I suppose it was too much to ask for that The Punisher’s second season would avoid the curse of Netflix/Marvel and not succumb to an episode count that’s far too long for the plot. Numerous heroes have fallen before it multiple times in the past, with even the strength of Luke Cage, the super senses of Daredevil and the cunning of Jessica Jones falling prey to seasons that are all objectively three installments too long. Still, credit has to be given to Frank Castle and his compatriots for managing to hold out for so long before the wheels start to spin in place and the story hangs in some sort of a repetitive limbo until enough time has passed to let things kick back in.
Still, while the last episode gave each character a point and goal to achieve, I guess it would be slightly unrealistic for the show to suddenly have them reach it before we even reach the halfway point, so prepare to watch an episode that may contain many relevant character moments, but that also moves everything along a minimum of distance to help the season to run out.
Still on the trail of figuring out why exactly Amy has been targeted by waves of hired killers, Frank and his young companion/sidekick frequent a photography studio of very ill repute in order to develop the incriminating photos that gotten her into hot water in the first place. Their plan is to present the pics to the head of the Russians, Poloznev, in order to finally figure out what’s going on and who is behind it, but before they do, Amy talk Castle out of eliminating the studio owner who often provides a place of business for child pornographers which understandably puts Frank in a bad mood. However, after capturing the Russian big shot, they discover that the photos are of the closeted gay son of the powerful and very religious Anderson and Eliza Schultz who have plans to groom their son into being a possible future president. Details of a cover up will undoubtedly derail the Schultz’s plans, so that’s why they’ve sent the dangerous John Pilgrim to clean up everything that’s connected to those photos.
But while Frank and Amy are bamboozling Russian mobsters and Pilgrim approaches Agent Madani with a warning, Billy Russo appears to be getting ever more pally with the group of similarly frazzled veterans he’s sneaking out and drinking with every night. As their bond grows, ideas are tossed around that these bitter men that have all been cast out of society should stand up and push back and wholeca bank job is mentioned, Russo violently beats a man who tries to repossess one of their cars. In fact, Billy’s brazen attitude leads to a tense run-in with Curtis who calls Castle and Madani together to try and decide what’s to be done with the wayward Billy. But while they discuss it, Pilgrim continues to execute Russians in the wake of Frank’s questioning – so with a possible two showdowns on the cards, is the Punisher biting off more than even he can chew?
Like many of the filler episodes that litter the seasons of the Netflix Marvel crew, there’s nothing particularly bad about Nakazat. It’s well shot, has a decent pace and contains both genuinely great performances and sequences – but the issue is that like many instances before it, the episode simply doubles down on plot that we have already covered while not making any new, sufficient progress. We dealt with the Russians last episode, so we deal with slightly different Russian this episode. Billy starts amassing a gang in the previous installment, so he continues to make them more brazen in this one – and so on. Aside from the reason for the hunt for Amy and the massacre of her friends finally being laid out clearly, there’s no other real example of the story making any headway aside for establishing points that we already knew and it’s hard to not sort of zone out when the writers are forced to keep repeating themselves.
Still, there’s some legitimately great shit here that mostly (and unsurprisingly) centres almost exclusively on Frank and Amy’s relationship that ranks as some of the best standalone scenes in the season so far. Building on the scene last episode that saw the two sum up the mission ahead of them by comparing it to three-card monte, we get much more of the Frank/Amy show as the two continue to build their messed-up little pseudo daddy/daughter routine as the installment goes on. First we get them infiltrating a studio that specialises in highly distressing photography and from there the double act only gains strength. Giorgia Whigham plays up her smart-ass teen stuff which gels beautifully with Jon Bernthal’s gruff, monosyllabic, humourless shtick like gangbusters. Of course, while some Punisher purists may turn their noses up at a moment where Amy actually convinces Frank to spare a man who does business with peadophiles (which is admittedly a strange choice) – it does tie into the fact that Amy would actually be approximately the same age as his dead daughter. This leads onto a number of moments where they not only discuss his dead child, but he also shows Amy some self-defence moves that continues to strengthen a relationship that shouldn’t really work.
However, while you might feel that giving the Punisher a teen sidekick is the most un-Punisher thing you can do, you can’t deny that the pairing is bringing genius moments out of the famously stoic vigilante that’s far more engrossing than all the regurgitated other stuff that the show features.
Madani still remains stressed over Billy being on the loose, Curtis is still acting as a middle-man for virtually the entire cast, Pilgrim is continuing to blow away all the remaining loose ends that Castle’s already interrogated and whatever past trauma has Dr. Dumont in its grip is starting to push her further into the arms of Billy who apparently still has the moves despite his lacerated mug. But the thing is, everyone here is only making baby steps when we should at least be jogging. Also, while the promise of everything coming together is still there – I’m particularly interested in seeing where the idea of giving Billy an army goes – the fact that the show seemingly now has Frank shifting his attention between both Pulgrim and Russo sounds like an overcomplication that the show doesn’t actually need. Sure, being split between the need to put down Russo and halt the sad-eyed momentum of Pilgrim may sound like a case of double your punishment, double your fun, but it also means that the show could lose the focus it’s been cultivating since the season started.
I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but I feel that we could actually be at a turning point in the season where things could go either way. Either all the plot strands intertwine perfectly to give the remaining episodes a real sence of purpose and drive, or everything can just unfurl, leading to a second half of the season that could end up confused and muddled. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess (the binge format tends to leave the mid-point a little flabby) but no matter what happens, fingers crossed that we continue to get more of Frank’s grumpy pseudo-parenting.
🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 