Karen’s trial concludes and New York fights for its soul.

The Southern Cross is a significant constellation for the Catholic Church. It’s visible in the Southern Hemisphere all year round and the combination of its shape and its constancy means the Church has used it as a metaphor for a long time.

It’s used here, I think, for another reason. One that’s centred less on the reality of southern hemisphere Catholics and more on the missionaries that carried that faith out, and in many ways, enforced it. The Southern Cross is a reminder of faith built on cost, and the distance you travel from it when you pay that cost. In this season finale, everyone pays.

To begin with catharsis, Wilson Fisk loses everything he didn’t lose two episodes ago. Much of the episode centres on Karen’s court case and the moment Matt calls Fisk to the stand is electric. The THOOM as he steps, the way he’s shot from a low angle to emphasize the immovable, monolithic presence of the mayor, it all adds up to as much threat as the physical violence that erupts later. D’Onofrio does his best work of the season here too, playing Fisk playing Fisk in control. Grieving, alone, the white noise of his brain cycling up, he orates instead of answering questions. He’s pompous, arrogant, familiar. Just a politician even if he can’t see it. But Matt can.

The episode’s pivotal moment, mystifyingly spoiled by Marvel, is Matt publicly outing himself. It’s a great beat, one delivered with the exhausted, brutal flair of Battling Jack Murdock as Matt stands centre ring in his own arena. We’ve barely seen Matt Murdock, lawyer, this season and now we know why. This is his last, best performance, one that matches his brain with his dad’s inherent talent for brutality and filtering it through his gruelling martial arts training. There’s a term in Judo, the sacrifice throw, where you put yourself on the mat to deliver your opponent there. Matt does that and it’s beautiful to see. The two sides of his life united, even if that union burns one forever.

That sequence sets the tone for the episode while Bullseye puts a button on it. A failed assassination attempt on Fisk leads to everyone holed up in the courthouse, like two armies entrenched on No Man’s Land. Matt, Jess, Karen, Angela and McDuffie on one side, Fisk on the other and a mob of raging New Yorkers on the other. It’s a great set up and one that gives characters like Cole North a moment more in the spotlight as the AVTF veteran finally realises whose side he’s on. Or rather, who he’s between.

Daredevil is known for inventive, close in brutality and the corridor fight this episode is arguably the best example of the show’s signature move to date. Fisk, defeated, enraged, flamboyantly yelling ‘BOO!’ before all but tearing protestors apart with his bare hands is monstrous. Jess and Matt, one with intermittent powers and one wounded, hammering their way through the remaining AVTF is oddly poignant. There’s a sense of futility, of us being here AGAIN. The still (right)  of Jess, Matt and the others looking up at Fisk with an army behind them suggests that’s where it ends. It isn’t. It ends with grace.

Matt pleads with Fisk, effectively picking up the conversation from the last time they fought and he wins. He talks his nemesis down, offers them both the chance of if not peace then at least an ending. Fisk takes it, and the city breathes out. But there’s still a price to pay.

For Fisk, that price is exile. The last time we see him he’s alone on a beautiful tropical beach. People have decried this as a weak ending, that he escapes without punishment. That’s nonsense. Fisk was defined by his power, by his wife, by his city. Without any of them he’s an intellect trapped in a body that’s his best tool and his original enemy. As a big man who has struggled to close that gap, it’s horrifying to see and cathartic to see him experience this. This is a prison, for Wilson Fisk and I’m thrilled to see how he gets out of it and back to his Southern Cross of New York.

Matt’s prison is more literal. Sentenced for his crimes, the last time we see him is a poignantly fun sequence where he goes for dinner with Karen before being arrested. Charlie Cox has always been great but this episode he’s flat out stunning. Matt looks resigned, relaxed, peaceful. He smiles as he good naturedly gives his arresting officer notes and says, ‘Used to be a lawyer.’ Even in his cell, with Powell and the other AVTF locked up in the same block, he looks calm. Matt Murdock and Daredevil are, at last, the same. Even if Matt’s Southern Cross, Karen, is held at the same distance from him as Fisk’s own.

As the season closes, we touch base with the others, and this is the one place the show falters a little. Luke Cage’s cameo is under a minute even if it’s nice to see him. We know he, Jess and Danny are back next season and as the episode closes, we see Jess reopen Alias Investigations. I hope that’s not an empty tease, especially as this is, as our esteemed editor pointed out, the best Defenders show since Jess’ original season. The brief return of Ellison also feels just a little box-ticky, although BB being given the legacy of her dad and the stability she’s craved is lovely.

Elsewhere we see Dex picked as Mr Charles’ new favourite toy meaning Luke can go home and Dex can get what amounts to a happy ending for him. It’s a great closing scene, and Wilson Bethel and Matthew Lillard have been great fun all season. But the scene you remember is Heather Glenn, finally putting the Muse mask on and finally seeing herself in focus. Lady Muse arriving just as New York is a blank canvas to paint terrible things on. Margarita Levieva has been doing quietly brilliant work this season and I can’t wait to see her sink her teeth into the next season.

The last southern cross of modern genre fandom is the belief that what you love can and will continue. The ratings for Born Again Season 2 have apparently not been great and while season 3 is filming now, like every TV show, we don’t know if there’ll be anything beyond that yet. I think there’s massive potential, especially if season 3 is as good as this phenomenal year. But until we know for sure, like Matt, we need to have faith.

Verdict: What a perfect capstone for a near perfect piece of TV. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart