We’re reintroduced to Foggy Nelson’s killer at the beginning of Daredevil: Born Again Episode 8, "Isle of Joy." A vibey entrance depicts a prisoner picking a blue rose backed by lush indie music. Then we cut to Benjamin Leonard Poindexter, better known as Bullseye, who is being moved to the Gen Pop wing of the prison where he is incarcerated. Fisk ordered the move. The kicker is that we don’t know which Fisk did it: Wilson or Vanessa.
With this subtle yet sinister opening, “Isle of Joy” sets the table for one of the more thrilling episodes this season. And – while there are certainly still a number of strange hiccups along the way – I can genuinely recommend this one for a pretty good time.
The rest of this review will contain SPOILERS.
“Isle of Joy”
After the update from prison, we kick to Mayor Fisk assuring his staff that the Red Hook project is happening. He has secured funding and will look to get more private dollars at an upcoming gala. In parallel, Matt Murdock is losing it over his cup of coffee. He and Heather argue about vigilantes again.
She claims that, “they’re just underdeveloped boys playing in masks,” before insinuating that Muse and Daredevil are cut from the exact same cloth. As you can imagine, this ruffles Matt’s feathers, who reminds her that Muse was out to kill her while Daredevil came to rescue her. She disagrees: “I saved me. They were both out for themselves.”
To make matters worse, Buck – Mayor Fisk’s personal bloodhound – shows up at Matt’s apartment to deliver an invitation to the gala in order to recognize Heather’s bravery. Matt sees this as an invasion of privacy. But more importantly, he’s freaked out over the fact that Fisk knows where he lives. He and Heather leave things pretty rocky, but he does agree to be her plus one at the event.
Kingpin shows Vanessa the little jail where he’s been keeping Adam, who apparently is still alive after his ass whooping a few episodes ago. Kingpin says: “If I cannot be with you, Vanessa, I cannot be.” Vanessa chooses Wilson. She puts three bullets in her former lover and calls it a day. The couple is as cold-blooded as can be. Killing Adam together was better therapy than Heather ever gave them.
The Vigilante Task Force is getting good publicity, aided by Daniel’s strong-arming of BB Urich, but we learn later that BB has a trick of her sleeve. Daniel is promoted to Deputy Mayor of Communications, and BB pretends to patch things up with him while hatching a scheme to take down the Mayor and his crooked Task Force. She even connects with the police commissioner at the gala, who offers to give her files pointing to malpractice by the bad cops who populate the Task Force. This is after the commissioner witnesses Officer Powell dipping a man’s hand into a vat of burning oil as punishment for attempting undercover reporting at the Mayor’s big event.
Meanwhile, Matt returns to the bar where Foggy died and deduces that he was celebrating one of his cases early; Foggy knew he was going to win, and that’s why he was silenced that night. Matt rushes to the gala to track Kingpin and save Heather from danger. Meanwhile, Kingpin and Vanessa show up at the party looking drop dead gorgeous in an all-white suit and blood red gown respectively.
Heather is pissed at Matt for distancing himself from her, but he isn’t listening because he’s sleuthing. He works out that Vanessa is the one who had Foggy killed. Meanwhile, Bullseye escapes prison in a gory display of force and sneaks into the gala, taking position with a sniper rifle on the balcony above where all the main characters are dancing. Just when Bullseye is about to pull the trigger, Matt jumps in front of Kingpin, taking Bullseye’s bullet for him.
The episode’s last moments fade with Matt bleeding from his chest, sprawled out on the dance floor, an unlikely martyr who may have just given his life to save his worst enemy's.
Soiree
Daredevil’s showrunners do a lot here, and the payoffs feel better than in previous episodes. While some story beats don’t entirely make sense, this feels like a superhero story worth telling, which is all I could really want out of a Marvel show.
It’s not an A-worthy effort, but it sure is solid enough.
Episode Grade: B
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