Marvel’s new TV show Daredevil: Born Again’s episodes 1 and 2 have been released. The story continues Netflix’s Daredevil season 3 and MCU’s Echo. The ratings reach 82 percent and 95 percent from the beginning 77 percent and 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
We are going to begin the story of Daredevil: Born Again today. The story begins with a night of the Hell’s Kitchen. The three are off duty from a law firm. The one who wears sunglasses is the main protagonist of the play. The Daredevil and the blind lawyer Matt Murdock. The people next to him are his best friends Foggy Nelson and Karen Page.
The three suffered a lot in Netflix’s Daredevil seasons 1-3. They sent Kingpin into the prison in the end. They form the Nelson and Murdock law firm. The three laugh when they have a talk. They reach Josie’s Bar. Matt and Karen have been ambiguous recently. They have a trend that they’re going to sublimate their friendship.
Foggy is next to them. He’s picking up the previous assistant district attorney Kirsten McDuffie. It seems that Foggy runs well. He mentions he worked for Hogarth law firm before. It comes from the TV series “Jessica Jones”. Foggy worked for the law firm during he and Matt broke up.
There’re many people at the bar except the three. It includes the old cop Cherry who just resigned. The colleague asks him why he left the police station. He doesn’t answer positively. It seems that he was tired and he wanted to take a break.
The TV plays the news that a new street volunteer police fights crime. The new volunteer police is named White Tiger. The citizens treat him and Daredevil as the guardians of ordinary people. The policewoman and Cherry aren’t happy with it. They think the real protectors are police.
The bar owner Josie asks everyone to celebrate Cherry’s retirement. Foggy gets a call from someone. Everyone doesn’t put it into mind in the beginning. But Matt’s radar sense finds out that it’s not right soon. The point of light focuses on Matt’s ear. It highlights Matt’s super sense of hearing from vision. The voice Matt can hear enlarges when the halo enlarges.
The person who called Foggy is a witness Foggy has protected. But the guy was visited by his enemy. Matt learns that it’s an emergency. He asks Foggy to continue to call the guy. He turns into Daredevil instead. He plans to go to save the witness.
But he hears the call of Foggy and the witness again. But the content isn’t right. It seems that the witness intended to draw Daredevil to leave. His real target is Foggy. Meanwhile, Bullseye in Daredevil season 3 appears again. He plans to take action.
Daredevil realizes that he was set up. He goes back immediately. But it’s too late. The blood blossoms from Foggy’s check when Foggy and Karen are curious. Two cops run out and they’re ready to help when Karen is screaming. But they’re shot in the head. A shadow appears from the mist.
The set of Bullseye’s new look comes from Daredevil comics. Bullseye throws a smoke bomb. The bar is in chaos. He’s going to shoot Karen. He disguises Daredevil like he did it Daredevil Season 3. He greets Karen. Daredevil arrives in the end. He bumps Bullseye into the bar. It’s a four minutes long shot fighting scene.
Apparently, Bullseye did it for taking revenge on Daredevil. Foggy is badly hurt. He passes away. It makes Matt angry. Matt and Bullseye attack each other even if they’re tired. Bullseye flees to the rooftop in the end. Although Daredevil are stabbed darts, he catches Bullseye and he beats him until Bullseye is dying.
Daredevil breaks down after knowing Foggy is dead. He’s angry to question Bullseye why he did it. But he only gets the sneer from Bullseye. He doesn’t suppress his murderous spirit anymore. He pushes Bullseye off the rooftop. Karen freezes after she heard the sound that Bullseye fell to the ground. She doesn’t expect that Foggy died in front of her and Matt crossed the line. Matt becomes a murderer from the volunteer police.
Karen looks at the rooftop with worry. Matt takes off his mask. Cherry witnesses the scene when he arrives. Bullseye lies on the floor. I’m surprised that he’s not dead. But Matt has crossed the line. He doesn’t say anything. He throws his mask off the rooftop. It means Daredevil is dead completely from tonight.
The mask is falling. Daredevil: Born Again opening credits appear. I like the performance very much. The mask turns into a statue. The statue symbolizes law and justice crushing. It means that Daredevil crossed the line and it hints what will happen in the season. Kingpin appears. New York is covered in darkness. Kingpin’s suit and his fist crush. It means that his identity will be changed. The church crushes. It means that Matt’s faith will collapse. The crushing of the police badge and the law firm’s sign represents that the police are alienation. The restraints of Matt and his friends are falling apart after Foggy’s death. But the cut off horn reassembles the wreckage. Daredevil is born from the ruin in the end. It points out the title of the TV show.
One year later after the bar attack. Matt moves out of the Hell’s Kitchen. It seems that he has a new life. The TV plays the election of the New York mayor. The graffiti appear on the streets at the same time. The election and the graffiti are foreshadowing. I will talk about it later. But Matt doesn’t care for it. He leaves with Foggy’s card.
We go to see Kingpin. The guy is like Matt who begins a new life. He chooses a suit and he breaks into the meeting of the underground gang bosses. The leader is his wife Vanessa Fisk. Everyone is afraid of Kingpin. They leave after they knew Kingpin has something to say to his wife.
Vanessa isn’t happy with Kingpin’s coming. She has maintained his crime empire after he was arrested in Daredevil Season 3. She felt the happiness from the power. But his coming makes her lose focus. She’s careful of him at the same time. But he doesn’t blame his wife. He loves her deeply instead. He claims that he has another big plan. He needs to end all gray business.
