#225 – Daredevil: Born Again (S2, Ep8) – The Southern Cross | The Greatest MCU TV Episode Yet?

Welcome back to Marvel Maniac and MCU after show for the finale of Daredevil Born Again Season two. Oh, my God. This. This was this episode. I mean, I don't even know what to say. I think I just watched the greatest episode of Marvel television I have ever seen. I'm losing it. I have adrenaline, I have chills, I have everything coming to a full circle, close, but also little tiny pieces to lead to another story or two down the road. But this episode doesn't just leave us with cliffhangers. It brings us revelations. Wow. Fisk and Matt did go up again against each other in a different way. I said I don't think they'd go face to face. I expected this fist storyline to go on another season. And I'm going to be partially honest with you. Well, not partially. I think I've been partially honest with you and seeing where the ride would take us, but silently kind of hoping that there's really more of a conclusion this season of that story. And God, did they deliver that to us and more. When I'm this excited about something, it's hard for me not to jump all over the place. And while I did take notes, I'm just gonna speak from the heart here today because this was a lot of fun and I'm sure you were excited too. It'd be really funny if nobody else thought this. And I was in my own frame of mind of loving it, but I got a feeling that people are going to be losing it. The fans are going to probably be losing it after this episode. We got that Matt versus Fisk fight scene without fists. It's just perfect. It's mental warfare. It's them going head to head. It is Matt versus Fisk until the very end of this episode, which was riddled with blood. Twists, turns and heartbreak, but also resolution. I think I said revelations. I meant to say resolutions earlier, but there's a lot of religious undertones in this show. And the devil of Hell's Kitchen is now known to be Matt Murdoch. He has his own Iron man scene. He literally says, I am Daredevil. And when the freaking other lawyer, when he's like, you mean to tell me that blind guy is Daredevil? How are you gonna believe this? And then Matt just does that thing where he throws his cane across the room. Boom, boom. Hits two walls, catches it. Everyone in the courtroom are just freaked out. This is where the episode starts to shake. Matt bringing in Fisk as a witness was genius. And at first it was so much one sided. Fisk had the room. Fisk had the judges. Fisk had everybody. But he started to lose it little by little. And little by little, Matt started making more and more sense. Talking about the Northern Star in the courthouse. He wants to get his girlfriend Karen free. He loves her. And that's proven in this episode that starts with a flashback of simpler times where they get to sit down and eat and be on a date. And we get to end the episode in a very similar way. Except for the fact that after that, Matt is arrested. Which you gotta understand, I guess in a sense, in mid episode, I was thinking this might lead to Matt's arrest because Daredevil caused many crimes. Daredevil is accountable for a lot of things. So Matt actually does end up going to prison. And somehow. Wait, just somehow, can I get a major weight? What? How does Fist still get this deal? If he walks away, he won't be tried. He was literally running through the courthouse murdering people. He walked out with all that blood on his hands and his and his face. Just to not be arrested and not be tried for his. His injustices. That's the thing that I just like. What I'm just thinking, what the hell? How is that a deal? I mean, they have witnesses of him doing that. People are dead or concussed or crippled. I mean, he threw a man against the wall and broke his back. He punched a guy. The first guy he punched, I almost guarantee you he was dead. So I don't know. They're saving Fisk. Fisk isn't dead. I think that's a win because we want to see Spider man face him. And this better get the reaction it deserves because this episode could definitely lead to a movie where Spider man goes head to head with Kingpin. Matt was the one who used to deal with him. Maybe Spider man and Matt have an understanding that Daredevil will deal with Kingpin while Spider man deals with your friendly neighborhood type stuff. And now that Daredevil is going to be locked away in prison, which might mean that we won't see him like we hoped in Brand New Day. But you never know because of the threat we might get Daredevil out of prison somehow. But I. I do wonder, as they, as they mentioned before the showrunners, that this would lead into events in Brand New Day. So maybe some of the fallout of the Fisk being a Fisk being mayor, maybe there will be a mention. Maybe we'll get to see Tom Holland acknowledge his existence. Even to foreshadow something maybe happening. Because people are going to want that showdown after this episode, when the court dismisses and the judges and the lawyers go into the back room to talk, Fisk does something kind of very clever and very cool. He threatens math Matt under his breath. Nobody can hear him. But he knows Matt has super hearing. They know each other so well. And he threatens Matt that I could ruin you forever, basically, with all the stuff I know about you. And