One thing that always seems to halt a backslide in quality for a Netflix/Marvel show is a good, old fashioned confrontation sequence. If you find that find that the focus of the show is blurring, or that the plot is becoming too drawn out, all the showrunners have to do is thrust Daredevil into a face to face with the Kingpin, or have Jessica Jones have to be in close proximity to Kilgrave and it snaps back your attention long enough to give the show the benefit of doubt until things pick up again. In the case of Frank Castle, usually having him get into a frenzied firefight while he roars unintelligibly has much the same effect – however, in the case of My Brother’s Keeper, this surprisingly doesn’t seem to be the case.
Don’t get me wrong – handing me a sequence that sees the Punisher wearing the skull and shooting up some bad guys has pulled the series out of the doldrums before, but is this effect now starting to wear off?
When we last left Frank Castle and Billy Russo, the former had finally confronted the latter for the first time since Frank cut his former friend’s face to ribbons and beat him into a coma. Dead set on ending this once and for all, Frank had called Russo out immediately after he and his gang of disgruntled veterans had pulled a robbery and the sight of Castle dressed in his full Punisher attire was enough to put the already muddled Russo in a state of utter shock. Now realising that it was in fact his buddy that inflicted all this damage on him, Russo goes into meltdown, but even in the midst of a gunfight, Frank can plainly see that the stories of Billy’s amnesia were far from exaggerated and hesitates going for the kill shot.
The results of this seems to send everybody into something of a spiral. Feeling monstrously betrayed, Billy takes his anger out on some of the members of his own gang, shoots his inside man from the heist and accuses Dr. Dumont of using him like her own personal toy. However, in response, Dumont confesses her love for the scarred lunatic and from there, Russo continues with his plans to build on his gang of outcasts to create an army.
Meanwhile, unable to deal with the fact that an amnesiac Billy isn’t technically the same guy who had a hand in his family’s death, Frank has some problems trying to control his duelling emotions and starts taking it out on Amy. While Curtis tries to calm him down, both are unaware that the hostage Billy shot was actually in on the robbery – but that doesn’t make Castle any less of an asshole while trying to process his guilt for being unable to tale out his former best friend. With the Punisher for once emotionally compromised about killing someone, how can he possibly find the correct headspace to do what obviously still needs to be done.
While I understand that TV shows have to take some liberties with certain, established characters and I try not to let certain, memorable comic book runs affect my opinions on what different writers are trying to achieve, I just can’t get on board with a version of the Punisher who umms and ahhhs about killing a murderous foe. Yes, the showrunners have to add drama into proceedings to keep the characters on their toes, but if you’re seriously telling me that Frank Castle is going to freeze when killing a man who had a hand in the murder of his family just because he looks a bit scared, then I’m just going to have to call vast amounts of bullshit. I credit that you have to make Castle more of a rounded, three dimensional human being rather than the relentless – sometimes one-note – engine of destruction that comic storytelling can allow you to do, but not even Jon Bernthal’s raw performance can sell me on the fact that he suddenly feels bad because the murderous aspect of Russo’s personality has been wiped clean. Even worse, the guilt that Frank has that he thinks that Russo has murdered an innocent hostage (he hasn’t), seems to turn him instantly into an abusive thug who hurls an enraged Amy to the floor when she innocently tries to get the jump on him by using the moves he taught her earlier.
I’m not entirely sure what the show is trying to achieve by having Frank balk at shooting a confirmed murder but has him throw a 16 year-girl across the room and fire a gun four inches away from her face, but it’s not like we needed a reminder that he’s a violent prick – he is the Punisher after all – but it’s a massive mistep that not only succeeds in dulling the impact of the ferocious, opening gunfight, but it marks a downward trajectory of a season that started promisingly strong with an episode that gets progressively more messy with every new scene.
Not only do we get Frank illogically losing his shit, but for the majority of the episode, we get Ben Barnes freaking out after discovering what exactly happened to him. However, while it doubles down on how emotionally vulnerable he is, watching him scream like a spoiled child at his equally messed up therapist/lover doesn’t exactly build him up to be the credible threat we hoped he would be. Similarly, my fears that the secondary plot would all but be abandoned seem to have been well founded as the threat of John Pilgrim now seems to be a distant memory and frustratingly, it looks like the pacing issues of the first half of season 1 has resurfaced to claim the second half of season 2. Even the supporting characters are suddenly erratic with Curtis, Madani and Amy all acting weirdly out of character and chastising Frank one minute while toasting him the next after he’s stormed out to go for a nighttime walk.
As usual, Bernthal comes at the material like a trouper and the sheer rage he brings to the character has to be applauded, even when the script is steering him in ways that feel out of character just to add another complication to the plot. Still, juggling a huge gunfight, channeling guilt infused fury and finally having a quiet moment at the grave of his family is still pretty impressive for the episode, even if the show is fast losing sight of the prize. If balanced right, we could have been on the edge of our seat as Frank tries to figure out how to fight a war on two fronts as both Russo and Pilgrim close in on him from vastly different directions. However, instead of creating a complex scenario that would have meant seeing our hero caught between getting more revenge and protecting Amy, everything has all but collapsed on order to ditch one of the threats entirely in favour of making everyone lose their minds thanks to an emotional gut check that Castle never actually needed.
The curse of Netflix/Marvel plotting seems to have struck again as we get yet another needless, narrative roadblock to complicate a story for no other reason than we still have five episodes to go. Punisher newbies may find the main character’s inner turmoil a novel wrinkle for someone famous for their direct, single minded purpose, but old hands may find that this newest twist as unnecessary as Wolverine suddenly getting squeamish at the sight of blood or Spider-Man getting vertigo. If a gunfight can’t make an episode of The Punisher better, you know something’s wrong.
🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 