Kingpin is in the reflection of the tabletop. The light puts a halo around him. It seems that the devil turns into an angel. His plans is to elect the mayor of New York. Kingpin electing the mayor of New York was the Easter egg of Echo. The injury to his left eye was given by Echo. We will talk about some Echo stories later. But it won’t affect the plot.
The scene is turned into a camera lens. It’s a self-published program. The reporter named BB Urich. She interviews the passerby, according to what happened in New York. We are told that Daredevil has disappeared for one year after the bar attack. Crime is on the rise in New York. Citizens wish Daredevil to come back.
Matt comes to his new law firm. He and Kirsten formed the new law firm together. She cheers him for the upcoming trial. It’s a trial about Bullseye. Matt appears in the courtroom as a witness. He’s sad to ask the judge to sentence Bullseye to death. Meanwhile, Karen arrives. Although Bullseye doesn’t do any resistance, the judge only sentences him to life in prison. It makes Matt and Karen disappointed.
The trial is over. Matt finds Karen. The two’s relationship is embarrassed after Foggy passed away. Karen left New York and she went to San Francisco. She rejects it even if Matt wants to fix their relationship. She asks him about Daredevil then. He claims that he gave up the identity. She understands that he doesn’t walk out from the shadow that night. She returns the horn she picked up to him. She wishes him to think about it. She leaves when he tries to keep her. The horn means another side of Matt as Daredevil. Matt seals Daredevil under his fine suits because of the tragedy that night. The horn is a sharp weapon which will help Matt break through the seal.
Matt is cooking in the evening. He hears a familiar voice. He turns on the TV and he finds out that Kingpin announced that he’s going to run for mayor. Matt is nervous. He doesn’t perceive that the food is burnt. Kingpin is talking with his campaign team. The female assistant is a veteran political consultant. She thinks his tactics are a little radical. But the male assistant supports Kingpin completely.
The little assistant interjects suddenly when the two have an argument. He thinks what the male assistant said is right. He throws out the social media date that Kingpin’s approval ratings will be soaring if they use the tactics. He doesn’t forget to flatter Kingpin. Kingpin pays attention to the words. He’s told that the little assistant is named Daniel Blake. Daniel is his fan. Kingpin affirms Daniel’s passion. The guy becomes the core member from a nobody.
Kirsten introduces a client to Matt. The client is a psychiatrist. Matt hears the talk that Kingpin is going to run for mayor when he’s on the way to the meeting place. It makes him be upset. He sees the client soon. The client is named Heather Glenn. She’s one of Daredevil’s girls in the comics. The two introduce each other. They don’t expect that it’s a blind date. Kirsten told lies to the two that the person is her client. She intended to make the two get together.
Heather is like Matt who’s not happy. Kirsten wanted to change the two’s mood. Heather tries to leave after knowing the truth. But she’s moved by Matt’s good looking shape and his humor soon. She continues the date. Matt returns to the law firm. He scolds Kirsten. He asks her for Heather’s number as a compensation.
Cherry visits Matt. Cherry knew Matt’s double identities after that night. But he didn’t tell it to others. He used his connections at the police station and he became Matt’s assistant. They’re looking into Kingpin. They wish to find the evidence so that they can stop the guy from running for mayor. But they got nothing. Matt decides to end the investigation.
BB Urich interviews the passerby about Kingpin. Someone goes against it because she thinks Kingpin is a murderer. But there are others who agree. Because they think murderers and politicians are all the same. Kingpin continues the campaign speech in the evening. He mentions the volunteer police are on the rampage. It puts ordinary people and police’s lives at risk. He brings up that he was attacked by volunteer police. Kingpin was beaten by Daredevil in Daredevil Season 3. Kingpin hints that he’s going to deal with volunteer police. Matt listens to the speech.
The next day, he visits Kingpin. The two has a seat at a restaurant. They haven’t seen each other since Daredevil Season 3. They ask each other how they were doing even if they hate each other. Kingpin mentions he favored one of his followers before. But he was shot by the follower. This refers to Echo. She shot Kingpin in Hawkeye.
But Kingpin lets go of the case. He and Matt talk about the election. Matt threatens Kingpin that he will punish him if he commits a crime again. But Kingpin asks Matt if the one who threatened him was Daredevil. Matt insists that Daredevil is dead. Kingpin thinks the sadness changed Matt. He insists that he didn’t kill Foggy. He claims that he will make New York become better. Matt doesn’t believe the guy. He leaves after he said goodbye to Kingpin.
Matt fails to stop Kingpin’s election. Kingpin becomes mayor when Matt takes Heather home. Matt is shocked. Kingpin isn’t excited even if he won. His wife Vanessa leaves the party after she symbolically congratulated him. The couple goes to the rooftop.
Kingpin tells his wife that he knows what she did with Adam. She wishes him not to kill the guy. He promises to keep the guy’s life. It doesn’t leak. But it’s possible that Vanessa cheated on Kingpin when he wasn’t there. But Kingpin chooses to forgive his wife. Their relationship reaches the freezing point.
SEE ALSO: Daredevil: Born Again Episode 2 Recap: White Tiger
The episode ends with Kingpin giving his inaugural speech. He promises to give the peace to the streets in New York. Matt worries about it. But Heather comforts him that he cannot shoulder the whole city on his own. She kisses him then. She returns to her apartment. Matt’s smiling is frozen. He walks in the crowd. He has an eye contact with Kingpin who stands on the roof. A new battle is going to begin. Meanwhile, a mysterious man is painting on the wall. It’s Kingpin’s double face.