‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Reveals Who Really Killed Foggy

It’s a shame that the first season of Daredevil: Born Again is coming to a close next week, because it has finally found its footing. The penultimate episode wraps all the way back to the premiere, bringing back Agent Poindexter/Bullseye and revealing that there was more to Foggy’s death than we initially thought — and in doing so it also reaches back to the finale of the Netflix series, recalling the deal Matt struck with Wilson to leave each other’s families alone. It’s too bad this season spent so much time trying to repurpose spare parts from the failed launch of the first iteration of Born Again because it’s clear that the new vision of the series is the one that really cooks — which bodes well for the second season!

The episode begins with Poindexter being removed from protective custody and dumped in Gen Pop on Mayor Fisk’s order. Everyone makes sure to point out how this is very bad and dangerous for Poindexter, a former federal agent, although you’ll forgive me for thinking that a dude who can turn literally anything into a lethal weapon can probably hold his own. Meanwhile, Matt realizes that Foggy was celebrating an upcoming court victory the night he died, which he thinks means his friend was targeted rather than the victim of some random revenge killing spree. He visits Poindexter to find out who hired him, but Poindexter refuses to answer unless Matt helps with the whole Gen Pop situation. “You know, in another life you might be defending me,” Poindexter says, “Because that’s what good men do, right? They defend their worst enemies.” It’s a nifty bit of foreshadowing because Matt sure does wind up defending his worst enemy by episode’s end. All he does for Poindexter, though, is slam his head into the table — loosening a tooth that provides Poindexter the projectile he needs to escape prison entirely.

So look, I was wrong last week when I said I thought Vanessa sent Luca to try and kill Fisk. Y’all called it in the comments, that she and Fisk actually worked together to set Luca up and take him out. I had considered that interpretation, but I just really wanted Vanessa to go full villain. Turns out I just needed to wait a week! Not only does Vanessa kill Adam instead of freeing him, but she also was the one who hired Poindexter to kill Foggy. Everything comes to a head at a fancy black-tie fundraiser Fisk hosts for his Red Hook project, where he’s shaking down donors like Jack Duquesne, whom he threatens to target for his activities as The Swordsman. Matt arrives late as Heather’s plus-one, and he intends to confront Fisk about Foggy’s death - until he hears Vanessa’s heartrate skyrocket when news arrives that Bullseye has escaped prison.

The tenuous truce between Matt and Fisk this season, to stay out of each other’s way as they each attempt to walk on the right side of the law, was built on the deal they struck in the finale of the Netflix series. Matt demanded that Wilson agree to leave Foggy and Karen alone, and in exchange he wouldn’t go after Vanessa for her crimes. Fisk would go to prison, but his wife would be free. It’s not necessary to remember that deal, but it does make the episode’s climax all the more interesting. Poindexter arrives at the gala to assassinate Fisk, in revenge for the whole Gen Pop thing, but Matt hears the gun cock and takes the bullet himself. Matt defends his worst enemy, just as Poindexter said, and sure - it’s because Matt is a good man, but it’s more than that. It’s because Fisk never broke the agreement. Matt realizes that Vanessa had Foggy killed, not Fisk. In fact, from running Fisk’s criminal empire in his absence to killing Adam herself, she’s consistently been getting her hands dirty while her husband’s have stayed (mostly) clean. I’m even starting to wonder whether Fisk had Poindexter moved to Gen Pop, or if it was Vanessa who pulled the strings to make that happen — though I don’t want to fall into the trap of giving her too much credit once again.

Fisk was on the verge of revealing Matt’s secret identity to Heather when Matt saved him, and as much as I know the finale will likely be spent wrapping up the Bullseye mess, I’m more excited to see how Matt’s public defense of the Mayor impacts Fisk’s agenda. If he reveals that Matt is Daredevil to anyone, he’d have to acknowledge that a vigilante saved his life, and that just might crater his anti-vigilante crusade. What’s more important to him: Stopping all vigilantes, or wrecking Matt’s life? Matt’s selfless act may wind up being a pretty nifty bit of self-defense as well.

We also finally got some movement on the BB Urich front, and it’s clear she’s playing some 3D chess while seeming to be in the Mayor’s pocket. She approaches the police commissioner to try to find out more about the anti-vigilante task force, and reveals she knows Fisk was a suspect in her uncle’s murder — and that not everything she writes is under her own name. The commissioner offers to share the files he has on all the corrupt cops on the task force, since he has no other way to stop them and their abuses. So let’s just ignore the fact that he clearly knew he had a bunch of dangerously corrupt NYPD officers working under him and he didn’t have a problem with it until Fisk scooped them up, shall we?