Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 Review

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. Hi and welcometo the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we

(00:27):
review superhero films and debate thesuperiority between Marvel and DC by comparing
their characters in stat-based battlesimulations. I'm Marvelous Joe and I'm his twin
brother Johnny DC. And just a heads up, we arerecording this episode, not even five days after
we recorded the last one when my voice wascompletely shot. So I do expect my voice to falter
at some point during this episode because there'sa lot to say. I got a lot to talk about because we're

(00:52):
going to be reviewing Daredevil Born Again Seasonone. And on top of that, we're going to go over the
latest comic book movie news this past week,including the Thunderbolts Final Trailer, the
Fantastic Four Trailer. And we also got theSandman Season two date announcement. So my voice
is fucked. As always, we list our segment times inour episode description. So feel free to check out

(01:15):
the show notes if you want to skip ahead to aparticular topic. Guys our artificially
intelligent duel simulator AJ9K has a quickmessage for our listeners. So listen up. Why hello
there. Do you want even more from this podcast?Then become a part of the dynamic duel community on
Patreon, where you can choose from three tiers,the dynamic to a tier gives you access to our

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discord chat server. The Fantastic Four tiergives you two bonus episodes each month. And the
X-Force tier makes you an executive producer ofthis show. Lastly, the Dyna Mic podcast network
tier lets you create your own podcast using thisMonte Carlo simulator. Johnny and Joe will help
you develop your show, provide graphic supportand consultation and get you simulation results.

(01:57):
Pitch the twins, your ideas via email at dynamicDuel podcast at gmail.com. Check it out at
patreon.com / dynamic duel. Pip, Pip Cheerio.Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports
the podcast. Guys, be sure to tune into the othershows and the DynaMic podcast network this
week, including the console combat podcast,where hosts John and Dean simulate battles

(02:20):
between popular video game characters. Inyesterday's episode, they speculated on who
would win in a fight between so bad guy from GuiltyGear and Ragnar the Blood Edge from Blazblue.
Blazblazblue? Something like that. Over on theMax Destruction podcast, host Scotty and Gilly,
pet your favorite action heroes from film andtelevision against each other. This Wednesday,

(02:42):
the twins are reviewing the 1995 film MortalKombat. On the Sanjo World podcast, host Zachary
Hepperin speculates on fights between fanfavorite anime and manga characters. On
Thursday, Zach is going to reveal who would winbetween Sennaku from Shangri-La Frontier versus
Kirito from Sword Art Online. Visitdynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show

(03:05):
notes to listen to all of the shows in the DynaMicpodcast network. But with that out of the way,
quick to the no prize. A no prize is an award thatMarvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the
dynamic Duel no prize, is a digital award that wepost on Instagram for the person that we feel gave
the best answer to our question of the week. Lastweek, in the absence of any news, we asked you guys,

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what's your favorite Marvel or DC comic thatyou're reading right now? And why? And we got one
answer. Apparently none of you guys are readingcomics. Well, we also didn't give him a whole lot of
time to respond either. So let's go ahead andannounce this week's no prize winner. Congrats to
Zozo. Who said? Hey there. So my favorite comicseries ever is the DC series. In my opinion, it is

(03:54):
just the perfect story. It's really cool havingBatman and Superman and Flash just, you know,
fight zombies being this zombie world and no one issafe in it. And it's just very action packed,
violent, and it's just a perfect comic series. Allright, thank you. Now, I'm not sure if Zozo said DC

(04:18):
or DC's, but either answer is acceptable because,yes, DC is an awesome series featuring Superman
and Batman, the Flash, and all of your favoritesuperheroes. It's been going on since 1938. It's
freaking amazing. And DC's is one of its mostinteresting stories, focusing on the anti-life

(04:39):
equation, infecting everyone and turning theminto zombies, which is just a really cool high
stakes story. We went over that story a few yearsago for Halloween during our DC's versus Marvel
Zombies episode, and that was a really fun episodeto do. Yeah, for sure. I recommend listening to
that episode if you have it already, because we hada lot of fun with it. As Jonathan and I have noted

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before on this podcast, we don't get a chance toread a whole lot of the current comic books out
there because we're so busy reading the comicbooks and research for this show, for the duels
that we're doing. So I was really looking forwardto getting answers from current Marvel readers.
But I know offhand that a lot of people recommendthe ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimates and

(05:22):
Ultimate Wolverine lines that are coming outright now. I heard X-Men is really good now that
they're out of the Krakowan era. Although I likedthe Krakowan era as well, less than I wanted to,
because I really love Jonathan Hickman as awriter. But I kind of view his run on the X-Men as
kind of like Grant Morrison's run, who I alsorespect as a writer. But it was kind of like a

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contained sort of thing that I'm excited to move onfrom and get into the more traditional feel of the
X-Men stories. Yeah, I keep hearing amazingthings about the absolute universe line that DC
has right now, like all of these articles are justbombarding my news feeds about how much better the
absolute universe is than DC Prime. I haven't readany absolute comics yet, but I 100% need to. I'm

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just waiting for the trades to come out. I reallywant to get my hands on One World Under Doom right
now, which I heard is pretty good. It's basicallythe story about how Dr. Doom finally becomes the
world's dictator. You know, he becomes the oneruler in charge of the world. And for some reason,
all the other country's leaders are going alongwith it. So it sounds pretty interesting. If
anyone didn't get a chance to call in with theiranswer, but they still want to share with their

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reading, feel free to leave us a comment whereveryou're listening to this on, whether it's
Spotify, YouTube or shoot us an email. We'd love tohear from you guys. But congrats to Zozo. You win
this week's No Prize. If you're the listener, wantto win your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on in
this episode when we'll be asking anotherquestion of the week. And now that that's done, on

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to the news. All right, this past week, we got twotrailers from Marvel Studios. We got the final
trailer for the Thunderbolts film, which comesout on May 2nd, and we also got the first official
trailer for the Fantastic Four first steps movie,which comes out on July 25th. Since the

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Thunderbolts trailer came out first, we'll goahead and talk about that one first. And also, I
feel like I have less to say about it, because we'veseen so much from the marketing for this movie
already that I don't think there was a whole lotelse that they could show us without, like,
basically spoiling something. I think there'squite a few surprises to be had in this film. But the
trailer took a more kind of sentimental approachto the story. Like a lot of the previous marketing

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has been about how this is a team of quirky outcastsbanding together. But this one was more about like
what it means to be a hero for these people,especially Yelena, who feel like they've done so
much wrong in their past. And, you know, theprevious trailers have had cool songs like Possum
Kingdom by the Totes and Where's My Mind by thePixies. This one had Under Pressure by David Bowie

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and Queen. And I have to say, it's probably one ofthe worst renditions of the song that I've ever
heard, because it was just way too sentimental.I'm wondering who they're trying to target with
this particular final trailer, because it's sosappy. You have like Red Guardian telling Yelena
to like believe in herself. And she's like, butI've done so much wrong. And she's crying and
stuff. I'm like, just go back to being the cooloutcasts. You know? Yeah, you mentioned that they

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can't really show too much more without givingspoilers, but I thought this trailer had major
spoilers in it. I mean, obviously when Yelena is inthat dark forest, when she's like looking at a
clone of herself or whatever, it's after shestepped into the void's darkness, which we see at
the end of this trailer. She goes into some kind oflike trippy dimension where she's like facing her

(08:46):
inner most demons or some shit. I don't think it'stoo revealing of a spoiler. It just means that like
she doesn't die when she walks into that darkshroud. Well, we already knew she wasn't going to
die because she was announced for the Doomsdaymovie. Dumb. I thought it was interesting at the
beginning of this trailer, how they showed aflashback to Black Widow, which I thought was kind
of cheap a little bit. They're trying to play onMarvel fans, I guess, nostalgia for the Black

(09:09):
Widow movie, which I don't think there's a wholelot of. But I don't think it's a good look to try to
use Scarlett Johansson to help sell the movie whenshe's probably not in it or not in a substantial
role. And the same for Chris Evans as CaptainAmerica, when him and Bucky were, you know,
exchanging glances. Yeah. And all this doesn'treally feel like a new piece of marketing and so
much as kind of like a hash together, last pushed bytickets of which I have. I have my tickets. I'm

