In short, Daredevil: Born Again still bears the marks of reshoots, shoddy compositing, and unconvincing CGI. But because it puts the focus on the characters and themes, we viewers forgive the technical shortcomings and thrill to the story.
Salvation Through the Devil
Midway through the penultimate episode of Born Again‘s first season, Matt Murdock visits Bullseye in prison. Matt comes in all righteous fury, deflecting Bullseye’s attempts to needle him with acknowledgments of respect. That is until Bullseye points out that there’s a scenario in which Matt would be defending him in court. “Because that’s what good men do,” Bullseye sneers. “Defend their enemies in court.”
The line hits the target, forcing Matt to freeze, just one more reminder that he can’t be a good man, at least not through the legal system.
It’s a great character moment, one that underscores Matt’s moral quandary and larger loss of faith in the law. However, it has little to do the plotlines that made up the middle of the first season, stories about White Tiger, Fisk’s bayside renovation projects, or Heather’s mistrust of vigilantes. One could argue that the scene is distracting, ruining the season’s overall coherence. But we don’t, because the scene works. And it works because of its character work, because we’re compelled by who Matt is as a person, by Cox and Bethel’s performances.
To be certain, a lot of the upcoming Marvel projects will have similar bumps. That’s most true of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, both of which are currently undergoing major overhauls, but also of much-anticipated The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which had to respond with the rest of Marvel to changes in the Kang storyline.
But if they can follow Daredevil‘s lead and give us interesting characters, compelling themes, and great acting, we won’t care about the lingering problems in the production. If they can follow Daredevil‘s lead, the MCU can be truly born again.
