Daredevil: Born Again Episodic Coverage: “Excessive Force”

“Excessive Force” Is Blatant About What Its Doing

Yes, finally! “Excessive Force” explodes with all the pent-up energy that this series has been waiting to use. It sets up the stakes and the dominoes so aggressively that there was never any question that Matt would become Daredevil, once again.

Like, it’s almost absurd, from a purely narrative standpoint. You can feel the storytellers interceding. Daredevil won’t go out and fight? Kingpin won’t fully turn to his roots? Fine, take all the cracks we’ve seen before, and widen them. Reveal that Muse sprayed anti-Kingpin sentiments all over the city in 60+ victims’ blood. Then, let’s have the serial killer kidnap Angela and almost kill her. That’ll freaking do it.

This Episode Moves A Ton Of Its Plotlines Forward

But don’t mistake this for criticism. Just because I can see the gears turning, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the output of the machine. “Excessive Force” is one of the best so far. Muse is a perfect villain for this series—and is utterly terrifying. The actor’s ability to communicate so much through just breathing and eye motions is truly impressive. And having this episode also introduce the Anti-Vigilante Task Force at the same time is such excellent storytelling. The rest of the series can just explode into conflict as all of these various parties attack one another. Matt—as a lawyer—might have to deal with the legal defense of vigilantes, while any work he does as Daredevil puts him at direct risk of being attacked by the task force. And—though it did feel a little cheap—Muse getting away still leaves that plotline unexplored and a live wire.

The only complaint I actually have is that “Excessive Force” is super on the nose in other ways. The narrative machine isn’t just visible in those spots, it’s gaudy. Too obvious. Angela showing up and demanding Matt do something would make sense if she knew he was Daredevil, but—as far as I know—she doesn’t. Her then risking her life by herself, putting her in a situation where only Daredevil could get there in time, is extremely contrived. The best part to come out of that, though, is the parallels of Kingpin and Daredevil as people still being hammered home. The fight scenes were well-choreographed, intense, well-edited, and really highlighted the characters’ mental states. I love how Kingpin gives Adam an ax. That’s just such a twisted detail in an already very twisted scenario. This show is quickly moving toward being almost overly bleak, but it’s at least creative with it.

“Excessive Force” Has Some Very Intense Imagery

That all stacked together, I can’t decide if “Excessive Force” is my favorite episode so far, or if “With Interest” still holds those cards. I suppose they work as a parallel, in some ways. They are both basically classic superhero stories. Daredevil needs to stop a bank robbery, and then he needs to chase down a villain. In one, he’s incredibly confident, and the action plays out just a little pulpy. In the other, it’s deadly serious, violent and angry, and he almost executes Muse on the spot. One time operating with a mask. One time operating without. All of it building on the same core themes. Sometimes Daredevil: Born Again hasn’t had enough action, sometimes it’s dragged on a little too long with certain things, but this episode made up for that—extremely.  

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