Matt accidentally says it out loud, like, I. I could do the same to you, but, like, Fisk can't hear him. But Fisk is such a good villain in that sense, where he is smart enough to know Matt will hear him. Matt has him traced like a dog. He knows exactly the sound of Fisk's voice. If he's anywhere near his vicinity, he's gonna know who that is, especially when he's being directly talked to. The way the show overall has managed Daredevil's perspective on our end, getting to hear how he combs through the. The sounds of the city, and he. He reaches into, like, the exact area of sound that he needs to. To hear what he has to hear. Very cool. That's just an overall series note. I love that. What moment do you. The. The listener, S.L. watcher of Daredevil. I wonder what the watcher actually thinks of this. He's probably been watching this too, because this is some good stuff. Do you think that. What point of the show, do you think that Fisk was beaten, like, in the courtroom when he did that thing on TV where it was him doing a message in the courtroom like, I'm still going to protect you and from these vigilantes? And he tries to turn it on him again, and you almost believe that he's going to convince the city to fight the vigilantes, AKA the Daredevil supporters, the people who show up at the courthouse. The task force is taken down beautifully. They almost shot Cherry in the face. I'm so glad they didn't. I'm so glad that fist didn't get off, because there can only be so much injustice before we need to see the villain go down. And while this may be a TV series, I mean, this is the longest we sit with certain heroes. And TV shows get to flesh out character much, much more. Which is why if this show was gonna stick a landing like this episode, the two seasons leading up to it are made better for it with a good finale. You get so much more story and content with the previous story told, because it was all leading up to this flawlessly. And if it wasn't flawlessly, it was pretty close let's just go back to this moment again where Matt is bringing Fist down and there needs to be a witness that was on that boat. And Fisk knows there's nobody. And the lawyer knows there's nobody. Except for the fact that Matt wants to sacrifice himself and give truth over secrecy. Heroism without protection. And this wasn't just an identity reveal. This was fan service. Tony Stark said, I am Iron Man. Matt Murdock said, I am Daredevil. But unlike Tony, Matt's confession feels a lot more like a sacrifice. And you know what the best part about it is? He doesn't seem to care one bit. That's how much he loves New York. And ironically, points out to Fisk later, you love New York enough to let this go and to walk away. All the death, all the killing, all the bloodshed, all the murder. You want to start all over with this again? No, can't. It can't start over with that again. Matt knows it. Fisk even knows it. I can't get over the court scene where he revealed to be Daredevil. But we got another hallway fight. I was like, almost worried we weren't gonna get one. The fighting scenes where the people break into the court and Fisk is running through like a literal monster, crushing people's heads, throwing them against walls, breaking backs, kicking ass. It's his fault. It was, it was a Wilson fist fight, hallway fight. And then we got the Daredevil Jessica Jones team up hallway fight in which Jessica is hurling objects across the room. Everything you could, anything you could think of that she could see is in her vicinity, that she can throw, she throws it. And we're getting to see that interlaced with a shot with shots of Mass doing wall jumps, taking out, taking out the bad guys. Then we get the White Tiger, her. His niece, who, I'm sorry, her name is slipping me right now, but she is wearing the, the. The suit and she jumps off a wall. And she actually has like tiger like abilities. I always, honestly, I always felt like the White Tiger was kind of like a non powered superhero. Just somebody who was like, almost like Falcon. Like he was somebody who just fought crime without superpowers. But the way we saw his niece actually freaking do what she did in, in that uniform, I mean, it's superpowers for sure. Absolutely. The city takes sides in this episode. And it's where the episode becomes larger than Matt versus Fisk. It becomes Matt's side versus Fist side, Daredevil versus Kingpin. And we get that moment about BB exposing Fisk in that moment, she cuts Fish's line off the TV where he's trying to turn everybody against each other. And she even reveals her own face. She calls him out for the deaths of people that are close to him. At one point, the bodies start piling up. And you can't ignore the fact that Wilson Fisk has been a dirty mayor, and it's. It's time for him to run out of time. And BB Assured that with her presentation, it actually, it seems like it readied the rest of the crowd and the rest of the people to go. And, man, I thought that was great. I thought that culminated beautifully. I thought that Bibi in this episode served her purpose. I think Daniel didn't die for nothing, but I sure as hell think Daniel could have survived this. And another character just to continue exploring, maybe even like visiting Matt in prison just to get his perspective on Kingpin. Maybe he's