(09:34):
going to go see it at the LMO on May 2nd, and I'mreally looking forward to it. I don't have my
tickets yet. Better fix that shit. Yeah. I'llprobably get them at the last minute. The film
isn't tracking too well, I think. So I expected todo something like Brave New World numbers. I don't
think it'll be too hard to get tickets. Well, whenthe movie turns out to be a masterpiece, since, you

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know, a lot of the A24 film production people are onthis movie, I think you're going to be sorry when
you're not able to get tickets because everybodyelse is so excited to see the film. Yeah, I'll take
my chances. All right. I mean, this trailer didn'tget me too excited to rush out and buy my tickets.
What was your favorite part of the trailer? I likethe shot where we see Yelena going into the void. I

(10:15):
think that seems like the climax of the film. Yeah,I could see that. But again, you know, we know what
happens or at least you know, I think we're prettyconfident we know what happens after she goes into
there. You think Yelena appeals to the centuriesdarker nature or something like that? Something
like that, exactly. She's like, hey, I'm dark,too, but I follow the light. I hope that doesn't

(10:37):
happen. My favorite part of the trailer had to bewhen Bucky was talking with some side piece on the
phone and she was like, oh, we're not going to come.And he's like, we could be the ones that are coming.
And I was like, oh, that's a bold swing. I hope thatpays off for him. Rumors are that's Songbird on the
other line. Who is a major Thunderbolts characterfrom the comic books? We did a Duel episode with

(10:58):
Songbird against DC's Pied Piper. So if you'reinterested in learning more about her,
definitely check that out. Nice. Yeah, she's atraditional Thunderbolt. So I'm glad they found a
way to squeeze her into the film if that is her.Yeah, for sure. Let's go ahead and move on to the
Fantastic Four trailer, though, because I thinkthere's a lot more to say about that one.
Considering it's the best look we've gotten at thefilm since the teaser came out, you know, a few

(11:20):
months ago. The trailer starts off with the host ofthe Ted Gilbert show. And now it's seeing the
Fantastic Four as a team of astronauts who gotsuperpowers and are now celebrities. It's kind of
like the Ed Sullivan show. It looks like back in the60s. I got to say, I'm loving the production design
on this film. I think it's a bold, creative choiceto set this movie in the time period that it is.

(11:42):
Because not only is it new for Marvel Studios, italso makes it feel very Jack Kirby-esque. You
know, the artist who worked with Stanley to createthe Fantastic Four. And it feels just plucked
right out of that timeline. Oh, yeah, I totally getthose vibes. The Jack Kirby retrofuturism.
Absolutely. Yeah, it kind of lends this innocent,happy tone to the film that I don't think you

(12:03):
necessarily would get if the movie was set in themain MCU in the modern day. Things like, you know,
the kids asking the thing to pick up the car seems sowholesome, you know, back in the 60s. Whereas
today, you know, you have a bunch of cynicalassholes would probably be like, oh, that's
cheesy. Yeah, today you have heroes like theThunderbolts who are dripping with cynicism

(12:23):
compared to the Fantastic Four. Right. Yeah. Soit's kind of cool that we're going to get that
dichotomy this summer from Marvel in thetheaters. We get a scene of Fantastic Four during
dinnertime, during which Sue and Reed show up lateand the thing correctly deduces that she is
pregnant. And Johnny gets super excited. This isour first real look at Joseph Quinn's portrayal of

(12:44):
the Johnny Storm character. And I got to say, I likeit. I think it's pretty well done. Yeah, Joseph
Quinn is a great actor. I really liked him inStranger Things. So I was pretty excited when he
was cast for Johnny. I'm actually really likingthe entire cast, except again for Ben Grimm's
voice. Still not loving that. But the otherperformances seem great. Yeah, I still wish that

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the thing's voice was a little bit deeper, a littlebit more gravelly. But we'll see. One thing that I
do hope changes between now and the release date isthe special effects on Silver Surfer. They
weren't terrible, but I was hoping for a little bitmore definition in the character. She's pretty
low res right now, I would say. I want to say she'slow res, but I will say she's low articulation, if

(13:28):
that makes sense. If we're talking about likeaction figures, this is more of like a Barbie than
like a McFarland, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Idon't mind the look. I still really question why
they decided to go with the shawla ball version ofSilver Surfer, who was a female version of the
character as portrayed in the Earth X mini series,which is one of my favorite stories of all time. And

(13:51):
I know that they're trying to establish this movieas set in an alternate universe. But considering,
you know, Galactus seems to be portrayed as wetraditionally know him, this female server
server really stands out as like the only thingother than the time period that is setting this
film apart as an alternate universe story. Andbecause of that, I think she stands out like a sore
thumb. She should have been Frankie Ray, Nova, theother Herald of Galactus after Silver Surfer in

(14:17):
the comics. I completely agree. Frankie Ray wasthe character from the comics who used to be Johnny
Storm's girlfriend. And she was actually the, Iwant to say niece of Phineas Horton, who created
the original Android Human Torch. She was exposedto those chemicals. And so she had flame powers and
she was turned into a Herald of Galactus and she wasgiven the golden skin as opposed to silver like the

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Silver Surfer. It would have been a greatspectacle to see on the screen. And they still
could have treated this as an alternate universestory. We still could have saved the Noran Red
Silver Surfer for the primary Marvel timeline.It's just it's strange why they chose to go with
Shawla Ball. I also think that Julia Garner couldhave made a great Frankie Ray. Oh, yeah, she would
have been perfect for the role. There was a shothere that was a little bit too reminiscent of the

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rise of the Silver Surfer film where we saw JohnnyStorm chase the Silver Surfer out into space and
then get knocked back down to earth. I really hopethis story doesn't hit too many of those same beats
that that 2007 movie did. I do have to say I love whatthey're doing with the characters in this film. It
seems so much better than the past films. Like ReedRichards, dramatic arc, his internal conflict is

(15:24):
very apparent in this trailer. I think PedroPascal is going to do an amazing job in the role. The
guilt that he feels over possibly bringingattention to earth and possibly leading to its
destruction from Galactus is a fantastic storybeat for the character. They seem to be making so
many cool choices, like with a fantastic car, theway their powers are portrayed are pretty cool,

(15:47):
including Mr. Fantastic, who he's got to seestretch for the first time here. And Galactus
looks like he's going to be phenomenal. Oh, yeah,the invisibility powers that we got to see for a Sue
Storms character that looked so damn cool. Yeah,it was like a prism, kind of like bending light
where you get that kind of rainbow aura at the edge.Yeah, I liked how only parts of her were like

(16:08):
turning invisible. She was definitely strained,but it looked like she was bending light. So cool.
I'm really looking forward to this, but I got to sayMarvel is not too late to just redo the special
effects around your Shala Ball Silver Surfer asFrankie Ray, the Herald called Nova. It probably
is too late. It's not too late, but that brings us toour question of the week. What do you think of the

(16:33):
Shala Ball Silver Surfer from the Fantastic FourFirst Steps official trailer? So similar to how we
asked you guys about the most controversialelement of the latest Superman preview we saw,
where we asked you guys what you thought aboutcrypto. Now we're asking your thoughts about the
Silver Surfer. Record your answer atdynamicdool.com by clicking on the red
microphone button in the bottom right hand cornerof the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a

(16:55):
voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 secondslong and don't forget to leave your name in case we
include you on the podcast. We'll pick ourfavorite answer and award that person a Dynamic
Duel No Prize that we'll post to Instagram. Be sureto answer before April 26th. In DC News, we finally
got a release date for Sandman Season 2, which iscoming out later this year. In two parts. It came

(17:20):
with a brief teaser trailer. They're calling it adate announcement in which we get to see all of the
members of the Endless, well, six of the seven atleast, which I've been dying to see. Like ever
since I started reading the Sandman comics anddreamed of this being adapted on screen, like the
Endless are the coolest characters ever. And so tosee them all together kind of blew my mind and

