In the 1st 2 episodes of Daredevil: Born Again, Foggy was killed by Bullseye, which caused Matt to throw the supervillain off a roof and hang up his boots. Bullseye survived because of his reinforced spine, and a year after that incident, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Karen moved out of NYC and Matt’s life. Matt joined hands with McDuffie to start their own firm, and he hired Cherry as his private investigator. Matt’s 1st high-profile case was that of Hector Ayala, who moonlighted as the vigilante White Tiger and had been accused of killing a cop in cold blood. Given how Fisk had become the mayor of New York on the back of his anti-vigilante stance, Matt’s decision to represent Ayala not only put him at odds with the entirety of the New York Police Department, but his old enemy as well. Matt was aware of the fact that the guy that Ayala was trying to save when the cop got killed, Nicky, was his only chance at proving that Ayala was innocent. So, he rushed to save him from the hands of the corrupt cops looking to kill the sole eyewitness. With Nicky out of harm’s way, Matt gave Powell and his friends a taste of his devilish side. The 3rd episode of Daredevil: Born Again shows us if Matt actually manages to win Ayala his freedom.
Spoiler Alert
Wilson and Vanessa Have a Disagreement
Episode 3 opens with Matt promising Ayala that he is going to reunite with his family. Then the focus shifts to some kind of a business deal between Luca and Viktor’s men in Red Hook, which ends in bloodshed. And after getting some snapshots of the personal opinions of New Yorkers on politics and vigilantism, we reach the Fisk household. Vanessa isn’t happy that she has been sidelined by Wilson, with her no longer being able to use her knowledge in business and art to whitewash black money. Wilson assures her that he has a plan in mind and her patience will bear fruit eventually. When Sheila informs Wilson about the aforementioned bloody altercation in Red Hook, which is earmarked to become a prime location in the future, Vanessa reminds him that, without her supervision, the Five Families are going to turn on each other, which will lead to further chaos. Wilson insinuates that that’s exactly what he wants. It seems like he thinks that he is above all that, and he’ll just wait out the gang war and then bring the survivors into the fold. Right before this scene ends, we get some not-so-subtle foreshadowing via Wilson’s bruised knuckles that his Kingpin activities aren’t exactly in the rearview mirror.
Wilson sends Cashman to meet Luca, Viktor, Carlo, and Devlin in his stead, who tells the members of the Five Families to tone down their nefarious nocturnal activities. Then, Cashman orders Luca to pay Viktor 1.8 million dollars as compensation for getting his people killed. Luca tells Cashman that if Fisk wants him to do something, he should tell it to his face instead of sending his “errand boy.” I have a feeling that Luca is going to regret saying that pretty soon. While attending their couple’s therapy session with Heather, Vanessa learns what Fisk has asked of Luca, and she tells him that that’s going to ruin the stability between the gangs that she had achieved in his absence. Wilson reiterates the fact that it’s all part of his grand scheme to let the “rats” eat each other up and clean up the city. Vanessa thinks that Wilson’s actions have nothing to do with his plans for the city; she accuses him of ruining everything that she has worked for in order to punish her for cheating on him with Adam. They are forced to put that conversation on the backburner, though, as Heather enters the room.
Nicky Lies
Matt runs into Powell in the bathroom of the court, with the latter smugly telling Matt that if Judge Cooper learns that the blind lawyer has been interfering in a police investigation, then he’ll be thrown off the case. Matt, even more smugly, tells Powell that witness tampering isn’t exactly “police investigation,” and if that comes to light, Powell and his pals will go to jail. Speaking of the witness, Cherry goes to pick up Nicky from the safehouse, and it becomes clear pretty soon that the NYPD has come together to ensure that Nicky never reaches the courthouse. So, Cherry and his associates are forced to orchestrate a fakeout to keep Nicky out of the hands of the police. Meanwhile, Powell spews all kinds of lies under oath. Hochberg gives the corrupt cop every opportunity to sell his sob story while obfuscating the fact that he and Shanahan were harassing somebody and Ayala was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Matt tries his best to underscore the fact that Powell and Shanahan weren’t innocent bystanders at an “empty” subway station; they were there to harass a confidential informant, Nicky. Of course, Powell feigns ignorance. When Nicky does finally arrive at the courthouse, though, he gives Powell and the deceased Shanahan a free pass by saying that he was never at the station, because he is afraid that if he tells the truth, the NYPD is going to make his life a living hell. By the way, the manner in which the scene where Matt grills Powell and the scene where Nicky is brought to the courthouse are edited, it seems like they happen on the same day. But if you look closely, they happen on different days, and Matt plans with Cherry to do the whole fake-out maneuver after hearing one of the police officers say that they intend to apprehend Nicky before he reaches the court. Anyway, all this ends up being for nothing because Matt is forced to withdraw his witness.
