Daredevil: Born Again - TV Series Review

The TV Series: Daredevil: Born Again

Showrunner: Dario Scardapane

The Cast: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Wilson Bethel, Zabryna Guevara, Nikki M. James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer, Jon Bernthal

The Story: Matt Murdock finds himself on a collision course with Wilson Fisk when their past identities begin to emerge.

The Rating: 9 / 10

The Review:

I really don't know if we could have asked for a better revival of what was already one of Marvel's top tier achievements within the MCU of both movies and TV series. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio pick up right where they left off as Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk and continue to absolutely own their characters with some of the better performances I've seen in a while. No joke, this series should have a big stack of awards nominations and wins when it's all said and done.

The story picks up several years after the Netflix Daredevil series came to an end with Murdock having given up his crime fighting ways as Daredevil and Wilson Fisk, after some time away from the city after being shot in the face (check out the Hawkeye and Echo series on Disney Plus to see what that was about), returns with an idea to run for mayor of New York. That's as much as I'm going to say about the story because, even from the very first episode, there are some big time shockers and plot twists that I want you to experience for yourself.

Seriously, after the credits rolled on episode one, I was 100% all in and ready to see how the rest of the season would play out. Also, keep in mind this is season one of a planned two season arc so expect this first batch to be a lot of setup for the second chapter which I believe will come out about the same time next year and I'm betting we'll get at least a season three if not more. I suppose that will also depend on how things play out on the more cinematic side of things with Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars expected to overhaul and potentially reboot the entire franchise.

Anyway, holy crap, did I mention how good this series is? Everything about it is top notch from the writing and acting to the cinematography and editing, which is interesting and very impressive considering that the show went through its own major overhaul halfway through the production schedule. Apparently, the top people at Marvel didn't like the direction it was going and gave a directive to make it dark and gritty more like the how Netflix shows were. I mean, that's the main reason why we liked them in the first place so why not.

One thing that (literally) caught my eye was the use of lighting all throughout the show. I'm not smart enough to recognize any sort of symbolism or nuance attached to it but it always looked really cool and added dramatic effect and a sense that we are watching something slightly more than our own reality. Again, kind of hard to describe, you just have to see it for yourself and I don't think it was anything super groundbreaking or innovative, it was just really striking and noticeable for me as I was watching.

Another thing I really loved about the show is how, just like the first three seasons, the creators take their time and let the stories and characters breathe which allows the viewer to really get to know the characters while having a fully immersive experience inside that world. I was fortunate enough to have all nine episodes available to watch at once and it only took me two days to get through them. I'm sorry that you'll have to wait a week in between each episode because the whole thing is just that good and you're going to want all of it right now.

I feel like I want to say a lot more about this show but I also feel like I don't have anything else to say without deep diving into minute details which probably won't be too interesting and I don't want to go into the story because spoilers and all that. Let me just say that if you have been on the side of Marvel having lost a step or two, please give this series a look as they firmly regain their footing and hit the ground running with a show that should leave everyone happy and ready for more.