Disney+ has collaborated again with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, creating a series called Daredevil: Born Again. This new series is a reboot of the 2015 series Daredevil, starring actors Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin, and Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson. Like said actors, there will also be some familiar faces to come, including Jon Bernthal and Wilson Bethel. The series follows Matt Murdock back as a lawyer and as his secret identity, Daredevil.
The first episode starts with Matt, Karen, and Foggy at a bar after work for a retirement party for Cherry (Clark Johnson). Foggy has to exit and take a phone call. Matt listens in on the conversation and tells Karen something’s wrong. A guy named Benny, their client, is on the other end of the phone, saying there are people after him. Seconds later, they hear commotion from the other side. Foggy tells Matt that he didn’t say anything to him because he didn’t want him to get an excuse to reprise his role as Daredevil.
After putting his suit on, Matt goes to Foggy’s place to check out what’s going on. As Matt’s running, he listens in on the rest of the phone conversation and Benny tells Foggy that a man was asking for Foggy’s location. Then we see Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) with a sniper. Matt runs back towards the bar.
We next see Karen and Foggy trying to contact Benny. Suddenly, Foggy is shot and Bullseye arrives, dropping fog bombs on the ground. Bullseye says “Hi” to Karen as Matt comes speeding in, immediately attacking Bullseye.
Bullseye kills people as he walks through the building of the bar and goes upstairs to the apartment building connected. He and Matt continue to fight as they’re walking up the stairs. As they reach the roof, Matt rips off Bullseye’s mask.
Matt holds Bullseye over the roof and listens as Karen weeps; Foggy takes his last breath. Matt begins to cry and harshly drops Bullseye off the roof to the ground. He takes off his mask and breaks down. Cherry comes up to the roof and realizes Matt is Daredevil.
Bullseye somehow survives the fall, opening his eyes and slowly moving his head.
Later, we see Fisk meeting with his wife, Vanessa Fi (Ayelet Zurer). He interrupts a meeting with associates to tell her he’s back for good now. Vanessa mentions that she made the business “bulletproof” while he was gone. Fisk seems to have other plans.
One year after Foggy’s death, we see Matt in court, a sentencing trial against Bullseye. He’s there as a witness and tells the judge there will be no real justice for Foggy. Midway through his testimony, he is shocked when Karen enters the courtroom. Bullseye gets sentenced to life in prison with no parole.
After the trial, Matt and Karen sit in the hallway. We learn she’s moved to San Francisco and they haven’t spoken to each other in months. He asks her if they can get some coffee, but she declines, saying it’s not appropriate. She asks him about Daredevil and he tells her, “I’m not him anymore and I won’t let myself be.” Before Karen leaves, she sets a piece of his horn from his mask on the bench and walks away. Matt reaches down, grabs it, and sighs.
It’s now nighttime, and while Matt is cooking, he overhears Fisk on the television. Fisk is going to run for mayor of New York.
Next, we find Matt at work with his new firm, Murdock and McDuffie. He leaves to meet a potential client, Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva). But soon, he realizes he was set up by his partner, Kirsten McDuggie. (Nikki M. James). Kirsten told Matt that Heather needed a lawyer, while she told Heather that he needed a therapist. The two of them chat, getting to know each other after realizing it was set up as a blind date.
Afterward, Matt returns to the firm and tells Kirsten how the “date” went. She tells him that Cherry is waiting for him in the conference room. They talk about Fisk running for mayor.
The next day, Matt meets with Fisk, asking if they can talk, and they go to a diner. Fisk is surprised to see him. Matt asks if the Kingpin is back. Fisk says no, and that he’s put him away, just like Matt has done with Daredevil. Fisk tells Matt he’s going to “Make New York a better future.” Matt warns he’ll be there if he does anything bad. Fisk warns him too, that if he sees Daredevil, there will be hell to pay.
Later, we see Matt and Heather have continued their relationship. On a date in the city, Matt learns Fisk won the mayoral election. People on both sides of the political aisle flood the streets; the city is divided.
Overall, this was a great first episode. It’s exciting to see Matt Murdock, Karen Page, and Wilson Fisk on screen again. It’s easy to see that the beginning of the episode shows that there’s been a change within the friendship, the three of them being closer than ever. Foggy and Karen grew to understand and respect Matt’s secret (as Daredevil) from when they found out in Daredevil. It’s interesting to see the direction this episode went in, with Foggy getting killed by Bullseye, Fisk and Matt meeting up, and Karen and Matt now having a somewhat broken friendship. It was sad to see Foggy dying like that too. Will we see Bullseye again? What will happen now that Fisk is the Mayor?
Rating: 9/10