Daredevil: Born Again season 2 review: "Still struggling to bloom in the shadow of the Netflix show"

In Daredevil: Born Again season 2, the city of New York is "born again" under the tyranny of Mayor Wilson Fisk. This latest season is something of a fresh start, and a marked improvement on Born Again's hit-and-miss first season. Like Mayor Kingpin, however, the show can't shake off the past, and this new batch of episodes is still struggling to bloom in the shadow of Netflix's Daredevil, an unfavorable comparison that only becomes more stark with the return of some familiar faces. Season 1 lacked the shine of the original show and, while season 2 doesn't quite have it either, Born Again has polished up for its sophomore installment.

The Man Without Fear has not had a particularly straightforward journey on the small screen, to be fair. The Disney Plus reboot came almost six years after the Netflix show was canceled, and season 1 of the revival was plagued by rewrites and behind-the–scenes switch-ups. This resulted in some big narrative swings that didn't always pay off. What made Born Again's predecessor work so well was the dynamic between its core trio: blind lawyer Matt Murdock, his best friend and legal partner Foggy Nelson, and new recruit Karen Page. When Foggy was killed off in the opening of the first episode, it became clear that Born Again was going to be a different ball game entirely for the vigilante of Hell's Kitchen.

Season 2 picks up six months after the season 1 ending, with Fisk settled into the mayor's office and New York under martial law. His new Safer Streets Act equates vigilantes with terrorists, and there's a mandatory life sentence for anyone convicted of "extrajudicial action." Despite the stringent anti-vigilante laws, enacted by a brutal Task Force, Daredevil is still operating in the shadows, but Matt Murdock hasn't been seen since he took a bullet to protect Fisk from Bullseye in the season 1 finale. The Anti-Vigilante Task Force is making people disappear without trial and Matt's legal partner, Kirsten, is holding down the fort alone at Murdock & McDuffie. In short, the stakes are immediately higher than they were in season 1, and the real-world political parallels to ICE raids in the US have a surprising amount of bite for a show produced by the House of Mouse. When someone on the street calls a Task Force agent a fascist, they mean it, and we believe them.

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The season has a strong opening episode, throwing us right back into the action as Matt and Karen uncover Fisk's latest diabolical, illegal scheme, but the narrative time jump is a little frustrating. After a tentative flirtation in the season 1 finale (and an injured Matt's mix-up of his then-girlfriend Heather with Karen, which went down like a lead balloon with the former), the pair are now in the full throes of a relationship. It's disappointing that we don't get to see exactly how that played out, especially when Karen was mostly absent from the first season, but Deborah Ann Woll is still a welcome return to the main cast. The scenes between Karen and Matt – both the quiet, tender ones, and the more explosive moments of philosophical disagreement between the pair – make the show feel grounded in the midst of high-stakes political turmoil. Just as Fisk can't seem to leave behind his reputation as Kingpin, Matt and Karen are still trying to outrun their grief and rage after losing Foggy.

In spite of that, it doesn't actually feel like there's enough Daredevil in this season. Well, Daredevil is still beating up the bad guys, sure, but with so many subplots, there are minimal insights into what's really going on with the man behind the mask. Matt's faith takes a backseat, for example, although that's one of the most interesting facets of his character and one of the things that sets him apart from other superheroes. Daredevil's violent methods and Matt's morality are still an unstoppable force and an immovable object, but these episodes would have benefited from less time spent with peripheral characters and more time getting inside Matt Murdock's head. The lawyer from Hell's Kitchen is the reason we're all here, after all.

Instead, we do get to see new depths of Benjamin Poindexter, AKA Bullseye. The deadly sharpshooter lays claim to pretty much all of season 2's standout action scenes, particularly one that takes place in a diner (otherwise, the show's action is still struggling to capture the magic of the Netflix series and often falls flat by comparison, with the camera ricocheting around its subjects to distracting effect), and Bullseye himself is also a highlight. Wilson Bethel brings a surprising tenderness to his performance, turning villain into antihero.

Fear and loathing in Hell's Kitchen

Jessica Jones, probably the most-anticipated addition to this season, is a refreshing presence, too, although I wanted more screentime for Krysten Ritter's acerbic PI, especially after some interesting – and troubling – revelations are glossed over a bit too quickly (no spoilers here, but there's surely more to come on that front). An extended flashback later in the season to a case Matt and Foggy worked on several years prior is also a treat, but just made me wonder – again – why Foggy was killed off. He brought a calmness and clarity to Matt that impulsive Karen doesn't always have and a balance to the trio, and the remaining pair still feels a little off-kilter without him.

On the flip side, there are some background figures, particularly in City Hall, that still feel too thinly drawn. There are too many supporting characters to flesh any of them out sufficiently, and it makes it harder to care about the backstabbings and double-crossings that take up a significant portion of screentime when we're not invested in the players in the game. Matthew Lillard's Mr. Charles proves to be a somewhat baffling addition to season 2, neither friend nor foe to anyone, but rather than painting an enigmatic figure, he feels like another muddled addition to an already busy narrative. His purpose becomes a bit clearer towards the end of the season, but, again, this feels more like set up for a future project than anything that serves this current season of TV particularly well. Even in its street-level projects, Marvel can't outrun the MCU.

Daredevil may be known as the Man Without Fear, but in Born Again season 2, fear is the great motivator in Hell's Kitchen. Fisk's rule only creates unease and instability on the streets of New York in the wake of season 1's traumatic events, which in turn breeds anxiety – in Matt, Karen, Bullseye, and even Fisk, who can't seem to come out on top no matter how hard he cracks down on vigilantes. Each character expresses their fear in different ways, of course, and each of them responds in kind. Because where there's cowardice, there's also a healthy dose of bravery, and the season serves as a reminder that you can only really be brave if you're shit-scared first. There's a lot of food for thought here, but we're not really given the space to chew it over thanks to an overload of subplots and side characters. Still, with season 3 on the horizon, it seems like the show is only going from strength to strength – and maybe a third outing will finally match the stride of the Netflix show.

The first episode of Daredevil: Born Again season 2 is out now on Disney Plus, with subsequent episodes dropping weekly.

Make sure you never miss an episode with our Daredevil: Born Again season 2 release schedule, or get up to speed with the rest of Marvel Phase 6 with our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows.