Daredevil: Born Again (2025) s01e06 “Excessive Force” D: David Boyd. S: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Nikki M. James, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer. Another strong episode implies we’re definitely after the creative team change (and their reworking of shot material). D’Onofrio’s got professional troubles, both as a crime boss and the mayor, while Cox is running away from his nature and gets called on it. Both inciting incidents involve the same serial killer graffiti artist; very tidy, very well-acted.
Daredevil: Born Again (2025) s01e07 “Art for Art’s Sake” D: David Boyd. S: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Genneya Walton, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer. Pretty good, quick resolution to the Daredevil vs. villain plot makes some predictable moves but well. And there are a handful of surprise moves too. Great performances from D"Onofrio and Cox, along with some solid action, get it through just fine. Though they’re avoiding very obvious ways to resolve or at least progress major plot points. Small quibbles.
Daredevil: Born Again (2025) s01e08 “Isle of Joy” D: Aaron Moorhead. S: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, Ayelet Zurer, Wilson Bethel. Fantastic episode brings Bethel back and delivers the previously avoided sequel to the Netflix incarnation. Great tortured Cox performance, getting to do a whole lot as he continently discovers new details about the series’s inciting incident. Then D’Onofrio and Zurer have a dynamite episode, too. It’s flirts with safety then dares (no pun) to go higher. Real good.
The Outlaws (2021) s03e01 “Episode 1” [2024] D: John Butler. S: Rhianne Barreto, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, Jessica Gunning, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stephen Merchant. Barreto gets the gang back together for another season; she’s got a dead body she needs help with and no one’s sure she isn’t just a psychopath. Nice episode for Perkins and Tomlinson’s funny. Merchant, too. But Gunning is the glue. The fractured narrative, lots of flashbacks to catch us up since last season, is rote and effective.
The Outlaws (2021) s03e02 “Episode 2” [2024] D: John Butler. S: Rhianne Barreto, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, Jessica Gunning, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stephen Merchant. Some actual surprises–the show’s wasting no time whatsoever moving things along, with Perkins and Tomlinson getting the only real subplots. Cole and Barreto kind of get more, kind of don’t. Recurring guest star Ricky Grover’s bringing a lot, ditto Charles Babalola (back from the previous seasons). It’s setting up the heist angle now; about time but right on.
The Outlaws (2021) s03e03 “Episode 3” [2024] D: Curtis Vowell. S: Rhianne Barreto, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, Jessica Gunning, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stephen Merchant. Some surprises but mostly in terms of character development. Noticeably none for Barreto and Cole; Perkins, Boyd, Gunning, Tomlinson, and Merchant make up for it. The show doesn’t waste any time getting the heroes back up the creek, with heavier stakes for everyone as the episode progresses. It’s sturdy enough but is Barreto ever going to do anything?
The Outlaws (2021) s03e04 “Episode 4” [2024] D: Curtis Vowell. S: Rhianne Barreto, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, Jessica Gunning, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stephen Merchant. Deftly efficient episode perturbs all the character development–all of it–completing a handful of plotlines, in fact, while setting everything up for a grand finale. The strongest performances are Boyd, Perkins, and Tomlinson; Merchant holds his own opposite guest star Richard E. Grant in Merchant’s best acting maybe ever on the show. It’s a damned strong episode.
The Outlaws (2021) s03e05 “Episode 5” [2024] D: Curtis Vowell. S: Rhianne Barreto, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, Jessica Gunning, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stephen Merchant. Ho-hum finale acts like Barreto’s been the protagonist the whole season, then can’t even figure out what to do with her after that positioning. The big heist sequence is amusing enough (despite showcasing the guest stars not the regulars), but then there’s another half hour to kill. Disappointing given the season’s highs, but otherwise… fine?
The Outlaws (2021) D: . S: . Barreto gets the gang back together for another season; she’s got a dead body she needs help with and no one’s sure she isn’t just a psychopath. Nice episode for Perkins and Tomlinson’s funny. Merchant, too. But Gunning is the glue. The fractured narrative, lots of flashbacks to catch us up since last season, is rote and effective.
The Outlaws (2021) D: . S: . Barreto gets the gang back together for another season; she’s got a dead body she needs help with and no one’s sure she isn’t just a psychopath. Nice episode for Perkins and Tomlinson’s funny. Merchant, too. But Gunning is the glue. The fractured narrative, lots of flashbacks to catch us up since last season, is rote and effective.
The Outlaws (2021) D: . S: . Barreto gets the gang back together for another season; she’s got a dead body she needs help with and no one’s sure she isn’t just a psychopath. Nice episode for Perkins and Tomlinson’s funny. Merchant, too. But Gunning is the glue. The fractured narrative, lots of flashbacks to catch us up since last season, is rote and effective.
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