Mar 4

Mar 4 'Daredevil: Born Again' - Complete season 1 review

The Man Without Fear makes his long-awaited official return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 'Daredevil: Born Again' (premiering on Disney+ starting March 4).

In short: Although Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk have given up their Daredevil and Kingpin personas, Manhattan politics and personal tragedies push them toward their past identities and each other. Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll and Michael Gandolfini star.

First and foremost: this will be a spoiler-free review of the complete first season of 'Daredevil: Born Again' - however, this review will not reveal or discuss any cameos or plot twists within the season's nine episodes.

It's been almost 10 full years since the landmark 'Daredevil' series dropped on Netflix in 2015 and more than six years since the third and presumably final season came to pass on Netflix. By 2015, the tone and tenor of the MCU had been set - they were PG-13 thrilling adventures peppered with wit and fun ... but 'Daredevil' was different. It was visceral and brutal and compelling. Hell's Kitchen was filled with criminals, murderers and human traffickers - and 'Daredevil' did not shy away from its darkness. Rather, it embraced the comic book character's broodiness and violence. Then the series was canceled.

And 'Born Again' was absolutely worth the wait - but more importantly, 'Born Again' lives up to the legacy of the original Netflix series. While very much a continuation of the Netflix series' story, this sequel series also serves as a soft reboot for Daredevil, smartly taking beloved characters and exploring what their next chapters in their lives look like.

Just to be clear: 'Born Again' is every bit as violent as its predecessor series. In some cases, this sequel series even ramps up the violence. The first season of the Netflix version includes as scene wherein the Kingpin violently used a car door to murder an criminal associate - but even that violence was mostly off screen. The Disney+ iteration includes a scene every bit as horrific and gory - yet leaves much of the gruesome act and its aftermath on screen. This is not an endorsement of on-screen violence - this is merely to assuage any doubt that this updated version of Daredevil would be "Disney-ified" and water down the bloodshed.

Familiarity with the original Netflix series - which ran for 39 episodes across three seasons - is helpful, but not completely necessary. Despite continuing the original series story and characters, 'Born Again' is also very much a second chapter to this story, featuring many new supporting characters and themes. Longtime fans of the original Netflix series will enjoy the rich and layered moments, but virtually none of the core plot of 'Born Again' is reliant on the original series.

Although 'Born Again' is named for its titular blind superhero, this sequel series is fundamentally a shared journey for Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. This sequel series find Murdock and Fisk in a similar state: both have abandoned their alternate personas - Murdock has stopped patrolling Hell's Kitchen as Daredevil and Fisk has stopped running organized crime in New York. These two men are attempting to turn the page on their lives - leaving behind their alter egos while still trying to do their best to help New York (in their own ways).

Everyday people and supporting characters alike share their thoughts about masked vigilantes running around, effectively taking the law into their own hands. As characters debate the merit of superheroes, 'Born Again' is more concerned with the masks that Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk wear: that of lawyer and aspiring mayoral candidate. The series core conflict isn't Daredevil versus some supervillain - these are protagonists in conflict with themselves. Murdock's attempt to lead a normal, non-superhero life as a normal lawyer is itself a lie, implying the real mask that Matt Murdock wears is not that of Daredevil - but that of 'normal criminal defense attorney.' It's worth repeating: one of the strongest, most compelling foundations of storytelling is that of identity.

Consequently, this does mean that Murdock does not do much crime fighting for the first half of 'Born Again,' meaning the series is more character driven than action driven (at least for the first half of the season). This effectively makes the sequel series a character study of secret identities - wherein Murdock and Fisk busy themselves with mundane tasks, if only to convince themselves they can do good as a lawyer and a politician, rather than a superhero and a criminal mastermind.

Apparently the early versions of 'Born Again' had Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio star in a follow-up series that had very few connections to the original series -- and, for what its worth, 'Born Again' does feel more like a sequel than just the fourth season of 'Daredevil.' Aside from Cox and D'Onofrio, much of the original cast has been replaced by new characters - including a new attorney colleague for Murdock and a new love interest. While some core 'Daredevil' characters from the original series make appearances, the main story is moved forward by a new core of supporting characters.

Michael Gandolfini ('The Many Saints of Newark') is disarming as the young, ambitious and devoted Fisk political loyalist, whose occasional political naiveté is offset by his fleeting menace. He invokes Fisk's ability to say words that on paper read as generous - but with a threatening edge. Kamar de los Reyes radiates the heart of a true hero whose secret life as a vigilante has cost him personally, yet he continues the journey that Murdock abandoned. Thank goodness 'Born Again' did not recast Vanessa Fisk, as Ayelet Zurer has fully evolved Vanessa from the art deal in the Netflix series to the crime boss she has become in 'Born Again.'

Although 'Born Again' thematically sets itself apart from the original Netflix series, the season does end on a bit of a cliffhanger - and just as the stakes become much higher for Murdock and Fisk. While the plot itself is not completely resolved by the season's end, the thematic journey for Daredevil and the Kingpin does feel very complete by the season finale. The two main characters are certainly in very different places by the end of the season finale than where they started at the start of episode one. But at just nine episodes, the first season of 'Born Again' doesn't overstay its welcome and incrementally forces Matt Murdock to ponder the Daredevil's place in a Manhattan ruled by Wilson Fisk.

Final verdict: 'Born Again' is a winning return for Daredevil and the Kingpin that lives up to the legacy of the Netflix original.