‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Episode 1 Review - A Visual Eyesore

If the first season of Daredevil: Born Again paid more attention to Matt Murdock, the second season seems more interested in the masked vigilante Daredevil, who uses his physical strength to go up against New York City's mayor, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. In the opening scenes of episode 1, Daredevil infiltrates a cargo ship, Northern Star, which is carrying military-grade weapons for the mayor. Because of Daredevil's actions, a crew member decides to sink the ship, and the wreck blocks access to the port. Fisk, obviously, is furious; nonetheless, the propaganda machine—i.e., news footage featuring interviews with New Yorkers—tells us that the public is angry at vigilantes for causing such a mess and that they very much love their clean, honest mayor. The Northern Star incident puts a crack in Fisk's armor, but, alas, it doesn't bring him down. He is now angrier, more determined to take down Daredevil-like vigilantes.

The New York of Daredevil: Born Again is ruled by a fascist, and it's hard not to draw parallels between him and a certain president. The police break into houses without warrants and publicly hit a woman who runs a restaurant when she tries to take a stand against them. Remove the daredevilry of the masked men—that is the fictional element—and you might as well be watching a documentary about current, real-world events. But this is where the show's potency exhausts itself. Nothing else on the screen, at least in episode 1, feels especially unique, exciting, or exceptional. I am surprised to say that the fight sequences haven't improved much. They were meh in the first season, and they are meh here as well.

Most of the fault lies in the flatness of the digital images, which render the show textureless. It wouldn't be a stretch to call Daredevil: Born Again a visual eyesore. The dust that has slowly begun to gather on my walls looks more dramatic and gritty by comparison. The blandness starts with the images and affects the performances. It's just Charlie Cox's cute, boyish face that you notice, not his acting as a determined crime fighter. Vincent D'Onofrio's dour, stone-cold expressions now seem one-note, and others dissolve into the background like extras in a crowd. Heather's trauma from the previous season—her experience dealing with Muse's attack—merely gives rise to an affected display of style, in which the camera is slightly tilted. It's not so different from the showy "look what we did here" aspect-ratio trickery meant to heighten the tension (it doesn't, of course). Maybe the show will get better in the future; maybe it won't. Either way, it doesn't hold you in its grasp with a strong start. This Daredevil, for now, hasn't been born again. It seems to be repeating the same old errors.  

Final Score- [3.5/10]