(17:45):
totally has me pumped for this upcoming season.Yeah, let me see if I can name them all real quick,
being someone who's never read the Sandmanseries. I know there was Destiny at the beginning
of the trailer. Of course, there is his sisterDeath and Dream. And of course, we saw Desire and
Despair from the previous season. I think the newone that we're seeing here, step out of the
painting is Delirium, but I'm not clear who themissing seventh member is. So the missing seventh

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member is Destruction, and he is the embodiment ofchange as a word, sort of in the same way that Shiva
is the embodiment of destruction and change andHinduism. OK, now Delirium is a fan favorite
character. She actually started off as Delight,but over the eons, she morphed into Delirium

(18:33):
because she was kind of a cosmic afterthought, asit were. So she's this very tragic figure, someone
who's all powerful, but also insane, though shewasn't always. I'm really curious to see what they
do with her character and with all of the endless,honestly. You know, we got to see characters like
Death and Despair and Desire in the first season,but they get more heavily involved in Dream's

(18:56):
story in these subsequent volumes. So yeah,things are going to get good. Now, this season is
going to be 11 episodes total, the first six ofwhich will be released July 3rd, and the second
volume or the second half will be premiering July24th, and that's five episodes. Now, we know that
this series has been Warner Brothers' mostexpensive television series to date. Oh, and you

(19:21):
could definitely tell. Yes. For sure. Everythinglooks incredible from the costuming to the set
design. The visual effects are incredible.Everything. Everything is incredible. I really
enjoyed the first season of the show with theexception of a few acting performances. I'm
really hoping season two tops that. I imagine itwill just because of the story and all the

(19:44):
different characters that we'll get to meet,including Kay, Thor. Did you see that? Oh, is that
who that guy was? Yeah. What a poser. Sandman Thor,way better than Marvel Thor. You'll find out. I
immediately and strongly disagree with thatstatement. I recently canceled my Netflix
subscription, but I'm definitely going to getback for this series because it may just be my

(20:06):
favorite series of all time. OK, calm down. Calmdown. It might suck. You never know. Dude, did you
see the footage? Did you see the footage? I did. Iknow that a good trailer does not make a good
series. Now, we should address the elephant in theroom. Has the news about author Neil Gaiman's
general shittiness affected your anticipationof this season? No, I could give two shits about

(20:30):
Neil Gaiman. Not going to lie. To me, it's all aboutthe art, not the artist. I understand sometimes
that people don't want to engage with the artbecause they feel like they're supporting the
artist. But at the end of the day, I grew up readingthis series and there's no way I'm skipping out on
this. Yeah, I think at some point you got to say,fuck them. What they created belongs more now to

(20:51):
the fan base. Well, in the case of the Sandmanuniverse, almost that exactly because other
creators have picked up where he left off andcreated an entire Sandman universe. This is why
you don't want to meet your heroes, kids, becauseeveryone sucks. DC High Volume, Batman, the Dark

(21:16):
Knight's definitive DC comic stories adapteddirectly for audio for the very first time. Fear. I
have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle.Get after him or have you shot? You mean blow up the
building? From this moment on, none of you aresafe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you

(21:40):
get your podcasts. But that does it for the newsportion of this episode. Now let's go ahead and
move on to the main event where we review the DisneyPlus and Marvel Studios television series
Daredevil, born again season one. OK, Daredevil,Born Again is a nine episode Disney Plus

(22:14):
television series run by Dario Skardapane andstarring Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio. The
show is a direct continuation of the three seasonDaredevil Netflix series, which is largely
considered one of the best, if not the best,superhero television series of all time. I
personally rated each of the first three seasonsof the Netflix show as no less than four and a half

(22:35):
out of five stars, including season three, which Igave a perfect five star rating. I think the big
question in fans minds was was this new show goingto compare to what came before? And there's a whole
lot to talk about in regards to that. So if youhaven't seen the show, I'm going to say I recommend
seeing it. Go ahead and watch it before listeningto our spoiler breakdown of this season. In fact,

(22:57):
go watch all three seasons of the Netflix show ifyou haven't before and then watch Born Again.
Right, because we'll be discussing spoilers fromthose seasons as well. And honestly, those
seasons are masterpieces for the most part.They're worth it. I'm not going to say they're the
best superhero television series ever, but it'sdefinitely the best Marvel series ever. The best

(23:17):
superhero television series of all time. Yes, Ithink we were all hoping after the Netflix deal
with Marvel ended that somehow, somewhere, someway we'd get to see these characters again.
Thankfully, it wasn't too long before we got thenews that the series rights were coming back to
Marvel and that they were continuing the show. Andthen, you know, they cameoed Charlie Cox as Matt
Murdock in projects like Spider-Man, No Way Homeand She-Hulk, Attorney at Law, Season One. And

(23:41):
then we also got to see Kingpin show up in shows likeHawkeye and Echo. When they first announced the
new season as Daredevil Born Again, I understoodfrom a branding standpoint why they would call it
that, considering the show was being retooledunder a new streaming service. But at the time of
that announcement, I did object to that namebecause, you know, we've already seen Daredevil

(24:02):
Born Again adapted masterfully in season three ofthe Netflix show, born again being, you know, the
name of a story arc from the comic books. I wasconcerned that the show runners were going to try
to retread old ground with the story of Mattrebuilding himself from rock bottom. But despite
the season's subtitle, the show instead chose theinteresting angle of adapting the Mayor Fisk

(24:24):
storyline from the comics, which I thought wasfascinating, because in this take, both of the
main characters spend a majority of the seasontrying to be something they're not. You know, Matt
tries to be just a lawyer, not a vigilante. Fisktries to go straight and just be a mayor, not some
crime boss. But each one over the course of the showis fooling themselves. And as the episodes go on,
they slowly are reborn into their chur selves. SoDaredevil Born Again as the title works both in

(24:49):
terms of branding and in tailoring thisadaptation to that brand. Yeah, it's kind of like
Spider-Man Homecoming in that I think it wasMarvel Studios kind of claiming ownership of that
character and the story that they were going totell. Yeah, we know that the initial approach to
the show is to actually ignore the three seasonsthat came before and treat it as its own thing. And

(25:10):
then during the actor and writer strikes, theyrealized that that was the wrong way to go. Dario
Scarpina, who worked on the Punisher Netflixshow, came aboard and reworked the show so that
they retained the continuity from the Netflixshow, which all the fans loved. Yeah, the show kind
of went through development hell. They've beengoing so far as to rewrite and reshoot the entire

(25:30):
season, scrap everything they had so far. I wasworried that that was going to be evident in this
season and it was. But that's not saying that Ithought the season was bad. I think the worst thing
you could say about the season is that it's theworst season of Daredevil. But that's not saying a

(25:51):
lot just because the other three seasons wereamazing. And this one was still good. I would
agree. Yeah, the season overall had somewhat of atonal disparity that was definitely a product of
the production issues it had. But somehow, youknow, they still produced a show that was at the
very least comparable to the Netflix series,right? Like it maybe didn't reach those heights,

(26:11):
but pretty damn close. And that's prettycommendable, considering what they went through
while making it. I feel like if they had anotherepisode or two, it absolutely would have been even
more comparable to what we got with Netflixbecause they definitely left me wanting more this
season. Yeah. Now, the Mayor Fisk storyline fromthe comics was fascinating because Fisk becoming

(26:32):
the mayor essentially had Daredevil retreat fromhis vigilante persona because Fisk owned the
police and the courts. In the comics, it forcedMatt as the then assistant and district attorney
to take a much more political approach to bringingdown the kingpin. It was a very political story
where after a failed assassination attempt onFisk, Matt used special constitutional
emergency powers to seize some control from thekingpin and restore order to New York. And that

(26:57):
leads to the devil's rain storyline. Now, thisshows adaptation of that story took a much less
political approach to the mayor Fisk arc, which Ithink is a good thing because the political
aspects of Daredevil board again, I think werefairly slow and uninteresting. Like I really
couldn't care less about Fisk being labeled aunion buster in the press. And then like, you know,
the intern guy has to give a heartfelt apology forit and stuff like that. I was like, let's keep

(27:21):
things moving. As decent an actor, I think JamesGandolfini's son, I can't remember his name was. I
just think his character was a little bitunnecessary. I kind of saw him as being the son that
the kingpin never had. You know, we just got doneseeing kingpin in the Echo series where he tried to
mentor Echo and have that child that he never had.But this young guy on his political team ended up

(27:47):
being much more of a natural surrogate. I guess itwas good to get the perspective of people who did
support Fisk, which is why I think it was alsoimportant to include those like documentary
style shots of the people of New York, you know,giving their say. That was really interesting.
That was something that they did here that theydidn't do in the Netflix show. And I thought it
brought a vital like New York element to the show. Iloved those moments from BB Yurick. Those were

(28:12):
really well crafted. They felt like they werereal, right, which kind of made the whole show feel
like it was a little bit more real. It's aninteresting technique that I've seen before in
films, like when Harry met Sally or something likethat, just real people telling real stories. I
thought it really nailed the New York aspect of theshow, which is important in a daredevil show. I

(28:35):
thought it was like a good analog for real life, youknow, when you see interviews and surveys with
people who vote differently from you, you know,it's it's so hard to conceive of someone who has a
different perspective. And then, yeah, you seethat there are actually people who think this way.
There are actually people who would vote forkingpin because of the security provides
against, you know, some of the superhero relatedtragedies that have befallen the city of New York.

