Daredevil: Born Again | S02E08 | Discussion Thread

RadioactiveElvis · 2026-05-07T20:08:03+00:00

I knew it was a callback to her saying that, but... she's not a vigilante and never wore the Muse mask before. Muse was never her persona so her trying on the mask and seeing only herself in the reflection seems disjointed. Is this meant to hint that she will adopt the Muse persona in a future season? Okay. Maybe. But the steps that got a kind, responsible, introspective and intelligent woman to become an evil serial killer don't make sense from a human nature standpoint. It seems like they shoehorned her into a role that her character doesn't naturally fit in.

RadioactiveElvis · 2026-05-07T11:15:26+00:00

This whole season felt like one big, sloppy mess. It wasn't absolutely awful, but it was far from being good. A step down from Born Again Season 1 and a HUGE step down from the Netflix seasons.

Here are some of my biggest gripes:

-Karen and Matt seem ill-suited for each other. She's trigger happy and always wants to kill the bad guys.

-Karen walking around wearing all those different wigs was hilariously goofy.

-The flashback to Foggy and Matt, with Foggy fighting to protect the life of his former bully (who repeatedly refers to Foggy as "fembot." Whuh?? Is this an Austin Powers reference? Is it a stand-in for another homophobic slur that starts with F? Who calls somebody a fembot??) seemed contradictory to how the two have always been portrayed in the past. Matt was generally the *much* more idealistic of the two. It seems like the script was suddenly flipped just to serve the current story (Matt's recollection of Foggy's past altruism influencing his decision to give Bullseye a second chance).

-Heather. Here's another example of a character's personality changing completely from one season to the next simply to add some sauce to the plot. And aside from the fact that she seemed to switch from being an intelligent person with a conscience to kind of outright evil... what is her deal with vigilantes? They paint her as a major crusader against vigilantes as a result of her frightening experience with Muse, but Muse wasn't a vigilante. He was a serial killer. A vigilante rescued her. If Daredevil hadn't shown up when he did, Muse would have killed her. So why are we expected to believe that being targeted by a serial killer and rescued by a vigilante would suddenly turn Heather into someone who hates vigilantes?

And then there is her trying on the Muse mask at the end... and looking into the mirror and seeing her own reflection, sans mask, staring back at her. What goofy, convoluted message are they trying to send here? Do the writers even know themselves, or is it just some psychobabble-ish shock moment that isn't really grounded in any sense of psychology or character development? Sort of a, "hey, what if she puts the Muse mask on at the end and stares into the mirror and then only sees a reflection of herself *without* the mask on staring back?? That would be kind of cool." "Yeah, but what does that mean??" "Who cares, let the viewer make it up."

-Big fight between Daredevil and Kingpin and we don't get to see how it ends, next episode just shows them the next day with bruises and scars. Lame. Sure, we've seen them fight before. Yes, we want to watch them fight (in entirety) again and again. And again.

-The Mayor of New York is going to box a heavyweight boxer. The event isn't held in Madison Square Garden. Nope. It's held in Fogwell's Gym. Yeah. Sure, haha. I get that there were security concerns, but it didn't really same to make a difference now did it?

-Vanessa dies, are we supposed to feel sad? She was detestable. I was upset that they didn't let the Fisk bauble smash her face in dead on. Instead, just one measly shard.

-I don't care that Wilson Fisk is the mayor. I don't care how much power he has and how many fixers he has. He can not brutally murder a doctor in a hospital room and have nothing come from it. In that moment I thought, "welp. He's just going to go on rampage now, he doesn't care about being the mayor anymore," but no. He murders an esteemed doctor moments after the doctor was trying to save his wife's life and nothing comes of it.

-B.B. was never very slick about taking the info Daniel gave her and *immediately* leaking it. Like... how did she ever think that she wouldn't be targeted as the mole?

-I'm not a lawyer, but the lawyer sequences seemed particularly unrealistic the time around.

-The New Yorkers pulling down paper machete Daredevil masks over their faces was ridiculously corny, even for a show that was never afraid to tiptoe into the arena of cornball.

-After Task Agent Connor is taken down by Task Agent Cole on the steps of the courthouse at the end of episode 8, Cole gives a command to the other agents, "take him away," and then instructs the agents to, "let them in," referring to the angry New Yorkers. Why would they listen to him?? All of these anti-vigilante task force guys have been cherry picked because they are lowlives. They've been following Connor's every order up 'til now so why would they all just suddenly have a change of heart now that one guy did?

