Daredevil: Born Again crosses into the second half of its second season with its sixth episode, which begins to show how the walls are beginning to close in for more than a few characters on the show. Tensions are rising, and stakes are elevated, with Fisk on the warpath and the AVFT being given more extreme powers. Matt, meanwhile, faces the dilemma between doing the right thing and the potentially beneficial thing.
But the episode opens not with anyone from the show thus far, but rather reintroduces a familiar face. Kristin Ritter rejoins the MCU as Jessica Jones this week. It took longer than expected for Jones to make her debut this season, considering how she was featured in the marketing, but better late than never. Now a mom to a little girl who doesn’t know what a grenade is, the episode opens with Charlie’s men attacking Jones at home. Jones, of course, makes quick work of them, but is left wondering what exactly is going on here. There’s also some strong implications about who the father of her child is, which may or may not be apparent if you’ve not seen the other Netflix MCU Defender shows. But that thread led to a pretty fun action scene, which put Jones in the limelight, taking out AVFT goons with overpowered fury.
Elsewhere in the episode, Fisk has begun his descent into vengeance, a topical theme this week. With Vanessa now gone, he feels unshackled and angry, killing the doctor who was tasked with saving Vanessa. He seems to be content with ignoring the orders and will of both the people and higher office, essentially going rogue and implenting is own rule without any sort of permission or guidance. This leads to the AVTF killing one of their own to use as a justification to use live rounds on protesters amassing outside City Hall, who are fed up with Fisk’s very open and blatant corruption, especially in the wake of Daredevil’s big jailbreak a few episodes ago.
This leads to the other major theme of the week. With Bullseye recovering under Matt’s care, Karen is wondering why Matt is not only letting him live, but letting Fisk live. So many lives would be spared, and life would arguably be better if Fisk were just killed, as opposed to being brought to justice. Karen cites that the moral high ground stance is no longer justifiable and that it’s morally responsible to take life now. Matt counters, saying that vengeance isn’t justice, but I think Karen’s arguments have at least rattled him a bit. He ultimately confronts Fisk, and they both agree they can’t change their nature, and a battle of hatred plays out, but to what end? Matt comes out on top, but with Karen ultimately being detained by the AVFT outside City Hall, it seems Matt will have to choose between Fisk and Karen.
I mentioned this episode had a sense of the walls closing in around characters, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the arc between BB and Daniel. Buck suspects BB and instructs Daniel to supply false information to prove whether she is indeed the leak. She is, but due to her feelings towards Daniel, she’s hesitant to actually leak it. So far, everyone’s safe, but Daniel definitely seems stressed out about the looming threat. This arc is feeling a bit old now that said, and I hope it moves forward by the next episode. But that’s my only real gripe, the show is firing on all cylinders. Two more episodes to go, stay tuned for our reviews!
