Well, once again I have to deal with the frustration of one of the Netflix Marvel shows stumbling into another annoying bad habit. During my review of the last episode, I pointed out that whenever one of these street level heroes gets into a large, mid-season fight, they are inevitably left in such a battered state by the end of it that the episode after takes a nerve grinding time-out rather than chasing the momentum. It’s a trope that’s always managed to get on my tits, but while some characters such as Daredevil mimimalise the damage by having high stakes and drama all round it, The Punisher is having quite the opposite effect, mainly because after five whole episodes it still doesn’t bloody feel like it’s gotten started yet.
As my patience runs steadily thin and an already slow series inexplicably gets slower just when you thought it might actually perk up, I’m starting to find the impossible occurring within my skill. I’m beginning to miss the movies.
After his the firefight in the woods that left old war buddy, Gunner, dead and Frank wounded, Micro visits Curtis in order to explore him into putting his medical skills to good use. While Micro has always been accused of an always grumpy Frank of never wanting to get his hands dirty, Lieberman actually does right by his agressive partner by getting stuck into fixing him – even when things get extra squeamish. But while Frank suffers nightmares of (what else) his family dying, the ramifications of the woodland firefight are felt throughout the rest of the cast.
Testing some of the copious blood on sight, Agent Madani now has solid proof beyond her own concussed experiences that Castle is alive, but her questioning of Billy Russo in the afterglow of their latest bout of lovemaking gets him suspicious about whether his old war buddy is actually dead. When questioned, Curtis remains tight lipped, but after discovering that Russo is putting out broadcasts to his old, military callsign, a healed Frank decides to cut his friend in on the fact that he’s still alive.
Meanwhile, the troubled soul that is Lewis Wilson drops another rung down the sanity ladder when he discovers that far right wing Vietnam veteran, O’Connor has been lying to him about his military record. Feeling more betrayed than ever before, Wilson soon loses control with the end result leading to O’Connor being stabbed to death, which surely can’t bode well for the young soldier.
Figuring that his recent injuries means that it’s time for Frank to abandon his vendetta, Billy arranges for him to leave the city once and all by boat, but after more soul searching and a greater appreciation for Micro, Castle opts to stay. It’s a good thing too, because as the episode closes out, we find that Billy may be fucking Madani, but he’s in bed with Rawlins. Double cross ahoy.
OK. I admit it. I was willing to give this political thriller version of the Punisher a shot mostly based on the goodwill of how Daredevil introduced to character and how promising the first episode was; but as we’ve now nearly reached the halfway point with virtually nothing to show for it, I’m kind of yearning for the dumber days of Punisher adaptions where all he had to do is blow the head of a gangster and we’d all be happy. Yes, I know that makes me sound a little gun crazy, but while I can assure you that my political tastes don’t land in the realms of the far right, watching Frank Castle creep around an agonisingly slow political action thriller and not taking chunks out of organised crime is kind of like watching a non-swinging Spider-Man, or a Wolverine without claws. Yes, I applaud then for trying something different, especially during a political climate that frowns explicitly on glamorising what Frank does, by at this point, The Punisher isn’t punishing much at all.
What’s even more irritating is that you could actually keep the show almost exactly how it is with all the same sideplots and characters, but if you took a little time out for Castle to casually eliminate the odd bit of street crime here or there, it could actually make all the difference. Instead we get yet more scenes of Castle hanging around Micro’s family, more scenes of Madani and Billy using sex to get around one another and an entire chunk of the show dedicated to the inevitable fall of Lewis Wilson which, while actually is pretty engrossing, adds nothing immediate to a show that’s rapidly getting more pointless by the episode.
I don’t want to sound like I’m repeating myself too much (something the show can’t actually boast), but once again I have to call out the validity of a thirteen episode run by Netflix when I argue that the result is endless scenes of filler that’s just compounding the same points over and over again.
Yes, Lieberman misses his family – but we don’t need to have detailed, up to the minute updates on how much of a prick his son is becoming. Yes, Wilson’s rapid descent makes him Castle’s dark twin – but what does this have to do with the actual story? Yes, Madani is a hard-nosed bitch because she has to be to stay ahead – but her investigation has barely moved a fucking inch since the season has started and I’m just getting fed up that while all this is going on, we haven’t had even a sniff of a skull-decorated flak jacket in over five episodes.
Still, with the show slipping from third gear to practically moving in reverse, there’s still those relevant plot points that still give me hope. Again, Bernthal is MVP, especially considering his legitimately horrified response to a nightmare that’s strangely reminiscent of An American Werewolf In London (without the Nazi lycanthropes, obviously) has since become a meme. Also, the fact that the relationship between Frank and Micro is finally starting the thaw as some genuine respect is,starting to seep in is agonisingly overdue and hopefully is a sign that the two will soon slip into a more comic accurate version of their union. Finally, we get the reveal that Billy Russo is actually working for the bad guys when it’s shown that he’s answering to Rawlins. However, while the fact that Billy is a card carrying piece of shit won’t be of any surprise to anyone who’s ever picked up a comic book (surely a glass facial is soon in his future), but now this cat is out of the bag, hopefully, things will start contracting now that we know what everyone’s deal is.
At this point, it’s purely Bernthal’s performance and a love for the character that’s solely stopping The Punshier from dropping to a rating that’s beneath three stars; but if the show doesn’t snap out of its self-imposed stupor soon, even I can’t guarantee that the score won’t drop lower than a thug with a hollow point lodged behind his left ear.
🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 