Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 5 has debuted on Disney+ – and there are two big talking points we need to address.
Titled “The Grand Design,” the latest chapter of the Marvel television series unsurprisingly examines the consequences of Born again Shock ending to episode 4 of season 2. Additionally, however, it also brings two characters back from the dead, in the only way said duo can realistically be resurrected.
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How are Foggy Nelson and James Wesley alive in Daredevil: Born Again season 2?
It’s simple: They appear in flashback sequences that precede and take place around Daredevil’s first TV show, which ran for three seasons on Netflix and whose events are considered canonical in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Ever since Matt Murdock’s lawyer and best friend, Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, was murdered during the Disney+ series premiere, fans have speculated that Foggy would reappear in Daredevil: Born Again.
It wasn’t some wild theory. Daredevil: Born Again was inspired by various comic book storylines, including one in which Foggy is presumably killed. However, it was later revealed that he faked his own death so he could enter a witness protection program, allowing readers to breathe a sigh of relief.
So I can completely understand why some viewers thought a similar scenario would end up happening in Born again season 2. As it turns out, Foggy is brought back to life – but not in the way many expected.
Indeed, as I initially teased in my Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 review, its fifth episode includes the show’s current storyline and flashbacks to Matt and Foggy’s time as law interns. Following Foggy’s unexpected demise last season, it’s a bittersweet and poignant chapter that highlights the great, much-missed chemistry that Charlie Cox and Elden Henson had as their respective characters in the Netflix series.
This also closes the book on Foggy’s return in Born again. Indeed, this specific memory forces Matt to not only finally confront Foggy’s death at the hands of Bullseye, but also forgive the sociopathic assassin by helping an injured Bullseye escape Wilson Fisk’s anti-vigilante task force in this episode.
Foggy isn’t the only returning face we see in “The Grand Design.” In a separate flashback, we finally see the preparations for Wilson Fisk’s first meeting with Vanessa, which took place during the first season of the Netflix show.
As part of this retrospective story, we are reintroduced to someone we haven’t seen since. Daredevil season 1: James Wesley.
For those who aren’t familiar or need a refresher, James Wesley was Wilson Fisk’s right-hand man and close confidant in the Netflix series. He oversaw the day-to-day running of Fisk’s criminal empire and unceremoniously expelled anyone who posed a risk for said illegal activities. Think of it as a cross between Born againIt’s Daniel Blake and Buck Cashman, and you’ll get the idea.
Anyway, Wesley didn’t stay long because he was killed by Karen Page in Daredevil the penultimate episode of season 1. Thanks to Born again However, in the past of Episode 5 of Season 2, the Marvel TV show Phase 6 offers another glimpse of the close bond that existed between Fisk and Wesley before the latter left his mortal body.
At the top of this article, I mentioned that there were two big talking points regarding this week’s episode – and this is the other one.
Following Born again During the Season 2 premiere, Wilson Fisk actor Vincent D’Onofrio appeared to spoil Vanessa Fisk’s death on the MCU TV show. Then, with last week’s chapter revealing that Vanessa had suffered what appeared to be a fatal injury, it seemed almost certain that she would perish.
However, “The Grand Design” appears to grant her a reprieve, as she is no longer the show’s latest victim. Indeed, as part of the current plot, we see one of New York’s best brain surgeons operate to save Vanessa’s life. Given that she soon wakes up from her coma, it appears that the surgery was a success and that she will make a full recovery.
This optimism ends up being misplaced. In the latter stages of episode 5, Vanessa takes a turn for the worse and, despite the efforts of nearby doctors and nurses to resuscitate her, she dies, much to Wilson Fisk’s devastation.
With his longtime love no longer there to rein in his worst tendencies, all eyes will be on next week’s episode to see how New York’s capricious and tyrannical mayor reacts. Will Vanessa’s death prompt him to crack down harder on the city’s vigilantes and their supporters? And what else will he do without anyone else being able to keep him unchecked? We’ll know soon enough.
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