Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 Review

This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. 

Hi and welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. 

I'm Marvelous Joe and I'm his twin brother Johnny DC. And just a heads up, we are recording this episode, not even five days after we recorded the last one when my voice was completely shot. So I do expect my voice to falter at some point during this episode because there's a lot to say. I got a lot to talk about because we're going to be reviewing Daredevil Born Again Season one. And on top of that, we're going to go over the latest comic book movie news this past week, including the Thunderbolts Final Trailer, the Fantastic Four Trailer. And we also got the Sandman Season two date announcement. So my voice is fucked. 

As always, we list our segment times in our episode description. So feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. 

Guys our artificially intelligent duel simulator AJ9K has a quick message for our listeners. So listen up. 

Why hello there. Do you want even more from this podcast? Then become a part of the dynamic duel community on Patreon, where you can choose from three tiers, the dynamic to a tier gives you access to our discord chat server. The Fantastic Four tier gives you two bonus episodes each month. And the X-Force tier makes you an executive producer of this show. Lastly, the Dyna Mic podcast network tier lets you create your own podcast using this Monte Carlo simulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop your show, provide graphic support and consultation and get you simulation results. Pitch the twins, your ideas via email at dynamic Duel podcast at gmail.com. Check it out at patreon.com / dynamic duel. Pip, Pip Cheerio. 

Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Guys, be sure to tune into the other shows and the DynaMic podcast network this week, including the console combat podcast, where hosts John and Dean simulate battles between popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode, they speculated on who would win in a fight between so bad guy from Guilty Gear and Ragnar the Blood Edge from Blazblue. Blazblazblue? 

Something like that. Over on the Max Destruction podcast, host Scotty and Gilly, pet your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other. This Wednesday, the twins are reviewing the 1995 film Mortal Kombat. On the Sanjo World podcast, host Zachary Hepperin speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. On Thursday, Zach is going to reveal who would win between Sennaku from Shangri-La Frontier versus Kirito from Sword Art Online. 

Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show notes to listen to all of the shows in the DynaMic podcast network. But with that out of the way, quick to the no prize. A no prize is an award that Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the dynamic Duel no prize, is a digital award that we post on Instagram for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week, in the absence of any news, we asked you guys, what's your favorite Marvel or DC comic that you're reading right now? And why? And we got one answer. Apparently none of you guys are reading comics. 

Well, we also didn't give him a whole lot of time to respond either. So let's go ahead and announce this week's no prize winner. Congrats to Zozo. Who said? 

Hey there. So my favorite comic series ever is the DC series. In my opinion, it is just the perfect story. It's really cool having Batman and Superman and Flash just, you know, fight zombies being this zombie world and no one is safe in it. And it's just very action packed, violent, and it's just a perfect comic series. All right, thank you. 

Now, I'm not sure if Zozo said DC or DC's, but either answer is acceptable because, yes, DC is an awesome series featuring Superman and Batman, the Flash, and all of your favorite superheroes. It's been going on since 1938. It's freaking amazing. And DC's is one of its most interesting stories, focusing on the anti-life equation, infecting everyone and turning them into zombies, which is just a really cool high stakes story. We went over that story a few years ago for Halloween during our DC's versus Marvel Zombies episode, and that was a really fun episode to do. 

Yeah, for sure. I recommend listening to that episode if you have it already, because we had a lot of fun with it. As Jonathan and I have noted before on this podcast, we don't get a chance to read a whole lot of the current comic books out there because we're so busy reading the comic books and research for this show, for the duels that we're doing. So I was really looking forward to getting answers from current Marvel readers. 

But I know offhand that a lot of people recommend the ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimates and Ultimate Wolverine lines that are coming out right now. I heard X-Men is really good now that they're out of the Krakowan era. Although I liked the Krakowan era as well, less than I wanted to, because I really love Jonathan Hickman as a writer. But I kind of view his run on the X-Men as kind of like Grant Morrison's run, who I also respect as a writer. But it was kind of like a contained sort of thing that I'm excited to move on from and get into the more traditional feel of the X-Men stories. 

Yeah, I keep hearing amazing things about the absolute universe line that DC has right now, like all of these articles are just bombarding my news feeds about how much better the absolute universe is than DC Prime. I haven't read any absolute comics yet, but I 100% need to. I'm just waiting for the trades to come out. 

I really want to get my hands on One World Under Doom right now, which I heard is pretty good. It's basically the story about how Dr. Doom finally becomes the world's dictator. You know, he becomes the one ruler in charge of the world. And for some reason, all the other country's leaders are going along with it. So it sounds pretty interesting. 

If anyone didn't get a chance to call in with their answer, but they still want to share with their reading, feel free to leave us a comment wherever you're listening to this on, whether it's Spotify, YouTube or shoot us an email. 

We'd love to hear from you guys. But congrats to Zozo. You win this week's No Prize. 

If you're the listener, want to win your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another question of the week. And now that that's done, on to the news. 

All right, this past week, we got two trailers from Marvel Studios. We got the final trailer for the Thunderbolts film, which comes out on May 2nd, and we also got the first official trailer for the Fantastic Four first steps movie, which comes out on July 25th. Since the Thunderbolts trailer came out first, we'll go ahead and talk about that one first. And also, I feel like I have less to say about it, because we've seen so much from the marketing for this movie already that I don't think there was a whole lot else that they could show us without, like, basically spoiling something. I think there's quite a few surprises to be had in this film. But the trailer took a more kind of sentimental approach to the story. Like a lot of the previous marketing has been about how this is a team of quirky outcasts banding together. 

But this one was more about like what it means to be a hero for these people, especially Yelena, who feel like they've done so much wrong in their past. And, you know, the previous trailers have had cool songs like Possum Kingdom by the Totes and Where's My Mind by the Pixies. This one had Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen. And I have to say, it's probably one of the worst renditions of the song that I've ever heard, because it was just way too sentimental. 

I'm wondering who they're trying to target with this particular final trailer, because it's so sappy. You have like Red Guardian telling Yelena to like believe in herself. And she's like, but I've done so much wrong. And she's crying and stuff. I'm like, just go back to being the cool outcasts. 

You know? Yeah, you mentioned that they can't really show too much more without giving spoilers, but I thought this trailer had major spoilers in it. I mean, obviously when Yelena is in that dark forest, when she's like looking at a clone of herself or whatever, it's after she stepped into the void's darkness, which we see at the end of this trailer. She goes into some kind of like trippy dimension where she's like facing her inner most demons or some shit. 

I don't think it's too revealing of a spoiler. 

It just means that like she doesn't die when she walks into that dark shroud. 

Well, we already knew she wasn't going to die because she was announced for the Doomsday movie. Dumb. I thought it was interesting at the beginning of this trailer, how they showed a flashback to Black Widow, which I thought was kind of cheap a little bit. They're trying to play on Marvel fans, I guess, nostalgia for the Black Widow movie, which I don't think there's a whole lot of. But I don't think it's a good look to try to use Scarlett Johansson to help sell the movie when she's probably not in it or not in a substantial role. 

And the same for Chris Evans as Captain America, when him and Bucky were, you know, exchanging glances. Yeah. 

And all this doesn't really feel like a new piece of marketing and so much as kind of like a hash together, last pushed by tickets of which I have. I have my tickets. I'm going to go see it at the LMO on May 2nd, and I'm really looking forward to it. 

I don't have my tickets yet. Better fix that shit. Yeah. I'll probably get them at the last minute. The film isn't tracking too well, I think. So I expected to do something like Brave New World numbers. I don't think it'll be too hard to get tickets. 