(28:58):
In this adaptation of the mayor Fisk storyline, Ithink the show took the more interesting approach
of having Matt and Kingpin find themselves aftertheir own respective tragedies, foggy's death
and getting shot by echo, forcing them toreevaluate their lives. It was a good launching
point for the story. And I thought it wasbelievable that Fisk might run for mayor after
taking some time to reevaluate. And that Mattwould abandon Daredevil for a time. That being

(29:22):
said, you know, it's a little bit disappointingthat it takes two thirds of the season to get Matt
back to being Daredevil again. I know thatDaredevil season three had a similar buildup to
getting him back in the suit. Right. But thatseason executed its pacing flawlessly in my mind.
Not so much with this born again season. And apartfrom some pretty fucking brutal book and

(29:43):
episodes, born again as a whole felt a little bittamer than the Netflix show, both thematically
and in terms of the violence. Though I'll say thatthis season did have the most violence he never,
which was like bordering on fucking horror filmlevels of violence when Kingpin crushed
Commissioner Gallo's head. That was, I don'tknow, unnecessary. Yeah, it felt like out of

(30:04):
place, right? I was like, this isn't the fuckingterrifier. Like you could have gotten away with
the gruesomeness using sound effects alone. Kindof like how they did when Kingpin decapitated a guy
in the car door in Daredevil season one. You know,right? They didn't show it explicitly, but we
still got every ounce of the impact. Absolutely. Idon't need to see Kingpin literally pulling a

(30:25):
guy's jaw off and like, you know, all the sinew andstuff that comes when you tear it away. Like you
would think that someone in there at that pointwould have been like, fuck, I think we're working
for the bad guy here. Shit. It's like, I'm out. I'mout. That was that was that was a lot, bro. Beyond
the time it took for the characters to get back totheir roles and the tonal inconsistencies. I

(30:48):
think the most disappointing thing about bornagain was that due to time constraints during
their period of retooling the show, they have thenumber of episodes for season one, because season
one was initially going to be 18 episodes. Oh, wow.That's way too many episodes. But now it's two
seasons of nine episodes. And then season two isgoing to be eight episodes. So the final episode

(31:11):
here, you know, if it felt more like a mid seasonfinale than a proper season finale, that's
because it is in a way. And it doesn't quite seementirely fair to judge a story based solely on its
first half, but since that's how they chose torelease it, that's what we're left to do. And I will
say that with the disappointing feeling that Ifelt with this quote unquote season finale, that

(31:35):
disappointment will be reflected in my finalrating of this season. Well, as it should be, like I
mentioned earlier, I definitely noticed theproduction problems that this season had. In part
with the sudden cliffhanger drop off in this finalepisode of the season, that was totally coming by
surprise, by the way. Like I was just waiting forthe next episode and I was like, wait, what? What?

(31:56):
And I guess it's not bad to leave your audiencewanting more. But I would have appreciated some
more catharsis. This feels very much likeInfinity War or the Empire Strikes Back, but
definitely not at the caliber of those projects.Right. My least favorite thing wasn't the ending.
It was, like you mentioned, just some of the fillermoments, like the bank episode, I felt it was like

(32:21):
an entire filler episode. I loved that episode,though. It was standalone, but I thought it was
like a perfect standalone that felt almost rightout of the comics. I could see that. I would have
rather skipped it. I didn't need it. Theredefinitely was a filler episode here, but it
wasn't that episode. Really? Yeah. I'll beinterested in hearing this. Well, that'll be in
our episode highlights. But before that, let'sget into our character breakdown. Starting with

(32:44):
Daredevil, aka Matt Murdock, played by CharlieCox. We've talked about Charlie Cox before on this
podcast. He's a flawless Daredevil in my mind. Theguy not only embodies the role, but I think
transcends it with all the nuance he brings to hisperformance. It's so great to have him back in the
role. You know, he had his cameos and otherprojects, but I think where Matt Murdock really
shines is in the dichotomy between his charm asMatt Murdock and his rage as Daredevil. And in

(33:10):
order to get that full character spread, you needto see him on his own. As mentioned before, Matt was
on a journey back to being Daredevil afterretiring from the role because of the tragic loss
of his best friend, Foggy Nelson, and steppingover his own personal ethical code in trying to
kill Bullseye for that. Over the course of theepisodes, we see him drift toward his vigilante
tendencies more and more, you know, starting witha simple warning over a cup of coffee with a

(33:33):
kingpin. And then, you know, he ends up dusting offhis billy club and then he goes on to beat the shit
out of some people. And then eventually he dons thesuit once again. I think I've said multiple times
in this podcast's tenure that there's nothingharder than sitting through a superhero project
watching the main character not want to be the herowe know and love. I know I said that with the first
half of Luke Cage, season one, and I think Idefinitely said it for She-Hulk, Attorney at Law.

(33:57):
And I'll say it again here, it was hard to getthrough those episodes wanting to see him be
Daredevil again. Yeah, I definitely felt likethis was somewhat retread of season three. Like
you mentioned, where it kind of takes the wholeseason for him to get back into costume. I agree. I
don't love that. I don't think it was as well done asseason three, but it would be really hard to match

(34:21):
that. They tried at least. Yeah, at least theyshowed us that Matt really did want to be Daredevil
again and did a good job of putting him insituations like the Bank Heist where he still got
to show off his powers, you know, just outside ofhis Daredevil outfit. And I liked the Daredevil
outfit for this season. I thought it was a cooltexture upgrade. And I liked the new Billy Club,
although it seems infinitely more dangerous thanthe other Billy... I mean, Daredevil is good like

(35:17):
that. He's a marksman. He has his radar sense. Idon't think that's going to happen, but it does
seem needlessly lethal for a character who neverreally goes that far. That said, his radar sense
this season seemed different than in pastseasons. Like, he had a harder time focusing on
multiple things at once. Like he'd be focusing onone thing and miss something else entirely. That

(35:41):
happened multiple times this season. I think thatwas more of a product of his rage, such as the Muse
fight or something like that, than his actualpowers going funky. No, I don't think it was his
powers going funky. I just think it was a choice onbehalf of the creative team. Like he would be
focusing on someone's footsteps so much that hewould almost get run over in the street and it's
like, oh, that's not the Daredevil I know. TheDaredevil I know has like a very keen spatial

(36:04):
awareness. It's his radar sense. I really did likehow the show, especially in the first episode, I
noticed used aspect ratio to try to portray what hewas focusing on. So like the letterbox format
would shift to almost full screen on some partswhere the audience got to hone in on exactly what
Matt was focusing on. It was very artistic and it'snot something that they did too much outside of

(36:26):
that first episode, unfortunately. It justseemed to me more like they were focusing on his
senses rather than this sixth radar sense that hetypically has. Well, I always kind of interpreted
his radar sense as the internal image he gets fromall the sensory data that comes into him. Yes, like
echolocation. Yeah. And in season one ofDaredevil, they portrayed it very much like a city

