is surrounded by his old friends, probably there on Karen's request.

And speaking of all these friends, most of them are new characters made specifically for this soft re-boot of Daredevil.

And in the first season they all appeared very superficial and light hearted like and very disconnected from what the original show was all about.

I think in the beginning they wanted to bring a different version of Kingpin and Daredevil into the MCU, and just those two.

No Karen, No Foggy.

Halfway in they realized no this shit ain't working out and brought in the team that wrote the final season of the Punisher on Netflix in order to course correct, and in a strange twist of fate, the Season's greatest weakness also became its greatest strength as a scene is added in the beginning with Foggy dying killed by bullseye, and Karen distancing herself from Matt because of it.

His relationship with Heather then becomes the new Normal, and the overall feel good nature in places feels off but that plays into the themes, because that is the fake reality Matt is living in in order to not face his own guilt.

And that's not to take away from heather at all, this is all on Matt, he is the one who keeps his identity a secret, and breaks up with her in a sensitive spot.

But now that the new team has full control, and the bloody doors come off its hinges, now the characters suddenly start feeling more grounded, more real.

For one, Kingpin is more his cunning Ruthless self as he deliberately doesn't tell anyone that Daredevil is Matt Murdock because Matt is a blind lawyer who saved his life, and doing this will only make Daredevil look better, who is easy to demonize with his Devil horns and Dark Costume.

No, the better thing is to report the "Hero" Matt Murdock to be missing, and make everyone look for him as his face is plastered everywhere.

And you can See Kingpin does not like saying this, my man is not happy.

And I suddenly have begun to care for Cherry, and we aren't even halfway in.

Not to mention, the wider universe is clearly playing in, so its not like this is good only because its so different from the rest of the MCU.

I say that cause a lot of people disliked the episode where Ms. Marvel's Father showed up in the previous season.

I personally think its one of the better episodes, but what do I know?

But getting back to whatever the shit AVTF is facing, the two officers sent to kill Cherry are in turn killed by Bullseye.

What is his goal???

But getting to Mayor Kingpin, Daniel shows Sheila the Corrupted BB Report, and realizes the leak happened from his own computer.

They try to hide it, but Kingy is not having it, So Daniel calls BB and asks her to stop.

There is a point at which it is subtly implied that Maybe the corrupt versions are done by Sheila as the conversation between Daniel and BB is overlayed with her coming to Kingpin with something.

But nope, it's BB.

Bullseye is a distant but very felt presence in the entire episode all culminating in the absolutely stellar dream sequence where Mrs. Fisk is Sleeping besides her husband, wakes up in a blue hellscape where she is shot by bullseye.

This season likes to do its thing with dreams and hallucination, and which they have to mean something right?

They have far too much effort put into them and are way too prominent to not be.

Speaking of, that brings me to the next episode, The Swordsman's trial is going on in full swing(no pun intended) and Jack Duquesne takes this opportunity to bring this whole thing into perspective.

This isn't about Masked Vigilantes, Jack didn't contribute to his red hook project and once he is 'proven' to be a criminal The Mayor's office may seize his assets.

This isn't a trial, it is a Tribunal.

Kristen you look Deranged lol.

Kristen preceding the hearing was taken to meet Jack in complete blindfolds, thinking that maybe that can curb her revealing to the public where all of this is taking place, but somehow that ended up making it more convenient for a blind man to make sense of the location.

And thank god it does because this is what Finally leads to the most peak cinema moment in all of Marvel T.V. history.

You see WandaVision worked because it was fashioned after old sitcoms for its gimmick, but every other show was like a movie that was cut into pieces, i.e. each episode did not have a beginning a middle and an end.

Ironic thing is the dialogue preceding this was lets not get episodic old timer.

But now that they have had their rude awakening and realized that the Netflix series worked specifically because of the fact that they were shows and that they needed to get the people who did it correctly, and that they needed a TVMA rating i.e. blood and violence.

Daredevil Born Again might be looking to become the crown Jewel of Marvel not just in TV but in general, and Maybe the Crown Jewel of TV in general.

I mean come on! that fight scene?

Daredevil freeing everyone at once with the Key-Card and then The swordsman fighting alongside him in this epic one shot of cinema!

Not to mention the epic soundtrack and lighting and the showcase of Daredevil's Powers!

Truly this has surpassed Daredevil.

And I don't care how much hate I get for saying that.

Because the OG will be the OG, and Born Again came from Marvel T.V. outside of Kevin Feige, and maybe he needed that a little, to tell him that he isn't always correct, because it seems Post Endgame, they took some of the wrong lessons.

Planning everything from the beginning intense oversight etc.

While yes, if you are able to hold a plan from beginning to end and if it is awesome its really awesome, but one misstep and it fails spectacularly, one needs to adapt as they go.

Marvel worked specifically because even if they had similar elements, they were all unique.

Unity in Diversity right.

And I completely forgot about what is going on with Heather, I mean I mentioned dreams and then completely Trailed off.

Heather is confronted by Kristen about her hatchet job of a psych eval, I mean they were friends, and post the verdict we see her potentially... crying???

And then we see as cracks appear in her psyche, as she struggles with Nails in the wall, and the fact that she still has Muse's Mask.

Heather has been Haunted by Muse, and it seems, more and more likely that she will become Muse.

We all become the monsters we fear.

Heather attends two parties hosted by Vanessa, and She tries to set her up with Buck.

But speaking of Kingy, he is facing tremendous suspicion from The Governor, as she considers getting the Red hook port to loose its free port status.

And somehow she is intensely clean, not a smidge of dirt.

Kingy is facing troubles, not just from the Governor but also as Karen and Daredevil debate bringing the punisher into the fold and "cutting the head off the snake."

Not just because of that, Karen kidnaps one of the AVTF at the end of episode 2, and we learn that even members of the Task force are not so sure about what they are doing.

I mean not everyone is Powel right, some are Sargent Cole North, who wore a punisher costume and killed white tiger before getting tortured to near death by the Punisher and Daredevil, him being back is very important, they specifically called attention to the fact that Powel wanted him to rest but he debated his way back.

That and he was the one who took Kristen to see Jack.

He knows that Daredevil did not kill the AVTF guys, the Punisher did, so... and I mean he killed Hector, and his niece Angela Del toro now owns the Amulet, and in the comics she did become the next White Tiger.

And it seems that is what will happen here.

Her aunt tries to keep some boys from stealing at a store, the owner over reacts a little and they are both captured by the AVTF, The owner for Overreacting, and the Aunt for hurting the officers feelings by holding his hands.

And it is at this point that I am realizing as the video turns to a vertical video, as to why the White Tiger is here, of course, this is about Police oversight and Brutality.

And how people of color face the brunt of it, how did I not see it before!

Angela is crucial in getting out Karen and Matt even more so than the AVTF member who defected as she stole their coms.

And I mean on the whole this could have been a happy ending...

But then, that is not how Daredevil roles does he?

This is gonna end dark.

And as we all knew it was coming, Kingpin kills the entire crew that was carrying out the Cargo.

Just while they are still aboard the Northern Star, they just blow the whole ship up...

And we end the episode as they all revel at the horror of what just happened.