Well, when the movie turns out to be a masterpiece, since, you know, a lot of the A24 film production people are on this movie, I think you're going to be sorry when you're not able to get tickets because everybody else is so excited to see the film. 

Yeah, I'll take my chances. All right. I mean, this trailer didn't get me too excited to rush out and buy my tickets. What was your favorite part of the trailer? 

I like the shot where we see Yelena going into the void. I think that seems like the climax of the film. 

Yeah, I could see that. But again, you know, we know what happens or at least you know, I think we're pretty confident we know what happens after she goes into there. 

You think Yelena appeals to the centuries darker nature or something like that? 

Something like that, exactly. She's like, hey, I'm dark, too, but I follow the light. I hope that doesn't happen. My favorite part of the trailer had to be when Bucky was talking with some side piece on the phone and she was like, oh, we're not going to come. And he's like, we could be the ones that are coming. And I was like, oh, that's a bold swing. I hope that pays off for him. 

Rumors are that's Songbird on the other line. Who is a major Thunderbolts character from the comic books? We did a Duel episode with Songbird against DC's Pied Piper. So if you're interested in learning more about her, definitely check that out. 

Nice. Yeah, she's a traditional Thunderbolt. So I'm glad they found a way to squeeze her into the film if that is her. 

Yeah, for sure. Let's go ahead and move on to the Fantastic Four trailer, though, because I think there's a lot more to say about that one. Considering it's the best look we've gotten at the film since the teaser came out, you know, a few months ago. The trailer starts off with the host of the Ted Gilbert show. And now it's seeing the Fantastic Four as a team of astronauts who got superpowers and are now celebrities. 

It's kind of like the Ed Sullivan show. It looks like back in the 60s. I got to say, I'm loving the production design on this film. I think it's a bold, creative choice to set this movie in the time period that it is. Because not only is it new for Marvel Studios, it also makes it feel very Jack Kirby-esque. You know, the artist who worked with Stanley to create the Fantastic Four. And it feels just plucked right out of that timeline. 

Oh, yeah, I totally get those vibes. The Jack Kirby retrofuturism. Absolutely. 

Yeah, it kind of lends this innocent, happy tone to the film that I don't think you necessarily would get if the movie was set in the main MCU in the modern day. Things like, you know, the kids asking the thing to pick up the car seems so wholesome, you know, back in the 60s. Whereas today, you know, you have a bunch of cynical assholes would probably be like, oh, that's cheesy. 

Yeah, today you have heroes like the Thunderbolts who are dripping with cynicism compared to the Fantastic Four. 

Right. Yeah. So it's kind of cool that we're going to get that dichotomy this summer from Marvel in the theaters. We get a scene of Fantastic Four during dinnertime, during which Sue and Reed show up late and the thing correctly deduces that she is pregnant. And Johnny gets super excited. This is our first real look at Joseph Quinn's portrayal of the Johnny Storm character. And I got to say, I like it. I think it's pretty well done. 

Yeah, Joseph Quinn is a great actor. I really liked him in Stranger Things. So I was pretty excited when he was cast for Johnny. I'm actually really liking the entire cast, except again for Ben Grimm's voice. Still not loving that. But the other performances seem great. 

Yeah, I still wish that the thing's voice was a little bit deeper, a little bit more gravelly. But we'll see. 

One thing that I do hope changes between now and the release date is the special effects on Silver Surfer. They weren't terrible, but I was hoping for a little bit more definition in the character. She's pretty low res right now, I would say. 

I want to say she's low res, but I will say she's low articulation, if that makes sense. If we're talking about like action figures, this is more of like a Barbie than like a McFarland, you know? Yeah, absolutely. 

I don't mind the look. I still really question why they decided to go with the shawla ball version of Silver Surfer, who was a female version of the character as portrayed in the Earth X mini series, which is one of my favorite stories of all time. And I know that they're trying to establish this movie as set in an alternate universe. But considering, you know, Galactus seems to be portrayed as we traditionally know him, this female server server really stands out as like the only thing other than the time period that is setting this film apart as an alternate universe story. And because of that, I think she stands out like a sore thumb. 

She should have been Frankie Ray, Nova, the other Herald of Galactus after Silver Surfer in the comics. 

I completely agree. Frankie Ray was the character from the comics who used to be Johnny Storm's girlfriend. And she was actually the, I want to say niece of Phineas Horton, who created the original Android Human Torch. She was exposed to those chemicals. 

And so she had flame powers and she was turned into a Herald of Galactus and she was given the golden skin as opposed to silver like the Silver Surfer. It would have been a great spectacle to see on the screen. And they still could have treated this as an alternate universe story. 

We still could have saved the Noran Red Silver Surfer for the primary Marvel timeline. It's just it's strange why they chose to go with Shawla Ball. I also think that Julia Garner could have made a great Frankie Ray. 

Oh, yeah, she would have been perfect for the role. 

There was a shot here that was a little bit too reminiscent of the rise of the Silver Surfer film where we saw Johnny Storm chase the Silver Surfer out into space and then get knocked back down to earth. I really hope this story doesn't hit too many of those same beats that that 2007 movie did. 

I do have to say I love what they're doing with the characters in this film. It seems so much better than the past films. Like Reed Richards, dramatic arc, his internal conflict is very apparent in this trailer. 

I think Pedro Pascal is going to do an amazing job in the role. The guilt that he feels over possibly bringing attention to earth and possibly leading to its destruction from Galactus is a fantastic story beat for the character. 

They seem to be making so many cool choices, like with a fantastic car, the way their powers are portrayed are pretty cool, including Mr. Fantastic, who he's got to see stretch for the first time here. And Galactus looks like he's going to be phenomenal. 

Oh, yeah, the invisibility powers that we got to see for a Sue Storms character that looked so damn cool. 

Yeah, it was like a prism, kind of like bending light where you get that kind of rainbow aura at the edge. 

Yeah, I liked how only parts of her were like turning invisible. She was definitely strained, but it looked like she was bending light. So cool. 

I'm really looking forward to this, but I got to say Marvel is not too late to just redo the special effects around your Shala Ball Silver Surfer as Frankie Ray, the Herald called Nova. It probably is too late. 

It's not too late, but that brings us to our question of the week. What do you think of the Shala Ball Silver Surfer from the Fantastic Four First Steps official trailer? So similar to how we asked you guys about the most controversial element of the latest Superman preview we saw, where we asked you guys what you thought about crypto. Now we're asking your thoughts about the Silver Surfer. 

Record your answer at dynamicdool.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 seconds long and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a Dynamic Duel No Prize that we'll post to Instagram. 

Be sure to answer before April 26th. In DC News, we finally got a release date for Sandman Season 2, which is coming out later this year. In two parts. It came with a brief teaser trailer. They're calling it a date announcement in which we get to see all of the members of the Endless, well, six of the seven at least, which I've been dying to see. Like ever since I started reading the Sandman comics and dreamed of this being adapted on screen, like the Endless are the coolest characters ever. And so to see them all together kind of blew my mind and totally has me pumped for this upcoming season. 

Yeah, let me see if I can name them all real quick, being someone who's never read the Sandman series. I know there was Destiny at the beginning of the trailer. Of course, there is his sister Death and Dream. 

And of course, we saw Desire and Despair from the previous season. I think the new one that we're seeing here, step out of the painting is Delirium, but I'm not clear who the missing seventh member is. 