riddled with guilt about that body, you know, But I don't know. Daniel had to die so BB could fly. And BB Actually got a job at the Bulletin, and someone who worked there gave her a box of Ben Urich's articles that she wrote. He wrote about Kingpin and trying to expose him. And this is where his legacy is picked up by his. By his very own flesh and blood. And I think it's beautiful that there's a lot of. A lot of moments like that with White Tiger, with BB could talk about Heather for a second that she's still side on the side of Fisk. She's completely turned. I mean, the look on her face when she found out Matt was Daredevil was a pretty big one. She was pretty surprised. But by the end of this episode, we got what a lot of people online Screen Crush was predicting. New rock stars. The tears in her eyes when she was choking Buck a few episodes ago, they mimed and looked like Muse's blood tears on his mask. And we get to see at the end of this episode, she goes into a drawer and pulls out Muse's mask. And she doesn't only look at it, she puts it on. That is setting up the next version of Muse. Heather, an innocent therapist psychiatrist turned into a serial murderer. And I don't know if that's what she's going to actually start doing, but it. There's kind of a lot of nods toward that. I mean, when she's choking Bucks, she seemed to like it. And when we see her reflection again after she put the mask on, she looks happier than ever. I almost think that this is in her head. She has the mask on, but she's looking in the mirror and finding resolution and resolve that she could put this mask on and fulfill whatever weird thing she gained from that fight. And seeing him murdered, it is very complex, twisted, crazy. And I can only imagine that's going to be a storyline we're going to explore further going forward in whatever facet the thing that gets me most right now. Just as another thought in my head is popping and I'm going to let them all out. You know, this is a little unorganized of an episode, but I. I'm hoping that you're on the hype that I am, because it's just. Let's go all over the place. Let's hit the big moments. Let's talk about what. What was most important to us and how cool this was instead of, you know, talking about the moment the governor arrived, you know, was badass. It was the beginning of the downfall of Fisk. It was the beginning of her knowing that she was putting. Putting this in Fisk's face, that she was murdered and the murderer has a story to tell. Fisk literally has got his hands soaked in blood and gets to end up on a beach like Thanos on his own planet. I don't mean to keep comparing these two, but did you see the way Fisk was handling people? Do you know what Thanos did to the Avengers? He put them in. He put the Hulk in a tree. He knocked out Captain America so he could survive. There's theories that Captain America died, and then when he did the Time Stone thing, that he was alive again, though. Sorry, Infinity War reference. Favorite movie. My bad. I just. It just goes to show that the level of complexity, the level of action, the level of storytelling that this episode embodied was worthy. It was worthy of Mjolnir. It was worthy of the title of maybe one of the best MCU TV episodes ever made. And I'm. I'm so serious about that. That was a freaking thrill ride. That was one of those roller coasters Martin Scorsese tells us about. It's all roller coasters, and the heroes are the characters. You know, Matt Murdock proves. Proves Scorsese wrong again, because he is just as big of a character as Daredevil. Even though they're two different sides of the same coin, there are two different characters, and those worlds merged today, and nothing will ever be the same for him. It's. It was as big of a shock as Iron Man's reveal, because Iron man revealed it, because we're used to superheroes having fake identities. That is a one of the crazy aspects of Iron man when it came out, especially that he said, I am Iron Man. Nobody did that in our movies. There were secret identity heroes for what I knew and for what I remembered. And that's how I felt shocked. But for Daredevil, it's a bigger thing. He's been operating on a Hell's Kitchen for years, at least 10 plus years. He is probably accounted for in many crime scenes. It's probably known what he's done on a lot of. On a lot of crimes, like killed, maybe kill people, but they didn't mean to kill people. But breaking laws left and right all this time is going to put him in prison. But it wasn't for nothing he got put put into prison, but he got what he needed to do to save the city. Hell's Kitchen actually just stopped waiting to be saved. They started to rally against the mayor himself. And there's this moment where it culminates where Fisk beating the crap out of people. We're seeing Jessica Jones and Matt beat the crap out of people. And then they kind of all come to the front of the stairwell in the front of the courthouse. And Fisk tries to talk to them again. And he's like, I did everything for you. Like he is. He feels betrayed because he feels like he actually tried to save the city. But for some reason he's so blind that he used this position to do very corrupt things. It's just. It's just something he's not going to acknowledge until he has to literally step down because he's being