After last week’s shocking cliffhanger, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 finally settled the fate of an original Netflix character in this week’s episode… Only to, in a surprise, bring back two more dead Netflix characters in the process. Spoilers past this point, but by the end of “The Great Design” Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer) is dead, ending a run that began with the first season of the Netflix series. And briefly, Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and James Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore) are back in the flashback heavy hour.
To review, last week on “Gloves Off” Bullseye (Wilson Bechtel) attempted to murder Vanessa, only to be stopped by Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio)… Only in the process, a shard of shrapnel from an exploding glass tchotchke being sold at Fisk’s “Fight Night” lodged itself in her skull. This week, we discover that Vanessa survived, though she’s in critical condition.
She’s being operated on by the best surgeon money can buy, a bizarrely spiritual dude named Dr. Merati (Pej Vahdat), and while that’s all going on is imagining what led up to her first meeting with Wilson. Even more bizarrely, it seems like three separate people (at least) are having flashbacks this episode, including Vanessa, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) as he tries to save Bullseye’s life, and possibly Wilson.
What it all amounts to is essentially Daredevil Episode Zero, as a good half of “The Great Design” takes place before the events of the series premiere of Daredevil on Netflix. That means we get the return of Henson’s Foggy Nelson, as he and Matt work as interns at Landman and Zack and figure out a case that leads them on the path to tackling Kingpin. Meanwhile, Wilson’s right-hand man Wesley is back as well, gently pushing his boss in the direction of Vanessa and the all-white painting she believes in. If you don’t recall, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) killed Wesley in Season 1, something that haunts her to this day.
In any case, Wesley is mostly the man behind the curtain this episode (though it does draw a stark contrast to the much more disturbing and less calculating Buck Cashman played by Arty Froushan, who has essentially taken his place). Foggy, meanwhile, gets to be the fun “avocados at law” era Foggy with the floppy-haired Matt, instead of the more adult and in charge one he was right before he was killed in the Born Again series premiere by Bullseye.
As for Vanessa, she is who she is, and the show takes pains to link up the flashbacks to her first meeting with Wilson in the art gallery, back in Season 1 of the Netflix series. Unfortunately, it’s all to say goodbye to her… While Merati’s surgery seems to work initially, she asks for pineapple juice — though it makes her mouth tingle, as Wilson points out. He gets it for her anyway, she drinks it, finds it delicious, and dies. Over the end credits we hear waves crashing on the beach, a reminder that this season Vanessa and Wilson have discussed running away from it all and living their days out by the sea.
While it would be a short (and semi-hilarious) leap to guess she died of an allergy to pineapples, Vanessa likely died of her brain injury, which Merati was unable to heal. So yeah, RIP, Vanessa Fisk. She is dead for real this time, and Zurer has exited the series after four seasons (with a break for Season 2 of the Netflix show). As for Foggy and Wesley, they’re still dead. But I guess we could get a Daredevil Minus One episode and bring them all back again in Season 3.
Worse still, without Vanessa as his anchor, what will happen to Mayor Fisk, and New York? My bet: nothing good.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 premieres on Tuesday March 24 on Disney+ at 9pm ET / 6pm PT, with new episodes weekly except for the second week which has two episodes to make room for a Punisher one-shot special episode on May 12.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 with premiere dates:
- Tuesday, March 24, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 1, “The Northern Star”
- Tuesday, March 31, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 2, “Shoot The Moon”
- Tuesday, March 31, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 3, “The Scales & The Sword”
- Tuesday, April 7, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 4, “Gloves Off”
- Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 5, “The Grand Design”
- Tuesday, April 21, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 6, “Requiem”
- Tuesday, April 28, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 7, “The Hateful Darkness”
- Tuesday, May 5, 2026: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 8, “The Southern Cross” *Season Finale*
- Tuesday, May 12, 2026: The Punisher: One Last Kill – Marvel Special Presentation
Where To Watch Daredevil: Born Again
Listen to MarvelVision:
Share this:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.