So the missing seventh member is Destruction, and he is the embodiment of change as a word, sort of in the same way that Shiva is the embodiment of destruction and change and Hinduism. OK, now Delirium is a fan favorite character. She actually started off as Delight, but over the eons, she morphed into Delirium because she was kind of a cosmic afterthought, as it were. So she's this very tragic figure, someone who's all powerful, but also insane, though she wasn't always. I'm really curious to see what they do with her character and with all of the endless, honestly. You know, we got to see characters like Death and Despair and Desire in the first season, but they get more heavily involved in Dream's story in these subsequent volumes. So yeah, things are going to get good. 

Now, this season is going to be 11 episodes total, the first six of which will be released July 3rd, and the second volume or the second half will be premiering July 24th, and that's five episodes. Now, we know that this series has been Warner Brothers' most expensive television series to date. Oh, and you could definitely tell. Yes. 

For sure. Everything looks incredible from the costuming to the set design. The visual effects are incredible. Everything. 

Everything is incredible. I really enjoyed the first season of the show with the exception of a few acting performances. I'm really hoping season two tops that. I imagine it will just because of the story and all the different characters that we'll get to meet, including Kay, Thor. Did you see that? Oh, is that who that guy was? Yeah. What a poser. Sandman Thor, way better than Marvel Thor. You'll find out. 

I immediately and strongly disagree with that statement. 

I recently canceled my Netflix subscription, but I'm definitely going to get back for this series because it may just be my favorite series of all time. 

OK, calm down. Calm down. It might suck. You never know. 

Dude, did you see the footage? Did you see the footage? 

I did. I know that a good trailer does not make a good series. Now, we should address the elephant in the room. Has the news about author Neil Gaiman's general shittiness affected your anticipation of this season? 

No, I could give two shits about Neil Gaiman. Not going to lie. To me, it's all about the art, not the artist. I understand sometimes that people don't want to engage with the art because they feel like they're supporting the artist. But at the end of the day, I grew up reading this series and there's no way I'm skipping out on this. 

Yeah, I think at some point you got to say, fuck them. What they created belongs more now to the fan base. 

Well, in the case of the Sandman universe, almost that exactly because other creators have picked up where he left off and created an entire Sandman universe. This is why you don't want to meet your heroes, kids, because everyone sucks. 

DC High Volume, Batman, the Dark Knight's definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear. I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot? You mean blow up the building? From this moment on, none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. 

But that does it for the news portion of this episode. Now let's go ahead and move on to the main event where we review the Disney Plus and Marvel Studios television series Daredevil, born again season one. 

OK, Daredevil, Born Again is a nine episode Disney Plus television series run by Dario Skardapane and starring Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio. The show is a direct continuation of the three season Daredevil Netflix series, which is largely considered one of the best, if not the best, superhero television series of all time. I personally rated each of the first three seasons of the Netflix show as no less than four and a half out of five stars, including season three, which I gave a perfect five star rating. I think the big question in fans minds was was this new show going to compare to what came before? 

And there's a whole lot to talk about in regards to that. So if you haven't seen the show, I'm going to say I recommend seeing it. Go ahead and watch it before listening to our spoiler breakdown of this season. 

In fact, go watch all three seasons of the Netflix show if you haven't before and then watch Born Again. 

Right, because we'll be discussing spoilers from those seasons as well. And honestly, those seasons are masterpieces for the most part. 

They're worth it. I'm not going to say they're the best superhero television series ever, but it's definitely the best Marvel series ever. 

The best superhero television series of all time. Yes, I think we were all hoping after the Netflix deal with Marvel ended that somehow, somewhere, some way we'd get to see these characters again. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before we got the news that the series rights were coming back to Marvel and that they were continuing the show. And then, you know, they cameoed Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in projects like Spider-Man, No Way Home and She-Hulk, Attorney at Law, Season One. 

And then we also got to see Kingpin show up in shows like Hawkeye and Echo. When they first announced the new season as Daredevil Born Again, I understood from a branding standpoint why they would call it that, considering the show was being retooled under a new streaming service. But at the time of that announcement, I did object to that name because, you know, we've already seen Daredevil Born Again adapted masterfully in season three of the Netflix show, born again being, you know, the name of a story arc from the comic books. I was concerned that the show runners were going to try to retread old ground with the story of Matt rebuilding himself from rock bottom. But despite the season's subtitle, the show instead chose the interesting angle of adapting the Mayor Fisk storyline from the comics, which I thought was fascinating, because in this take, both of the main characters spend a majority of the season trying to be something they're not. You know, Matt tries to be just a lawyer, not a vigilante. 

Fisk tries to go straight and just be a mayor, not some crime boss. But each one over the course of the show is fooling themselves. And as the episodes go on, they slowly are reborn into their chur selves. So Daredevil Born Again as the title works both in terms of branding and in tailoring this adaptation to that brand. 

Yeah, it's kind of like Spider-Man Homecoming in that I think it was Marvel Studios kind of claiming ownership of that character and the story that they were going to tell. 

Yeah, we know that the initial approach to the show is to actually ignore the three seasons that came before and treat it as its own thing. And then during the actor and writer strikes, they realized that that was the wrong way to go. Dario Scarpina, who worked on the Punisher Netflix show, came aboard and reworked the show so that they retained the continuity from the Netflix show, which all the fans loved. 

Yeah, the show kind of went through development hell. They've been going so far as to rewrite and reshoot the entire season, scrap everything they had so far. I was worried that that was going to be evident in this season and it was. But that's not saying that I thought the season was bad. I think the worst thing you could say about the season is that it's the worst season of Daredevil. But that's not saying a lot just because the other three seasons were amazing. And this one was still good. 

I would agree. Yeah, the season overall had somewhat of a tonal disparity that was definitely a product of the production issues it had. But somehow, you know, they still produced a show that was at the very least comparable to the Netflix series, right? Like it maybe didn't reach those heights, but pretty damn close. And that's pretty commendable, considering what they went through while making it. 

I feel like if they had another episode or two, it absolutely would have been even more comparable to what we got with Netflix because they definitely left me wanting more this season. Yeah. 

Now, the Mayor Fisk storyline from the comics was fascinating because Fisk becoming the mayor essentially had Daredevil retreat from his vigilante persona because Fisk owned the police and the courts. In the comics, it forced Matt as the then assistant and district attorney to take a much more political approach to bringing down the kingpin. It was a very political story where after a failed assassination attempt on Fisk, Matt used special constitutional emergency powers to seize some control from the kingpin and restore order to New York. And that leads to the devil's rain storyline. Now, this shows adaptation of that story took a much less political approach to the mayor Fisk arc, which I think is a good thing because the political aspects of Daredevil board again, I think were fairly slow and uninteresting. Like I really couldn't care less about Fisk being labeled a union buster in the press. And then like, you know, the intern guy has to give a heartfelt apology for it and stuff like that. 

I was like, let's keep things moving. As decent an actor, I think James Gandolfini's son, I can't remember his name was. I just think his character was a little bit unnecessary. 

I kind of saw him as being the son that the kingpin never had. You know, we just got done seeing kingpin in the Echo series where he tried to mentor Echo and have that child that he never had. But this young guy on his political team ended up being much more of a natural surrogate. 

I guess it was good to get the perspective of people who did support Fisk, which is why I think it was also important to include those like documentary style shots of the people of New York, you know, giving their say. That was really interesting. That was something that they did here that they didn't do in the Netflix show. And I thought it brought a vital like New York element to the show. 