(36:50):
on fire type thing, which I thought was reallycool. I really want them to go back to that. Yeah,
that'd be cool to see again for sure. Let's go aheadand move on to the kingpin, AKA Wilson Fisk played
by Vincent D'Onofrio. Just like Charlie Cox, it isso nice to see Vincent D'Onofrio back in the role in
this main show and not just in cameos anymore. Likehis appearance in Hawkeye was lackluster and his

(37:11):
role in Echo was fine. And he was like the best thingabout Echo season one. But only in the Daredevil
show do you truly get a feel for how sadistic andterrifying the character is, I think. And really,
I think this is the most terrifying we've probablyever seen him, especially in the last episode of
this season, when he had the whole face ripoffthing and then his smile to Vanessa at the end when
they were having dinner together. It was like someHannibal Lecter type stuff. Like D'Onofrio was

(37:35):
really pulling from some of his creepier rolesthat he's had in like the cell or something like
that. Oh, dude, like making Vanessa shoot herformer lover that she had when she thought he was
gone and dead. Yeah, that was trippy. Yeah, theirwhole relationship got a lot more focused here
than I thought it would. But I was definitely alongfor the ride. I like where they took it. Yeah, he had

(37:56):
a phenomenal arc this season, I thought. There wasan interesting note that they made this season. It
was really kind of almost a throwaway line thatVanessa said in the final episode, episode nine,
that served to bridge the gap between the Netflixshow and Hawkeye. At the end of Daredevil Season
Three, I think we all assumed that Kingpin wasgoing to be locked up forever. But in this season,

(38:17):
we learned that he was acquitted by his defenseattorneys who painted the FBI, including people
like Agent Nadine, as corrupt. And if you go backand watch Daredevil Season Three, it's just so
fucking tragic. Considering how cathartic theend of that show was and how it really felt like Matt
and Agent Nadine got justice there. And it turnsout, yeah, they did it. No, Kingpin was acquitted

(38:41):
just like he always is. It was kind of bullshit.Yeah, I could see that. But I also don't see any
other way around it, really. Well, yeah, the badguys always got to come back, right? And, you know,
they already established the fact that Kingpinwas not in jail from shows like Hawkeye and shows
like Echo. Right. So I figured something wentwrong somewhere. I did think it was cool how

(39:02):
Vincent DeNafio bulked up over the episodes. Idon't know if he bulked up like physically or if it
was just the tailoring of his suits. But I didnotice upon his first reveal, I was like, oh, he's
skinnier. And they even mentioned that in theshow. Matt comments, you've lost weight and
everything. But by the end, dude was fuckingmassive. So that was a really believable
transformation that I thought was pretty dope.Apparently he was bulking up down in that secret

(39:25):
dungeon that he had. He definitely looked a lotbetter and more dapper here than he had in shows
like Hawkeye and Echo. I loved DeNafio as Kingpin.He's perfect in the role. Let's go ahead and move on
to the Punisher, a.k .a. Frank Castle, played byJohn Berndthal. It was nice to see the Punisher
back. I still think that Berndthal is the mostcompelling actor to play the character. I'm not

(39:48):
quite sure that they used Frank Castle as well asthey could have during this season. No. I was a
little underwhelmed by Matt and Frank's initialmeetup. I don't think it held a candle to any of
their interactions in Daredevil season two,which were like Shakespearean in quality. I don't
know if I would go that far, but it was so much betterthan what they did here. Yes, Shakespearean.
Okay. I was so glad that Punisher showed up again inthe final episode. That way we could see him get in

(40:13):
action scene with Daredevil. And we saw himaddress the issue of the Punisher copycats, which
I was hoping was a thread that they wouldn't leavedangling. Yeah, it's so relevant to the real
world. Would you have some cops and some authorityfigures touting a Punisher logo as a symbol that
they aspire to? It's not great. No, I don't lovethat. I've been wanting to get a Punisher tattoo

(40:35):
for the longest time. I have a Captain Americashield on one shoulder. I wanted to get a Punisher
skull on the other. It's kind of like thatdichotomy, the angel-devil shoulder kind of
motif. And I won't get a Punisher tattoo nowbecause I think it's been co-opted by people who
shouldn't be using it necessarily. I don't mindgun enthusiasts using the Punisher logo, but I do
have a problem with law enforcement using itbecause it's a symbol of a person who deals out

(40:59):
lethal justice because in part they've goneinsane and I just don't think it's a good look. I
hate when I see the Punisher skull with the thinblue line. Yeah, I don't think anyone should be
using the Punisher logo, honestly. Somepositions in society should be held to a higher
standard, I would say personally. And thatstandard should not be the Punisher. Right, yeah.

(41:21):
He's an interesting character, one of Marvel'smost interesting characters in fact, but I don't
think he's necessarily an inspiring character.Peacemaker! They should just get Peacemaker
logos. So much better. The irony of thatstatement. I wonder if we'll see Punisher again in
Daredevil Season 2 or if we'll only see him again inthe special presentation that Marvel's working
on. Either way, I hope we see what he does once heescapes his cell as we saw him do in the

(41:45):
post-credits scene of the show. Dude, that was soobvious. The cop who went to shake his hand is a
freaking idiot. Anthony was a big dum-dum forsure. I kind of hope that we don't see the Punisher
in the following season of Born Again, justbecause like you, I don't think he was really well
used here, which is surprising considering thatthe Punisher showrunner came on board to the

(42:09):
writing team for this series. Yeah, well, I alsohope that he doesn't show up again in Season 2, not
because I don't want to see the character, butbecause he's not really a team player. And so if you
have him teaming up with, you know, whether it bethe defenders or New York City's finest, I think it
would just be strange to see him be that kind ofperson. He's more of a loner, you know? He was a
member of the Thunderbolts for a while in thecomics. He should have been in that movie. Yeah,

(42:33):
that was weird too, though. Let's go ahead and moveon to the character of Muse, aka Bastion Cooper,
who was played by Hunter Doohon. I'll say that I'm alittle bit conflicted with the characterization
of Muse in this series. On one hand, he ended upbeing so much less mysterious than his comic book
counterpart, because in the comics, who he isreally isn't even human. Like, he has powers.

(42:54):
Like, he can absorb the sensory data in his closeproximity, which makes him hard to pinpoint. On
the other hand, I'll admit that adapting him asthis sort of Banksy artist serial killer, who
drains and paints with the blood of his victims waspretty damn interesting. I didn't know anything
about the character of Muse from the comics. Ithought this character was pretty interesting in

(43:15):
this show, even though I felt like he kind of cametoo little too late and then was gone by the time
things got interesting. Well, according to therumors, Muse was originally going to be the main
bad guy of the season. And then the show gotretooled and he was kind of sidelined. And I really
think that the show could have used him in a couplemore episodes than they had him in, just to build up

(43:39):
that mystery, you know? The actor who played him, Ithought did a decent job, even though it was very
obvious that he was Muse. I don't know if you saw theshow Wednesday, but it was the same bad guy actor.
So right away when I saw him, I was like, okay, he'sthe bad guy. Honestly, he didn't even register to
me at the book signing when we first saw thecharacter, until the recap of the previous

(44:02):
episodes at the start of each episode, I realized,oh, it's this guy. I thought the element of
painting with your victim's blood after drainingit was a really interesting modus operandi that we
haven't seen or I personally haven't seen in a lotof like thriller material like shows and movies,
conceptually evil Banksy. It just felt kind ofneat. Yeah, I wonder what Banksy thinks of this

(44:24):
series. He probably hates it. I did think that therevelation that he was like a Taekwondo expert was
a little bit convenient. That's right. It was alittle bit ridiculous. Like they needed to give
some kind of rationale for why he could hold his ownin a fight against Daredevil, but just kind of like
shoehorn again. Oh, I'm a Taekwondo champion wassilly at best. It's like, sure you are, pal. Sure

(44:45):
you are. Let's move on to Bullseye, aka BenjaminPointexter, played by Wilson Bethel. I really
like Wilson Bethel. I thought he was a force ofnature in Daredevil Season 3, and I was so glad that
they brought him back for board again. I think hewas a little underutilized, just like Muse here,
but he absolutely gave us the best action scene ofthe season, which ironically was in Episode 1.
Yeah, it was the action scene that kicked off theseries, basically. Wilson Bethel's Bullseye is

(45:10):
still, I think, one of the most terrifyingvillains we've probably ever seen in a superhero
television series. Seeing him come back justbrought me chills. I didn't know he was going to be
in the series. And when he was, I kind of thought hewas dispatched a little too quickly. I'm glad they
brought him back and it was cool to see some of thethings he did. But yeah, I definitely needed more

(45:31):
Bullseye this season. Yeah, I think newcomers tothe Daredevil show who hadn't seen the Netflix
previous seasons, I don't think we'readequately, probably convinced of how scary this
character is based just on his showings in thisshow. I mean, that first episode was incredible,
but I think you really have to see Daredevil Season3 to get a grasp of the depth that has gone into this

(45:54):
character. I hope he comes back. I don't know wherethe hell he went to in that last episode. Right? He
just disappeared. Yeah, I don't think he had anyreason to. He was trying to kill the kingpin for
putting him into general population, but heprobably would have been fine killing Matt and
Kingpin and Vanessa all in one go. But instead, hemissed a shot and then took off. It was strange.

