Born Again’ Has Been Juggling Way Too Many Storylines -

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Episode 8.Daredevil: Born Again has been bold in its first season on Disney+, with the death of one of the fans’ favorite characters, Foggy (Elden Henson), resetting the chessboard for Matt (Charlie Cox). The show has also managed to blend itself into the MCU nearly seamlessly, bringing across some of the more mature themes from Netflix’s Daredevil. However, in this latest episode, “Isle of Joy,” it becomes apparent that the show has had too much on its plate in terms of narrative, which has led to certain storylines being ignored, rushed, or supporting characters not being given the complexity we came to expect from the Netflix era.

This is likely due to the fact that this episode was one of the three that was rewritten by Dario Scardapane‘s team, after The Punisher executive producer came on board as part of the complex retooling of the season. That isn’t to say Scardapane has done a bad job. It is remarkable that the show flows half as well as it does, as past projects with lengthy reshoots show us. However, being able to see the seams in a narrative’s structure is never something that can be ignored, even if the circumstances make us sympathetic to the challenge the writers and creators faced.

Some of the Main Storylines Seem To Be Getting Ignored in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

Matt (Charlie Cox) telling Heather (Margarita Levieva) his life feels fake in 'Daredevil: Born Again' Episode 7. — Image via Disney+

With the limited amount of time, a show with only nine episodes has to explore different subplots; the scripts need to be concise and effective. However, because we’ve had at least seven storylines by my count, many aren’t getting enough attention, especially when they seem to be what the main thrust of the narrative is really about. The main sufferers are the Matt and Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) storyline and his relationship with Heather (Margarita Levieva). These should be Matt’s main emotional lynchpins at this point, yet we have only had one scene with him and Fisk, and only now are we seeing Heather and Matt’s connection explored on a deeper level.

Another clear victim would be Muse’s (Hunter Doohan) subplot. With the focus Born Again has placed on the ethics of vigilantism, Muse felt like a clear antithesis of everything Daredevil stands for and was a good argument in favor of Fisk’s viewpoint. However, because Heather kills him in the second significant sequence we have seen him in, and the aftermath has caused a divide, the subplot feels unsatisfactory. It has only served to kick-start something different rather than exploring what Muse’s goal was and how that could relate to or oppose Matt.

Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) holds a lit match in the dark in 'The Conjuring.'

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Summons ‘The Conjuring’ Star To Cast

The newest cast member also starred in ‘The Conjuring’ and ‘Poker Face.’

Climactic Beats in the Narrative Are Being Rushed in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

The consequence of this saturation and lack of attention is that it leads to key moments being rushed. In the past, this reared its head when Heather and Matt said they loved each other, as it felt like a big jump in their relationship, and in this episode, it was clearer than ever. Bullseye’s (Wilson Bethel) reintroduction, escape, and assassination attempt at the end of the episode, along with the reveal that Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) ordered Foggy’s murder, feel like stories brought up after being ignored for so long. There have been seven episodes between Foggy’s death and now, and that means the emotional weight is not as significant as it was in the past.

Rather than slowly building to these moments, we are thrown into them. There has already been confusion surrounding why Matt took that bullet for Fisk when Bullseye fired at him, and it feels like this is a big part of it. If we had been clearer about just how Matt and Fisk’s direct conflict was playing out, perhaps we would feel more confident about Matt’s motivations and goal as to why he wouldn’t let Fisk die in order to defeat him.

Too Many of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Characters Lack Depth

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock standing next to Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie standing in court together in Daredevil: Born Again. — Image via ABC

Another symptom of this issue is that many of the supporting characters in Born Again feel redundant because the show goes in and out of storylines so at will. Characters such as Cherry (Clark Johnson) and Kirsten (Nikki M. James) in Matt’s office subplot feel as if they only exist when Matt walks into a room, with the same being said for Buck (Arty Froushan) and Sheila (Zabryna Guevara) about Fisk, without their own goals and actions. Whenever Kirsten is on-screen, she serves to be Matt’s better half on the legal side while being completely ignored for episodes at a time, or even ignored by the characters when she tells both Matt and Cherry that she doesn’t like secrets, only to be verbally batted away both times and that subplot ignored.

With Cherry, we keep seeing him tell Matt to let go of his Daredevil side, but he never goes further. He is ignored at every turn, yet he makes no effort to hold Matt accountable when he is. Perhaps if this ex-detective actively worked towards his goal of stopping Matt, giving the vigilante an ultimatum of ceasing his activities or being turned in to Fisk, that would be more interesting and force Matt to make a definitive decision. Instead, we get repeats of the same scene, which lack significant weight in the overall narrative.

Hopefully, now that Daredevil: Born Again seems to be converging its subplots as we reach the season finale, this could only be a problem that becomes noticeable this one time. If that is the case, then we will be in for a treat in Episode 9 as multiple characters are entering their highest-stakes scenarios of the season, with Fisk and Vanessa increasing their influence, Matt out of commission, Heather closer to the Mayor, and BB’s (Genneya Walton) dangerous investigation getting closer to Fisk’s secrets. In the end, if this finale sets up a second season where the groundwork has been laid for an excellent narrative, none of us will mind these issues concerning the number of subplots. However, as of right now, it’s hard to ignore the cracks in the facade as we go into this next episode of Daredevil: Born Again.

The finale of Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 streams next Tuesday on Disney+ in the U.S.