As Daredevil fights Muse and Fisk beats on Bearded Adam during the climactic moments of “Excessive Force”, one can almost feel Daredevil: Born Again celebrating its own perceived success. The cinematography paralleling the punches of Daredevil and Kingpin as they pound on their adversaries, the screams let out by both men as their carnal identities finally bubble over to the surface; it is clearly designed as an definitive, evocative sequence of the revival’s first season, the true embodiment of its themes of identity and purpose seen on the parallel paths of its two aggressors. In theory, it should be the culmination of Born Again‘s first two acts; unfortunately, the hollowness of the scene’s two halves lay bare some of the revival’s biggest shortcomings.
“Excessive Force” at least begins in a promising place, with Matthew Murdock getting back in touch with his religious side a bit, trying to pray away the awful memories of the past year. Though sometimes Daredevil would languish in Matt’s conflicted morality, it was always an effective device in understanding some of the emotions happening behind the mask. Why would Matt continue to put himself through the continued beatings and brutal physical exchanges, losing friends, mentors, and lovers along the way, if not driven by a higher purpose? Of course, Born Again has no pretense of caring about theology, or really anything but driving Matt to a place where he’s back in the costume – which this episode does in the space of a couple scenes, when his girlfriend mentions writing a book about vigilantes, and he subsequently catches wind of where the supposed Muse (revealed to be making the city’s infamous murals with a mix of human blood) may be hiding out.
The air comes out of it quite quickly, unfortunately. What makes Matt’s material in “Excessive Force” so disappointing is its entirely frictionless; we’ve seen this cycle with Matt multiple times, and without Born Again doing any kind of legwork to tie Matt’s actions with his deeper emotions (which, we can presume, are the same mix of bitterness, rage and optimism that makes him such an intriguing conundrum). Matt’s contemplations are represented by Foggy’s memorial card, his investigation and discovery into Muse is laughably short – and at that point, there’s no consideration given to Matt’s internal conflicts about putting the mask on yet again, since there’s a bad guy on the loose and that demands a hero to do hero things immediately, especially when he learns that Hector Ayala’s niece Angela has gone missing (we already know she’s been taken, because somehow she also immediately finds his lair after learning of its potential location, and decides to go after it for… reasons?).
It doesn’t help that Born Again is clearly going to fumble the Muse storyline; after an intriguing introduction earlier in the season, Muse’s brief foray into the light is another laughably one-dimensional portrayal of a silent killer, one who apparently has combat training and an incredibly impressive physique (given he overtakes multiple women off-screen, and also holds his own in a hand-to-hand fight with Daredevil). The bullet points of the character (actions, costume, behavior) are interesting, but when the only thing Born Again has to offer is an unnecessarily flashy camera shot to dramatically depict someone standing up, it becomes obvious the lack of depth in this character’s construction and delivery – which not only makes him a less than formidable opponent for Daredevil, but fails to provide any justification for its inclusion, other than to have a scene where Daredevil beats him in the exact fashion Fisk beats Adam in his own little secret underground lair.
Somehow, Fisk’s path to the episode’s Big Moment is even more morosely superficial; there’s no more obvious a visual metaphor than Fisk’s tuxedo jacket ripping to represent Fisk’s colliding identities, and how his facade as a politician is quickly falling to the wayside. In this episode alone, he hits a gangster with an extra “you’re being rude to me” tax, sets up the most transparently corrupt and self-serving task force (to hunt Muse, supposedly), delivers a poorly written “go get ’em boys!” speech to said task force, and then gives imprisoned, impoverished Adam an axe so he can feel better about beating the living shit out of him again – there’s cartoonish, and then there’s whatever is happening with the writing of Fisk in Born Again, which comes to a head when “Excessive Force” tries to draw parallels between the emerging darkness protruding from between the knuckles of their balled, bloodied fists.
