Honestly? Could have been an email.

While Daredevil: Born Again had its moments, in particular Episodes 3, 8, and the last 10 minutes of the finale, the rest of the show just felt like it was spinning its wheels until it was finished setting up season 2… 5? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the confounding choices the show continued to make throughout the season. Introducing plots, only to have them resolved within an episode or two, caused the show to feel like it was constantly having to try and rebuild the momentum that it was regularly losing. While I’ve heard some defend this as being similar to how a comic book run might be structured, it’s important to remember that comic books typically come out monthly, so a structure that resolves itself weekly doesn’t really work in the same way… unless we’re watching CSI, but Daredevil: Born Again isn’t trying to be CSI. We could only be so lucky.

On top of the structure that I didn’t believe worked, the throughline story that the show tried to have revolved around Wilson Fisk making vigilantism illegal, thus making it okay to hunt heroes down in the street, was barely fleshed out. Other than the fantastic episode three and a brief moment with the Swordsman, the only vigilante we see is Daredevil. And to be clear, my expectations were never set too high for what I thought we’d see. I know episode three has a tragic ending, but based on what we learn in the finale regarding the fates of many people who have sided against Fisk, at least two of them being vigilantes, why not show or, at the very least, mention some of these lesser-known characters like a Nighthawk or Madcap. Imagine some random guy dressed up like Ka-Zar being dragged away in handcuffs. It doesn’t even have to be the real Ka-Zar. Marvel can act coy and say that they’re not sure who that blonde caveman is. At the end of the day, I was never expecting Spider-Man or Doctor Strange, but I was expecting… something.

With that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the incredible performances from Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio. While I found the overall season to be a dud, even the episodes that I didn’t find all that enjoyable had their fair share of incredible moments that came off the backs of Cox and D’Onofrio. And despite my disappointment with the show, I do think this season has done a great job setting up Daredevil: Born Again and Again, and if the next season can deliver a great story while encompassing these two fantastic performances I think we’re in for an absolute all-timer of a season.

And before I go, I have to mention what might be a top 5 MCU moment that this show delivers. A moment so great, it might trick people into thinking this show was really good. A QUICK SPOILER, but I’ve got to say something. I’m not suggesting that guy deserved to get his head squashed like a grape, but this old man walks into a room that looks like it’s straight from the set of Dexter with plastic tarps all over the place and he doesn’t think anything is up? He’s surrounded by the dirtiest cops that New York City has on the force, oh, and by the way, The Kingpin is there and he thinks he’s safe? At first, I was stunned when this happened, but now that I think more about it, Matt Murdoch is gonna need a team of smart, capable people to overcome Kingpin. Having that old man on the team would have only messed things up. I’m glad he got squished. It was for the best.