Episode 5, ‘The Grand Design’, is a pivotal one in Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again. Like Season 1, there is mirroring in the second as well. The blind lawyer and vigilante Matt Murdock / Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and the crime lord and New York City Mayor, Wilson Fisk / Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), are more alike than they would like to admit.
The more they telegraph their differences visually, the lithe Matt almost always dressed in black against the white-clad, larger-than-life Fisk, the more they seem the same.
After the shootout at Fisk’s public boxing match (what a match!) Fisk’s wife, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer), is gravely injured when the psychopathic assassin Dex (Wilson Bethel), attacks Fisk.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 (English)
Creators: Dario Scardapane, Matt Corman, Chris Ord
Cast: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Wilson Bethel, Zabryna Guevara, Nikki M. James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer, Jon Bernthal
Episodes: 8
Runtime: 44 – 51 minutes
Storyline: The Daredevil-Fisk feud boils over
‘The Grand Design’ opens with a frantic Fisk at the hospital with Vanessa. The episode goes back and forth in time. When Vanessa was working at an art gallery and felt the right buyer might pay four times the asking price for a particular painting, at a time when Fisk was looking to invest his ill-gotten wealth in something solid (“crypto was too volatile”).
There is a near operatic cadence to the episode, where earlier events dictate a future path. After leaving Dex in church, Matt remembers how he and his best friend and law partner, Foggy (Elden Henson), helped Foggy’s neighbour Ray stay out of prison and certain death. Matt returns to the church to help Dex escape. Vanessa briefly regains consciousness before succumbing to her injuries.
There is a terrible symmetry in Vanessa ordering Dex to kill Foggy and the assassin being the cause of her death. Fisk and Matt both suffer loss at Dex’s hands, even as he is trying to make amends. Vanessa’s death pushes Fisk over the edge.
Daniel (Michael Gandolfini), Fisk’s Deputy Mayor of Communications, who is seduced by the dark side, sees the cost of his slippery slope to perdition as Fisk’s fixer Buck (Arty Froushan) coldly reveals. His friendship with BB Urich (Genneya Walton) comes under severe strain.
There is an inevitability to the clash between Fisk and Daredevil all the way to the shocking finale in the courtroom where Fisk is called on as a witness and a damning video testimony reveals Fisk’s hand in all sorts of underhand dealings.
A still from ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2
| Photo Credit:
Marvel Studios
The revolutionary theme the makers were going for is a scintillating ribbon through Daredevil: Born Again. Daredevil, more than a lone masked vigilante, is very much a man of the people, while Fisk looms large over the city as its king.
The rekindling of the romance between Matt and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) is heartwarming, while Heather (Margarita Levieva), the writer and therapist who was Matt’s girlfriend in Season 1, has not fully survived the attack by the serial killer Muse. The ever-smiling powerbroker, Mr Charles (Matthew Lillard), serenely pushes every button he can.
New York City, with its grit and grime, sparkling city lights, and graffiti, is as much a character in the show as the rest. At the end of Season 2, we are left with as many questions as answers, even as Radiohead sing ‘Pyramid Song’, an echo of the band’s ‘Everything in Its Right Place’ at the end of Season 1.
Daredevil: Born Again is currently streaming on Jio Hotstar
Published – May 07, 2026 03:39 pm IST
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