The following contains spoilers from the April 8 episode of Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again.
Daredevil: Born Again this Tuesday night set the stage for the Marvel Television series’ first season finale, and in dramatic fashion.
At the heart of this week’s episode were critical junctures for two couples.
Fisk brought wife Vanessa to his subterranean Red Hook hideaway, where he’s been holding Adam prisoner. “If I cannot be with you, I cannot be,” Wilson explained to his wife of slightly bad behavior. Adam begged to simply be set free, promising not to say anything, and though Vanessa eyeballed the key to his cell, she ended up turning a pistol on her ex-lover and firing multiple bullets into him, including a gnarly headshot for good measure.
Matt and Heather meanwhile saw their relationship tested like never before by her POV on vigilantes (namely, painting Muse and Daredevil with the same brush), and by his speculation that she has Mayor Fisk for a client. Matt labored to explain to her that Fisk is a “monster” using her to get to him, but he could only say so much without revealing his DD secret.
Elsewhere, Poindexter mysteriously got moved from USH to gen pop — meaning, someone wants him dead. Probably Fisk. Matt took a meeting with Dex, to pressure the marksman into giving up who hired him to off Foggy. Dex said he needed to be “on the outside” if he were to come clean, and not long after, he indeed had sneaked out of Riker’s by using a bloody, broken tooth (!) as a projectile and later slipping into a guard’s uniform.
The tension-filled episode culminated at Fisk’s inaugural Black & White ball, where the mayor in a private room leaned on well-heeled citizens like Jack Duquesne aka Swordman into funding his Red Hook project, and Heather (looking dy-no-mite!) wondered why Matt stood her up. When Matt eventually arrived, Heather accused him of being distant — and he 100% helped her case by focusing his attention on eavesdropping on Fisk.
We saw Fisk deploy the AVTF’s Powell to deal with a nosy reporter, and though Commissioner Gallo caught Powell jamming the guy’s hand into a deep fryer, Powell shrugged off his former superior’s righteous indignation. Irked, Gallo was all ears when BB Urich quietly invited him to use her private tip line to rat out the rats in the AVTF — because she secretly aims to take down the man who once was a suspect in her uncle murder.
As the mayor and his wife Vanessa partook in the ceremonial first dance, the pieces came together for Matt. It wasn’t Fisk who ordered the hit on Foggy, but the woman who was minding his criminal enterprise in his absence. Meaning, it was Vanessa who aimed to get Dex dead. And just as Matt nudged Heather to cut in with him on the mayor and first lady, Poindexter arrived at the ballroom balcony with rifle in hand. Whilst dancing, Matt confronted Vanessa, and Fisk seemed poised to tell Heather about her boyfriend’s secret identity. But when Matt heard a rifle cock, he lunged in front of the mayor, taking the bullet.
Pandemonium ensued, Fisk was rushed to safety, and Heather knelt beside a shot, bleeding Matt…
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the directing team that was installed as part of Daredevil: Born Again‘s midseason “creative overhaul,” and as such helmed this week’s episode (as well as the premiere and the finale streaming April 15), spoke with TVLine about what viewers can expect from next week’s Season 1 climax.
“There is a moment in the finale that is extraordinarily shocking on a practical effects level, and is very, very, very violent — but also, as filmmakers, incredibly exciting,” Benson effused. “You’ll know what I’m talking about [when you see it], and I can’t wait for people to understand why there’s a gleam in my eye [right now].”
Added Benson’s directing partner, Moorhead: “[The finale] is so brutally tragic…. A bonanza of bonkers visuals.”
Want scoop on Daredevil: Born Again, or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