dogpiled by people. At one point, he can't super punch, which I. This man is, has superhuman strength. He is strong and he can punch to kill. And the people still crowded him and started beating the crap out of him to the point where Matt had to jump up and stop them from doing it because that. That would make them worse. That would make the city see visual antes as bad when we really needed to see that Fisk was corrupt. And that's what it did come out. That was the truth. That did happen. So Matt actually sits with Fisk and face to face on their knees, and he convinces him that it's over. It needs to be done. I lose and you lose and the city will be at peace again. And Fisk agrees to his terms. And he says, you know, I hope you don't expect me to shake your hand. You must know I can't do that. Oh, geez. Jessica Jones was back and seeing her be like a full on superhero kicking freaking butt was awesome. That trick or treat moment with the duffel bag and she throws it at Matt to suit up one last time. I loved it. Again, that white Tiger reveal. I think Hector would have been very proud of his niece. The hallway fights, just so, so, so iconic. We needed one. I've been talking about it all season. We haven't had a hallway fight yet. What would Daredevil be without a hallway fight? And we got one. Brutality. Brutality unlike any other MCU story movie. Deadpool's definitely got some of that lane covered, but you know what I mean, It's. It's just more like than the normal MCU production. This wasn't superhero action anymore. This was city wide uprising. Fisk stopped being a politician tonight. He literally, before everyone's eyes, became Kingpin again. That's the new show title. Kingpin again. Grace is used. Grace, I offer you Grace met to his greatest enemy, offers Fist Grace. You can imagine them sitting at that table in the first episode, if not, if not the second episode of the season. First season, where they're warning each other, you know, you're gonna stay in line or I'll reveal you. You're gonna. I'll do the same to you. And they're kind of sitting, kind of. I use the word juxtaposed sometimes, and I wonder if I'm using it right, I'll be honest. But there's. They're kind of sitting across from each other on the floor, on their knees and in a very similar positions. But how far have they fallen? Slash, how far have they come? It's insane. So after all of the corruption, the murder, the. The rage, the destruction, Matt still offers Wilson Fisk grace. That is it. And that's the ending of that story for now. Matt Murdoch won because he refused to become Wilson Fisk. He refused to let Fisk be anything more than Kingpin, who he always really was, but to finally expose him, not just in front of a courtroom, in front of all the cameras. Fist thought he had Matt beat. He was gonna out him as Daredevil. But Matt did it himself. We I last episode, I was thinking, is Fiskin I out? Matt is Daredevil. That seems like their play. And I think he might have tried to do something like that, but I don't think Fisk is as quick on his feet with the solution here. And I think Matt probably had the solution as a. A back shot ready to go off whenever he was ready to tell everyone he's Daredevil. As like a just a moment. He knew that moment was coming, so he used it so sparingly and so perfect. And I mean, there's a cost to heroism. Matt surrenders peacefully. You know, it's. It's similar to him and Karen on that first date flashback in the movie, in the show. It's like a movie in the show where they're out to eat and then it kind of shows. Well, now they're really actually fighting mayor who's corrupt and going to court and being falsely accused. Karen is completely cleared, by the way, so she doesn't have to go to jail with Matt. Karen gives Matt and I love you, and he gives her and I love you too. Matt just accepts this arrest. He knew it was coming. He didn't know when. But they got him on a list. Literally. It's. They say we have a list of things about Daredevil, but Matt knows inside that he still won. Matt is defeated. He's peaceful. Why? Because the city survived. Fist lost spiritually this time, which is almost bigger than the physical fight that they had a few episodes ago. We got the whole enchilada, the whole nine yards. Truth in the end, is what won, and that is the emotional payoff. From here, we can only talk about what the future of the MCU and this series holds. What's going to happen next. We could talk about Luke Cage coming back confirmed to be the father of Jessica Jones daughter. Oh, my goodness. There's this Bullseye setup with Charles. Sorry, Shaggy. Shaggy, you know, he's a great actor. We almost didn't see in this episode. And I wouldn't have noticed because of how much was going on, but Luke was doing something that now Charles hired Bullseye to do. And they're on a plane off to God, who knows where. They're in touch with Valentina. We may very well see Bullseye in the Thunderbolts. Somebody said that on Reddit a few weeks ago. I would like that a lot. I mean, but Bullseye is a dangerous wild card. I mean, like, the Thunderbolts are not perfect. They're anti heroes, but they're not really killers. Like, I don't know what. What did. What did Val have Elena Yelena do in all the time that she was working for her as a personal Black Widow? We don't