TV Shows Watched: Daredevil: Born again- S1E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Government Cheese: S1E1 (Apple plus) with audio description, Tracker: S2E16 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Top Chef: S22E? (Peacock) with audio description, North of North: S1E3 (Netflix) with audio description, and Have I Got News For You: S2E9 (MAX) no audio description

Best Episode: daredevil: Born Again- While not a victory totally based on merit, it is based on the shows it was up against. The finale was by far the most brutal and gory episode we’ve had from a Disney Plus MCU show, and featured the return of two much desired fan favorites. It also had Kingpin use the phrase “Never Forget, I Love New York”, combining the two most associated New York phrases with this new tyrant, in what is turning out to be a very odd parallel to our own life. It does fall into the same problem other Marvel shows and films have had, where a problem becomes so big, any Marvel fan has to wonder where the other heroes are, and what are they doing? Fisk is now the Mayor of NYC. This is also the home of not just the other Defenders (Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist), but characters like Spider-Man, and notably Kate Bishop, who brought Kingpin back into the fold. Speaking of crossovers, Matt was also on She-Hulk, so she could be an equally viable “vigilante” in a town that was once attacked by aliens and hosted Avengers tower. Where is everyone when Fisk is targeting vigilantes?

runner Up: Have I Got News For You- If I’m being really honest, this was the show I enjoyed the second most of all.

best Audio Description: daredevil Born Again- A few excellent fight sequences, and a brutal death put this easily on top.

Runner Up: Tracker?- There’s not really a clear answer here, but Tracker did reliably provide the same pretty decent level of audio description it provides every week.

Best performance: Vincent D’Onofrio (Daredevil Born Again)- While I like Vincent, I’m not a huge fan of his Kingpin.he is manipulating his voice to try and create what Michael Clarke Duncan just had. Duncan had a deep booming voice. D’Onofrio just growls. Aside from the vocal choice plaguing his interpretation, he was actually pretty scary this week, showing one character why they should never step out of line, and making a series of decidedly awful choices for everyone but him. Considering the parallel to real life, he’s a pretty good mirror for the world we live in.

Runner Up: Jon Bernthal (Daredevil: Born Again)- It just was nice to see him again, and his arguments with Matt over killing people help flesh out Matt. His return fueled Matt to talk with Karen about “the darkness”, but we also saw frank Castle reckon with what Matt has been hinting at, when he realizes all the “bad cops” have Punisher tattoos, and worship him. So, while frank may have been trying to have a certain messaging to his madness, his methods have caused that to be misconstrued. I wish the series had given bernthal just a few more beats to truly discover this.

Best moment Of Audio Description: Headache? (Daredevil Born Again)- yes. that scene. I won’t spoil it, but if you’ve seen the episode, this is by far the goriest moment of the series.

runner Up: The Matt And Frank Team Up (Daredevil: Born Again)- when Frank first returns to help Matt. That whole sequence, right on through how they exit the building, was oodles of description.

Worst Of…- I kept listening, but I have a problem with government Cheese. I also need to watch more episodes to be sure, but there’s a group of brothers our main character is indebted to. the way their name is pronounced by other characters is not consistent with how Jedidiah Barton pronounces it. I’ve never known Barton to do subpar work, so I’m reserving this until I hear the brothers pronounce their own last name (which they didn’t in the pilot), to clear things up. Maybe Barton knew something I didn’t. It isn’t a huge thing, but there’s definitely a moment when characters say the name, and just a few beats later he says it, and it isn’t the same. the show also just never made me laugh for a “comedy”.