While it’s still fun watching D’Onofrio growl his way through Fisk’s pontifications, his masochistic treatment of Adam is a rather small, petty portrayal of the character, which becomes an incongruous mix with the bombastic performance. The emergence of Kingpin while supposedly under the thumb of government (shout to The Pitt‘s Katherine LaNassa, who makes a cameo as a stuffy, uppity member of the city’s political elite) is no more satisfying a turn for the character, either, given his ‘conflict’ is a couple lines of dialogue while his actions are met with no resistance at any point (save for a couple mumblings by the police commissioner). But given how much time we’re spending on this Vanessa/Adam nonsense, it’s an understandable byproduct; his ascension to the mayoral office wasn’t exactly grounded in solid logic, so seeing his shortsighted, self-effacing actions in “Excessive Force” feel a bit stunted and underdeveloped is not entirely surprising.
Again, this is an episode where the city discovers the hideout of the antagonist, and two characters find his lair without having to investigate, or even really look around, so it’s not like one can expect Born Again to paint Kingpin in meticulous, complex strokes. Even considering that, Kingpin’s arc is a disappointing one, in how hollow and forced it has been; the only real stress point has really been his wife’s infidelity, a strange turn of events for the character. And while there’s certainly fertile dramatic ground to be had in the story of a powerful couple whose flaws undercut each other’s strengths, Born Again makes this story entirely a device of Wilson’s, leaving Vanessa an empty vessel of a character – and more importantly, making Fisk’s violent retributions against Adam feel even less justified and underdeveloped than Matthew’s; though “Excessive Force” portrays them as identical and driven from the same primal place, the text of their stories are entirely dissonant with each other, betraying Born Again‘s thematic emptiness with the hollow parallels it tries to draw.
Fisk’s screams and crunchy punches are at least a distraction from the clumsy, awkward action sequence that is the Daredevil/Muse fight, which is highlighted by random front flip kicks, the strange deployment of Daredevil’s billy clubs, and a lot of visceral, but empty moments of combat. It’s not quite as bad as the CGI mess that we witnessed in the premiere, but it’s definitely not worth of the sequence’s evocative opening image (Daredevil sprinting at Muse, coated in the shadows and red highlights of the train’s headlights, themselves akin to the squinting eyes of the devil) nor is it something that excites or intrigues for the inevitable collision course it sets between its pair of paralleled protagonists. It’s just kind of a scene that happens, Fisk screaming and smashing Adam’s head into brick walls, cutting back and forth to Daredevil and Muse’s odd mix of wrestling and brief hand-to-hand combat; and as the fights continue to pass the representative baton back and forth, the more “Excessive Force” feels like an episode congratulating itself for the assemblage of mediocre stories it’s presented as both text and metaphor in these opening six episodes.
I suppose the stage is set for Fisk’s overreach of power and Matt’s embrace of that ol’ Murdock devil spirit in these final three episodes (and also Frank Castle on a bloody rampage, given the footage from the season’s trailers), stories meant to overlap and form the genesis of the revival’s second batch of episodes. As the end of Born Again‘s second act, “Excessive Force” should be a celebration of what’s been and what’s to come on this series – it’s just too performative and hits too many false notes to serve in any kind of convincing, or intriguing, way, a mess of undercooked characters and ideas mushed into a streamlined, mindless package of plot and pulp. Daredevil was never the deepest series, but it worked for its big moments; Daredevil: Born Again just assumes them, and the result feels a lot less heartfelt – and thus, impactful or memorable in any way.
Grade: D
Other thoughts/observations:
- Ok, nobody else wants to talk about the dude in black running around with a fencing sword?
- Boy, this Luca guy doesn’t give Fisk any respect, I tell ya!
- Matt smartly laughs off Heather’s suggestion of interviewing The Punisher.
- No spoilers, but we’re obviously going to see the verbose man Fisk exchanges words with at dinner – it’s too bad his introduction here is nothing but a brief tease.
- We’re just starting episodes with these silly BB Report bits now, I guess.
- Someone suggests Muse has up to 60 victims, which really begs into question what all that police budget money is going to in this fictional NYC!
- What are the musical cues on this show? It’s half blaring MCU score, and half pop music cues that feel like they’re out of an aughts-era MTV show.
- I can’t stop saying “CEE-ment shoes.”
- Matt calling 911 and just saying “fuck it” is such an unintentionally hilarious moment.