It truly seems that the creative brains behind the Punisher’s second season really has learned a few lessons and gotten the balance required to do Frank Castle justice. Realising that they’ve got to make their season last for thirteen episodes whether they like it or not, the tedious slow burn that marred large chunks of season 1 have been skillfully maneuvered to keep the same supporting players on the board while building a new plot that feels more organic to who the Punisher really is. Let’s tick them off so far: we’re back in New York; Frank’s targeting a street level conspiracy instead of a government cover up; we have not one, but two separate antagonists on the rise; and plenty of plot threads are making some sort of comment about processing trauma – sounds pretty Punisher to me. In fact all we’re missing is yet another jaw dropping fight that sees our title character resort to some stunning savagery to win the day. Oh wait, we have that too?! Well what are we waiting for?
After episodes of tight-lipped stubboness, it seems that all the secrets are starting to leak out like life blood from a bullet wound. Now that “Rachel” feels save enough with Frank protecting her in New York, she’s finally come clean about her real name – Amy – and that she was a con artist who was part of a group hired to take photos of something that’s dropped her in the deep shit she’s in. Well, she’s finally told Castle that the people who ordered those photographs be taken are not only members of the Russian mob, but the gym they operate from is based right there in New York. Needing to get an “in”, Frank coerces local criminal Turk Barrett to approach the Russians to make a deal on his behalf while having no idea that the contact name he’s given him has already been murdered by John Pilgrim back in episode 1. Of course, it’s a ploy to thin out the herd as Castle waits for the opportune moment to confront leader Nikolai Poloznev while half of his goons stake out Turk’s place thinking that that’s where the meet is going to be.
Meanwhile, as pressure mounts on Madani as she realises that Castle is going to be no help on her hunt for Billy Russo (not to mention Amy’s skimming her credit cards), she instead approaches Frank’s old war buddy, Curtis for info and even sits in on a help meeting for veterans which helps her vent after her own traumatic ordeals. While all this is occurring, Russo leaves the house of Dr. Dumont who has been sheltering him since his escape, and starts seeking out other troubled veterans in an attempt to maybe gather up some like-minded, angry people to cause some mischief. But he’s not the only lethal individual walking the streets of the Big Apple as we find Pilgrim entering this den of iniquity to continue snipping off loose ends for his handlers, the Schultzes and Castle himself – all pumped up and ready to beat some information out of some Russians.
While there’s been better episodes and there’s certainly been worse episodes, One-Eyed Jacks probably stands as one of the more satisfying episodes of The Punisher because it’s the one that feels most how an intermediary episode of the show should have always felt. For a start, the show is now treating New York the way it always should have by integrating the existing (or should that be surviving) members of the supporting cast into the new series as Frank prowls the streets like he owns them. Adding to this more accurate status quo is the welcome return of Rob Morgan’s Turk Barrett whose criminal exploits has seen him pop up on multiple other shows involving members of the Defenders crew which gives everything a far more proactive feel rather than having Betnthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach squating in a warehouse for half the season. In fact, while nothing that drastically shakes up the plot actually occurs during this episode, it carries itself with the confidence that it now knows what everyone is doing, even if we still aren’t sure what they’re doing it for and the result delivers some memorable scenes that don’t actually involve brutal violence – although that certainly happens too.
An opening conversation where an increasingly frustrated Frank is being whipped by Amy at three card monte soon turns into an intriguing analogy where the con artist uses Castle’s inability to find the queen as prove that the villains do actually hold all the cards and that sheer determination might not be enough to survive what’s coming. It’s an interesting way to watch Frank get schooled by a 16 year-old without having him lose credibility while making Amy useful without being a hinderence and as the episode continues, it makes sure that it’s other main characters get their respective moments too.
Take Amber Rose Revah’s Madani who’s often been given the most thankless tasks of the show as she’s either been one step behind everyone else or catching a bullet for her troubles. However, while the show is having her character rapidly bow under the stress of her traumatic experience and the frustration of trying to bring Billy Russo to justice, the scene she has where she angrily justifies her presence at Curtis’ veterans meeting with a bitter monologue maybe the best scene the character has ever had thus far and really lays out the demons that are plaguing her. Similarly, the glitching brain of her target, Billy Russo, is sending him down an interesting path and while the show is still playing coy about the true status of his memory, the route his storyline is taking is actually pretty interesting. While it’s early doors yet, it seems that Russo is taking a cue from Lewis Wilson before him and choosing to stick it to an uncaring population that casts out used up and broken military guys like him. But to slot in nicely with the continuing themes of PTSD and trauma that are flying around this season, rather than going the lone psycho path, he’s opted to start recruiting others to join him which gives the character some much needed clarity of focus.
Of course, while all the moving parts shifting in tandem is great (and it is great), the episode also remembers that it still needs to let Frank strut his stuff and he certainly does that in the extremely memorable brawl he has with Russian weightlifters. While not as balls-out animalistic as that awe-inspiring prison fight he had back during Daredevil, or as slick as the barfight that occured back at the start of this season, it’s still a wince-inducing jackpot of brutality as Frank uses everything to hand to take out his multiple, no-necked foes, including a horrific instance where he pounds a weight repeatedly into the face of a man which reduces it to the look of raw hamburger. Hey, Punisher’s gotta punish and the season continues to smartly spread out varied and memorable action beats to balance out the drama.
With all the pieces now on the board and moving (even Dr. Dumont is revealed to have undisclosed past trauma of her own), I don’t think that The Punisher has been in such a confident position as it is right here. All the characters have purpose and moving toward a goal, all of the show’s themes are in full effect and are meshing well and we get Frank obliterating someone’s orbital bone – what’s not to love here? There’s been more spectacular episodes, but none have been so fundamentally as solid as this one which raises high hopes for any, future punishment.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 