(46:15):
Yeah, seeing Kingpin go to Windows to look outsideafter an assassination attempt from Bullseye, I
was like, yeah, that's not a smart move. LikeBullseye will always hunt you down. Exactly. And
also, I don't think putting Bullseye in generalpopulation was actually a threat to him. I feel
like he could have killed every other prisonerthat was there, considering he can turn anything

(46:36):
into a weapon pretty much. Yeah, absolutely. I'mwondering why he didn't. I don't know. But that's
it for the characters. Let's go ahead and move intoour episode highlights. In a world where
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Episode 1 was called Heaven's Half Hour. Whilecelebrating the retirement of their NYPD
associate, Cherry, Matt Murdock, and his friendsare attacked by Bullseye, who shoots and kills

(47:47):
Foggy Nelson. In retaliation, Daredevil dropsthe villain off a roof, an act seen by Cherry, who
learns that Matt is Daredevil. One year later,Matt has retired as the hero and works at a new law
firm started with former DEA Kirsten McDuffie,who sets him up with her friend Heather Glenn, a
therapist. Kingpin returns to New York afterspending time away recovering from being shot and

(48:07):
nearly killed. He has his wife Vanessa step awayfrom leading New York's crime in his stead and
announces his candidacy for mayor, running on ananti-crime and anti-vigilante platform. Matt
and Fisk meet at a diner, warning each other to stayin line. Seen as a tough and capable candidate by
the people of New York, Fisk wins the election formayor. He admits to Vanessa that he knows of the
affair she had with a man named Adam during hisabsence. As the city celebrates, a graffiti

(48:32):
artist paints a mural of Fisk. To me, this was thebest episode. I always hate when that happens,
when the first episode was the best, but I don'tregret this one because I had such a good time
watching it. It really felt cathartic, you know,getting the show that you know and love back and
just as good as you remember it. By the time thoseopening credits rolled, after we saw Daredevil

(48:52):
throw Bullseye off the building after hearingFoggy's heart stop and he tossed his helmet down
with all those blades sticking out of him, I wasfloored. My jaw was on the ground and I was just able
to just like absorb that new opening credit scenewith a riff on the classic Daredevil theme, you
know, it was fantastic. I really wish the internetwasn't so quick to spoil things for people. Like

(49:13):
right after the episode dropped, I learned thatFoggy Nielsen was going to die in the first
episode. And so it kind of ruined the whole openingkind of bit for me. That's horrible. Well, you
still said you didn't know Bullseye was going toshow up, so you were surprised by that. That's
fair. Yeah, I was surprised by Bullseye, not by theoutcome of what happened, though. It was a cool

(49:34):
fight, though. I love how it was that, you know,single tracking shot that the Daredevil series is
known for, where we got to see Daredevil andBullseye fight outside of Josie's Bar, come into
Josie's Bar, go up the stairwell, and then onto theroof. The fight choreography was just
phenomenal. And seeing Bullseye like murder somany people in the course of that fight, yeah, it
was horrifying. And also seeing Bullseye likesmack the pavement the way he did, I totally

(49:58):
thought they killed off the character. Me too. Inregards to some of the side characters, I don't
think Kirsten McDuffie was nearly as compellingin the show as she is in the comics. She's a more fun
character in the comics, I think, a little morewitty. But I've never liked Heather Glenn,
whether it was in the comic books or in the show,especially in the show, though, that she was a
waste of a character. You know, she actuallyshowed up in the 2003 Daredevil movie with Ben

(50:21):
Affleck. She was the one that left the voicemail onhis phone, breaking up with him, saying he was too
distant. That was Heather. Same character.Interesting. In the book, she was like a socialite
heiress, if I remember correctly. Episode two wascalled Optics. Hector Eliyat comes across two men
beating up another on a subway platform and triesto stop them when one of the aggressors is hit by a

(50:41):
train and the other reveals themselves as a cop.Matt overhears Hector's story and volunteers to
defend him against his murder charge. Charyoncovers that Hector is the vigilante known as White
Tiger. Information which Matt requests be heldfrom the trial, believing that a history of
violence would bias the jury. Fisk Blackmail'sNew York Police Commissioner Gallo to prevent him
from resigning in protest of his election.Heather begins counseling Kingpin and Vanessa's

(51:04):
marriage. Matt tracks down the subway platformvictim named Torres to get him to testify against
the cops, but he's interrupted by officers withPunisher Skull Tattoos who attempt to attack him.
Matt savagely beats them in response when that'sthe end of the episode. What did you think of White
Tiger in this series? I thought it was cool. Ithought his costume could use some work, although

(51:25):
he's kind of depicted as a homegrown type ofsuperhero. I thought it was canonically supposed
to be made out of jade. I don't know what it was madeout of here. It looked like silver, but I wish I
could have seen more of White Tiger in action in hiscostume. Like we saw some like footage of it on the
BB Eurek report, but you know his ability is to bethree times the martial artist, three times the

(51:52):
strength, you know, three times the skill due tothe three pieces of the jade amulets. I think it
would have been cool to see that in action. Yeah,that's what I was going to say. I would have loved to
have seen White Tiger in action. It was kind ofweird to hear Matt Murdock and everyone talking
about this amulet that he had that gives him likesuperhuman powers. I was like, this is kind of

(52:12):
different from the more grounded Netflix showswhen they're talking about superpowers. Right.
Yeah. I mean, the fact that they're setting it morein the MCU kind of got to give him a little bit more of
that leeway. But the fact that like the amuletwasn't taken by the Department of Damage Control
or something like that, like his positions werereturned to his next of kin. You know, his niece,
Angela was in the show and she becomes hissuccessor as the White Tiger. This whole

(52:35):
storyline almost played exactly like how it did inthe comic books where he was framed for a murder of a
cop and Matt defends him, gets him acquitted, andthen White Tiger is shot and killed right after
leading to Angela taking up the mantle. Althoughin this show, Angela is a lot younger. Yeah, I was
about to say she was way too short to be a superhero.Yeah. She's not my favorite version of the White

(52:55):
Tiger, though. That's Eva Hector's sister. Youcan learn more about White Tiger in our Dula
episode where we pit her against Bronze Tiger. Iwant to say RIP to Kamar Dulos Reyes, the actor who
played White Tiger. He died in December 2023 fromcancer. Oh, no way. What? Yeah. He dedicated a few
episodes to him. I didn't make that connection. Sowe've on to episode three, the hollow of his hand

(53:17):
with Kingpin stepping away from crime, the gangleaders Victor and Luca start turning on each
other. Vanessa frustrated that her work is beingundone as Kingpin's right hand man Cashman
ordered Luca to pay Victor 1.8 million inrestitution. In court, the victim Taurus
declines to testify on Hector's behalf at a fear ofpolice retaliation, causing Matt to reveal his

(53:38):
client's White Tiger identity, focusing ontestimony from the people he saved over the years.
The jury finds Hector not guilty, which angersFisk due to his anti-vigilante stance. Despite
Matt warning him to lay low after beingexonerated, Hector dons his White Tiger costume
and is shot dead by a man wearing the Punishersymbol. I thought this was a great legal episode. I
always like seeing the legal cases that Matt takeson play out in the courts. It's one of the unique