I loved those moments from BB Urich. Those were really well crafted. They felt like they were real, right, which kind of made the whole show feel like it was a little bit more real. It's an interesting technique that I've seen before in films, like when Harry met Sally or something like that, just real people telling real stories. I thought it really nailed the New York aspect of the show, which is important in a daredevil show. 

I thought it was like a good analog for real life, you know, when you see interviews and surveys with people who vote differently from you, you know, it's it's so hard to conceive of someone who has a different perspective. 

And then, yeah, you see that there are actually people who think this way. There are actually people who would vote for kingpin because of the security provides against, you know, some of the superhero related tragedies that have befallen the city of New York. In this adaptation of the mayor Fisk storyline, I think the show took the more interesting approach of having Matt and Kingpin find themselves after their own respective tragedies, foggy's death and getting shot by echo, forcing them to reevaluate their lives. 

It was a good launching point for the story. And I thought it was believable that Fisk might run for mayor after taking some time to reevaluate. And that Matt would abandon Daredevil for a time. That being said, you know, it's a little bit disappointing that it takes two thirds of the season to get Matt back to being Daredevil again. I know that Daredevil season three had a similar buildup to getting him back in the suit. 

Right. But that season executed its pacing flawlessly in my mind. Not so much with this born again season. And apart from some pretty fucking brutal book and episodes, born again as a whole felt a little bit tamer than the Netflix show, both thematically and in terms of the violence. Though I'll say that this season did have the most violence he never, which was like bordering on fucking horror film levels of violence when Kingpin crushed Commissioner Gallo's head. 

That was, I don't know, unnecessary. 

Yeah, it felt like out of place, right? I was like, this isn't the fucking terrifier. Like you could have gotten away with the gruesomeness using sound effects alone. Kind of like how they did when Kingpin decapitated a guy in the car door in Daredevil season one. You know, right? They didn't show it explicitly, but we still got every ounce of the impact. 

Absolutely. I don't need to see Kingpin literally pulling a guy's jaw off and like, you know, all the sinew and stuff that comes when you tear it away. Like you would think that someone in there at that point would have been like, fuck, I think we're working for the bad guy here. 

Shit. It's like, I'm out. I'm out. That was that was that was a lot, bro. 

Beyond the time it took for the characters to get back to their roles and the tonal inconsistencies. I think the most disappointing thing about born again was that due to time constraints during their period of retooling the show, they have the number of episodes for season one, because season one was initially going to be 18 episodes. 

Oh, wow. That's way too many episodes. 

But now it's two seasons of nine episodes. And then season two is going to be eight episodes. So the final episode here, you know, if it felt more like a mid season finale than a proper season finale, that's because it is in a way. And it doesn't quite seem entirely fair to judge a story based solely on its first half, but since that's how they chose to release it, that's what we're left to do. And I will say that with the disappointing feeling that I felt with this quote unquote season finale, that disappointment will be reflected in my final rating of this season. 

Well, as it should be, like I mentioned earlier, I definitely noticed the production problems that this season had. In part with the sudden cliffhanger drop off in this final episode of the season, that was totally coming by surprise, by the way. Like I was just waiting for the next episode and I was like, wait, what? What? And I guess it's not bad to leave your audience wanting more. But I would have appreciated some more catharsis. This feels very much like Infinity War or the Empire Strikes Back, but definitely not at the caliber of those projects. 

Right. My least favorite thing wasn't the ending. It was, like you mentioned, just some of the filler moments, like the bank episode, I felt it was like an entire filler episode. 

I loved that episode, though. It was standalone, but I thought it was like a perfect standalone that felt almost right out of the comics. 

I could see that. I would have rather skipped it. I didn't need it. 

There definitely was a filler episode here, but it wasn't that episode. Really? 

Yeah. I'll be interested in hearing this. 

Well, that'll be in our episode highlights. But before that, let's get into our character breakdown. Starting with Daredevil, aka Matt Murdock, played by Charlie Cox. We've talked about Charlie Cox before on this podcast. He's a flawless Daredevil in my mind. The guy not only embodies the role, but I think transcends it with all the nuance he brings to his performance. It's so great to have him back in the role. You know, he had his cameos and other projects, but I think where Matt Murdock really shines is in the dichotomy between his charm as Matt Murdock and his rage as Daredevil. 

And in order to get that full character spread, you need to see him on his own. As mentioned before, Matt was on a journey back to being Daredevil after retiring from the role because of the tragic loss of his best friend, Foggy Nelson, and stepping over his own personal ethical code in trying to kill Bullseye for that. Over the course of the episodes, we see him drift toward his vigilante tendencies more and more, you know, starting with a simple warning over a cup of coffee with a kingpin. And then, you know, he ends up dusting off his billy club and then he goes on to beat the shit out of some people. 

And then eventually he dons the suit once again. I think I've said multiple times in this podcast's tenure that there's nothing harder than sitting through a superhero project watching the main character not want to be the hero we know and love. I know I said that with the first half of Luke Cage, season one, and I think I definitely said it for She-Hulk, Attorney at Law. And I'll say it again here, it was hard to get through those episodes wanting to see him be Daredevil again. 

Yeah, I definitely felt like this was somewhat retread of season three. Like you mentioned, where it kind of takes the whole season for him to get back into costume. I agree. I don't love that. I don't think it was as well done as season three, but it would be really hard to match that. They tried at least. 

Yeah, at least they showed us that Matt really did want to be Daredevil again and did a good job of putting him in situations like the Bank Heist where he still got to show off his powers, you know, just outside of his Daredevil outfit. And I liked the Daredevil outfit for this season. I thought it was a cool texture upgrade. And I liked the new Billy Club, although it seems infinitely more dangerous than the other Billy... 

I mean, Daredevil is good like that. He's a marksman. He has his radar sense. I don't think that's going to happen, but it does seem needlessly lethal for a character who never really goes that far. 

That said, his radar sense this season seemed different than in past seasons. Like, he had a harder time focusing on multiple things at once. Like he'd be focusing on one thing and miss something else entirely. That happened multiple times this season. 

I think that was more of a product of his rage, such as the Muse fight or something like that, than his actual powers going funky. 

No, I don't think it was his powers going funky. I just think it was a choice on behalf of the creative team. Like he would be focusing on someone's footsteps so much that he would almost get run over in the street and it's like, oh, that's not the Daredevil I know. The Daredevil I know has like a very keen spatial awareness. It's his radar sense. 

I really did like how the show, especially in the first episode, I noticed used aspect ratio to try to portray what he was focusing on. So like the letterbox format would shift to almost full screen on some parts where the audience got to hone in on exactly what Matt was focusing on. It was very artistic and it's not something that they did too much outside of that first episode, unfortunately. 

It just seemed to me more like they were focusing on his senses rather than this sixth radar sense that he typically has. 

Well, I always kind of interpreted his radar sense as the internal image he gets from all the sensory data that comes into him. Yes, like echolocation. Yeah. And in season one of Daredevil, they portrayed it very much like a city on fire type thing, which I thought was really cool. I really want them to go back to that. 

Yeah, that'd be cool to see again for sure. 

Let's go ahead and move on to the kingpin, AKA Wilson Fisk played by Vincent D'Onofrio. Just like Charlie Cox, it is so nice to see Vincent D'Onofrio back in the role in this main show and not just in cameos anymore. Like his appearance in Hawkeye was lackluster and his role in Echo was fine. And he was like the best thing about Echo season one. But only in the Daredevil show do you truly get a feel for how sadistic and terrifying the character is, I think. 

