'Daredevil: Born Again' Season 2 is an Intense Violent, & Political Thrill Ride That Delivers on Improving from Season 1 - REVIEW

The second season of the Marvel Disney+ series "Daredevil: Born Again" has been a long time coming. Ever since the original "Daredevil" series on Netflix released its swan song in 2018, fans have been clamoring for more of the titular Man Without Fear.

Last year, the first season of "Born Again" premiered to positive reviews but with the consensus that it didn't live up to its former glory on Netflix. However, this sophomore outing on Disney+ not only improves on the first season, but lives up to the quality of the original show in an intense and shockingly political 8 episodes.

"Born Again"'s first season ended with our titular hero on the run after his arch-nemesis, the nefarious Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, took over the city that blind lawyer Matt Murdock/Daredevil swore to protect. Season 2, episode 1, picks up a few months after the season 1 finale. Murdock, now donning a black costume with the character's signature "DD" symbol on its chest, is in full swing, working to expose the Kingpin's deep corruption, along with his partner-in-crime throughout the season and love interest, Karen Page (played by Deborah Ann Woll).

Page serves as Matt Murdock's rock and partner in the fight against the Mayor, and they often disagree on how best to take down Fisk. Cox and Woll have unlimited chemistry, as always, as Murdock and Page, despite their new romance this season beginning off-screen, their relationship throughout the original show, and the bond they have over the loss of a friend makes their romance believable and palpable.

The season 2 opener begins with an inciting incident that has repercussions throughout the eight episodes. Daredevil learns that Mayor Fisk has an illegal weapons shipment coming into the New York Harbor, and Matt Murdock spends the rest of the season proving that the boat carrying the weapons was ordered by Wilson Fisk.

It just so happens that the entire city is caught up in the effort. Like "Born Again"'s first season, Wilson Fisk is just as much the main character as Matt Murdock, drawing parallels between the two as they work to stop one another from achieving their goals.

Last season, in an effort to persecute his superhero opponents, the Kingpin declared vigilante activity illegal and established the Anti-Vigilante Task Force (AVTF) to enforce his orders. The AVTF is made up of the most corrupt law-enforcement officers Fisk could find, and given that most of those rounded up and brutally detained by them are immigrants, it's difficult not to draw comparisons to the real-life actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the second Trump administration.

Like ICE's detainees, those who find themselves arrested by the AVTF are detained without due process and put in small cages in confidential sites throughout the city. In "Born Again," their legal counsel is blindfolded when taken to see their clients and is rarely allowed to meet with them.

However, while the Task Force's entire purpose is to round up vigilantes, there are surprisingly few of them who are featured or even mentioned as being impacted by Fisk's policies. When we see those imprisoned by the AVTF, none of them are superheroes besides Jacques DuChamp/Swordsman (played by Tony Dalton), whose legal battle with the AVTF is shown throughout the season.

Because the Marvel Cinematic Universe is chock-full of superheroes in New York City, it's highly implausible that none of them were involved in fighting Fisk or imprisoned by the AVTF. It also reduces the impact of Fisk's decision to go after vigilantes if they are lax enough to let the ones fans know from other projects be.

However, audiences are treated to the long-awaited return of Jessica Jones (once again played by Krysten Ritter), whose own series aired on Netflix for 3 seasons from 2015 to 2019. Jones previously teamed up with Daredevil and other Marvel Netflix heroes in the 2018 limited series "The Defenders." In "Born Again," she returns to help Daredevil fight the AVTF after they literally come to her door to intimidate her and threaten those she holds dear. While her role in the series is less substantive than I would have hoped, she is given a fun action scene with Daredevil and does serve a purpose in the fight against Fisk.

When the show is focused on Fisk, the narrative goes out of its way to demonstrate the complicity of the "regular" politicians in Fisk's actions as mayor, as he sells weapons to the CIA, and the Governor tolerates him because his skewed statistics imply that his actions are popular.

Fisk's side of the narrative also features returning characters from last season, like his ruthless right-hand man Buck Cashman, his quietly sinister wife, Vanessa, and his sycophantic aide Daniel Blake. Each of whom gets their own arcs and is fleshed out as the season goes along.

However, the real highlight of the season for me is the nefarious assassin Bullseye (played wonderfully by Wilson Bethel). While clearly a deeply sick and twisted man from his debut in season 3 of the Netflix series, Bullseye is on a redemption arc in "Born Again" season 2, or at least, he sees it that way. Like Daredevil, he is on the run from the AVTF and has his sights set on Vanessa.

His introductory action scene is a delight, and his dynamic with Daredevil as they both work to achieve similar goals in very different ways throughout is utterly engrossing.

"Daredevil: Born Again" season 2 premieres on Disney+ on March 24th, and you can watch the trailer here.