Following last week’s explosive cliff-hanger, it makes a sick kind of sense that the next chaotic episode of Daredevil: Born Again opens on a moment of zen with none other than Benjamin Poindexter, a.k.a. Bullseye (Wilson Bethel). These superhero shows typically reserve the calm morning routines for the hero, not their enemies. Yet here’s Ben, stretching, making eggs for himself and his neighbor’s cat (aw!), and whistling as he greets the day in New York City, a chipper sequence that establishes Bullseye’s new state of mind (in case that Billy Joel needle drop didn’t make it clear). Has Ben really gone good? He seems to think so, but just like the lethal marksman himself, the real answer is more complicated.
The first sign that something’s off about Ben’s sunny morning comes when he ducks into a diner and washes down those eggs with a banana milkshake. (The stomach roils.) The second hits when Ben dials 911 to report a Frank Castle sighting and hangs up with an unsettling grin. Before I dig into the ensuing havoc like a grand-slam breakfast, here’s a quick inventory of the items lying within his reach: knives, forks, spoons, plates, napkin dispensers, toothpicks—that straw! The endless permutations of mayhem set a wicked tone for “Gloves Off,” a showy, unpredictable episode that sets axis-shifting events in motion and shatters the sense of invincibility that New York’s mayor once took as an iron-clad given. As awesome a sequence as it is, however, Bullseye dispatching the arriving Anti-Vigilante Task Force with cutlery is just a preview for this week’s deadly main event.
Bullseye, the series’ resident wild card, last appeared just as Daredevil (Charlie Cox)l hit a new low during the premiere. This week, he strikes as Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) hits a new apex, fresh off a lopsided victory at Fogwell’s Gym in a televised farce called “Scrappin’ In The Kitchen.” In retrospect, it all seems inevitable. Fisk’s showboating in the boxing ring contrasts with a vulnerable moment earlier on, when he sends Vanessa (Ayalet Zurer) to Albany to hang with Governor McCaffrey (Lili Taylor) instead of joining the night’s festivities. “Too much could go wrong,” he says. Every tyrant has their weakness, and Fisk’s is especially easy to target. Even though she does as she’s told, Vanessa doesn’t buy his reasoning. Surely, the Fisks are stronger united? “We’re a match pair,” she says.
Before I unpack the night’s big twist, let’s check in on the star of this sordid melodrama: Daredevil, who assists the freed prisoners of Red Hook in recording video testimony for Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and guerrilla rabble-rouser BB Urich (Genneya Walton). As Karen talks to Soledad (Ashley Marie Ortiz), aunt to Angela del Toro (Camila Rodriguez), Daredevil compares notes with Swordsman (Tony Dalton) in one of the most underwhelming MCU team-ups to date. Duquesne does his head-tilting, grinning thing, calling Hornhead a symbol of hope and leaving an account number for the resistance in case they ever need some cash. With a handshake, he saunters off—to some future Disney+ show, presumably—leaving Angela to share a quick heart-to-heart with Daredevil. Using a growly Batman voice to hide his identity, he asks if she truly understands the burden of carrying her late uncle’s standard. She says she does.
Responsibility looms large this week. Angela takes on resistance duties as the city’s newest vigilante, ready or not (she should be fine); Fisk foists the latest Red Hook disaster onto Daredevil, though Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard) knows who’s really to blame; and then there’s Bullseye and his “one good deed,” which I’ll get to shortly. With Kingpin dominating Murdock’s attention, the lingering matter of Bullseye walking free after putting a bullet in his chest last season finally lands on his to-do list. So Murdock throws on fascist cosplay, slips into the diner crime scene, sniffs some ketchup, and finds a token that leads him to the steps of a nearby church. There, the season’s core theme of redemption is broached: Murdock has a chat with the same seminarian (played by Bartley Booz) who dealt with Bullseye at knife-point last week, and his hesitation to turn Ben over to the AVTF prompts Murdock to cut the sermon short: “I’m not gonna debate with you about whether or not he deserves grace,” he says. “I need to find him.”
And find him Daredevil does, in Ben’s cozy bachelor’s pad, where, over some light hostage taking, Bullseye begs for vindication for killing Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) at Vanessa’s behest. “One good deed,” Ben pleads, suggesting he kill Fisk, which, naturally, Daredevil gets all righteous about: “I can’t let you make a martyr out of him!” Okay, Matt, fair. But then what? Why doesn’t he pull some slick superhero moves and KO Bullseye right then and there? There is a gnarly psychopathy to Murdock’s ongoing failure to stop Bullseye from killing again. The more Matt delays dealing with the monsters in his city once and for all, the more he bears responsibility for the carnage they cause. But will Born Again do anything interesting with this?
This brings us back to “Scrappin’ In The Kitchen.” With the Northern Star’s only witness (Yorgos Karamihos) knocked off by Buck (Arty Froushan) and the outcome of his ridiculous fight all but decided, Fisk rides a dangerous high. Yet vanity brings chaos to his doorstep. He staged this brawl at Fogwell’s to piss off Daredevil, only for Bullseye to crash the party. His people stock the venue with glass merch stamped with his face, which Bullseye uses as a weapon. And he tempts fate by claiming the Matterhorn will never hit him—only for Vanessa, dressed in Fiskian white, to distract him long enough for the tyrant-mayor to take a bop. Notice the complexity of Bullseye’s attack that follows: how the mayor suddenly loses all control, how he can’t deflect inevitability even with that absurd championship belt. Despite all his power and glory, Wilson Fisk can’t save Vanessa.
Stray observations
- • Who is Mike “Matterhorn” Melendez and why did he agree to fight Kingpin on TV? Fisk’s bloody victory suggests the details don’t matter. I’d argue that it would have been interesting to meet Mike and learn why he chose (or was chosen) to fight. Perhaps it’d give Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini) more to do and also let this season add in more character work.
- • Bullseye went bonkers in the Bel Aire Diner in Astoria, not to be confused with the Square Diner in Tribeca, where Daredevil drama usually occurs. Fun fact: Bel Aire was also the subject of a Kitchen Nightmares episode.
- • Powell lays on the tough-guy act so thick that I hope he gargles with lemon between scenes.
- • Nice use of symbolism: Karen and her wig help clean up Kirsten McDuffie’s (Nikki M. James) trashed office after a visit from the AVTF, representing how her resistance will restore justice to the city.
- • Matt prays to St. Lucia to ask for spiritual clarity—and to protect eyesight.
- • I didn’t know that about wombats and I’m sure I didn’t want to. One useful bit of info from Fisk’s latest exchange with Mr. Charles: The governor is set to revoke the charter that gives protection to Fisk’s dealings at the freeport. Could be significant.
- • Maybe it’s the validation Vanessa feels after her chat with the governor or perhaps it’s loyalty or even the defiance of standing by him at the pinnacle of his infamy. It doesn’t matter why she comes to fight night against her better judgment, only that she does.
- • Vanessa’s pistol, provided by Buck last week, gave her a chance to hit the target that haunts her dreams, but not quickly enough to prevent him from hitting his.
- • Josie’s jukebox: Billy Joel’s “New York State Of Mind,” Slick Naim’s “On Me,” Mega Rev’s “Something’s Coming.”
Jarrod Jones is a contributor to The A.V. Club.
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