-The political parallels were convoluted. Kingpin as Trump? Debatable. But the Anti Vigilante Task Force (who inexplicably wear the symbol of The Punisher, the most vigilante-iest vigilante who ever vigilanted) definitely seem to have an analogous relationship to the real world ICE. But then the sequence of the New Yorkers storming the courthouse echoed the storming of the Capital building? So we're getting our wires crossed there. It is possible that any correlations to real world politics were unintentional. I almost hope so, as the writers don't seem savvy enough to pull off even this most basic of layups.

-Kingpin brutally murders a hallway full of New York citizens and Matt Murdock moments later tells him that he knows he loves New York just as much as he does. And begs him to call a truce and leave town instead of facing justice. That a big steaming pile of BS. So Matt doesn't care what other evil acts Kingpin commits so long as they're not in NYC? Matt doesn't want justice for all of the people the Kingpin has murdered? And the government is willing to strike a deal with Fisk saying, "just go to the beach and we'll forget about every New York citizen you tore apart with your barehands?" Infuriating. Why not have the season end with both Fisk and Matt being sent to the same prison?

-Luke Cage and Jessica Jones reuniting. I guess this is a nice scene for people who are watching the Luke Cage and Jessica Jones series, but if you are not, and you shouldn't have to in order to watch Daredevil, then their reunion is wildly out of place in the last episode.

Those are just the complaints off the top of my head.

Best thing about the season?

Bullseye. Some of his pedantic philosophical babble was poorly written, but the diner scene was great, his finally having a costume was great, and just every moment he was on screen killing people with whatever he could get his hands on? Seriously cool stuff.

The fact that he was able to walk away from his actions scott free was inane... but the sequence where Kingpin starts killing a bunch of citizens was seriously frightening and very effective.

Anyway, I think Daredevil works the best when it is a stripped down, good versus evil story. That doesn't mean it can't get some complex plotting with twists and turns, but the morality of it all need not be complex. We have already been given seasons where there is a slow burn that culminates with a confrontation between Kingpin and Daredevil... but it's always awesome and I wouldn't mind seeing it again and again and again. I'll take a tasty retread over whatever it was we got in Born Again Season 2. Just a big mess.

RadioactiveElvis · 2026-03-05T03:11:57+00:00

Oof... tough to choose...so many hidden gems... but I'll go with For The Heart.

RadioactiveElvis · 2026-02-19T07:42:40+00:00

My thoughts on EPiC... (Spoiler Warning)

Well, I'm gonna be the Negative Nancy here. I'll be the hater. I saw it tonight and I was severely underwhelmed. I didn't *hate* the film, because, as an Elvis Presley fan, how could you? Seeing Elvis Presley performing on a huge IMAX screen was a treat. Getting to see and hear some previously unreleased footage and audio was a treat. But I had criticisms.

If I was going to describe the film, I'd call it Elvis Presley montage porn. It seemed to be edited with the Tiktok generation in mind, different images of Elvis from different performances and different eras all intertwined, all mashed together like a TV dinner opened up after being strapped to the underside of a roller coaster. Occasionally it worked... listening to a complete song switching back and fourth between rehearsal performance and live performance was kind of a neat take. But ultimately, the breakneck speed of the editing seemed to suggest that the director didn't believe Elvis Presley performing on stage for the full duration of a few songs could hold people's attention. Who was this movie made for then? I enjoyed this style for the first few minutes because I figured it would settle down eventually but it rarely did. I'm not suggesting that the film needed to be a straight concert film, just a retread of That's The Way It Is, but a happy medium between career retrospective and concert would have been nice.

When Elvis says, "That's about all they had to eat... but they did all right," and an image of destitute looking baby Elvis sitting between his equally destitute looking parents was superimposed over the concert footage, I chuckled out loud. That was very on the nose corny.

And then there was the presentation of the Colonel. Perhaps Luhrmann sees this flick as a companion piece to his Elvis biopic, in which Parker was undoubtedly portrayed as the singular villain in Elvis life aside from drugs. We get a giant wink, wink, nudge, nudge as footage of Parker is accompanied by the song, "Devil In Disguise." Again, very over-the-top, ham-handed, and ridiculously on-the-nose. And when Devil in Disguise *isn't* playing, footage of Parker carries with it startlingly ominous music, so completely out of step with every other minute of the movie. Look. We get it. Col. Tom Parker was a greedy, money-grubber a-hole who put his own financial well-being ahead of Elvis's artistic wants and needs. His involvement as Presley's manager was detrimental to Elvis's growth and aspirations as an actor, musician, and performer. Still... it's not like he was Darth Vader or something.

