After Jon Bernthal stole the show in Daredevil season 2 as the infamous homicidal vigilante Frank Castle, aka "The Punisher", it was only natural that Netflix and Marvel would want him to have the spotlight. Whether or not Bernthal could carry an entire 13-episode series was questionable at first, especially since the Punisher had already been adapted three separate times in live action with varying results. Overall, I think it's safe to say that while Bernthal easily carries the series and makes for the best live action Punisher yet, the series itself keeps itself interesting with the addition of fantastic supporting characters like Micro and Wilson. However, it's clear that once again, the Netflix shows struggle with filling out 13 episodes.
The first episode begins with lots and lots and lots of punishing. Frank Castle completes his crusade against the chain of people responsible for the death of his family (or at least, he assumes he does) and then quietly retires. However, the nightmares of their deaths still haunt him, even though he now lives as a nobody doing construction work under a new identity. Eventually, he is involuntarily dragged back into a life of killing when his co-workers get caught up in a scheme to rob a gang. Once a killer, always a killer. Frank murders the co-workers and the gang before they can kill a co-worker he's begrudgingly befriended.
This first episode pretty much sets the tone for Frank's arc this season. He wants to be done with his life of murderous vigilantism, but he can't escape it no matter how hard he tries. It doesn't help that he's soon coerced into a scheme by the isolated hacker David Lieberman, aka Micro, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach. It turns out Micro and the Punisher's agendas line up since both men had their lives ruined by the same forces, and those forces are still at work despite Frank's murder spree. Therefore, the Punisher's job isn't done, and he now has to work with a partner he can't stand in order to complete his mission.
That actually brings me to my favorite element of this show: Micro. Yeah, Frank's story is pretty well done, carried mostly by Jon Bernthal's awesome performance. But Micro steals the show, no questions asked. We find out that he had to fake his death to keep the government off his tail after he uncovered some pretty shady stuff regarding the truth behind the operations Frank Castle were a part of. However, he chooses to secretly watch his family, torturing himself daily as they live on without him, slowly falling apart. This adds a fantastic dynamic between Frank and David. Frank lost his family without a choice while David chose to cut his family off to save them.
This winds up becoming the bond that both men share, and leads to them becoming close friends instead of reluctant partners. This entire arc is extremely satisfying from beginning to end, well acted by all players, and simply engaging. There are intense moments near the climax of this story that had my heart racing. I desperately wanted to see David be reunited with his family. Frank Castle may be the lead of the series, but David Lieberman is the heart.
Although it feels out of place compared to the rest of the main plot, the storyline featuring PTSD-stricken war veteran Lewis Wilson, played by Daniel Webber, is equally engaging. This story allows the staff behind The Punisher to explore the mental scars left behind by war, the first MCU installment to really tackle PTSD head-on with the gravity it deserves (Iron Man 3 explores it, but not as fully as this show does). Watching Wilson steadily lose his sanity is heartbreaking stuff as every attempt to save him fails until he's finally too far gone.
The final showdown between Wilson and the Punisher is intense in the action, while still allowing time to spell out the parallel between both men. Like I said before, this does feel like a bit of a distraction from the main story and would have been best served as its own contained arc instead of being intertwined with the rest of the series. Still, it's a well told story with a hell of a payoff.
Now, you may be noticing I'm not really mentioning the main story too much. Well, that's because it's perfectly...fine. I mean, we already went over the Punisher's crusade in Daredevil season 2. Here, it feels mostly redundant, as Frank discovers there's simply more people that need to be killed and proceeds to kill them. The real meat in the show lies in the other characters, because Frank himself doesn't really change all that much. We already know he's going to keep killing until he dies, no matter how much everyone tells him to not kill. Frankly (heh), it's a bit repetitive. Sure, he has to decide whether he wants to kill people he actually likes, but it's not as engaging as the battle of faith with Matt Murdock, or Jessica Jones recovering from her tragic past.
I was also not a huge fan of the subplot featuring DHS agent Dinah Madani, and that took up a large portion of the show. Her entire storyline was fairly predictable and has been kinda covered in the other Netflix shows (she most explicitly resembles Misty Knight in Luke Cage). It doesn't help that there are times in the show where she comes off as extremely incompetent or reckless. During the first few episodes, it was truthfully her arc where I would occasionally zone out because I found it so rudimentary. Without going into too heavy of spoilers, she does improve later on when she becomes more directly involved with Frank. Still, a lot of her arc felt like padding, which as you can see is definitely this show's main issue.
I'm going to keep saying this, but Netflix or ABC Television needs to desperately cut down the number of episodes they order for these shows. 13 is simply too many, only Daredevil season 1 has managed to make the best use of that time. Literally every other Netflix season with the exception of The Defenders has padded itself out with the villains getting away, or inconsequential subplots, or too many characters. This is a problem that is not going away, and will only be fixed if they allow the shows to either tighten down on the core narrative or if the showrunners start breaking their seasons up into clean arcs. Daredevil season 2 tried this out by breaking the story up into distinct arcs following the Punisher and then Elektra, but it still incorporated the Punisher throughout the entire season when it didn't need to.
Despite the bad pacing, The Punisher is definitely still worth watching. I can't reiterate how great Jon Bernthal is in the role, he brings such a raw ferocity that makes him so terrifying to watch. Yet you can't help but root on him as he takes on these vicious criminals ruining lives of innocent people for "knowing too much". He's a tortured man who will be haunted by the faces of his family for the rest of his life, and the only way he can cope is by dealing out extreme justice. I'm in no rush to watch a second season because his story can be repetitive, but I'll tune in solely so I can watch Bernthal absolutely nail the role again and again.
For next time, Marvel expands once again, this time towards Hulu, as they adapt an acclaimed comic book series that's part sci-fi conspiracy and part high school drama that doesn't live up to its name until the end of season 1.
Next time: Runaways
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