know. We don't know if Yelena's got blood on her hands. She's completely numb to everything by the time we meet her in the Thunderbolt Slash New Avengers. And I mean, maybe that's just the type of Stuff that made her so callous and hating her job and hating working for Valentina in the first place. Becoming an Avenger is something that, well, would be insane for someone like Bullseye to be able to do, but he gets away scot free as well. So for years, these Netflix heroes existed beside the mcu, not knowing if it was a part of the MCU or not. The greater MCU never acknowledged the Netflix series. People watch them week to week, year by year, wondering little small references to the guy with the hammer or the big green monster. And tonight, it finally felt like they were truly a part of this story, which validates all of those shows in their own way. If you're getting like the feeling of, oh man, I want more of this, you got Jessica Jones, you got Luke Cage, you got Daredevil original series, the three seasons of that. You have the Punisher, which I. I'm watching season two right now. It starts off a little slow, but it's pretty great. Season one of it was great too. The thing is, all these hero stories are now backlogged into the mcu and you can pick and place them and figure it out. I mean, it's just be a beautiful thing, honestly. I mean, God, I'm just thinking that tonight didn't just feel like the end of Born Again, it felt like the beginning of a new era for Marvel Television. And if this is the future of Marvel's Marvel tv, then Hell's Kitchen just lit the way. We get to see that Hell's Kitchen is recovering in the finale right before we cut to Matt and Karen's date. And I'm sorry that if I missed anything important to you. Marvelmaniacpod Gmail.com. are there any standout parts that stood out to you the most? What did you like most about this season? What? What was your favorite aspect? Because there's a lot for me, for me, honestly, the fight between Daredevil and Kingpin a few weeks back. Pure cinema, as we say. Another Martin Scorsese reference. And then I gotta say, this episode is this culmination. It makes the whole show golden. I will highly recommend people watching seasons one and two of this show, the full story between the total of 16 episodes. I believe they're both eight. I believe they're both eight episode seasons. A brilliant story for the MCU. Not a minute wasted. And I mean, okay, the first season had some ups and downs, maybe in quality, but I'd say that overall it culminates here. Then it retrospectively becomes fantastic. We didn't get foggy resurrected. I'm pretty sure he's gone. That's going to be some of the weight that Matt has to continue carrying as he moves on and know that he avenged Foggy and he did everything he could and grace something that Foggy taught Matt. He was able to bring it into the world of him and Wilson Fisk. And ironically, these two Fisk and Daredevil stand looking each other in the eye and the fight ends with them just facing each other standing after all the blood, doom and gloomy. And I just don't believe that Fisk got away with all that murder. And I mean the rampage, the rampage he has is just iconic. He covers himself in blood. Once he starts getting blood on himself in the court, it's just a million percent over for him, even though it already was. I want to know what you thought about this finale. Marvelmaniacpod Gmail.com let's see what the fans are saying on R Marvel Studios. Just a few comments. Charlie Cox cementing himself as one of the best castings ever with that scene, says Main Jump 82. He's on Mount Rushmore with RDJ, Hiddleston and Evans. Unsought unsolved Paradox says. I couldn't agree more. Sweet Christmas. We get to see Luke again. Val Valor Pizzeria Top commenter on Marvel Studios Delete and rewind, says the judge. Overruling the objection. Surprised me. I agree. Step Hensmat replies. It's the whole arc in a nutshell. How far can you push people to do the wrong thing before they push back? And when is that finally going to bite you? Personally, I couldn't say it better. Thank you to Reddit.com rmarvel Studios go check it out. The discussion there is always on fire. We have next week another special. It's the Punisher One Last Kill. I think that's what it's called. If I'm. If I'm wrong about that, my bad. But I'm pretty sure that's it. Look, can he look it up? Yes. Will he? No. We will find out on our own next week. I'm gonna try and finish the second season of Punisher before that happens. Really, really excited about that because they showed a preview after the episode of Daredevil. It looks freaking good. Now I'd like you to subscribe to the show if you haven't, and give us five stars and a written review we read on the show. It goes a long way. If you like the show at all, all do me a favor and do that means a lot and we have a discord. I'd love for you to join. It's in the description of this episode. And that's about all I got for you this week. I'm not gonna rant and rave out of excitement all night. We can do that in private time. Maybe even come back in a week or two and talk a little bit more about it, if it's warranted. This has been Eric Cicada, aka Mr. Honest Beyond Excited, at where the MCU is at right now and where it's going. And until next time, Avengers disassemble.