The Stop Button

Daredevil: Born Again (2025) s01e03 “The Hollow of His Hand” D: Michael Cuesta. S: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Nikki M. James, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer. Outstanding episode gets away with very little follow-up to last episode’s semi-cliffhanger. Cox is going to trial on Kamar de los Reyes’s case; he has a plan. But complications ensue and Cox has to do some creative lawyering. de los Reyes is great. Cox is great. And D’Onofrio; good gravy, he does calm, calculated evil well.

Daredevil: Born Again (2025) s01e04 “Sic Semper Systema” D: Jeffrey Nachmanoff. S: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Zabryna Guevara, Arty Froushan, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer. Just okay episode shoehorns in a very special guest star for a rote scene with Cox, who’s not feeling himself after being so out of character as to need some character development. Meanwhile, D’Onofrio and Zurer’s marriage counseling provides the majority of the dramatic stakes. Maybe it’s just Nachmanoff’s incredibly bland direction. But it’s the first mid Cox turn.

Daredevil: Born Again (2025) s01e05 “With Interest” D: Jeffrey Nachmanoff. S: Charlie Cox. Delightful–yes, a delightful Daredevil–St. Paddy’s Day episode has Cox teaming up with Ms. Marvel’s dad (guest star Mohan Kapur) for a done-in-one bank robbery episode. It emphasizes Cox’s charm–welcome after last episode–and his desire to beat and be beaten. Especially against a Protestant villain (Cillian O’Sullivan). Negotiator Ruibo Qian’s fun, too.

Paradise (2025) s01e04 “Agent Billy Pace” D: Gandja Monteiro. S: Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV, James Marsden. Amid all its problems–bland production design, Nicholson’s half-note villain–the show’s boring. Lots of talking, listening, watching, looking. No action. This episode has a bunch of reveals, which completely change the show’s stakes. It gets less interesting with every minute, both as a story and as a production. Jon Beavers turns out to be legit good, though.

Paradise (2025) s01e05 “In the Palaces of Crowned Kings” D: Hanelle M. Culpepper. S: Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, James Marsden. Now it’s Marsden’s turn for a flashback and we find out how mean dad Gerald McRaney has been. It’s not a good episode for Marsden. Someone forgot to tell him to do the accent. But McRaney is great. Otherwise, the plot gets to a point mode appropriate for the end of the pilot. And then another big reveal.

Severance (2022) s02e08 “Sweet Vitriol” [2025] D: Ben Stiller. S: Patricia Arquette. Oh, is Patricia Arquette on this show? One could forget. But not after her big comeback here, with Arquette visiting estranged sister Jane Alexander. We get some information–in dialogue and as obtusely as possible–about Arquette’s back story, including how some of last season’s bits fit. It’s okay; Arquette and James Le Gros are great; episodes’s just okay.

Severance (2022) s02e10 “Cold Harbor” [2025] D: Ben Stiller. S: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, Jen Tullock, Dichen Lachman, Patricia Arquette. The show pulls off a phenomenal season finale, leaving lots for next time (whole characters go unaddressed, much less their subplots), while giving Scott, Lower, Cherry, and Tillman great material. Tillman, in particular. He’s so good. Lots of tension–director Stiller and editor Geoffrey Richman do great work. Start to finish, one hit after another; no notes; high regard.