Warning: Spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again. Episode 8 in particular
Nearly 7 years after ending a three-season run on Netflix, Charlie Cox returns as Matt Murdock aka Daredevil for Daredevil: Born Again, a 9 episode series on Disney Plus which brings Daredevil properly into the MCU and brings back most of the original cast.
So far in Daredevil: Born Again Matt Murdock has seen his best friend and law partner Foggy Nelson(Elden Henson) killed by Ben Pointdexter(Wilson Bethel) aka Bullseye and given up being Daredevil after nearly killing Bullseye himself (albeit briefly). He also defended Hector Ayala(played by Kamar de los Reyes) who turned out to be fellow vigilante White Tiger from accusation of killing a police officer. While he successfully defended him he was quickly killed in spite of Matt’s help which led to a confrontation and short cameo by Punisher(Jon Bernthal). Meanwhile, Daredevil’s biggest foe Wilson Fisk(Vincent D’Onofrio) aka Kingpin has become Mayor of New York and started his own anti-vigilante squad while Matt stopped the serial killer Muse who almost killed his new love interest, therapist Heather Glen(Margarita Levieva), and Hector’s niece Angela(Camila Rodriguez). It all has led to the penultimate episode “Isle of Joy” which works to bring everything together right before the finale.
Much like the rest of the series “Isle of Joy” was largely uneven, offering some action, but not feeling as action-packed as a penultimate episode should be. In fact Matt doesn’t put on his costume once in this episode, which is a larger problem with the series in as Daredevil has only made an appearance a handful of times, instead, we’ve focused on his civilian identity which is all well and good, but also takes away some opportunities for action and the well-choreographed fight scenes which made the original series standout. Instead, after defeating the serial killer Muse last episode and causing his death at the hands of his new love interest, Matt has a chat with an incarcerated Ben Pointdexter aka Bullseye, and tries to find out who hired him to kill Foggy all the way back in Episode 1. Matt doesn’t get the answers he hopes, but he heavily suspects it is the work of Wilson Fisk so he attends the Inaugural Ball of the newly elected Mayor Fisk with Heather in a bid to get more information. After some snooping by Matt and a cameo from Jack Duquesne aka the Swordsman who first appeared in the Hawkeye series, its revealed at the very same ball that it was actually Fisk’s wife Vanessa ( Ayelet Zurer) who hired Bullseye to kill Foggy. It all ends with probably the biggest development in the episode and a little bit of a cliffhanger when Matt takes a bullet for Fisk who is targeted by an escaped Bullseye.
It can be assumed the final episode will pick up from here and reveal Matt’s fate, but the stakes seem low as Born Again has already been renewed for a Season 2 so it save to assume Matt survives so the most exciting part of the episode almost doesn’t seem worth it
With only one episode left there is still plenty of loose ends to tie up from Matt’s obvious fate to who killed Foggy and why and well as who killed Hector Aylaya and why? As well as recapturing Bullseye. Hopefully, we’ll see Matt put back on the costume after not wearing it for most of the series so far and engage in a well-choreographed fight. I also expect Punisher to make one last short appearance and another surprise cameo, most likely by one of Daredevil’s fellow Defenders(mostly likely Jessica Jones or Luke Cage) but hopefully, they pick up the pacing because this felt like it was moving too slow just to set up a low-stakes finale.
