Daredevil: Born Again Episodic Coverage: “Straight to Hell”
“Straight to Hell” Shows How To End A TV Season
“Straight to Hell” is exactly the kind of finale I would want from this show if I had speculated one from the beginning. All the pieces of the puzzle slam together in a violent, intense, dramatic crescendo. And—amazingly—without absolutely ruining the storyline’s gravitas by wrapping things up too fast or forcing everything back into the status quo. I’ll say it again in the final paragraph, but this is quite the way to get people hyped for the next season. I am hyped for the next season. I cannot imagine how they’ll continue this storyline—or what it might do to the broader MCU canon.
Now, a hypothetical question. After all that opening praise, where do I even begin here without spoiling too much? I can’t just tell you what happens here. Not if you read this before watching “Straight to Hell.” The reveals are far too cataclysmic to rob them of their impact. You need to see it to believe it.
“Straight To Hell” Has So Many Shocking Moments
Instead, I can fixate on how the show pays off basically everything in an hour. Every major character is going through a powerful arc, or is now fully morphing into one already established. Kingpin’s continuous slide into merging his old ways with his mayoral ways now comes to the ultimate, brutal conclusion. He’s somehow both now. And that makes him so dangerous.
And—because Daredevil: Born Again has always been about how these two mirror one another—Murdock has also completed his change, though in a different way. I don’t even know if he can hold on to his civilian life anymore. The fight is too big. Too many people know his secret, or could find out easily. He’s now fully Daredevil. A Daredevil who has to face a truly staggering amount of danger.
And on it goes. Vanessa’s dislike of vigilantes has moved her toward dangerous waters. People who were on the knife’s edge of maybe being redeemable are showing their full villainous choices. The series has had a slight issue of being sometimes too episodic to fully feel like these more minor arcs are all connected, but “Straight to Hell” still makes it feel like you’re witnessing a magic trick. Somehow, even the constant check-ins with random citizens have built themselves into a storyline, and have become almost their own gestalt character. Daredevil: Born Again is a show with a plan, and I am in awe of its fruition.
The Show Is Juggling Many Robust Character Arcs
Though it is speculation on my part, I even think this level of planning applies to the violence. Because “Straight to Hell” takes a series with isolated brutal moments and dials them up into a cacophony of people dying in horrible ways. Blood sprays across scenes. The body count is easily in the dozens. In one very memorable scene, Kingpin commits such a violent act—with the practical effect skills behind it to make it so disturbing. I almost flinched away. If we’d had scenes like this all over the season, it might not have been so impactful. My complaints of a lack of superhero action from before aren’t totally negated—Daredevil could’ve done some minor fist fights more often—but my words are now weakened. The apartment scene alone showed such a good understanding of fight choreography and blending this show’s style of gore with more standard superhero battle scenes. If you, for some reason, are interested in this type of media but have only been reading along without actually watching the show: you should watch this show.
Because Daredevil: Born Again is amazing. That’s my conclusion. That’s my verdict. It has its odd moments of pacing, and there’s problematic stuff that the Daredevil IP carries with it that I’m unsure how it could’ve been avoided, but the show not only builds a strong, high momentum, dynamic narrative, but does so with an amazing understanding of how to interlock character’s stories. The pacing and acting are simply top-notch, and only improved by the constant inventive camera work and editing. It’s not only an amazing season of television in its own right, but enjoyable without having seen the previous show. I was not particularly a Daredevil fan before—but I am now. And seeing how the show will use its big, absurdly cinematic premise for the next season will be my pleasure, I’m sure.
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