And really, I think this is the most terrifying we've probably ever seen him, especially in the last episode of this season, when he had the whole face ripoff thing and then his smile to Vanessa at the end when they were having dinner together. It was like some Hannibal Lecter type stuff. Like D'Onofrio was really pulling from some of his creepier roles that he's had in like the cell or something like that. 

Oh, dude, like making Vanessa shoot her former lover that she had when she thought he was gone and dead. Yeah, that was trippy. 

Yeah, their whole relationship got a lot more focused here than I thought it would. But I was definitely along for the ride. I like where they took it. 

Yeah, he had a phenomenal arc this season, I thought. 

There was an interesting note that they made this season. It was really kind of almost a throwaway line that Vanessa said in the final episode, episode nine, that served to bridge the gap between the Netflix show and Hawkeye. At the end of Daredevil Season Three, I think we all assumed that Kingpin was going to be locked up forever. But in this season, we learned that he was acquitted by his defense attorneys who painted the FBI, including people like Agent Nadine, as corrupt. And if you go back and watch Daredevil Season Three, it's just so fucking tragic. Considering how cathartic the end of that show was and how it really felt like Matt and Agent Nadine got justice there. And it turns out, yeah, they did it. No, Kingpin was acquitted just like he always is. It was kind of bullshit. 

Yeah, I could see that. But I also don't see any other way around it, really. 

Well, yeah, the bad guys always got to come back, right? 

And, you know, they already established the fact that Kingpin was not in jail from shows like Hawkeye and shows like Echo. Right. So I figured something went wrong somewhere. 

I did think it was cool how Vincent DeNafio bulked up over the episodes. I don't know if he bulked up like physically or if it was just the tailoring of his suits. But I did notice upon his first reveal, I was like, oh, he's skinnier. 

And they even mentioned that in the show. Matt comments, you've lost weight and everything. But by the end, dude was fucking massive. So that was a really believable transformation that I thought was pretty dope. Apparently he was bulking up down in that secret dungeon that he had. 

He definitely looked a lot better and more dapper here than he had in shows like Hawkeye and Echo. I loved DeNafio as Kingpin. He's perfect in the role. 

Let's go ahead and move on to the Punisher, a.k .a. Frank Castle, played by John Berndthal. It was nice to see the Punisher back. I still think that Berndthal is the most compelling actor to play the character. I'm not quite sure that they used Frank Castle as well as they could have during this season. 

No. I was a little underwhelmed by Matt and Frank's initial meetup. I don't think it held a candle to any of their interactions in Daredevil season two, which were like Shakespearean in quality. 

I don't know if I would go that far, but it was so much better than what they did here. Yes, Shakespearean. Okay. 

I was so glad that Punisher showed up again in the final episode. That way we could see him get in action scene with Daredevil. And we saw him address the issue of the Punisher copycats, which I was hoping was a thread that they wouldn't leave dangling. 

Yeah, it's so relevant to the real world. Would you have some cops and some authority figures touting a Punisher logo as a symbol that they aspire to? It's not great. 

No, I don't love that. I've been wanting to get a Punisher tattoo for the longest time. I have a Captain America shield on one shoulder. I wanted to get a Punisher skull on the other. 

It's kind of like that dichotomy, the angel-devil shoulder kind of motif. And I won't get a Punisher tattoo now because I think it's been co-opted by people who shouldn't be using it necessarily. I don't mind gun enthusiasts using the Punisher logo, but I do have a problem with law enforcement using it because it's a symbol of a person who deals out lethal justice because in part they've gone insane and I just don't think it's a good look. I hate when I see the Punisher skull with the thin blue line. 

Yeah, I don't think anyone should be using the Punisher logo, honestly. Some positions in society should be held to a higher standard, I would say personally. And that standard should not be the Punisher. 

Right, yeah. He's an interesting character, one of Marvel's most interesting characters in fact, but I don't think he's necessarily an inspiring character. 

Peacemaker! They should just get Peacemaker logos. So much better. 

The irony of that statement. I wonder if we'll see Punisher again in Daredevil Season 2 or if we'll only see him again in the special presentation that Marvel's working on. Either way, I hope we see what he does once he escapes his cell as we saw him do in the post-credits scene of the show. 

Dude, that was so obvious. The cop who went to shake his hand is a freaking idiot. 

Anthony was a big dum-dum for sure. 

I kind of hope that we don't see the Punisher in the following season of Born Again, just because like you, I don't think he was really well used here, which is surprising considering that the Punisher showrunner came on board to the writing team for this series. 

Yeah, well, I also hope that he doesn't show up again in Season 2, not because I don't want to see the character, but because he's not really a team player. And so if you have him teaming up with, you know, whether it be the defenders or New York City's finest, I think it would just be strange to see him be that kind of person. He's more of a loner, you know? 

He was a member of the Thunderbolts for a while in the comics. He should have been in that movie. 

Yeah, that was weird too, though. Let's go ahead and move on to the character of Muse, aka Bastion Cooper, who was played by Hunter Doohon. I'll say that I'm a little bit conflicted with the characterization of Muse in this series. On one hand, he ended up being so much less mysterious than his comic book counterpart, because in the comics, who he is really isn't even human. Like, he has powers. 

Like, he can absorb the sensory data in his close proximity, which makes him hard to pinpoint. On the other hand, I'll admit that adapting him as this sort of Banksy artist serial killer, who drains and paints with the blood of his victims was pretty damn interesting. 

I didn't know anything about the character of Muse from the comics. I thought this character was pretty interesting in this show, even though I felt like he kind of came too little too late and then was gone by the time things got interesting. 

Well, according to the rumors, Muse was originally going to be the main bad guy of the season. And then the show got retooled and he was kind of sidelined. And I really think that the show could have used him in a couple more episodes than they had him in, just to build up that mystery, you know? 

The actor who played him, I thought did a decent job, even though it was very obvious that he was Muse. I don't know if you saw the show Wednesday, but it was the same bad guy actor. So right away when I saw him, I was like, okay, he's the bad guy. 

Honestly, he didn't even register to me at the book signing when we first saw the character, until the recap of the previous episodes at the start of each episode, I realized, oh, it's this guy. I thought the element of painting with your victim's blood after draining it was a really interesting modus operandi that we haven't seen or I personally haven't seen in a lot of like thriller material like shows and movies, conceptually evil Banksy. It just felt kind of neat. 

Yeah, I wonder what Banksy thinks of this series. 

He probably hates it. I did think that the revelation that he was like a Taekwondo expert was a little bit convenient. That's right. It was a little bit ridiculous. Like they needed to give some kind of rationale for why he could hold his own in a fight against Daredevil, but just kind of like shoehorn again. Oh, I'm a Taekwondo champion was silly at best. 

It's like, sure you are, pal. Sure you are. 

Let's move on to Bullseye, aka Benjamin Pointexter, played by Wilson Bethel. I really like Wilson Bethel. I thought he was a force of nature in Daredevil Season 3, and I was so glad that they brought him back for board again. I think he was a little underutilized, just like Muse here, but he absolutely gave us the best action scene of the season, which ironically was in Episode 1. 

Yeah, it was the action scene that kicked off the series, basically. Wilson Bethel's Bullseye is still, I think, one of the most terrifying villains we've probably ever seen in a superhero television series. Seeing him come back just brought me chills. I didn't know he was going to be in the series. And when he was, I kind of thought he was dispatched a little too quickly. I'm glad they brought him back and it was cool to see some of the things he did. But yeah, I definitely needed more Bullseye this season. 

