Daredevil Born Again Season 2 Review

Josh Gilliland breaks down the many problems with Daredevil Born Again Season 2 on how the story missed big political and legal issues.

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A Lawyer’s Take On Season 2

Joshua Gilliland 0:00

Hello everyone, my name is Joshua Gilliland. I'm one of the founding attorneys of the Legal Geeks. I recently finished Daredevil Born Again Season 2. I like the characters. I like the story idea. I like the actors. But I had some big problems with the story. There was some lazy stuff storytelling for a show that's supposed to be about lawyers, politics, courtroom drama, superhero adventure. So it's a miss on a bunch of issues, and let's break down those issues.

The Safer Streets Act Breakdown

Joshua Gilliland 0:42

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this version of New York City enacts the Savior Streets Act, which sounds like a homegrown Patriot Act mixed with Gitmo qualities for hunting down vigilantes and just turning off that pesky due process button for the courts. We don't need to do that anymore. If it's a vigilante, we don't need body cameras, we don't need anything that looks like reasonable suspicion, probable cause. That's all out the window. A city cannot violate the United States Constitution. Period. A city cannot violate the state constitution, in this case, New York. A city cannot go around arresting people without Miranda rights, deny the rite of habeas corpus, deny the right to counsel, deny the right to a jury trial, and confrontation of witnesses, let alone skipping the idea of probable cause for arresting people. Holding suspects in animal cages reeks of Eighth Amendment violations of cruel and unusual punishment.

Courtroom Errors And Legal Ethics

Joshua Gilliland 1:59

The pinata of constitutional violations aside, there are also significant trial advocacy issues. The state cannot have an expert witness to testify about the ultimate issue of guilt. In this case, someone's a vigilante. Moreover, there is a right to confront that witness with a defense expert to rip apart the state's expert witness. So in the story, we have Murdoch's ex-girlfriend, who is now working for the mayor, doing all kinds of horrible, horrible activity, and going after the swordsman, a Hawkeye villain, but seemed like a pretty good dude in the Hawkeye series, who's changing her report to help out the DA. Both of them would suffer severe professional repercussions by committing fraud upon the court. No.

Why Fisk Is Not Untouchable

Joshua Gilliland 3:09

Now for the political issue, Mayor Fisk can be removed by the New York governor. They make him seem bulletproof that he can just do whatever he wants, and the governor and law enforcement is powerless to stop him. Under New York Public Official Laws Sections 33, Subsection 2, the governor can remove a mayor or a chief of police because of improper actions taking place. Now there's a right to confront and some other factors, but the governor could end Mayor Fisk's reign of terror with a penstroke. And they make the governor seem uh inept at stopping all of the chaos from happening. Moreover, district attorneys are not employed by the city of New York. The DA could be removed. Moreover, the DA can be disbarred for gross violations of the United States Constitution. We've seen lawyers in real life get in trouble because they've advocated grossly illegal actions, like trying to overthrow an election. Not good for maintaining your good standing in the bar. Mayor Fisk, in the final episode, goes on a killing spree in the courthouse. And if he's not killing people, he's at least shattering spines and pelvises and skulls. There is no sane argument for Fisk to get a free pass on killing people. He would not get life in Capo. That also ignores all the federal laws being violated, such as RICO. The attorney general can go after Fisk without demanding he resign. That was just a lazy story point. And as we have seen recently, state attorney generals have a pretty significant backbone in taking on horrific behavior. So keep up the good work.

Why Murdoch Going To Prison Fails

Joshua Gilliland 5:29

Now let's talk about Matt Murdoch going to prison. That makes zero sense because you're expecting the hero that the city idolized, and you had people wearing daredevil masks in the final confrontation, being convicted. First off, he saved the governor. The governor could have pardoned him on a napkin. It also seems like bad political strategy to not take action to protect the person who just saved you, who stopped an assassination attempt. A coup d'état in New York. Now you're going to have an issue with the lieutenant governor who seemed to be on board with offing his boss, but one problem at a time here. Moreover, governors do not just hang out alone in a mansion. They have an entourage that includes security and advisors. The idea that the governor would not pardon Matt Murdoch for saving her, coupled with all of his years of heroic services, lazy storytelling. That would be a fun trial to put on if a DA decided to go after Daredevil because he stopped human trafficking, he stopped all kinds of crimes, police recognize him as one of the good guys who's stopping horrific actions from taking place. But that also begs the question: how would a jury even convict Matt Murdoch? The idea of a conviction does not make any sense. Murdoch was the symbol of justice despite dressing as the devil. This sets up jury nullification in a pretty significant way. When we've seen other heroes on trial in the MCU, specifically season one, get acquitted. And also the idea that he accepted a guilty plea would take Catholic guilt to a whole new level of asinine storytelling. Doesn't make sense. Still doesn't make sense because the governor should be pardoning Murdoch. Just no, like there shouldn't be a trial, there shouldn't be him in prison. He never killed anyone. He's the one who saved people. Sure, there are people with the spinal injuries, but that's, you know, superhero business. There could be other causes of action against him that would make me question whether or not his homeowner's insurance would be put to the test.

Final Fixes And Closing Thoughts

Joshua Gilliland 8:15

All in all, I enjoyed this series, but I was yelling at the TV screen at the end because what was happening did not make any sense. If you're going to do a story about politics and lawyers, get those things right. Don't talk down to the audience that we don't know what we're looking at. That said, keep up the good work with the cool fight scenes and action and adventure and the big idea of a corrupt government hurting the civil population. Thank you all. Stay safe and stay geeky.