Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 5, “The Grand Design,” paints a bigger picture for the series as a whole and presents an olive branch to fans who may have been disappointed with Season 1.
“The Grand Design” begins with the focus on a parallel between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. While Fisk is at the hospital, seemingly on the brink of losing Vanessa, Matt is on the run with an injured Dex, fighting with him to save him.
The duality of losing a life and saving one is consistent throughout the episode, but that duality doesn’t stop at the obvious. It doesn’t even stop when Dex asserts his prerogative, “This is balance, and you know it.” There are quite a few examples of “balance” and “leveling the scales,” and it extends to honoring the original Netflix show.
“The Grand Design” honors the show that came before. It recognizes that while Daredevil: Born Again is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it doesn’t diminish the story that was told before. In fact, it includes it, solidifying that the original show is now canon to the MCU.
The depth of the episode begins with a flashback from Vanessa’s perspective. Fans of the original show will instantly recall the infamous Rabbit in a Snowstorm painting, symbolic of the emptiness Fisk feels inside, soon verbalized by Vanessa in the flashback.
There’s nostalgia in flashbacks. Sometimes it can come off as cliché, but on “The Grand Design,” it’s thoughtful. As Vanessa is going through the final moments of her life, we are brought back to where her story was first introduced in the show.
As evil as she has become, there’s something bittersweet in seeing how it all began.
Vanessa has one of the strongest character developments and downfalls. From starting as an art saleswoman to stepping into the role as the Queenpin of Crime, her character is unlike the rest of the villains.
As far as we know, she didn’t have a hard upbringing or a cruel life. No reason or trauma made her choose the life of crime — she made that choice herself, for no other reason than to support her husband, Wilson Fisk. It is terrifying for a character to knowingly choose between good and evil and pick the latter.
The callback to when we first met Vanessa has an even better touch as the scene shifts its aspect ratio and mimics the same color palette as the original show. It’s not Disney+’s version of history; it looks like a deleted scene from the original show, bridging the two versions.
Ayelet Zurer is an incredible Vanessa Fisk. The flashback scenes show us she can easily slip into Vanessa’s personality prior to meeting Fisk — laidback and confident — compared to the Vanessa Fisk we now know, who is cold and a little more unyielding.
Honoring Vanessa’s path through flashbacks of the original show cements that the original show and Daredevil: Born Again are both part of the episode. The original show is more relevant than ever, and Daredevil: Born Again is truly a continuation of that legacy.
Where Season 1 seemed to scrap the origins, Season 2 embraces them. Everything these beloved characters went through matters and is still relevant in the new story of Daredevil: Born Again.
The heart of “The Grand Design” beats when the scene shifts to Matt helping Dex through the tunnels of New York City, and we’re taken back to another flashback that mimics the original show, which starts with the voice of Foggy Nelson.
Losing Foggy might be the biggest loss the show has ever had, but on this episode, Elden Henson graces our screen again as Foggy Nelson.
While it felt complete seeing the Nelson & Murdock duo practicing law, even in a flashback, it’s never been more evident that, despite the creative overhauls and impressive action sequences we’ve been given thus far, Daredevil: Born Again will always feel more empty without the heart of the show that is Foggy Nelson.
To this day, I still question the decision in killing him off — it may be something I never forgive the show for — but for the sake of the grand design of the show, I can show some mercy.
Mercy is the main theme of this episode. It’s not a coincidence that as Matt is making up excuses to let Dex bleed out in the church, he remembers this moment with Foggy when Foggy shows their client mercy.
Another clever way this episode weaves together the old and the new is by having another pivotal character included in the flashbacks. You can’t mention Wilson Fisk without also mentioning his right-hand man, James Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore).
Wesley is also a force on the show, and although he only had one season, Leonard Moore’s performance is so iconic that his presence in the flashback feels like the cherry on top of mending the shows together.
Not only do we get Wesley back on screen, but he interacts with none other than Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan), truly interweaving the original show and the new into a greater story of Daredevil.
The action in this episode paused, but it is made up for with nostalgia in flashbacks and incredible dialogue between Matt and Dex on morality. People often say that Fisk and Matt are cut from the same cloth, but I think Matt and Dex are two sides of the same coin.
Even with his face half covered, Cox conveys the conflict Matt feels so well when Matt is bargaining with himself to let Dex bleed out or not. So much so that he does make it out of the church, until he remembers the lesson of mercy from Foggy.
And it’s obvious that Wilson Bethel is approaching Dex in a lighter way than we’ve seen before. Dex is set in his ways with balancing the scales, and while he still smiles with blood dripping down his face, bleeding out, there are glimpses of sadness, or maybe acceptance, as he doesn’t fight with Matt in letting him bleed.
It’s almost as if the pain is entertaining to him. It doesn’t matter if killing Vanessa doesn’t bring Foggy Nelson back. Selfishly, and maybe justifiably after being manipulated by the Fisks for so long, he’s acting in self-interest.
When Matt reaches his hand out for Dex, it’s shortly after the past crosses his mind: Foggy telling him to celebrate mercy. Symbolizing that the past (the original show) is still relevant now more than ever on Daredevil: Born Again.
Daredevil: Born Again has new episodes every Tuesday on Disney+.
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Samantha Barker
Samantha Barker is a writer and fangirl from New Jersey. When she's not rewatching Daredevil or listening to the Beatles, she's cosplaying and attending comic-cons with her friends. Sam also co-hosts a podcast called Fangirl Confessions and writes for her Substack, Samantha, etc. Connect with her on X: @0nyourleftsam and IG: @onyourleftsam.