‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Recap: Meet the White Tiger

All it takes is a fellow vigilante to get Matt Murdock back into action–unofficially, that is, and not yet in his firetruck red suit. The second episode of the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again starts out very much like a legal procedural. Nothing to see here! No crazy violence or anything. Just a regular crime show, like Law & Order: MCU.

We open with a guy named Hector Ayala, played by the late actor Kamar de los Reyes, jaunting down the subway steps on 168th Street carrying flowers. (The episode is dedicated to his memory.) Hector sees two men intimidating a third guy, Nicky Torres, on the platform. He intervenes and Nicky takes off running. So, the bullies turn on Hector next. One slips off the platform and into the path of a oncoming train. Then, to make matters worse for our good samaritan, the remaining bully pulls a gun on Hector and reveals that he's NYPD. This poor guy is about to be framed for killing a cop.

Does Matt Murdock prove that Hector is innocent?

Matt happens to be at the police station where Hector has been brought in, and his enhanced senses overhear the cop from the platform, Officer Powell, trying to intimidate Hector into signing a confession. Matt intervenes and becomes Hector's lawyer. He can tell, by listening to Hector's heartbeat, that his new client is not lying about what really happened. But he can tell that this man has a secret.

His partner Kirsten is not thrilled that Matt is taking a pro bono case when the firm needs money. Tale as old as time. But Matt cares more about justice being served! That's the kind of lawyer he is and the kind of vigilante he was. The first hearing does not go well. The prosector is the District Attorney himself, played by John Benjamin Hickey.

You may notice that in the courtroom, some of the police officers have The Punisher logo on their uniforms. A few even have it tattooed on their wrists and necks. It's not uncommon for cops to idolize Frank Castle/The Punisher, even in the real world. It is a red flag, however, in any world. That character deals in lethal retributive justice and operates firmly outside of the law. That's not the ethos you want from law enforcement, to put it lightly. While it isn't as extreme as the Punisher + "Blue Lives Matter" designs that do exist IRL, it's actually surprising to see something so messed up reflected on a Disney+ series.

Why is Wilson Fisk so obsessed with a pothole?

Fisk is already bored by the ceremonial duties required of him as mayor in this episode. Sheila Rivera, who appears to be his chief of staff, wants him to lay low and make a good impression. But Fisk wants to get stuff done. So, for example, when he's stuck in traffic because of construction he orders the construction crew to ignore the red tape and fix the problem immediately. It's a symbolic gesture, in his mind, that he can be an unconventional leader the people will respect.

Empowered by this, Fisk returns to his office and blackmails the police commissioner so that he'll fall in line with however Fisk wants to run the city. He's able to do this thanks to a tip from the young reporter B. B. Urich, who is in fact his deceased adversary Ben Urich's niece. She oversteps slightly by asking about Fisk's relationship with his wife. However, Fisk seems eager to use her platform for his benefit. He's already back to his Kingpin ways.

Who is the White Tiger?

Kirsten and Cherry go to talk to Hector's wife Soledad in Washington Heights and encourage her to make a show in the courtroom for his image. Meanwhile, Cherry asks if he can grab a nice suit from Hector's bedroom and finds another suit entirely. Turns out that Hector is a masked vigilante just like Matt Murdock once was. He wears an amulet that gives him extra power and protects his neighborhood as the White Tiger.

Matt goes to visit Hector. He doesn't seem thrilled that his client omitted his vigilante side hustle. But Hector is proud of what he does. "The people need a hero," he says, especially since Daredevil is gone. Matt then makes a good point: The only way he can win his case, he says, is by knowing all the ways that he can lose the case. No more secrets. He uses transparency to make a smart next move in Hector's defense. In the judge's chambers, Matt successfully argues that Hector's vigilantism is inadmissible as evidence.

Then, stubborn as always, Matt ignores Cherry's advice not to get emotionally involved in this case and follows Powell from work all the way up to Washington Heights. He listens in on Powell's phone calls and sure enough, the Punisher-loving cop and his associate are on their way to Nicky's apartment to finish the job. I'm fully obsessed with how Matt's superpower is just being nosy–relatable! Matt gets Nicky to safety and plays the part of a helpless visually-impaired lawyer when the cops arrive for as long as he can. But then the cops hold a gun to his head, giving Matt no choice but to take them down, breaking their bones and knocking them out in the process.

You can take the vigilante out of the suit, but you can't... you get it. Just like Fisk, Matt is already back to his old ways. With Matt's love interest Heather taking a new job as Wilson and Vanessa Fisk's marriage counselor, things are heating up on Daredevil: Born Again! (Heather also meets a nervous man, played by Hunter Doohan from Wednesday, at a book signing. If my many hours of watching legal procedures have taught me anything, he's going to be important later.) See you next week for the trial of the Hector Ayala.

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