Warning, spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again season 1, episode 2!
After Fisk managed to secure the highest office in New York by winning the mayoral race, he begins the second episode of Daredevil: Born Again addressing the city on New Year’s Eve as Matt watches at home. The speech includes a fun nod to Marvel’s iconic web-slinging hero in a moment that is small but does a great job of dropping the subtle MCU reference.
Funny enough, it doesn’t take long for Fisk to grow tired of meet-and-greets, but Sheila reminds him how important they are in the first days in office – especially when Vanessa’s lack of support is causing issues with certain demographics. On their way to an event, Fisk and his team stuck in traffic. Annoyed, Fisk gets out of his car and goes to speak with the foreman in charge of the road work. There is a major hole in the road and Fisk says he gives his approval to repair it right away, using it as a PR bit as he tells onlookers he promised he would get things done and he’s getting things done.
Later, Fisk meets with BB Ulrich, niece of Ben Ulrich, who runs the BB Report. She warns Fisk that the NYPD is about to stand against him if Commissioner Gallo is forced to resign, and warns him that if he loses the cops he loses New York. Following his conversation with BB, Fisk seeks Gallo out at the funeral of the fallen officer cop. Gallo confronts him about feeling guilty and says the mayor thing makes no sense, questioning why Fisk would give up money and power. Gallo says it’s his personal mission to make sure Fisk’s tenure as mayor is short as he sees him as the monster trying to rewrite his legacy.
When Gallo heads to Fisk’s office to hand in his resignation, Fisk flashes a photo of Gallo’s family making a veiled threat which forces Gallo’s hand.
Daredevil: Born Again introduces White Tiger to the MCU
Early in the episode, we see a man walking into the subway where he sees two men attacking another man. He interjects and one of the guys ends up falling in front of the subway car. Turns out the two assailants were police as the surviving attacker pulls his gun on the good samaritan as he announces himself as NYPD. We later learn that the good samaritan is Hector Ayala aka White Tiger.
While at the police station, Matt hears Hector being interrogated and roughed up. Matt goes to see him. He mentions how everyone is saying he killed a cop, and Hector tells Matt his story which is convincing enough for Matt to take the case. Matt eventually persuades Kirsten to take on the case despite the optics and enlists Cherry to help find the man the two cops were roughing up and to also look into Hector.
Matt heads to court and the press comes for him about defending a cop killer, and it becomes clear this is going to be quite a difficult case as the judge doesn’t even entertain Matt’s arguments for bail.
Kirsten and Cherry meet with Hector’s wife about coming to court to help with their optics as they can’t have anything else working against them. Cherry assures her Kirsten and Matt are the best lawyers he knows before he sneaks off to do some sleuthing which uncovers White Tiger suit. Upon learning of Hector’s alter-ego, Matt confronts him about withholding the information to which Hector replies that he wasn’t even wearing the suit the night of his arrest. Matt makes it clear Hector needs to be honest with him moving forward if they have any chance of proving his innocence.
After the discovery, Matt and the D.A. meet with the judge about the need to prevent the prosecution from introducing Hector’s identity as White Tiger as he argues it would harm his client’s case. Surprisingly, the judge agrees with Matt and refuses to allow it to be introduced into the courtroom.
Daredevil: Born Again season 1 episode 2 ending explained
Earlier in the episode, one of Fisk’s men comes to visit Heather during a book signing and we later see this scene’s payoff when Heather tells Matt she’ll need a raincheck on dinner as she’s meeting with new clients. After signing some paperwork, we discover Fisk and Vanessa are her new clients and they’ve sought her out to help work through their marital issues.
As the session begins, Vanessa says they’ve been through a lot the last few years and that until recently they ran a complex business but then Fisk left. Fisk replies that he was assaulted by a vigilante and the recovery was very involved, preventing him from staying in communication with Vanessa.
Vanessa tells Heather about how she took over the business in her husband’s absence and it had never been more profitable. She says she was lonely and missed Fisk, then he returned and she doesn’t know how to feel. Fisk says he’s at therapy as he doesn’t want to lose his wife, but we definitely believe there’s more to just the desire to work through his issues with Vanessa in seeking Heather out.
Speaking of seeking people out… as the episode draws to a close Matt overhears Powell, the cop who arrested Hector, taking a call about finding the witness and he hears him cocking a gun suggesting they’re going after Nicky.
Worried for Nicky’s safety, Matt goes to the address Cherry tracked down and meets with Nicky. After persuading him to hear him out, Nicky makes it clear he can’t go against the cops. Matt tells him the cops have already found him and are on their way up to kill him.
With Matt’s help, Nicky escapes down the fire escape just as Powell and another dirty cop arrive. Needless to say, Powell is not happy at all and he begins to rough Matt up before ordering the other cop to kill him. While Matt held back at first, with his life on the line, Matt finally fights back and easily overpowers Powell and the other cop as the episode draws to a close.