We’ve made it to the season finale. Finally. This is where Born Again pulls it all together, right? Flourishes in mid-air and pays off all the storylines that it’s been brewing. Wows us with its poise and sticks the landing.
Well, no. Actually, hell no. “Straight to Hell” was one of the worst episodes of TV I’ve seen in a very long time, and certainly the worst of Born Again. Let’s go right ahead and dig into the why of it all, shall we?
Beware spoilers ahead.
“Straight to Hell”
We start out with a flashback where Vanessa hires Bullseye to kill Foggy Nelson. She does her best Kingpin impression, even kind of talking in Vincent D'Onofrio’s voice if you listen closely, and pushes Poindexter’s meds away. “I’m offering you a chance to get your mind back,” she says to him in his mental institution. He is so sweaty. He is coerced. He agrees. What happens next is Episode 1. We’ve come full circle. Now, what’s next?
In the present, Wilson promises Vanessa that they’ll be able to launder billions of dollars through Red Hook. They have been laundering millions, so this is a big step up. It’s all about money for our villains. This is extremely boring. Couldn’t we at least get a little something more? No, folks. this is a Daredevil TV show.
Kingpin sends Buck to murder Matt Murdock in the hospital, then shuts down the city’s power grid. But Murdock escapes. He finds Frank Castle, the Punisher, in his apartment. They team up and beat up a bunch of crooked cops who ambush them. The Punisher murders his victims. Daredevil doesn’t kill. Their collaboration is like trying to get oil and water to mix. It’s very shallow, Daredevil as the do-gooder, Punisher as the man in pain taking out his anger on the world. While that’s going on, Mayor Kingpin is staging a coup. He tells Sheila to send everyone who is not completely loyal in the office home.
There’s a subplot here in which all the police in Fisk’s growing militia are appropriating Punisher iconography, wearing the white skull on their body armor. Matt and Frank argue about the morality of killing people and then jump out of the apartment building to avoid a grenade. They land on a car. Another car pulls up. It’s Karen, Matt’s old lover and coworker. She called Punisher to look after her ex. Then Punisher delivers the best, most heartfelt line of the episode (and perhaps the entire series): “Nothing in this world a good cup of coffee can’t fix.” He says this after having been shot. The coffee must work because he seems completely okay to go on with the adventure.
Daniel is turning into a mini version of Fisk. He says, “thank you, Buck,” just like his beloved Mayor does while threatening the city council into submission. There’s looting and rioting during the blackout. Some police kill a looter on the street. It’s a teenager: “Just a kid.” But then the shooter pulls the boy’s beanie down over his head and says: “No, look. It’s a masked vigilante.” This is a sad moment in a sea of really bad TV.
Matt and Karen find the file that Foggy was killed over. This whole thing is about the mid-19th century Red Hook Charter, which declares the area a free port, meaning that it’s exempt from the jurisdiction of the city and country as a whole. The Fisks are laundering money through the port. That’s why Vanessa had to put down Foggy. He discovered the zoning laws implied by the Charter, and this would have caused prying eyes to look into the Fisks’ operations there.
Sheila sells out Commissioner Gallo, who wants to go to the Governor’s office with news of Mayor Kingpin’s malpractice. Kingpin responds by crushing the Commissioner’s head with his bare hands in front of a group of young police officers. Then he looks up and asks if they have any questions. The line is delivered poorly, and the scene is as schlocky as they come. Like a bad horror film.
Does all this sound disjointed, strange, off-putting, and unearned? That’s because it is, and you haven’t seen anything yet.
Heather is appointed as the Mayor’s new Commissioner of Mental Health. It’s her utmost honor, she says. Then the Mayor casually puts the city under martial law on an impromptu livestream. He concludes his speech by saying: “Never forget, I love New York.” He sounds robotic, as do most characters in the show in its season finale.
The police militia capture the Punisher in Red Hook. They keep him, the rest of the vigilantes they’ve found, and the city council in cages. So many nothing lines fall between Matt and Karen in Josie’s Bar that I lose count. Here’s one of them: “I can’t see my city, but I can feel it. The system isn’t working. It’s wrong. Corrupt.” Daredevil is establishing an army of his own to fight back against Kingpin’s corrupt military machine. He’s got a few police officers on board. He has his lawyer friends, and he has Josie the bartender. That’s about all for now. I guess that’s why we’re supposed to stick around for season 2.
Daniel is sitting at the Mayor’s desk, looking like a smug idiot. The Fisks have dinner next to the bloodstain that sprayed on the wall when Vanessa shot Adam. Daredevil delivers one last stinker: “Resist, rebel, rebuild. Because we are the city without fear.” Even a Radiohead song (“Everything in Its Right Place”) can’t save this shit from itself.
In a post-credits scene, Punisher escapes his cage, setting up an all-out brawl between the vigilantes and the anti-vigilante task force that is swarming around Red Hook. But first, of course, he’ll need his patented cup of joe.
Bottom Line
I just couldn’t stand this episode. I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop for Born Again’s entire debut. And drop it did. This team has made some decent TV, but their efforts fall flat here.
If you like senseless violence caused by wildly unrealistic motivations, you might find a moment or two that you enjoy. Otherwise, I’d stay away. Treat Episode 8 as the finale. You’ll be a lot more satisfied.
Episode Grade: F
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