Last night we finished up Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+) and I wanted to share some thoughts on it. Not a review but more like “this is the vibe I got”.
So first some background on my preferences. When Netflix was doing a slate of Marvel ‘street level hero’ shows, I really enjoyed most of them. Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and The Punisher were all really good, but Daredevil was my favorite. (Sorry Iron Fist, you don’t make my list…you staring at your hand all the time wasn’t that entertaining). Also I’m not a comic book reader so I don’t have any issues along the lines of “This is not who he is!” that I’m sure true fans of the original material might have had. This was all before Disney bought Marvel, which put an end to the Netflix shows.
It’s been a few years, but Disney decided to revive Daredevil. I don’t know if Daredevil: Born Again is the start of a new slate of shows or a one-off, but I was happy to see Charlie Cox return as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, and Vincent D’Nofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, because in my mind these two actors ARE these characters. Not to root for the bad guys but D’Nofrio just slays every scene he is in; he’s the best Marvel villain on video, in my opinion.
Anyway the season (9 episodes) was a little uneven for me. The premise at the start is that Matt Murdock has put aside the Daredevil gig in favor of helping people in his day job (he’s a lawyer). And while he was doing that bit, the show hit a bit of a lull for me, but towards the end it ramped up — as the title gives away, Daredevil is back, baby! — and the final episode left us on the edge of our seats and wanting more (a second season is coming).
Actually that’s not exactly true. It wasn’t so much that mid-season was a lull as more a change of focus on Fisk’s Machiavellian criminal dealings. I promised no spoilers and I’ll stick to that, except to say that the show kind of reflected real life is some pretty disturbing and obvious ways. The whole season felt like a long set-up to a new world for these heroes and villain to cavort in.
In addition to Daredevil and Kingpin, a few more characters from that universe pop up and I hope to see more of them next season. I mean what I REALLY want to see is a whole new set of shows focused on these characters, most of whom I find a lot more interesting and entertaining that Iron Man, Capt America and Thor.
Anyway, maybe I’ll circle back to this once the show has been out for a while and I feel more comfortable spoiling things, but for now I just want to say Daredevil: Born Again is in my opinion well worth watching. (The critics don’t seem to agree with me but what do they know, right!? Actually I dunno where I got that idea but after I posted I went off to read some reviews and they’re actually pretty good.) If you started but stopped partway through the season I’d urge you to go back and finish because it gets really good towards the end!
I had all of those “street-level” hero shows watchlisted the whole time they were on netflix but I still never actually watched any of them. Luke Cage:Power Man and especially Power Man & Iron Fist were two of my favorite comics in the ’70s and yet it still was never enough to push me into watching their shows rather than those featuring flashier heroes. I never read Jessica Jones but I had a vague idea who she was and wanted to know more – still never watched the show. Daredevil I could take or leave as a comic, bar the famous Frank Miller run (And David Mazzuchelli, of course) so it was less of a surprise I never got around to that one but even so, I was watching every other super-hero show so what was stopping me?
As soon as I subbed to Disney+ I watchlisted She-Hulk, another quasi-street level show and i haven’t watched that either. Also I haven’t gone back and watched any of the others now I once again have the chance. In fact, Disney+ has mostly been a bust for me. Even before i derailed myself with the music-AI thing, I was barely watching anything there. I saw WandVision, which was okay but not as good as I thought it was going to be, particualrly the ending, and that’s about it. If Mrs. Bhagpuss hadn’t watched a bunch of stuff it would have been a waste of money.
I have just under a month of my Disney+ sub left to run, after which I almost certainly will cancel. Prime has a 3 months for £2.99 offer on Apple+ so I’m going to swap to that instead. I guess I ought to make the most of the Disney time I have left and watch some things but even if i do, I bet it won’t be the street-level shows. I wonder if there’s a general resistance to the low-level super-hero setting or if it’s just me…
I think the shows did pretty well at Netflix, at least at first. Like everywhere else once they had one hit they hammered at that genre until people started to get burned out. The Netflix shows, and now Daredevil: Born Again, are a lot grittier than the other Disney+ shows. They can get really violent so I’m surprised Disney went back there. Like where She Hulk had a lot of humor these shows… don’t.
But boy is there a lot of good stuff on Apple TV+. Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, Silo, Mythic Quest and Side Quest… I could go on and on! Well, maybe those are my favs and I can’t really go on and on, but we’ve watched some other pretty good stuff on there, too!