Daredevil: Born Again

Okay we are going into this episode with some feelings. They have fully destroyed Vanessa Fisk and I will not stop being angry about it, especially since keeping her character comic book accurate would have been better writing for the story they are actually telling. And then we have the fact that the last episode ended with what looked like the Punisher killing White Tiger, which would in fact destroy another comic book character if that is actually what happened. So I will hold my tongue until the show gives me a reason to get pissed off.

Thus far in the series we have seen vigilantes like White Tiger and Daredevil be portrayed as agents of the people. But the Punisher, whose symbol has been popping up throughout the series, is already being portrayed as more aggressive and violent. Seemingly without purpose.

The Fisk’s in therapy is something that would again work better had they chosen to write Vanessa accurately. This is what happens when you think you're better than the source material, you weaken your own story. See bad writing decisions piss me off more when making a better decision would have been literally so easy, all you had to do was not fuck up an existing character…it was already written for you. Comic book adaptations aren’t ever going to do anything brilliant. The source material is already there and if you change it it's ALWAYS bad. It's not like the MCU is fixing sexist, problematic things from the comics, no they are changing random, arbitrary things for literally no reason.

Street level heroes are also the best vehicle for societal commentary. Matt’s case with the guy in and out of jail is a little rough because yes, his life is very difficult HOWEVER the solution in his specific case is in fact, stop doing crimes. “I just wanted something that tastes good”, cool but 5 boxes? Bud I wanna help you but you are doing it to yourself.

Fisk struggling with the fact that now he has to actually be the mayor is so funny. He wanted the position of power but now he has to actually follow some rules because he is now a public figure and he can’t handle it.

Matt finds a very run down, strung out Frank Castle. The irony of cops sporting the Punisher symbol is both hilarious and sad. Matches real life stupidity. The Punisher is anti-crime sure but he’s also aggressively anti-cop BECAUSE they don’t do enough on crime. He doesn’t like you, he’s not for you.

Yay! Matt is looking at suits and weapons. Time to put the cowl back on baby. Get it back my love.

The cuts between Matt reclaiming his strength as Daredevil and Kingpin eating his fancy dinner next to the man he has in an underground cell is INCREDIBLE storytelling. The last few episodes we have seen these men fight who they are and now we are seeing them reclaim who they are. It's so good. Excellent set up, fantastic execution.

I am so excited by how well written this show is. The parallel tracks that are Matt and Fisk’s story arcs are incredible. My one sticking point is still Vanessa only because proper characterization would have literally strengthened the story they decided to tell. And for anyone who wants to “well in the original series” me, it would have made even MORE sense for her to see the damage Fisk’s crimes caused and pulled her back to a moral high ground in between the series.