(54:01):
aspects of the Daredevil comic and theseDaredevil shows. And also, you know, the She-Hulk
shows, which you know how I felt about that show inour review. But I always like a good legal drama.
And I thought that played out pretty well here.Yeah, it played out as one of the better trials that
have been in the entire series. I agree. And theending was sufficiently tragic. When I saw the
Punisher skull, I was like, that wasn't Frank. So Iknew that they were kind of going to address the

(54:26):
police idolatry of the character of Punisher,that whole theme within the course of this show,
which I was really looking forward to. I actuallythought the mystery of who shot White Tiger was
going to be the main focus of the show. It was kind ofweird when they were deviating with subplots
after that. Yeah, it was kind of pushed off to theside, which is unfortunate, especially for the

(54:47):
character of White Tiger. And I wasn't thrilled bythe reveal that it was Cole North, who in this show
was a member of the anti-vigilante task force. Butin the comic books, he's actually a police
detective. It's more like the character of Cherrywithin this show, except more of a badass because
he can fight. It was very against the type ofcharacter that he is in the comic books. In the

(55:07):
comic books, he's more of a hero. Yeah, the revealthat he was the killer was so anti-cli-backed. I
was like, come on, it was one of the things that kindof made me feel that there was trouble going on
behind the scenes story-wise. Yeah, maybe.Episode 4 was called Six Semper Systema. Matt
comforts Hector's niece Angela, who believes thecops killed her uncle. Kingpin and Vanessa
discuss her affair with Adam in therapy. Mattrepresents a man arrested for stealing caramel

(55:30):
corn. Fisk announces his plan to rebuild thecity's Red Hook port, which some suspect is a cover
to build up his future criminal endeavors. Matttracks the bullet casing used to kill Hector and
sees the Punisher skull on it. He tracks downPunisher to ask if he's Hector's killer and if not
to take responsibility for those misusing hissymbol. Frank calls Matt out on his anger and his

(55:51):
failure to avenge Foggy. Matt contemplates theDaredevil mantle while pulling his billy club out
of storage as Fisk has dinner in a secret dungeonwhere he's keeping Adam. I thought this was the
filler episode. A lot of it was just kind ofunimportant. You know, the biggest thing about
this episode was the Matt and Frank meetup, butthat was weak as hell. I just really didn't like how

(56:11):
that played out, because the way it ended, italmost played like a scene from Good Will Hunting,
where Frank was like, you're angry about Foggy'sdeath, ain't ya? Well, it's not your fault, Red.
It's not your fault. And Matt's like, don't fuckwith me, man. And then, you know, they share a cry.
And I'm sitting over here like, what the fuck isgoing on? Right, 100%. I was like, well, that's

(56:31):
unusually intuitive for Frank Castle. Right. Thewhole caramel corn thing. What the fuck was that
about? It was supposed to be a commentary onsociety, you know? It really hit home when the guy
was like, you know, the city's willing to pay fivetimes as much to have me incarcerated than to help
me eat. You know, it was really tragic hearingabout him, you know, digging through trash and

(56:52):
stuff like that. And a lot of people are in thisvicious cycle. But, you know, that whole plot
thread really never went anywhere. I don't know ifthey were trying to go for like Stiltman in the
Netflix shows here. I think it would have beenbetter if they would have, because at least I would
have cared a little bit more. Oh, you're talkingabout Turk Barrett? Yes. Yeah, in the comic books,

(57:12):
he's Stiltman, but they never showed him in hisStilts. They only referenced him in the old
Netflix show. They should have made Turk comeback. I really like Turk. I thought he was a great
character in the old show. Moving on to episodefive, which was called With Interest. On St.
Patrick's Day, Matt visits New York Mutual Bank toseek out a loan for his firm, where he speaks with
assistant bank manager Yusuf Khan, the father ofKamala Khan, the hero known as Ms. Marvel. During

(57:35):
their meeting, a group of bank robbers working forLuca take everyone in the bank hostage, seeking
access to the vault to get the $1.8 million he needsfor his debt. The lead robber, Devlin, negotiates
with Detective Kim while Yusuf is taken to open thevault. Matt subdues two of the robbers and opens
the vault where they find a rare diamond therobbers were trying to get. Matt pretends to hand
over the diamond right as the police storm the bankand rescue the hostages. Devlin disguises

(57:59):
himself as a cop and escapes, believing he's in theclear, but he's followed by Matt who beats the
ever-loving shit out of him. Matt secretlyreturns the diamond to Yusuf at the bank. Like I
said earlier, I liked this episode. I don't know ifyou liked it as much as I did, but it felt like a story
that you'd get in between arcs in the comics, youknow? And I really like how cleverly it played out
where one of the hostages was on the inside with thecriminals and stuff like that. I thought it was

(58:23):
pretty well done and well executed. I just hatedhow it really didn't play into the rest of the show.
One shots are cool. I don't think they're cool intelevision series though. Yeah, I mean, like
there was the major side plot between Victor andLuca, the crime bosses, but they didn't really
focus on that too much. So it was weird to see it getan entire episode dedicated to that subplot here.

(58:43):
You're right. But we got a really cool cameo fromYusuf Khan, the father of Kamala Khan, which I
think was totally in keeping with the types ofcameos that you would see in the books. Yeah,
that's true. I thought the best part of thisepisode though was the Irish joke. I mean, it was
good. I think that was to pad the runtime a littlebit. 100%, but it was actually funny. Let's go to
move on to episode six, Excessive Force. After herbody is discovered with its eyes gouged out, Luca

(59:07):
visits Fisk, who tells him that he has a week to payhis debt. A sanitation worker tells Fisk that the
murals around the city are painted by themysterious artist Muse using human blood. Angela
Diltoro visits Matt at his firm informing him thather late uncle, White Tiger, was looking into
finding a serial killer who was hiding in thesubway tunnels. Fisk meets with New York's elite
edda fundraiser, including Jack Duquesne, whorejects his plans to build the Red Hook port. Fisk

(59:32):
puts together a vigilante task force of crookedcops and grants them impunity to go after Muse.
Angela investigates Muse's location herself andis taken as his next victim. Her family contacts
Matt to report her missing, and he finallyredaunts his Daredevil suit to rescue her. He
fights and nearly kills Muse, but the villainescapes as Daredevil tries to save Angela from
bleeding out. Meanwhile, Fisk beats Adam in asecret dungeon. I was not expecting to see

(59:56):
swordsmen come back from the Hawkeye show. It wasreally cool to see him here, and I hope that he joins
Daredevil's team in season two of Daredevil BornAgain. Yeah, I'm really curious to see who they
will put on that team. I was hoping they would kindof hint at it, maybe with the cameo from the
defenders or something like that. But yeah, itwould be cool if he was a part of that team. He was
captured with a punisher, maybe the punisher setsome free, I don't know. That'd be cool. Episode

(01:00:21):
seven is called Art for Art's Sake. Inna Angelarecovers in the hospital and tells authorities
the location of Muse's lair. Detective Kim tellsFisk that the primary suspect of the Muse's
identity is an artist and taekwondo expert,Bastion Cooper, who happens to be one of Heather's
therapy patients. Luka meets with Vanessa, whoasks her to take back control of the mob behind
Fisk's back. Daredevil finds paintings ofHeather in Muse's lair and goes to her office where

(01:00:45):
Muse has her restrained and plans to kill her.Daredevil rescues her and fights Muse, ending
with Heather shooting and killing the villainbefore fainting from blood loss. Fisk has his task
force take credit for taking down Muse andrescuing Heather. Cashman kills Luka in a trap set
by Vanessa. I liked this episode. I thought thefight between Muse and Daredevil was like hella

(01:01:06):
violent. A lot of blood spray, especially whenDaredevil shoots his billy club through him and
stuff like that. I thought it was an action packedhero versus a villain fight. It was nice to see
those two kind of clash together again after theirinitial bout in the previous episode. Yeah, it was
a great superhero versus super villain battle. Ido really wish that the Muse arc was not just like a
two episode thing and that they really would haveestablished him more in earlier episodes. I did