Matt Hopes For The Best
Back at the office, Matt, Cherry, and McDuffie butt heads regarding what they are going to do to ensure that Ayala gets to walk free, and Matt arrives at the conclusion that they just need to let Ayala speak his truth and hope that the jury is open-minded enough to listen to him. Ayala talks about how, on that fateful night, he was returning from a new flat that he was in the process of purchasing so that he and his wife could move out of his sister’s place. That’s when he saw Nicky getting harassed by Powell and Shanahan. He tried to stop them. Nicky ran away. Powell and Shanahan tried to overpower Ayala, then Shanahan tripped and fell onto the tracks and died. Surprisingly enough, Matt uses this opportunity to reveal to the jury and the rest of the court that Ayala is actually White Tiger, and his actions so far have been nothing but heroic. Given how this is a violation of the agreement between Matt, Hochberg, and the judge, they reprimand him for basically lying to them. Judge Cooper warns him that, even though he thinks that he has swayed the jury in favor of Ayala, he has actually painted a target on Ayala’s back that’s even bigger than the one he had.
On that note, the episode circles back to the opening scene, where Ayala tells Matt that he shouldn’t have done that, because that wasn’t his truth to tell. They both agree to disagree, and the following day, Matt proceeds to bring in people who have been saved by White Tiger to the stand, which includes police officers. Matt tries to prove that what Ayala tried to do on that night at the subway station was an act of heroism—which he performed despite not having his suit and his superpowered amulet—and Shanahan’s death was just an unfortunate accident. Hochberg rubbishes all of that and tries to convince the jury that a few acts of heroism don’t whitewash one act of alleged murder.
Hector Ayala Is Killed
At the end of Daredevil: Born Again episode 3, the jury does rule in favor of Ayala, and he gets to walk out of court a free man. Matt celebrates this occasion with Heather with a bottle of O’Melveny, since it’s something that he used to do with Foggy every time they won a case. Wilson Fisk isn’t particularly amused by this outcome, and he tells Daniel about another meeting with BB Urich. Their first interview didn’t go down very well as BB cornered Fisk with questions about Commissioner Gallo’s mutiny and Fisk’s tumultuous relationship with Vanessa. Wilson did say that he intends to use BB’s zeal for the truth to his benefit, and I guess the time has come for the Kingpin to do exactly that. While Fisk sits down with BB, Hector Ayala dons his White Tiger suit and resumes his job as a vigilante. However, when he goes into an alley, he is shot in the head by someone wearing the Punisher logo. Yes, the show wants us to think that the Punisher is working with Wilson to kill vigilantes. But if you look at the logo closely, it’s similar to the skull logo that the cops wear and nothing like the one that Frank Castle uses.
It’s unclear if Fisk ordered this hit on Ayala or not to further his anti-vigilante stance. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if it’s revealed that a cop, wearing a demented Punisher logo, has killed Ayala, especially because Judge Cooper had foreshadowed that, regardless of the truth, the NYPD always backs up their own. That said, this ending doesn’t really sit right with me, because Kamar de los Reyes did such a great job of portraying this character prior to his untimely death. There was so much passion when Reyes was talking about his culture that the lines between the character and the actor got blurred. So, to retire Ayala in that insensitive and cruel fashion felt awful. Marvel had faced a similar conundrum when Chadwick Boseman sadly passed away, and T’Challa was allowed to go out like a hero, while the mantle of the Black Panther was passed on to Shuri. Given how White Tiger is also a mantle, I feel that the show could’ve done something similar for Reyes and Hector Ayala. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the ending of episode 3. Please share your opinions on the same in the comments section below.