Yeah, I think newcomers to the Daredevil show who hadn't seen the Netflix previous seasons, I don't think we're adequately, probably convinced of how scary this character is based just on his showings in this show. 

I mean, that first episode was incredible, but I think you really have to see Daredevil Season 3 to get a grasp of the depth that has gone into this character. I hope he comes back. I don't know where the hell he went to in that last episode. Right? 

He just disappeared. 

Yeah, I don't think he had any reason to. He was trying to kill the kingpin for putting him into general population, but he probably would have been fine killing Matt and Kingpin and Vanessa all in one go. But instead, he missed a shot and then took off. It was strange. 

Yeah, seeing Kingpin go to Windows to look outside after an assassination attempt from Bullseye, I was like, yeah, that's not a smart move. Like Bullseye will always hunt you down. Exactly. 

And also, I don't think putting Bullseye in general population was actually a threat to him. I feel like he could have killed every other prisoner that was there, considering he can turn anything into a weapon pretty much. 

Yeah, absolutely. I'm wondering why he didn't. 

I don't know. But that's it for the characters. Let's go ahead and move into our episode highlights. 

In a world where fantasies collide and heroes clash, one podcast network rises above the rest. Prepare yourself for the ultimate showdowns in comic books, video games, movies, and anime. The Dynamite Podcast Network presents Console Combat, where video game legends brawl every Monday. Dynamic Duel, where comic book titans smash every Tuesday. Max Destruction, where TV and action heroes battle every Wednesday. And Sendro World, where anime champions clash every Thursday. Join us as we speculate on the matches and armed with the power of mathematical simulations, discover who will emerge victorious. Visit dynamicpodcast.com, where we settle the debate and settle the score. 

Episode 1 was called Heaven's Half Hour. While celebrating the retirement of their NYPD associate, Cherry, Matt Murdock, and his friends are attacked by Bullseye, who shoots and kills Foggy Nelson. In retaliation, Daredevil drops the villain off a roof, an act seen by Cherry, who learns that Matt is Daredevil. One year later, Matt has retired as the hero and works at a new law firm started with former DEA Kirsten McDuffie, who sets him up with her friend Heather Glenn, a therapist. Kingpin returns to New York after spending time away recovering from being shot and nearly killed. He has his wife Vanessa step away from leading New York's crime in his stead and announces his candidacy for mayor, running on an anti-crime and anti-vigilante platform. Matt and Fisk meet at a diner, warning each other to stay in line. Seen as a tough and capable candidate by the people of New York, Fisk wins the election for mayor. He admits to Vanessa that he knows of the affair she had with a man named Adam during his absence. 

As the city celebrates, a graffiti artist paints a mural of Fisk. To me, this was the best episode. I always hate when that happens, when the first episode was the best, but I don't regret this one because I had such a good time watching it. It really felt cathartic, you know, getting the show that you know and love back and just as good as you remember it. By the time those opening credits rolled, after we saw Daredevil throw Bullseye off the building after hearing Foggy's heart stop and he tossed his helmet down with all those blades sticking out of him, I was floored. 

My jaw was on the ground and I was just able to just like absorb that new opening credit scene with a riff on the classic Daredevil theme, you know, it was fantastic. 

I really wish the internet wasn't so quick to spoil things for people. Like right after the episode dropped, I learned that Foggy Nielsen was going to die in the first episode. And so it kind of ruined the whole opening kind of bit for me. That's horrible. 

Well, you still said you didn't know Bullseye was going to show up, so you were surprised by that. 

That's fair. Yeah, I was surprised by Bullseye, not by the outcome of what happened, though. 

It was a cool fight, though. I love how it was that, you know, single tracking shot that the Daredevil series is known for, where we got to see Daredevil and Bullseye fight outside of Josie's Bar, come into Josie's Bar, go up the stairwell, and then onto the roof. The fight choreography was just phenomenal. And seeing Bullseye like murder so many people in the course of that fight, yeah, it was horrifying. 

And also seeing Bullseye like smack the pavement the way he did, I totally thought they killed off the character. 

Me too. In regards to some of the side characters, I don't think Kirsten McDuffie was nearly as compelling in the show as she is in the comics. She's a more fun character in the comics, I think, a little more witty. But I've never liked Heather Glenn, whether it was in the comic books or in the show, especially in the show, though, that she was a waste of a character. You know, she actually showed up in the 2003 Daredevil movie with Ben Affleck. She was the one that left the voicemail on his phone, breaking up with him, saying he was too distant. That was Heather. Same character. Interesting. 

In the book, she was like a socialite heiress, if I remember correctly. Episode two was called Optics. Hector Eliyat comes across two men beating up another on a subway platform and tries to stop them when one of the aggressors is hit by a train and the other reveals themselves as a cop. Matt overhears Hector's story and volunteers to defend him against his murder charge. 

Charyon covers that Hector is the vigilante known as White Tiger. Information which Matt requests be held from the trial, believing that a history of violence would bias the jury. Fisk Blackmail's New York Police Commissioner Gallo to prevent him from resigning in protest of his election. Heather begins counseling Kingpin and Vanessa's marriage. Matt tracks down the subway platform victim named Torres to get him to testify against the cops, but he's interrupted by officers with Punisher Skull Tattoos who attempt to attack him. Matt savagely beats them in response when that's the end of the episode. 

What did you think of White Tiger in this series? 

I thought it was cool. I thought his costume could use some work, although he's kind of depicted as a homegrown type of superhero. I thought it was canonically supposed to be made out of jade. I don't know what it was made out of here. It looked like silver, but I wish I could have seen more of White Tiger in action in his costume. Like we saw some like footage of it on the BB Eurek report, but you know his ability is to be three times the martial artist, three times the strength, you know, three times the skill due to the three pieces of the jade amulets. I think it would have been cool to see that in action. 

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I would have loved to have seen White Tiger in action. It was kind of weird to hear Matt Murdock and everyone talking about this amulet that he had that gives him like superhuman powers. I was like, this is kind of different from the more grounded Netflix shows when they're talking about superpowers. 

Right. Yeah. I mean, the fact that they're setting it more in the MCU kind of got to give him a little bit more of that leeway. But the fact that like the amulet wasn't taken by the Department of Damage Control or something like that, like his positions were returned to his next of kin. You know, his niece, Angela was in the show and she becomes his successor as the White Tiger. This whole storyline almost played exactly like how it did in the comic books where he was framed for a murder of a cop and Matt defends him, gets him acquitted, and then White Tiger is shot and killed right after leading to Angela taking up the mantle. Although in this show, Angela is a lot younger. 

Yeah, I was about to say she was way too short to be a superhero. 

Yeah. She's not my favorite version of the White Tiger, though. That's Eva Hector's sister. You can learn more about White Tiger in our Dula episode where we pit her against Bronze Tiger. I want to say RIP to Kamar Dulos Reyes, the actor who played White Tiger. 

He died in December 2023 from cancer. Oh, no way. What? Yeah. He dedicated a few episodes to him. 

I didn't make that connection. So we've on to episode three, the hollow of his hand with Kingpin stepping away from crime, the gang leaders Victor and Luca start turning on each other. Vanessa frustrated that her work is being undone as Kingpin's right hand man Cashman ordered Luca to pay Victor 1.8 million in restitution. In court, the victim Taurus declines to testify on Hector's behalf at a fear of police retaliation, causing Matt to reveal his client's White Tiger identity, focusing on testimony from the people he saved over the years. The jury finds Hector not guilty, which angers Fisk due to his anti-vigilante stance. 