(01:01:29):
think it was kind of convenient that he wasobsessed with Daredevil's girlfriend. But I also
think that the whole therapy sessions betweenWilson Fisk, his wife and Daredevil's girlfriend
was also very convenient, considering the factthat I'm not entirely certain Wilson Fisk was
going to her to learn about Matt, like Mattsuspected. No, I think they were legitimately

(01:01:52):
trying to work on their marriage. But by the end ofthis, when you know she becomes one of his cabinet
members, I totally think it's going to be to getinformation on Matt. Yeah, probably. Episode
eight was called Isle of Joy. In prison, Bullseyegets moved from solitary to the general
population. Kingpin reveals Adam's secretprison to Vanessa who kills Adam to reconcile
their marriage. At Josie's bar, Matt deduces thatFoggy's death was an orchestrated hit by

(01:02:16):
Bullseye, not out of some vendetta. Matt visitsBullseye in prison for information, but Bullseye
only agrees to talk on condition of his release,resulting in Matt smashing his face into the
table. At a fundraiser ball, Kingpin beginsconsolidating his power over the elites who
rejected his Red Hook Port Restoration. Bullseyeuses his broken tooth to escape prison and break
into the ball. Matt deduces that it was Vanessa whoordered the hit on Foggy, not Kingpin. Matt then

(01:02:41):
hears Bullseye's rifle about to shoot at Kingpinand takes the bullet through the chest. I gotta say
Heather annoyed the shit out of me this episode. Inormally wouldn't comment on this, but I was that
annoyed. She tells Matt like, Daredevil didn'tsave me. I saved me. Muse and Daredevil were there
for themselves. It's like Chica. You were gettingsliced into with a scalpel when Daredevil

(01:03:02):
arrived. He literally had Muse impaled when youshot him. You didn't save shit, okay? Yeah, that
was pretty ridiculous. I actually really likedthis episode. These last two episodes, I felt
like, were what the show should have been from thebeginning. I thought they were really good. And I
think a lot of it has to do with Bullseye. Again, thecharacter is just really cool and a great

(01:03:24):
Daredevil villain. Even though the end of thisepisode was kind of ridiculous, I thought,
considering we already know that Wilson Fiskwears bulletproof suits. And I'm pretty sure Matt
knew that as well. I don't know if Bullseye knewthat though, because he obviously wasn't going
for a headshot for Kingpin. But if Matt knew that,why did he take the bullet? Great question. Maybe

(01:03:45):
he somehow knew that Fisk wasn't wearing abulletproof suit at this time. I guess maybe.
Let's go ahead and move on to the final episodecalled Straight to Hell. In a flashback to one year
earlier, Vanessa frees Bullseye from hispsychiatric facility in exchange for killing
Foggy, who's working on a case involving the RedHook Port, where she launders her money. Back in
the present, Matt wakes up in hospital,critically injured, but alive. Kingpin orders

(01:04:07):
New York City to be shut down in an effort to huntdown his enemies, causing a city-wide power
outage, and orders Cashman to kill Matt in thehospital. Matt escapes during the blackout and
heads home where he finds the Punisher ready toassist him. Together, they fight off the
anti-vigilante task force who break into Matt'sapartment, and they learn that one of the cops was
White Tiger's murderer. The pair argue aboutFrank's lethal force, but jump out of the window to

(01:04:30):
avoid a grenade. The pair are picked up by KarenPage, who, along with Matt, learn in Foggy's files
that the Red Hook Port is a historical free portexempt from state and national jurisdiction, and
that the Fisks are trying to create their owncity-state there. Punisher is captured after
single-handedly trying to take down theanti-vigilante task force cops, and denies their
offer to join them. Kingpin learns ofCommissioner Gallo's attempt to undermine him,

(01:04:53):
and smashes and tears his face apart with his barehands in front of his force. He declares martial
law in New York, and Daredevil begins recruiting acontingent of honest police and other dissidents
to save the city. In a post-credits scene,Punisher breaks the guards' arm to escape his
cell. I thought there were some great fanboymoments here. Seeing Daredevil and Punisher team
up again, this time both of them in costume, was socool to see as a fan. Because they've teamed up

(01:05:18):
before in the Netflix shows, but never with them intheir outfits. There's just something really
exciting about that as a fan. And it was sowell-written too. After they jump out of the
building to avoid the explosion, they land on thecar, and they get off, and Matt's like, you're an
asshole, Frank. And Punisher's just like, I know.It was just great fan service. Yeah, I was

(01:05:38):
wondering who was the friend that called Frank togo help Matt. And when it was revealed to be Karen
Page, I was like, oh, that's right. She was a bigpart of Punisher Season 1. I totally forgot about
that connection. I'm so glad that they brought theactors for Foggy Nelson and Karen Page back,
because that would have been really weird to evenhave the Punisher in the Daredevil show again

(01:06:01):
without that connection. Yeah, Deborah N. Wall isfantastic. She was great in the Daredevil show.
She was great in the Punisher show. It was nice thatshe served as the bridge between those two
characters. And it just felt right that she wouldbe the one to kind of facilitate that team up. And I
really hope that she sticks around for DaredevilSeason 2, because I think she plays an important
role that I think was kind of missed in the course ofthis season. There was a great emotional moment

(01:06:24):
between her and Matt at the end of this episode,where Matt admits to Karen that after Foggy died,
he didn't know who he was anymore. And herreassuring him that no matter what Foggy always
believed in him, I thought was just a greatspringboard for this renewed sense of self going
into Season 2 and taking the fight to the kingpin.Right. Foggy would not have wanted him to give up

(01:06:45):
pursuing justice the way he does. But that's theend of the show. Overall, I think there was a lot to
enjoy here, especially as a fan of the Netflixseries. And while it didn't necessarily quite
reach the heights of the Netflix series, when youconsider that the first episode and the last two
episodes were the best of the season, I'm even morehyped going into Daredevil Born Again Season 2,

(01:07:06):
which will come out next March. Like its namesakecharacter, the show rediscovers itself as it
goes, resulting in an uneven, yes, but ultimatelycomparable season to the Netflix series before
it. And I think that's the best thing you could sayabout it. I'm giving it four out of five stars, a
fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Although you'llnote that it is a lower rating than any of the other

(01:07:29):
Daredevil seasons that we've rated. Yeah, I saidit was the worst Daredevil season, but the other
ones were just so damn good. I feel like there wasinevitable, you know. The show started off really
strong and it ended really strong. And while Ididn't love a lot of the stuff in the middle, I'd
still recommend it to anyone who is a fan of theNetflix shows. And I'm definitely looking

(01:07:49):
forward to seeing what they bring next year.Absolutely. My voice made it. I can't believe it
for the most part. I think I'm definitelystruggling more than it was at the start of this
recording. So that does it for this review. AJ andIK, help close this out. Thanks for listening to
Dynamic Jewel. Visit the show's website atdynamicjewel.com and follow us on Instagram at

(01:08:12):
Dynamic Jewel podcast. You can support the show onPatreon at patreon.com slash dynamic jewel and
joining a tier that works for you or by rating andreviewing Dynamic Jewel on Apple podcasts,
Spotify, Podchaser, or on our website. Don'tforget to listen to the other shows in the Dynamite
podcast network, including Max Destruction,Senjo World, and Console Combat. Our next episode

(01:08:36):
is going to be a really big one. It's going to be ateam duel between Watchmen and Thunderbolts. And
it looks like our Thunderbolts team is going toskew pretty closely to the roster that's in the
movie. So you definitely want to check that outbefore the movie hits theaters. That does it for
this episode. We want to give a big thanks to ourexecutive producers, John Starosky, Zachary

(01:08:58):
Hepburn, Dustin Belcom, Mickey Muthigan,Brandon Estregard, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatn,
Osso Waslosky, AJ Dunkerly, Nick Obanto, ScottCamacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spees, Dean Maleski,
Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, Josh Leiner, MikeWilliams, and Oscar Galvez for helping make this
podcast possible. We'll talk to you guys nextweek. Up up and away, true believers. Fun fact,

(01:09:20):
Daredevil gets all the ladies using his signaturepickup line, me so horny, and then pointing at his
horns. Look it up.

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