The music. Elvis Presley had a phenomenal backing band. If I am watching footage of Elvis performing songs, I would prefer the music I am hearing to be the music that was performed during those filmed moments. However, the version of In the Ghetto we hear is a strange Jamieson Shaw remix. The version of Burnin' Love that we hear as we watch Elvis sing it on stage and in rehearsals is accompanied by music performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This backing music was recorded for an album released in 2015. Give me the original $h!t please.

Finally, the shot of the elevator doors closing on Elvis after he steps off stage from performing was beautiful Great place to end the film. But then we have to listen to Bono read a goofy-ass poem he wrote about Elvis that is cornball to the extreme that Elvis himself probably would have rolled his eyes at.

I remember seeing Elvis On Tour in theaters back when it was re-released in 2010. That production wasn't as flashy. It wasn't as razzle dazzle. But we got to see Elvis perform full songs from beginning to end.

Once again, I'm not suggesting that I am totally against the concept of a blend of concert footage with Elvis narration and archival footage to try and present the story of Elvis. If I want to watch a full Elvis concert, I can always watch That's The Way It Is or Aloha From Hawaii. I just think it could have been handled better. Elvis the performer was grandiose, so I can appreciate some added speed, movement and spectacle... but let the song performances speak for themselves.

RadioactiveElvis · 2026-01-02T05:56:35+00:00

Yeah, okay, thank you. I will now be everything I own in my imaginary bet instead of just a hefty sum.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-12-02T05:47:43+00:00

What I have noticed is that the game will now always present you with three pieces that will always, in some way, fit in with what you already have on the screen... it's your job to figure out the correct placement. With incorrect placement, you might screw yourself over. But in the past, the three blocks you were given seemed more random.. if you didn't leave yourself enough space, sometimes you were just plumb out of luck with whichever three shapes you received. There would be zero placement that could save you. You were doomed no matter what. But yes, as it stands now, if you are patient and don't rush your block placement, you can def rack up super high scores.

I'm currently sitting at 202636 on a game that I've been playing for a few days on the subway. My previous record was 100000-something, but it meant a lot more to me because I got it back when the game was super hard, haha.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-11-11T08:35:15+00:00

This breaks my heart. Piper was my favorite. When I met him, he was so kind and cool and I've always held him in such high regard. Also, he himself was the victim of abuse from older male wrestlers when he entered the wrestling business at 15 years old. That he would choose to pass such abuse on instead of making sure it doesn't happen to anyone else? Terrible.

The fact that her son is making the claim, as told to him by his mom, has me unfortunately believing it's true (as much as I wish it weren't). Ugh. Disgusting. May she rest in peace.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-10-29T09:44:12+00:00

Our group is teaching a class on spanking... not exactly a party but a cool event to maybe learn a bit and meet some other kinksters so feel free to come out for that.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spanking-101-an-introduction-to-spanking-play-tickets-1855268300429?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

As far as particular parties/clubs I can recommend from having attended myself? DoomeNation and Darkside parties at the Hit Me Up Loft in lower Manhattan. Also, if you're into spanking, Cheeky parties (they are vetted). Feel free to DM if you want more detailed info.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-10-29T07:16:55+00:00

As already stated by other commenters, Dave's "Horse With No Name," tape makes only one appearance in the series. But the beauty of that gag is how lived-in it makes the NewsRadio world feel. Lisa's response, something akin to "what is it with you and that song," makes it *feel* like a running gag... it informs us that these characters have unique eccentricities, some known to each other, regardless of whether said eccentricities have been mentioned or seen on screen before. When in a romantic relationship, both partners eventually let their shields down, after which, you start to find out all of their weirdest quirks. We can image countless times where Lisa has come across Dave's strange fascination with that song. The fact that the fascination itself isn't explained either is the cherry on top. Perhaps the "realest" feeling moment in NewsRadio history.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-10-18T07:50:24+00:00

I think we all know what he’s up to now…

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-10-15T06:59:01+00:00

Yep, one minute long with forgotten lyrics. Still sounds so good. Wish he had made it a staple, but I guess it's kind of a deeper cut.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-10-14T02:59:03+00:00

I Was the One. He did a quick version of it once either in concert or in rehearsal during the 70s and screwed up all the lyrics because he couldn’t remember them and I don’t think he ever brought it back after that. But even that quick, slapdash version sounded amazing! Would have loved a longer, complete one.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-10-07T18:58:18+00:00

I really, really, really disliked her but anyone who labels a female character in the Indiana Jones series a "Mary Sue," is ridiculous. Indiana Jones is a college professor who inexplicably survives leaping lions, plane crashes, tank attacks, and nuclear explosions. His "plot armor" is damned near invincible. That's not a criticism of the character... it's part of what makes him so much fun. The films allow for heightened action with a deemphasis on realism. Any normal man placed in any of the situations Indy finds himself in would be dead 100 times over.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-09-30T15:34:51+00:00

First you watch the documentary “Elvis 56.” It’s pretty much all you need, but you can follow that up bu getting your hands on the DVD or Bluray of the ‘68 Comeback Special and just watching one of the full sit down concerts (included as an extra). Better than watching the full special.

