Daredevil: Born Again Review

The first two episodes are as good as anything the character has had. A rooftop death, a year of silence, and then two men who have both given up their masks meeting in a diner and pretending to be civil, with Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio playing a scene of pure restraint that carries more menace than any fight. Wilson Fisk as an elected mayor is a genuinely sharp idea, and the series is at its best tracking how quickly a city hands power to a man who promises order.

The retooling is visible everywhere else. Production halted and the show was rebuilt with new writers, and the joins are obvious: an early courtroom plot vanishes, a lengthy detour follows a serial killer with an unrelated cast, and characters from the original run appear briefly to be dealt with. Some of the supporting ensemble never register. But the direction is confident, the violence has weight again, and the closing hours, in which the city goes under martial law, set up a stronger show than the one that was cancelled.