Despite Matt warning him to lay low after being exonerated, Hector dons his White Tiger costume and is shot dead by a man wearing the Punisher symbol. I thought this was a great legal episode. I always like seeing the legal cases that Matt takes on play out in the courts. It's one of the unique aspects of the Daredevil comic and these Daredevil shows. And also, you know, the She-Hulk shows, which you know how I felt about that show in our review. But I always like a good legal drama. And I thought that played out pretty well here. 

Yeah, it played out as one of the better trials that have been in the entire series. 

I agree. And the ending was sufficiently tragic. When I saw the Punisher skull, I was like, that wasn't Frank. So I knew that they were kind of going to address the police idolatry of the character of Punisher, that whole theme within the course of this show, which I was really looking forward to. 

I actually thought the mystery of who shot White Tiger was going to be the main focus of the show. It was kind of weird when they were deviating with subplots after that. 

Yeah, it was kind of pushed off to the side, which is unfortunate, especially for the character of White Tiger. And I wasn't thrilled by the reveal that it was Cole North, who in this show was a member of the anti-vigilante task force. But in the comic books, he's actually a police detective. It's more like the character of Cherry within this show, except more of a badass because he can fight. It was very against the type of character that he is in the comic books. In the comic books, he's more of a hero. 

Yeah, the reveal that he was the killer was so anti-cli-backed. I was like, come on, it was one of the things that kind of made me feel that there was trouble going on behind the scenes story-wise. 

Yeah, maybe. Episode 4 was called Six Semper Systema. Matt comforts Hector's niece Angela, who believes the cops killed her uncle. Kingpin and Vanessa discuss her affair with Adam in therapy. 

Matt represents a man arrested for stealing caramel corn. Fisk announces his plan to rebuild the city's Red Hook port, which some suspect is a cover to build up his future criminal endeavors. Matt tracks the bullet casing used to kill Hector and sees the Punisher skull on it. He tracks down Punisher to ask if he's Hector's killer and if not to take responsibility for those misusing his symbol. Frank calls Matt out on his anger and his failure to avenge Foggy. 

Matt contemplates the Daredevil mantle while pulling his billy club out of storage as Fisk has dinner in a secret dungeon where he's keeping Adam. I thought this was the filler episode. A lot of it was just kind of unimportant. You know, the biggest thing about this episode was the Matt and Frank meetup, but that was weak as hell. I just really didn't like how that played out, because the way it ended, it almost played like a scene from Good Will Hunting, where Frank was like, you're angry about Foggy's death, ain't ya? Well, it's not your fault, Red. 

It's not your fault. And Matt's like, don't fuck with me, man. And then, you know, they share a cry. And I'm sitting over here like, what the fuck is going on? 

Right, 100%. I was like, well, that's unusually intuitive for Frank Castle. Right. The whole caramel corn thing. What the fuck was that about? 

It was supposed to be a commentary on society, you know? It really hit home when the guy was like, you know, the city's willing to pay five times as much to have me incarcerated than to help me eat. You know, it was really tragic hearing about him, you know, digging through trash and stuff like that. And a lot of people are in this vicious cycle. But, you know, that whole plot thread really never went anywhere. 

I don't know if they were trying to go for like Stiltman in the Netflix shows here. I think it would have been better if they would have, because at least I would have cared a little bit more. Oh, you're talking about Turk Barrett? Yes. 

Yeah, in the comic books, he's Stiltman, but they never showed him in his Stilts. They only referenced him in the old Netflix show. They should have made Turk come back. I really like Turk. I thought he was a great character in the old show. 

Moving on to episode five, which was called With Interest. On St. Patrick's Day, Matt visits New York Mutual Bank to seek out a loan for his firm, where he speaks with assistant bank manager Yusuf Khan, the father of Kamala Khan, the hero known as Ms. Marvel. During their meeting, a group of bank robbers working for Luca take everyone in the bank hostage, seeking access to the vault to get the $1.8 million he needs for his debt. The lead robber, Devlin, negotiates with Detective Kim while Yusuf is taken to open the vault. Matt subdues two of the robbers and opens the vault where they find a rare diamond the robbers were trying to get. Matt pretends to hand over the diamond right as the police storm the bank and rescue the hostages. Devlin disguises himself as a cop and escapes, believing he's in the clear, but he's followed by Matt who beats the ever-loving shit out of him. 

Matt secretly returns the diamond to Yusuf at the bank. Like I said earlier, I liked this episode. I don't know if you liked it as much as I did, but it felt like a story that you'd get in between arcs in the comics, you know? And I really like how cleverly it played out where one of the hostages was on the inside with the criminals and stuff like that. I thought it was pretty well done and well executed. 

I just hated how it really didn't play into the rest of the show. One shots are cool. I don't think they're cool in television series though. 

Yeah, I mean, like there was the major side plot between Victor and Luca, the crime bosses, but they didn't really focus on that too much. So it was weird to see it get an entire episode dedicated to that subplot here. You're right. But we got a really cool cameo from Yusuf Khan, the father of Kamala Khan, which I think was totally in keeping with the types of cameos that you would see in the books. 

Yeah, that's true. I thought the best part of this episode though was the Irish joke. 

I mean, it was good. I think that was to pad the runtime a little bit. 

100%, but it was actually funny. 

Let's go to move on to episode six, Excessive Force. After her body is discovered with its eyes gouged out, Luca visits Fisk, who tells him that he has a week to pay his debt. A sanitation worker tells Fisk that the murals around the city are painted by the mysterious artist Muse using human blood. 

Angela Diltoro visits Matt at his firm informing him that her late uncle, White Tiger, was looking into finding a serial killer who was hiding in the subway tunnels. Fisk meets with New York's elite edda fundraiser, including Jack Duquesne, who rejects his plans to build the Red Hook port. Fisk puts together a vigilante task force of crooked cops and grants them impunity to go after Muse. Angela investigates Muse's location herself and is taken as his next victim. Her family contacts Matt to report her missing, and he finally redaunts his Daredevil suit to rescue her. He fights and nearly kills Muse, but the villain escapes as Daredevil tries to save Angela from bleeding out. 

Meanwhile, Fisk beats Adam in a secret dungeon. I was not expecting to see swordsmen come back from the Hawkeye show. It was really cool to see him here, and I hope that he joins Daredevil's team in season two of Daredevil Born Again. 

Yeah, I'm really curious to see who they will put on that team. I was hoping they would kind of hint at it, maybe with the cameo from the defenders or something like that. But yeah, it would be cool if he was a part of that team. He was captured with a punisher, maybe the punisher set some free, I don't know. 

That'd be cool. Episode seven is called Art for Art's Sake. Inna Angela recovers in the hospital and tells authorities the location of Muse's lair. Detective Kim tells Fisk that the primary suspect of the Muse's identity is an artist and taekwondo expert, Bastion Cooper, who happens to be one of Heather's therapy patients. 

Luka meets with Vanessa, who asks her to take back control of the mob behind Fisk's back. Daredevil finds paintings of Heather in Muse's lair and goes to her office where Muse has her restrained and plans to kill her. Daredevil rescues her and fights Muse, ending with Heather shooting and killing the villain before fainting from blood loss. Fisk has his task force take credit for taking down Muse and rescuing Heather. Cashman kills Luka in a trap set by Vanessa. 