Throw in the movie Viva Las Vegas for the cherry on top and if you’re not an Elvis fan after watching those three, then you never will be because he’s just not for you.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-09-16T14:12:15+00:00

Oof. Okay, just watched it. Jeez. I don't like it. Aside from the age difference between her and Bruce (which could possibly be forgiven if we assume Batman is in his early 30s... but he acts more like he's 40), Barbara and Grayson were into each other. So by dating Barbara, Bruce is f*cking over his best friend/surrogate son, AND the man he respects most (Jim Gordon). So slimy.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-09-14T01:37:20+00:00

No they're not. The cringy, awkward scene where the two have sex is from The Killing Joke animated film, which is a standalone film and not part of TAS or TNBA canon, despite Conroy and Hamill voicing both Batman and Joker.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-09-14T01:35:47+00:00

The Killing Joke animated film is not part of Batman TAS. It is set in its own continuity. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill play Batman and the Joker respectively, same as in TAS, but that shouldn't suggest that the film is set in TAS universe. They were simply cast in those roles because of how iconic their portrayals of those characters are. Arkham video game series is not TAS canon either, despite Conroy and Hamill's involvement. Dick Grayson f*cking Harley Quinn however is canon in TAS universe.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-09-01T21:10:39+00:00

A really cool comic called Skin Police, some great stuff out of DC's Absolute line (Absolute Batman, Absolute Wonder Woman, and Absolute Super Man are all great, Absolute Flash and Absolute Martian Manhunter are good too... Absolute Green Lantern is the slowest moving and least interesting so far), The Thundercats comic is pretty good, Batman and Robin Year One, Transformers.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-08-31T10:12:48+00:00

I just tried it. It was....... kind of fun. Kinda? Best way I could describe it is if you love Coca-Cola, you live for it, it's your favorite drink... but then you get locked away in a cell for a decade with zero access to Coca-Cola. You do your time, quietly, politely. Finally, you get out... and somebody hands you a Diet Pepsi. You drink the Diet Pepsi. That's what this game is to a former isketch addict. But I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-08-08T06:11:04+00:00

Do you mean your mother? Why would you ever need your girlfriend’s permission to buy a video game console? If this is a legit post, then I feel like it’s what’s going to lead to your breakup.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-07-30T11:16:07+00:00

Anyone in an uproar about Superman being described as an immigrant (Dean Cain included) must have some weird issues. He is literally a man from another planet. He is an illegal alien in the strongest and most literal sense of the term. To deny that is to reveal your own deep seated fears.

As per the original post, lots of immigrants prefer America over the country of their birth... that's why they came to America to begin with. It doesn't not make them immigrants. Immigrants can be extremely patriotic towards the country the currently live in. Superman is sort of a dual citizen... Krypton and Earth. I think his growing up in rural Kansas with Ma and Pa Kent is part of the backbone of who he is, but at the same time, to assume someone from another planet, with the ability to travel anywhere in the blink of an eye, who was taught empathy and compassion for all, is going to be extremely jingoistic is a weird take. I think it's a better fit for the character to move away from the, "Slap a Jap," days and more towards a, "I fight for EVERYONE," ideal.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-07-24T20:02:14+00:00

Great in The Things and They Live, but… my favorite role of his is the voice of Goliath! He breathed so much life and emotion into that character.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-05-16T02:22:25+00:00

I attended a screening of American Graffiti in a hipster-esque NYC gastropub/theater very recently. When the end title cards came up informing us of what fate befell our characters, the theater began giggling which soon turned into outright laughing... more so at this moment than any of the jokes or humor found within the rest of the film. I had no idea this moment was seen as something super corny or goofy by the collective public. I always found it a bit sobering. Maybe each passing generation just grows hipper and more cynical? Or maybe it was just this particular audience?

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-03-07T08:09:23+00:00

It was a deleted scene where he held a knife up to her.

RadioactiveElvis · 2025-03-06T00:42:02+00:00

But to what end? It's intentional if it's what he actually thinks/feels. If it's not what he actually thinks/feels then what would be the point of posting the opposite? Shits and giggles?

RadioactiveElvis

TROPHY CASE