Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again is finally here, or at least the first two episodes are. As a Daredevil fan who’s rewatched the Netflix series more times than is probably healthy I’ve been waiting ages for this, and my God am I happy.

Aside from some questionable CGI I think it nailed the tone of the original series whilst giving it some additional flair, I never expected Daredevil: Born Again to be Season 4, I knew it had to deviate itself in some way whilst still appealing to old fans like myself.

But there’s one elephant in the room that we need to address, a major plot point that we all knew was coming but tried to gaslight ourselves into not believing. Foggy Nelson, at the time of writing, is dead. I don’t like it any more than you do, but we knew the writing was on the wall when those behind-the-scenes shots of him lying on a pavement with Karen went public.

That said, despite knowing it was coming, it still somehow caught me off-guard and I think that’s a testament to the superb opening segment of Daredevil: Born Again’s first episode. Let me break it down.

For starters we get the long-awaited reunion of Matt Murdock, Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, our terrific trio from the Netflix series. We see our heroes enjoying a lovely evening after work at Josie’s Bar, drinking, laughing, flirting, and just generally having a superb time. You feel good seeing them enjoying life, even more so with the context of the hell they went through during the Netflix years. Things take a turn though when Foggy gets a worrying phone call, prompting Matt to suit up as Daredevil and swing-off to save the day…

Watching it for the first time I knew exactly what was going to happen, yet my reaction to hearing “Foggy, he wanted to know where you were…” was exactly the same as Matt’s, confusion, realisation, sheer panic.

What follows is a sharp, painful few seconds with Foggy talking to Karen outside the bar, having his sentence cut-off by a silent bullet that pierces his flesh and splatters blood across his dear friend’s face. Again, I knew damn well it was coming but I couldn’t help but let out a gasp. Matt swoops in and tackles the assailant, Bullseye, through the window to Josie’s Bar.

Then we get out of the one-take action scene, a staple of the Daredevils series and something many will have been looking forward to, but rather than a heroic display of skill and indomitable human spirit, it’s more like a sadistic show of brutality and tension. Matt’s holding his own to a point but he’s distracted by Foggy’s dwindling heartbeat, stopping several times to check his friend his still breathing allowing Bullseye to get some easy shots in. At the same time, every second that Matt isn’t on top of him Bullseye is taking the opportunity to murder any civilians that haven’t made it out yet, with Matt seemingly powerless to stop it.

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As the fight reaches his end on the roof Matt’s ferocious beatdown is stopped short by Foggy’s heart finally stopping, causing our hero to bellow out a scream that’s indiscernible between anguish and rage. He practically begs Bullseye to explain why he did all of this, only to be met with a laugh and condescending pat on the shoulder. Matt throws him off the roof with the intent to kill, with Bullseye’s body landing next to Karen who’s still holding onto a dead Foggy. Deborah Ann Woll puts on a phenomenal performance as Karen here, reluctant to look at the body that just feels behind her out of fear it could be Matt.

What I love most about this scene though, is the dispassionate way Matt attempts to break his no-kill rule. There’s no rage, no special punch or kick, he merely grabs Bullseye by the face and shoves him off the edge, he doesn’t even look at him, he’s broken beyond repair.

Fans of the Netflix series and the comics will have likely predicted so much of this before the first episodes dropped, especially with those leaked behind-the-scenes images. Nevertheless despite going in with some certainties and suspicions the first 15 minutes of Daredevil: Born Again were an emotional rollercoaster..

While the rest of the season could be a little hit and miss due to the creative overhaul and reshoots that took place during filming, I’m looking forward to the already confirmed second season, and what this creative team can cook up when it’s not as restricted by production problems.