The hour begins back in the hospital as the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) comes to terms with Vanessa’s death. The doctor walks in and offers his condolences, calling it a great honor to treat his wife. He offers Fisk a hug, and the Mayor accepts, but the kind gesture takes a sinister turn when the Kingpin squeezes too tight and breaks his spine, killing the doctor instantly.
Cut to Vanessa’s funeral, where Fisk is decked out in all white. His people—Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan), Sheila Rivera (Zabryna Guevara), Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), and Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini)—are all present. Elsewhere, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) watch over a recuperating Bullseye (Wilson Bethel).
We also see Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard) with a crew heading to retrieve weapons, only to find an empty warehouse, which is frustrating to say the least. The Kingpin has reneged on their deal, and we then see Officer Powell (Hamish Allan-Headley) and the AVTF unloading the weapons at a different location. Back at the funeral, Fisk lays a rose on Vanessa’s casket… cue the credits!
The episode then takes us to the suburbs where a young girl is playing with her toys. A bunch of armed men arrive in the driveway and begin to surround the house. The girl’s mother heads outside and we hear her fighting them off. A flash grenade is thrown into the house and the little girl picks it up. The woman comes back, grabs the grenade, and disarms it. Then, we finally get to see who it is: Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter)!
Soledad Ayala (Ashley Marie Ortiz) patches up Bullseye’s wound and tells Daredevil that he needs a hospital. Daredevil says they can’t take him because they’d essentially be sentencing him to death. Karen says maybe they should; she believes he should be dead or in one of Fisk’s dungeons. Angela Del Toro (Camila Rodriguez) gives Karen an update on what’s been going on in the streets, and how some are mourning Vanessa while others are concerned about the disappearances.
Matt wants an update on Cristofi, and Karen tells him her source should be dropping the interview footage any day now. She then asks him whether he remembers Bullseye’s attack at Clinton Church (from Daredevil season three), when he killed Father Lantom and left Matt at the brink of death. At that time, she remembers Matt wanted to kill Fisk, but she told him not to, and now she’s wondering whether she was wrong. Matt says she wasn’t, because this is what separates them from him. She wonders whether this fight doesn’t end until one of them goes down permanently and tells Matt to start considering putting the Kingpin down once and for all, because if he gets the opportunity, Fisk isn’t going to hesitate. Matt has to leave to meet someone and Karen asks him what he wants her to do with Bullseye. He tells her to watch over him: “Vengeance isn’t justice.”
At a service after the funeral, Governor McCaffrey (Lili Taylor) talks to Sheila and is worried about Fisk’s next move. She’s getting a lot of pressure from outside sources and may have to take action against him sooner than later. She suggests a potential mayoral run for Sheila.
BB wishes Daniel a happy birthday and says they should do something to celebrate, but he’s not in the mood after recent events. She insists and he admits he’s going to his mother’s house later, and she asks to tag along. Buck interrupts their conversation and attempts to intimidate BB, who reminds him she’s a journalist. After she leaves, Buck tells Daniel to pull himself together. He knows Daniel is fond of BB, but is also suspicious that she’s the leak, so he tells him to feed BB a fake story in an effort to test her; if the story surfaces, he’ll know she was the leak and Buck will "take care" of her.
Fisk gets in his car and gets a call from Mr. Charles, who is angry about the guns being moved. He begins to berate Fisk, who simply hangs up. At the same time, people start to protest outside the memorial service.
Daredevil links up with Jessica Jones, and she’s super pissed about soldiers showing up at her house and putting her daughter, Danielle, at risk. She tells Matt she’s done some digging into who’s been providing Fisk cover to smuggle the guns and confirms it’s a faction of the U.S. government. Jessica tells him about how Mr. Charles tried to recruit her in the past. She declined his invitation, but others didn’t, subtly suggesting that her husband may have taken him up on the offer. Matt can sense something off with Jessica and tells her she may have broken a rib during the scuffle. She admits that after giving birth to Danielle, her powers sometimes drop in and out. Matt asks about Danielle, and Jessica says she’s a handful, but is doing good.
Based on her lead, the two Defenders then head to the AVTF warehouse where the guns are currently being stored. They deduce that while the guns were initially being run for Charles, they’re now being used by the AVTF, which isn’t good news for the city of New York. Jessica asks Daredevil if he wants to cause some trouble.
Jessica throws a guy through the warehouse wall and brings a head-on assault against the AVTF. Daredevil joins her. They partner up and beat up a ton of AVTF officers. It’s a pretty awesome sequence. Jessica then punches Officer Powell in the face, but her powers fade out, which allows him to gain the upper hand. He goes in for the kill, when Daredevil intervenes and knocks him out. He helps Jessica to her feet and they leave, but not before setting off explosives to destroy the weapons. The entire warehouse goes down in flames.
At the Fisk's, Heather is in their bedroom snooping through Vanessa’s belongings. She steals an earring when Buck walks in on her and she begins to open up about her experience with Muse. She describes to him the pain Muse inflicted and breaks down in tears while simulating the attack for Buck. She gets a little too aggressive as she begins to have visions of Muse, but Buck snaps her back to reality.
BB and Blake meet up for his birthday. BB tells him how the task force raids are making everything worse in the city and Blake retorts that vigilantes killed Vanessa. BB tells him she was there too, so he can’t spin his lies to her. Daniel takes a second before feeding her a false story about Fisk not running for reelection, and she buys it. Now, he’ll have to wait and see if the story leaks.
Officer Powell and Cole North (Jeremy Isaiah Earl) regroup, with Powell confirming that it was indeed Jessica Jones helping Daredevil. He also finds Officer Saunders (Felix Torrez-Ponce) and gives him his key card back—the same key card that Daredevil used to infiltrate the Kingpin’s prison. Uh oh.
