Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Episode 1 Review – “The Northern Star”

Daredevil: Born Again‘s first season, was, for lack of a better phrase, a hot mess, the obvious result of a half-season of TV that went through a midstream creative overhaul – one the revival clearly needed, but didn’t make for a neat landing as it barreled towards the intriguing, occasionally emotional and overstuffed “Straight to Hell”. Eleven months later (and one episode shorter), Born Again returns with a much more streamlined vision and voice for season two with “The Northern Star”, a premiere that doesn’t entirely resolve some of the lingering subplot issues of season one, but is undeniably a much sturdier, confident vision for the ever-downtrodden Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and his eternal existential conflict with the Kingpin.

“The Northern Star” doesn’t get off to the strongest start – if there’s anything Born Again still isn’t able to quite capture, it is the hard-edged, almost Banshee-esque approach to violence of the original series. After the genre-pushing long-take scenes of the OG series (specifically from season one’s “Cut Man” and season two’s “New York’s Finest” and “Seven Minutes in Heaven”), the cutaways and VFX stunts of Born Again just don’t hit the same, and it gets season two off to a bit of a specific sour note, as Matt fights his way through a ship carrying a shitload of weapons being smuggled through Fisk’s special little port, before escaping as the ship sinks in the New York Harbor.

It also doesn’t help that the very next scene drops perhaps the biggest surprise of “The Northern Star”; Karen and Matt are romantically entwined again, their shared bond of trauma that first brought them together (and then broke them up) back in OG Daredevil coming back around again – although this time, at least, Karen is putting herself through some physical training, so she’s ready to fight whomever she comes across when she dons her brunette bob wig to be a clandestine intelligence gatherer out in the real world. By bringing the two back together, Born Again appears to be leaning into its worst aspects as a revival, retconning bits of its own logic and stunting the emotional journeys of its characters for the sake of a some empty emotional calories. At their core, Karen and Matt are attracted to each other through the pain they’ve endured – whether that is love, or a trauma bond purporting itself as something more lasting remains to be seen, although seeing the two of them together certainly doesn’t add any excitement or propulsion to “The Northern Star”.

Thankfully, once the awkward opening scenes are out of the way, “The Northern Star” begins to find its focus, observing its wide swath of main and supporting characters as they contend with the chaos around them – and more often then not, find themselves leaning into it, rather than away from it. This idea manifests itself in ways both small and large, as Fisk and his personal “task force” army run unencumbered through New York. Though Fisk is offscreen for much of the episode, his power can be felt through Powell’s unhinged tortures, and the reluctant acceptance (or at least, appearance of) in new deputy mayor Daniel and his somewhat-friend BB Urich in their roles of propagandizing and carrying water for the most vicious, violent man this side of Frank Castle lording over the Five Boroughs.

But all around them, the people of Daredevil: Born Again have stepping forward into Fisk’s darkness, letting it cloud and consume them on their various destructive paths. The way these manifest across the episode feel a bit scattered at times in the 54-minute season premiere – but when it bears down on observing characters who are almost watching their self-corruptions in real-time, it immediately provides some intriguing tension (where its few actions scenes fall a bit short of). This corruption of hope is acutely felt in characters like the increasingly-nihilistic Cherry and Daniel, but is perhaps best seen with Heather, who is embracing both fascism and alcoholism as she has PTSD visions of Muse, and on Fisk’s request, changes the answers Jack Duquesne gave during his pre-trial mental assessment to rig the first high-profile of the Vigilante Trials alluded to in the episode.

It makes for a somewhat palpable mix of stories – though when considering the sheer amount of them (does anyone need a catty subplot between Kirsten and former mentor turned corrupt DA Ben Hochberg?), does make “The Northern Star” a lot longer and more languid than it is clearly aiming to be. Normally, this wouldn’t be a concern – but this is not the 13-episode Netflix seasons, and the shortened eight-episode order, plus the addition of even more plot that is only alluded to in this episode – like Matthew Lillard’s nonchalant CIA agent Mr. Charles – threatens to overwhelm a series that, even in its extended form, often struggled to maintain momentum with fewer overarching plot lines (anyone remember the second half of season two, when it was just endless scenes of ninjas jumping at Daredevil and Punisher?).

It’s just a lot of different tones for one series to handle; individually, “The Northern Star” handles most of these moments well, be it Karen’s advice for a young BB (where she confesses her uncle probably died saving her life) or its casual observations of Murdock and Fisk’s shared obsessions with each other. And where it leads, with a bloodied Matt and Cherry surrounded by dead AVTF bodies (the result of an offscreen Bullseye, presumably beginning his twisted version of a redemption tour), is not an inherently uninteresting one – but there’s plenty of suggestion that Born Again is taking an “and yes, also the kitchen sink” approach to storytelling, one that might come in conflict with the short season order and Daredevil: Born Again‘s inevitable whittling down to the impending Fisk/Murdock showdown, the kind that three of the four existing seasons of Daredevil‘s small-screen misadventures have already ended on.

However, the growth seen in Daredevil: Born Again‘s storytelling is apparent in “The Northern Star”, an episode of TV that doesn’t feel like a twisted bastard child Frankensteined together on the cutting room floor, despite the occasional feeling of the premiere biting off way too much than it can comfortably chew in its short running time. “The Northern Star” is still not quite vintage Daredevil – but it appears to be finding its way closer to something more consistent (and consistently engaging) in season two, which is as encouraging a sign one can hope for in the strange world of MCU television.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

• welcome back to Daredevil: Born Again reviews! I’m back in Hell’s Kitchen for season two – reviews will publish late Tuesday nights or Wednesday mornings throughout the season. Except for episode three; that one will probably be late, because that day I’m getting married!
  
• Karen’s source of information is obviously none other than Jessica Jones, who is making her MCU debut after her own three-season run on Netflix.
  
• There’s a bit of over-reliance on squishy sound effects when Daredevil: Born Again gets violent; it is unnecessary audio texture, the kind that oddly softens the blow of the brutal violence Born Again is making its trademark.
  
• Nobody got a few minutes to sweep up Josie’s floor? I also love the implication that Matt just punched his way through the wall to their little hidden apartment.
  
• Heather’s full bozo turn towards corruption has a lot of potential to be the most underwhelming plot of this season, but I’m holding out hope.
  
• While I’m quite interested to see what Jon Bernthal’s co-written One Last Kill special is in May, I’m sad he apparently won’t be joining season two in any capacity.
  
• No White Tiger mention in the premiere, though we all definitely know that is returning through his niece this season. I wonder once again – are there too many plotlines?
  
• Boy, Mr. Charles is callous about the value of human life, offering to hire a full team for Fisk to murder once they’ve delivered the weapons Daredevil worked so hard to sink.