Last week’s episode of Daredevil: Born Again rose above the fray, offering a clearer view of the series’ grand design. It addressed the show’s moral void by reconnecting Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) with his sainted comrade, Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), whose lessons in humility and justice, thanks to Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), can now be taught only from the grave. Through memory, Murdock relearned the meaning of mercy. Now all that remains is to see what he does with it.
Even as Born Again claimed Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer) as its latest casualty, “The Grand Design” set aside escalation to reestablish the core motivations of Daredevil and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) just before it ripped the heart out of the latter. This week, Vanessa’s surgeon learned the cost of failing New York’s reigning mayor, a harsh lesson that clarified that a man without love is a man without mercy. Retributive violence is hardly new for Kingpin, but this viciousness, fueled by a fury he’s only barely suppressed until today, sure sets the tone for the remaining episodes. I’d say this doesn’t bode well for ol’ Hornhead, who’s been in a forgiving mood of late. But fear not: By the end of this week’s episode, Born Again retreats to yet another stalemate.
As season two enters its final stretch, “Requiem” attempts to cover quite a lot. It mounts civil unrest on the steps of City Hall, charts Governor McCaffrey’s (Lili Taylor) political swerve away from Fisk, pushes the complicated BB Urich (Genneya Walton) and Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini) situationship past its breaking point, squeezes in a Marvel guest star, and makes room for another bickering session between Murdock and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) over the fates of Bullseye and Kingpin. “Requiem” ratchets up deception, conflicts, and intensity, and the results are noisy. It doesn’t drown out the drama or dull the stakes, but this plot cacophony does suggest that Born Again has reached operatic overload.
And it would all feel pretty damn stale, too, if it weren’t for the welcome arrival of Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter). This week, the brassy (and supposedly retired) private eye crashes the proceedings with her typical chaotic energy, helping Daredevil blow up a weapons cache at an Anti-Vigilante Task Force depot before dropping a few choice details about the season’s elusive mystery man, Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard). So what brings her back to New York? After a siege at her suburban residence—an odd fit, given Jessica’s whole deal—her rooftop reunion with Murdock fills in some blanks. Charles, for starters, is in the business of recruiting capes for merc work overseas. Jessica passed, but others in her and Matt’s circle didn’t—folks, I must assume, like her hubby, Luke Cage.
“Requiem” isn’t concerned with the specifics of Jessica’s present marital blues. That’s spin-off material. Still, it’s an exciting guest appearance that doesn’t pull focus from the series’ leads, monotonous as some of their squabbles are at this juncture. It also primes the hour for the latest brawl between Daredevil and Kingpin, which is a wild development just two weeks from the finale (for reasons I’ll touch on in a bit).
First, let’s address the other players in this melodrama, namely Buck (Arty Froushan) and his busy week. He hobnobs with the Lt. Governor, draws Blake further into his fiendish orbit, and ushers Dr. Glenn (Margarita Levieva) through her Muse trauma via an unorthodox therapy session. That last thread frays where the others pull taut. His conversation with the Lt. Governor hints at succession, while BB’s presence in the Fisk administration whenever the action’s thickest makes it easier to convince his protégé to administer a “Barium Meal”—one hell of a way to spend a birthday for Fisk’s heir not-so-apparent. “You’re in the big time now,” Buck tells Blake, “and the big time will take care of you, if you take care of it.” As for Dr. Glenn, there’s simply not enough runway left in this season for more Muse detours. Maybe I’m wrong.
Of course, we mustn’t forget Karen and Benjamin Poindexter (Bethel). Stashed away in the Resistance’s hideout, Bullseye is patched up by White Tiger’s aunt, Soledad (Ashley Marie Ortiz), while Karen seethes in a corner. Their uneasy reunion underscores how far she’s drifted from Murdock’s renewed moral code into retributive Punisher territory. Where Matt clings to mercy, she’s almost perversely eager to put the baddies down, as we see when she straddles Ben and presses a gun to his head. The billy club bop that stops her from pulling the trigger opens the floodgates, and she accuses Murdock of choosing evil over the people who love him. “You let them live and people die!” she hollers, pointing at Ben. “You want to know what happened to me? I grew up.” It’s that philosophical elasticity resisting the MCU’s moral curve again: Either Karen bends to Matt’s righteousness, or Matt sets fire to the system he loves. Only one scenario is likely, and I’ll bet it isn’t the second.
But let’s think about it: what would constitute a suitable punishment for Wilson Fisk? He’s done time, but prison never meaningfully kept him from running his empire. We saw Murdock pummel him to a standstill back in Daredevil season three, only for Kingpin to come back more dangerous than ever. What do you do with a man who only responds to power with power? When Murdock visits him this week, he offers condolences for Vanessa and a possible way out of this war, but that only reveals another problem. Wilson has clearly left with his wife for some faraway place, that interior void where human things like reason need not apply.
Governor McCaffrey had it right two weeks back: A Wilson Fisk mayorship without Vanessa is a frightening prospect, as the rapidly escalating protests outside City Hall make plain. He’s cracked, and the fissures are visible. Look at how Kingpin hangs up on Mr. Charles this week. Before, he’d play Charles’ game, find some angle to exploit. Now, there’s nothing in him that tolerates defiance, even from an emissary of powers that rival his own—or mercy, as Daredevil offers him now.
Then there’s the continued deterioration of Rabbit In A Snow Storm, which worsens during Fisk and Daredevil’s latest grudge match. The symbolism isn’t subtle, but Born Again has never traded in subtlety. Fisk spirals out of control and tosses out the last illusion that he ever had it. “There’s nothing to give to me…or take away,” he says before Murdock drops him with a KO worthy of Fogwell’s. It’s here that Daredevil leaves Fisk to think on his offer—leave New York, and he’ll do the same—and to nurse his wounds for the next fight, in whatever form it takes. With all this self-reflection going around, it’s hard to imagine the “Mayor Fisk” arc resulting in another brawl. It’s like Fisk says: “What are you going to do? Arrest me? You cannot. Kill me? You will not.” Here, a third, more intriguing possibility presents itself: Murdock could finally flex his mastery of the rule of law against an opponent who long seemed impervious to it. It’s time for Daredevil to change suits.
Stray observations
- • At Vanessa’s wake, the governor and Sheila (Zabryna Guevara) have a conversation that leans toward Sheila possibly taking over after Fisk. That’d be nice, considering Guevara has had next to nothing to do this season.
- • Interesting wrinkle to Jessica Jones’ appearance: Her powers now come and go since she had a child. They fade during the AVTF fight, her fist catching Officer Powell’s (Hamish Allan-Headley) jaw.
- • I figured Rosario Dawson wasn’t in the budget. Where’s our Night Nurse?
- • Another plot detail to note: Dr. Glenn wanders around Gracie Mansion and takes a bauble from Vanessa’s jewelry box.
- • Nice cut from Blake touching his face to Fisk doing the same, two big fellas grappling with the weight of the world.
- • BB chooses not to leak Blake’s headline-grabbing info—his mom was super nice!—but that doesn’t stop Blake from finding the SIM card in her coat. BB’s Fisk-flouting days might be numbered, but I bet Blake is the one who pays the price.
- • Gotta agree with Charles: Michter’s is delicious.
- • Josie’s jukebox: Frédéric Chopin’s “Nocturne In C-Sharp Minor” and Sean Callery’s “Jessica Jones Theme.”
Jarrod Jones is a contributor to The A.V. Club.
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