At the Punisher’s hideout, Karen watches over Bullseye, who finally regains consciousness. He’s annoyed when he realizes he’s been heavily restrained. He asks her if she’s going to shoot him and tells her that it was Vanessa who ordered the hit on Foggy. He was just completing the equation. He again expresses his intent to die and Karen seems ready to oblige, pointing a gun at him, but is thwarted when Daredevil knocks the gun out of her hand with his billy club. Daredevil says he can’t let her kill him. Karen is mad and tells Matt that he keeps choosing the wrong people. He saved Fisk, he saved Bullseye, but he couldn’t save the people that love him. Matt has no answer. She asks him to let her kill Bullseye and Matt is shocked at her behavior. She tells him that Cristofi didn’t make it to witness protection and the video hasn’t been broadcast anywhere, so they have to assume everyone is dead. She tells him to grow up and leaves.
The protests keep getting bigger across the city. Powell is getting extremely friendly with Saunders, which can’t be good news. Away from the action, BB and Daniel arrive at his mother’s house and they enjoy a quiet dinner and birthday celebration, sharing stories of his childhood. When BB goes to the bathroom, Daniel seizes the opportunity to search her coat. She takes a look into Daniel’s childhood bedroom and we see her start to type up the news about Fisk not seeking reelection, but she has a change of heart and doesn’t hit send. Meanwhile, Daniel has a heart-to-heart with his mom, who is super proud of his success. They all get back together and cut the cake.
The protestors start to don makeshift Daredevil masks. His army of supporters continues to grow and it seems like something big is about to go down. Governor McCaffrey gets a late-night visit from Mr. Charles. He tells her he’s there to solve her City Hall problem.
BB gets ready to leave and Daniel helps her with her coat. She tells him she had a nice evening and wishes him happy birthday again. She leans in for a kiss, but he pulls back and confronts her about the SD card he found in her jacket. He also tells her he knows that she’s behind the City Without Fear fake Kingpin videos and wants to know what’s on the SD card. She tries to explain, but he’s too upset. He tells her they’re both screwed and he’s not sure if he can protect her anymore. He promptly gets a call from Buck.
Karen disguises herself and reaches the protest. Fisk watches the streets from his office. Buck reaches him with an update: the Governor has pulled her support for Fisk and the meeting is happening tomorrow. When Fisk is about to respond, Karen plays the video of the testimonials on the side of the building for the whole city to see. All of the prisoners speak on how Fisk wrongfully held them prisoner and Daredevil freed them. The Kingpin discreetly leaves his office from a secret exit. The videos end with a message to resist and rebel!
Kingpin returns to his lair and looks at the painting he bought from Vanessa, the one that kickstarted their relationship. He has a visitor: Daredevil!
Daredevil offers his condolences and Fisk says he’s not surprised to see him. He asks him if that’s why he’s come. Daredevil tells him that he’s not even sure what the two of them are fighting about anymore. New York? The people they love? Nobody is going to win and they should end this now. He tells him he’s not going to stop as long as Fisk is up to his illegal activities and he knows Fisk has no plan to stop either. Daredevil asks Fisk what it’ll take for him to just walk away and that if he leaves New York, then so will Daredevil. Fisk says there’s nothing he can give him nor take away. Daredevil asks him to imagine if they’d never met, then maybe Foggy and Vanessa would still be alive. This causes Fisk to finally lose it.
Kingpin throws a chair at him and Daredevil doesn’t seem particularly surprised by the Kingpin’s latest outburst. The two then begin to fight. Daredevil is pretty evasive and has a clear advantage, being considerably faster than his larger adversary. Outside, Powell gets a message from Buck and goes up to Saunders, telling him he knows he was the mole and kills him. Cole is shocked to see what Powell just did. Powell then begins to tell everyone that the protestors killed Saunders and they start to use brutal force against the protestors.
Daredevil and Kingpin continue their fight. Fisk finally manages to grab Daredevil and lands a big blow before he starts to curb-stomp him. He then throws him into the painting, destroying it, and begins to beat Matt into the ground. Daredevil finally asks him if this is what he really wants and Fisk says this is what they both want. Daredevil finally takes the kid gloves off and begins fighting back. He starts using his billy clubs to take the Kingpin down and it’s easily one of the best fights they’ve ever had. Daredevil ends things with a really awesome move as he uses his billy clubs to strangle Fisk before delivering a knee to the face, finally knocking him out.
The AVTF begin attacking the protestors, with Karen, Angela, and Javi (Alexis Frias) caught in the crossfire. Javi gets knocked down and the two go to help him. Karen’s wig gets pulled off. Fisk gets back up finally and asks Daredevil if he’s going to arrest him, telling him he can’t. Then, he asks him if he’s going to kill him, and chides him knowing that he won’t.
The episode ends with Powell identifying Karen and taking her prisoner.
Read our other recaps at the following links:
Episode 1: "The Northern Star" Recap
Episode 2: "Shoot the Moon" Recap
Episode 3: "The Scales & The Sword" Recap
Episode 4: "Gloves Off" Recap
Episode 5: "The Grand Design" Recap
Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil. But beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home. Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.
In our season two review, we said, "Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is pure unadulterated mayhem! It is one of the most raw, compelling, and powerful seasons of Marvel television ever produced, with unreal action sequences that truly take things to another level. Charlie Cox delivers the performance of a lifetime and makes every second of this blockbuster season well worth your time. This is the Marvel Cinematic Universe at its finest! The Devil is back!"
Daredevil: Born Again episode three is now streaming!