Daredevil Born Again: The Hollow of His Hand review S1 E3

The Hollow of His Hand concludes the first arc of Daredevil: Born Again in shocking fashion with a terrific cliffhanger. The ending to The Hollow of His Hand is a great example of why it’s better for Born Again to roll out new episodes every week instead of making it available in an immediately available binge session. Sometimes episodes need a week to marinate with viewers so they can fully take in what played out. As well as speculate on the potential ramifications of a big twist ending.

Matt visits Hector in prison again. He’s in worse shape as the police officers and presumably fellow prisoners he helped send to jail are beating him up. Veering the show away from Matt or Kingpin for extended periods of time isn’t necessarily the best approach, but a few scenes showing how bad prison life is for Hector might give this arc even more emotional impact. The hero behind bars with the criminals he helped imprison.

Officer Powell, one of the shady police officers Matt beat down at Nicky Torres’ place, threatens Matt in the courtroom bathroom. Matt is not some chump and doesn’t have to play the unassuming meek character, which allows him to get in Powell’s face and warn him he’s gonna need more officers.

Powell doesn’t need any backup on the stands as he has no problem lying about the events that left his partner dead and Hector in prison. Matt loves taunting folks he knows have done some shady stuff and are outright lying on the stands. This time he asks about Powell’s black eye, which he knows all about since he was the one that gave it to him. While he’s questioning Powell, Matt overhears another officer say that Torres can’t testify. Naturally, Matt can’t see it, but the officer has that Punisher-homage skull tattoo on his neck.

The Hollow of His Hand really dives into the very real-life incidents where The Punisher’s skull has been co-opted by overly aggressive as well as dirty cops. It’s one of the main reasons Marvel Comics did a highly convoluted storyline to kill off Frank Castle and introduce a new Punisher with a new logo. Fortunately Born Again doesn’t have to deal with it so timidly.

Getting Torres to the courtroom becomes a key subplot in The Hollow of His Hand. Jerry even serves as a decoy to trick Powell and his squad while his partner gets Torres to court. Ultimately it means absolutely nothing as Torres lies and denies having seen Hector or being out on New Year’s Eve. This forces a desperate Matt to try another tactic — outing Hector as The White Tiger as grounds for showing his heroic nature in looking out for his fellow New Yorkers with no thought of glory or accolades, but because it was the right thing to do.

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This Hail Mary was unorthodox, but it makes Matt’s point as he has several testimonies, including from police reports in the most damning bit of evidence for the claims against Hector, hailing White Tiger’s actions. Actions that have made him an asset not just to the city, but the police department as well. And that’s more than enough evidence for Hector to be found not guilty.

The Hollow of His Hand wasn’t crammed with a bunch of epic fight scenes, but the legal drama was in some ways just as effective as some extended punching and kicking sequences.

This verdict does not sit well with Kingpin, who ran on a campaign promise to make New York safer by eliminating vigilantes. He can’t make that promise hollow so soon. He’s also dealing with the minor headache of the five gangs under his control battling each other since Fisk or Vanessa aren’t keeping them in check. And despite his cool and calm demeanor, his knuckles are mysteriously bruised again.

Fisk warns Vanessa not to do anything that would make him question his trust in her. He’s fine with the gangs fighting as it’s making a point for him and his ultimate end game.

It hasn’t been that long since the verdict, but Hector isn’t the type to take days off just because he was in prison. He dons the White Tiger gear and hits the streets again looking for people in need of help. This sequence has such an ominous feel to it that the end result — someone coming up from behind him and shooting him in the head — felt inevitable.

What was surprising was the killer was wearing a flak jacket with a very familiar skull on it. What a cliffhanger!

The Hollow of His Hand delivers some exquisitely performed high-stakes drama that has a well-earned happy ending…until it doesn’t, which should only serve to make Matt question how much longer the city can survive without Daredevil.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney

Enjoyed The Hollow of His Hand? Check out the landmark Daredevil: Born Again comic book storyline in this new trade paperback collection available now on Amazon.

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