**This review contains some SPOILERS***
In its second season, “Daredevil: Born Again” delivers a more focused story than the previous season’s heavily reworked attempt, but despite the new season not suffering many low points, it also never really has too many high points either.
The plot was surprisingly dialed back considering how season 1 wrapped up. It was implied that Daredevil would assemble a small army of citizens to fight back against Fisk’s authoritarian rule. Instead, it seemed to be just a handful of people working together to disrupt things. Even then, the only catalyst to kick things off was the sinking of the tanker at the start of the season and that never ended up being as important to the overall story as it seemed like it would be. There was also the introduction of government agent Mr. Charles, who comes off as a wildcard that was going to shake things up only to fade into the background for most of the season.
As far as the main characters, everyone had enough to do to justify screen time, but there just wasn’t a ton of standout moments for anyone. Daredevil’s story was more of the same, with a couple of good fight scenes to keep things interesting. It was only when he had a chance to be a lawyer again that his story regained its spark. Karen’s story revolved around supporting Matt and even thought she was active in the rebellion and they flirted with her having some of The Punisher’s more lethal views on justice, they really never dig too deep into her character. Fisk’s overall arc was fine, but even his biggest moments failed to deliver much new insight into him. Bullseye probably had the most complex character moments this season, but they had to straddle the line between keeping him a villain and giving the audience a reason to root for him. Matt’s ex Heather had a strange storyline that barely made sense for her character and felt like the were struggling to give her something to do. Other characters like Jessica Jones, The Swordsman and the new White Tiger seemed poised to make a big impact on this season, only to spend most of the time sidelined. (Honorable mention to Buck and Daniel Blake adding some interesting dynamics to the overall narrative.)
The show looked good for the most part. The action was solid, but only occasionally did anything really standout. Some moments seemed to be enhanced with CG and they usually didn’t look believable. While Bullseye’s costume grew on me, a few small tweaks could’ve really improved it. The real standout was Daredevil’s black costume that finally added the DD logo.
Overall,”Daredevil: Born Again” season 2 was fine but rarely did much to make a big impression. In particular, there were no emotional gut punches this season and the fight scenes tended to be too short. Even some of the moments that were supposed to be a big deal ended up feeling somewhat flat.
**1/2 out of *****