Last episode I commented on how the folks behind The Punisher are wisely shooting for a more 70s inspired feel to the show that’s really come to the fore since the second season began, however, imagine my delight when the show takes yet another step in the right direction when the entire episode riffs super hard on John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13. That’s right, after Frank Castle gets nabbed by the local police after performing his own patented brand of justice outside a motel, the forces of the creepy religious man soon track him down and mount a siege of the sheriff’s office.
If you’re going to go down a stripped back 70s aesthetic, then Precinct 13 is a smart way to go, but as the episode indulges some winning whims, dangling plot threads from the first season are threatening to take hold. Will the return of Billy Russo manage to throw off all the good work the season has manages so far, or will duelling plots up the ante?
A brief flashback detailing the life of the religious man shortly before he’s called away to hunt down “Rachel” for reasons that had yet to be revealed, offer up our first real look at the man. His name is John Pilgrim and other than being an extremely dedicated man of God, he’s also husband to a sick wife and father to two sons – but beyond that we see that he once had an even darker past as his bare skin reveals faded tattoos that mark him as a one time white supremist. It turns out that it’s the wealthy owners of the rural church that’s enlisted his services to track down the girl who claims her name is Rachel (it isn’t), and as they’re funding the health care for his wife, John has accepted his mission.
Still, whatever his history entails, Pilgrim is blatently not a man to be fucked with and that bloodhound nose soon sees him walking into the Sheriff’s office where Frank and Rachel are being held and demanding that they be handed over to him and his men before some truly nasty shit goes down. Despite interviewing both of his prisoners and finding them to be totally full of crap, Sheriff Roy Hardin nevertheless refuses Pilgrim’s offer and braces himself to reap the whirlwind momentarily.
Meanwhile, back in New York, the therapy of the mangled Billy Russo isn’t going so well. Frustration from his alleged memory loss has driven him into a violent rage and after the dam breaks, he puts a couple of orderlies in the hospital and escapes. But while Madani is horrified that the man who bedded her, lied to her and shot her (in that order) is now loose, she can’t shake that there’s something weird going on with Dr. Dumont. Still, if she needs Russo found fast, there’s only one man for the job – he however is trying not to get his brains blown out while he fights for his life in a surrounded Sheriff’s office. If he survives, will Frank take the job; and will he take Rachel with him if he does?
To be honest, every hard hitting action series should strongly consider ripping off Assault On Precinct 13 at least once as there’s literally no drawbacks that come from liberally stealing from Carpenter’s 1976 classic (itself a shameless homage of Rio Bravo). Yes, it sort of gives out strong bottle episode vibes as we’re introduced to a bunch of police officers who we’ll likely never meet again whether they survive the episode or not, but as we’ve once again got thirteen ling episodes to burn, the occasional veering off into this sort of territory isn’t anywhere near as harmful as it could be for other shows. Also, dumping Castle into the middle of a 70s style, neo-western is exactly the sort of shit I would hope a series would resort to in order to fill up the season, because seeing Frank in this sort of situation is truly perfect.
Not only does he get to play the dangerous badass who helps the cops shoot their fat out of the fire, but the very fact that he’s been brought in for murder stirs up debate from some of the more liberal deputies who claims he shouldn’t even be out of his cell, let alone firing automatic weapons into the night. The result may not be as instantly jaw dropping as that epic bar brawl that played out during the first episode, but it’s still the third episode in a row that’s ended in some sizable firefight, the moment where Castle shoots a molotov cocktail in a goon’s hand is spectacular and it’s doing wonders for balancing the drip feeding of important plot details.
While we’re still none the wiser concerning teenage shit magnet Rachel other than she has a ton of aliases and that Rqchel isn’t even her real name, the doors on the mysterious John Pilgrim are thrown half-open as we get a glimpse into his existence before he set out to bring down his prey. However, while you’d think that a dead-eyed, scripture quoting, religious man would probably live in a bare room, kneeing on broken glass while he whips himself with reeds, Pilgrim has a family that’s obviously got him past a very twisted past. He’s indebted to the owners of his church who have used his wife’s illness to leverage him to do “the lord’s work”, but his faded tattoos blatently mark him out as someone who, as a former white supremist, is capable of terrible things despite finding God. Needless to say, I can’t wait for this guy to butt heads with Frank’s equally devoted and blunt belief system, but for now we get to watch them try and out maneuver each other during that climactic gun fight. However, while the Rachel/Pilgrim plotline has barely even gotten started, the powers that be have decreed that the Madani/Russo plot now must take precedence, and I have to confess that I’m slightly worried.
While the fact that Madani has swooped in and bailed Frank our after initially refusing his earlier phone call for help means that the dangling threads of season one are fully entering the chat, I can’t help but feel that it’s going to totally overload the stuff this season has already taken pains to build. Similarly, while Russo’s alleged amnesia seems to want to bring up a whole does he/doesn’t he remember kind of deal, the fact that the show has so far refused to show his face has given me cause for concern. You see, the dedication the Netflix Marvel shows have to gritty realism has me thinking that we might not be getting the full-on Jigsaw that we’ve seen in the comics and in the thoroughly deranged Punisher: War Zone courtesy of Dominic West looking like one of Leatherface’s cast offs – and worse yet, while he’ll have some facial disfigurment, the whole Jigsaw thing will be more of a metaphor for his jumbled mental state. Kudos to the show and Ben Barnes if they pull it off, but sometimes you just want a vengeance crazed, former pretty boy whose face is a zigzag of scar tissue.
With the Russo/Madani story seemingly taking dominance of the series, I can’t help but worry that The Punisher could lapse back into some old, bad habits – but even if it does, it doesn’t take away the gritty, guttural, throwback sheen of the first three episodes and anyone who riffs Carpenter at his most raw is most definitely a friend of mine. Let’s just hope it doesn’t devolve back into a mess of endless waiting and narrative red tape.
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