I liked this episode. I thought the fight between Muse and Daredevil was like hella violent. A lot of blood spray, especially when Daredevil shoots his billy club through him and stuff like that. I thought it was an action packed hero versus a villain fight. It was nice to see those two kind of clash together again after their initial bout in the previous episode. 

Yeah, it was a great superhero versus super villain battle. I do really wish that the Muse arc was not just like a two episode thing and that they really would have established him more in earlier episodes. I did think it was kind of convenient that he was obsessed with Daredevil's girlfriend. But I also think that the whole therapy sessions between Wilson Fisk, his wife and Daredevil's girlfriend was also very convenient, considering the fact that I'm not entirely certain Wilson Fisk was going to her to learn about Matt, like Matt suspected. 

No, I think they were legitimately trying to work on their marriage. But by the end of this, when you know she becomes one of his cabinet members, I totally think it's going to be to get information on Matt. 

Yeah, probably. Episode eight was called Isle of Joy. In prison, Bullseye gets moved from solitary to the general population. Kingpin reveals Adam's secret prison to Vanessa who kills Adam to reconcile their marriage. At Josie's bar, Matt deduces that Foggy's death was an orchestrated hit by Bullseye, not out of some vendetta. Matt visits Bullseye in prison for information, but Bullseye only agrees to talk on condition of his release, resulting in Matt smashing his face into the table. At a fundraiser ball, Kingpin begins consolidating his power over the elites who rejected his Red Hook Port Restoration. Bullseye uses his broken tooth to escape prison and break into the ball. Matt deduces that it was Vanessa who ordered the hit on Foggy, not Kingpin. 

Matt then hears Bullseye's rifle about to shoot at Kingpin and takes the bullet through the chest. I gotta say Heather annoyed the shit out of me this episode. I normally wouldn't comment on this, but I was that annoyed. She tells Matt like, Daredevil didn't save me. I saved me. Muse and Daredevil were there for themselves. It's like Chica. You were getting sliced into with a scalpel when Daredevil arrived. He literally had Muse impaled when you shot him. You didn't save shit, okay? 

Yeah, that was pretty ridiculous. I actually really liked this episode. These last two episodes, I felt like, were what the show should have been from the beginning. I thought they were really good. And I think a lot of it has to do with Bullseye. Again, the character is just really cool and a great Daredevil villain. Even though the end of this episode was kind of ridiculous, I thought, considering we already know that Wilson Fisk wears bulletproof suits. And I'm pretty sure Matt knew that as well. 

I don't know if Bullseye knew that though, because he obviously wasn't going for a headshot for Kingpin. 

But if Matt knew that, why did he take the bullet? 

Great question. Maybe he somehow knew that Fisk wasn't wearing a bulletproof suit at this time. I guess maybe. Let's go ahead and move on to the final episode called Straight to Hell. In a flashback to one year earlier, Vanessa frees Bullseye from his psychiatric facility in exchange for killing Foggy, who's working on a case involving the Red Hook Port, where she launders her money. Back in the present, Matt wakes up in hospital, critically injured, but alive. Kingpin orders New York City to be shut down in an effort to hunt down his enemies, causing a city-wide power outage, and orders Cashman to kill Matt in the hospital. Matt escapes during the blackout and heads home where he finds the Punisher ready to assist him. Together, they fight off the anti-vigilante task force who break into Matt's apartment, and they learn that one of the cops was White Tiger's murderer. 

The pair argue about Frank's lethal force, but jump out of the window to avoid a grenade. The pair are picked up by Karen Page, who, along with Matt, learn in Foggy's files that the Red Hook Port is a historical free port exempt from state and national jurisdiction, and that the Fisks are trying to create their own city-state there. Punisher is captured after single-handedly trying to take down the anti-vigilante task force cops, and denies their offer to join them. Kingpin learns of Commissioner Gallo's attempt to undermine him, and smashes and tears his face apart with his bare hands in front of his force. He declares martial law in New York, and Daredevil begins recruiting a contingent of honest police and other dissidents to save the city. In a post-credits scene, Punisher breaks the guards' arm to escape his cell. I thought there were some great fanboy moments here. Seeing Daredevil and Punisher team up again, this time both of them in costume, was so cool to see as a fan. 

Because they've teamed up before in the Netflix shows, but never with them in their outfits. There's just something really exciting about that as a fan. And it was so well-written too. After they jump out of the building to avoid the explosion, they land on the car, and they get off, and Matt's like, you're an asshole, Frank. And Punisher's just like, I know. It was just great fan service. 

Yeah, I was wondering who was the friend that called Frank to go help Matt. And when it was revealed to be Karen Page, I was like, oh, that's right. She was a big part of Punisher Season 1. 

I totally forgot about that connection. I'm so glad that they brought the actors for Foggy Nelson and Karen Page back, because that would have been really weird to even have the Punisher in the Daredevil show again without that connection. 

Yeah, Deborah N. Wall is fantastic. She was great in the Daredevil show. She was great in the Punisher show. It was nice that she served as the bridge between those two characters. 

And it just felt right that she would be the one to kind of facilitate that team up. And I really hope that she sticks around for Daredevil Season 2, because I think she plays an important role that I think was kind of missed in the course of this season. There was a great emotional moment between her and Matt at the end of this episode, where Matt admits to Karen that after Foggy died, he didn't know who he was anymore. And her reassuring him that no matter what Foggy always believed in him, I thought was just a great springboard for this renewed sense of self going into Season 2 and taking the fight to the kingpin. Right. 

Foggy would not have wanted him to give up pursuing justice the way he does. 

But that's the end of the show. Overall, I think there was a lot to enjoy here, especially as a fan of the Netflix series. And while it didn't necessarily quite reach the heights of the Netflix series, when you consider that the first episode and the last two episodes were the best of the season, I'm even more hyped going into Daredevil Born Again Season 2, which will come out next March. 

Like its namesake character, the show rediscovers itself as it goes, resulting in an uneven, yes, but ultimately comparable season to the Netflix series before it. And I think that's the best thing you could say about it. I'm giving it four out of five stars, a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Although you'll note that it is a lower rating than any of the other Daredevil seasons that we've rated. 

Yeah, I said it was the worst Daredevil season, but the other ones were just so damn good. I feel like there was inevitable, you know. The show started off really strong and it ended really strong. And while I didn't love a lot of the stuff in the middle, I'd still recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Netflix shows. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what they bring next year. 

Absolutely. My voice made it. I can't believe it for the most part. I think I'm definitely struggling more than it was at the start of this recording. So that does it for this review. AJ and IK, help close this out. 

Thanks for listening to Dynamic Jewel. Visit the show's website at dynamicjewel.com and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Jewel podcast. You can support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamic jewel and joining a tier that works for you or by rating and reviewing Dynamic Jewel on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, or on our website. Don't forget to listen to the other shows in the Dynamite podcast network, including Max Destruction, Senjo World, and Console Combat. 

Our next episode is going to be a really big one. It's going to be a team duel between Watchmen and Thunderbolts. And it looks like our Thunderbolts team is going to skew pretty closely to the roster that's in the movie. 

So you definitely want to check that out before the movie hits theaters. That does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers, John Starosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin 

Belcom, Miggy Matanguihan, Brandon Estergard, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wasiloski, AJ Dunkerly, Nick Abanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Speas, Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, Josh 
Liner, Mike Williams, and Oscar Galvez for helping make this podcast possible. We'll talk to you guys next week. Up up and away, true believers. 

Fun fact, Daredevil gets all the ladies using his signature pickup line, me so horny, and then pointing at his horns. Look it up.