In Review: Daredevil: Born Again (S2 – EP1) The Northern Star

Synopsis: In ‘The Northern Star’, Daredevil is in hiding, but he isn’t laying low. A shadowy player from Washington, D.C. emerges.

The Story

Spoilers Ahead

Northern Star picks the series up from where it left off in the first season. Mayor Fisk holds New York in an iron grip, having outlawed vigilantes, placed many of them under arrest, and imposed a 7pm curfew across the city. Meanwhile, Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, remains at large and in hiding, only surfacing when necessary or when following leads that could help unravel Fisk’s increasingly nefarious activities. To that end, he has built a small network of trusted allies, including Karen Page, Cherry, and several other well-placed contacts.

The episode opens with Daredevil following up on a lead aboard a freighter called The Northern Star, which is transporting illegal arms and munitions into the city to equip Fisk’s organisation. Daredevil intercepts the shipment, takes down the guards, and discovers the weapons cache, forcing the ship’s captain and first mate to follow their standing orders and attempt to scuttle the vessel. However, the plan fails, leaving the ship grounded rather than fully submerged. Daredevil escapes the scene, as do the captain and first mate, both of whom are now in serious danger of being silenced by Fisk’s loyal police force. Knowing this, Matt asks his old detective friend Cherry to keep an eye out for any leads that might help locate the two sailors before Fisk’s people do.

When the ship’s captain later turns up at a Greek restaurant and is quickly taken by Fisk’s men, Matt befriends the restaurant’s owner and forms an alliance with her, hoping the first mate might also surface there seeking help.

Meanwhile, at City Hall, Fisk faces mounting pressure over his illegal detention of vigilantes and the increasingly heavy-handed methods being used by his administration. The situation is abruptly defused when a mysterious figure from Washington, known only as Mr. Charles, arrives and has the matter quietly tabled. In a later private meeting, Mr. Charles presses Fisk about recovering the munitions from the grounded Northern Star. Fisk proposes using his own men, but Mr. Charles rejects the idea, pointing out that anyone involved in relocating the weapons would need to be expendable, suggesting they be eliminated in a staged industrial accident at Fisk’s Red Hook facility in order to keep suspicion away from the Mayor’s office.

Elsewhere, the vigilante Jacques Duquesne, also known as the Swordsman, is being held outside official channels while undergoing psychiatric evaluation ahead of his trial. Prosecuting the case is District Attorney Hochberg, who pressures psychiatrist Heather Glenn to alter her report and portray Duquesne as a sociopath, making it easier to secure a conviction.

At the same time, Karen Page has formed a covert working relationship with BB Urich, the daughter of Ben Urich, the journalist Fisk murdered years earlier. Karen is deeply concerned that BB’s investigation will get her killed, feeling protective of her due to her close relationship with Ben, who once served as a mentor figure to her. Matters are further complicated by the revelation that BB has a source inside Fisk’s organisation in the form of Daniel Blake, the Deputy Mayor.

The episode closes with Fisk’s police raiding Cherry’s home. Daredevil arrives to help, but is briefly thrown off balance when Cherry’s failing heartbeat triggers a flashback to Foggy’s death. Both men are ultimately spared thanks to the sudden intervention of Bullseye, who eliminates the attackers before leaving behind his familiar calling card.

The Acting

The acting performances throughout this episode are solid across the board. As always, Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are excellent as Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk respectively, continuing to bring the same intensity to the roles that has defined the series from the start. The scenes between Fisk and the mysterious Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard) are particularly strong, illustrating not only how dangerous Fisk is, but also how dangerous the people he chooses to work with can be. When Fisk tells Mr. Charles that he did not appreciate his grandstanding, there is a real sense of weight behind the line, as if to say don’t push me, because it will be the last thing you ever do.

Also fun to watch was the playful banter between Matt Murdock and Cherry (Clark Johnson) during their covert meeting early in the episode, which provides a welcome moment of levity amid the otherwise heavy tone of the story. Margarita Levieva also delivers a strong performance as Heather Glenn. Her phone conversation with District Attorney Hochberg is particularly well played, revealing that she is still suffering from post-traumatic symptoms following Muse’s attack. The fact that she is seeing visions of him makes it clear that she is far from recovered, and these lingering psychological wounds appear to be what makes her more vulnerable to manipulation from figures like Hochberg and, potentially, Fisk himself.

Overall

This was a fairly strong opening episode for the new season, successfully building on the foundations laid in last year’s first run. The story wastes little time in reminding us just how much control Fisk now has over the city, while also setting up several threads that look like they will play an important role as the season unfolds.

I particularly enjoyed the closing moments of the episode, where it very much looks as though Daredevil and Cherry are only seconds away from being killed before a sudden intervention saves them. It’s a tense and well-handled scene that leaves the audience with an obvious question going forward: can the person responsible for that intervention really be trusted, or has Daredevil just survived one trap only to be pulled into another?

Overall, this premiere does exactly what it needs to do. It re-establishes the stakes, reminds us why Fisk remains such a dangerous presence, and sets multiple storylines in motion without feeling rushed. If the rest of the season can maintain this level of tension and character work, then Daredevil: Born Again looks set to deliver another strong run.