- Title: Daredevil: Born Again – The Southern Cross
- IMDb: link
The Second Season finale of Daredevil: Born Again is certainly cool, although not without some rather large problems. The creators of this series (and to an extent to original Netflix series) have gotten a little lost in the dichotomy of Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) to an almost psychotic extent. The conclusion of the Fisk’s mayor arc allows the series to split the pair for a cinematic moment, each facing a sort of justice for their actions. However, are we really to believe brutally murdering 50+ New Yorkers on his way out of office in a murderous rage has absolutely no consequences for our series’ villain while Daredevil (apparently without trial) is sent to prison?
You can see “The Southern Cross” building to big moments throughout the episode. One of my complaints with the Netflix/Disney hero model is a hell of a lot of “building” (i.e. stretching out plot) to big crescendo moments, necessitating quite a bit of filler, rather than telling a strong story throughout. In terms of payoffs, the episode not only delivers a memorable moment with Matt Murdock coming clean with the city of New York, ending both his legal and vigilante career (which might mean something if we didn’t know the show, and Daredevil, were coming back for another season) and pushing towards Daredevil and Kingpin fighting to get to each other through the bloody halls of the court house.
That said, as each of the moments are they are arguably just as clunky. Matt’s big reveal to the courtroom has dramatic effect but are we sure what he does is technically legal (or that Fisk’s handpicked judges would side with him?). Kingpin’s murderous rampage certainly paints him as a series threat (at least to a street-level hero like Daredevil) but the fact that sequence has absolutely no consequences certainly sticks in my craw (remember, his exile was for the crimes he already committed not the five or so dozen counts of murder and grievous bodily harm he commits after refusing the deal). However, that choice allows the series to play its fetish of showcasing hero and villain each in their own type of defeat (without a lot of necessary story beats on Matt Murdock’s side by the way).
I can see why fans would love the spectacle of the finale and I don’t begrudge them their joy. While I enjoyed myself, I do, however, have some complaints and concerns that this show is always going to be locked in a Kingpin/Daredevil death spiral. Based on what we get here, I’d be willing to bet the final shot of the series (whenever that happens) will simply be the reversal of this shot reinforcing the same duality once more which, is problematic. If Daredevil is ever going to grow as a character, he will need to outgrow Fisk. Also, although I like her and I’ve seen her play kick-ass characters before, pushing Margarita Levieva into becoming a new super-villain is one of the season’s biggest whiffs despite the amount of time devoted to the story (but not actually building to a moment).
