In an almost literal reversal of fortune, it seems that both seasons of Netflix’s The Punisher have the same problem, only flipped into a mirror image. While the first season delivered a show that started off way too slow, it eventually meandered into a final five episodes which ultimately made all the waiting worth it – however, on the flip side, season 2 started far stronger as it gave Frank Castle a more street level adventure to tangle with after having him go head to head with corrupt members of the CIA. Sticking him with a difficult, surrogate daughter type in the form of the corkscrew Amy and building up not one, but two enemies to stand against him, it seemed that Frank’s sophomore season had learnt from all the mistakes of before, but the last couple of episodes suggest that it only prolonged them. Can the series dig it’s heels in in the face of a late season decline or will The Punisher ultimately collapse in a pool of its own blood?
It’s fitting that I mentioned mirror images just now as we soon find that this episode is full of people either staring at a metaphorical reflection of themselves or spending time with a dark opposite of who they think they are. First up is the tormented form of John Pilgrim who has gone from pious bloodhound to impressive crash out in just one, incredibly brutal, fight. Not only has his return to his old stomping grounds of New York reopened some of the old wounds of his old life, but he gets some brand new ones too when faces from his white supremist past decide to settle some scores. The result sees a battered, yet victorious Pilgrim backslide horribly into booze, drugs and whores as he nurses his wounds.
Meanwhile, Madani has accepted Dr. Dumont’s invitation to discuss her relationship with both Billy Russo and Frank Castle while being completely unaware that the therapist is Russo’s current lover and is looking for details about the Punisher in order to find an emotional chink in that skull emblazoned armour of his. As the wine flows and the intense girl-chat probes ever deeper, Madani lays out her assessment of what kind of a man Castle is which finally ends up giving Russo the advantage.
Finally, after getting over his hangups about blowing away a friend, Frank prepares to launch one final attack on Billy while he and his goons chill at his lair. With Curtis in tow, Castle storms the humbly named Valhalla all guns a-blazing only to find that he’s wandered right into a trap that sees him assaulted by flashing lights and knife wielding assailants coming at him like some sort of gauntlet. Battered, bleeding and sliced to ribbons, Frank nevertheless manages to fight back like the fucking animal he can be and sprays Russo’s clubhouse with machine gun fire – however, when his red mist fades, he soon sees that he’s racked up the type of kill he vowed never to commit: collateral damage.
Just when you think that The Punisher is about to spiral down the plughole of disappointment, it pulls out an episode that gives you faith that the seaon will just about manage to hold on to make it to the final episode and while The Hearts Of Men still feels the effects of the recent muddling of the plot, at least it still grabs a bunch of the main players by the scruff of the neck and drags them through some pretty dark shit. In fact, in a neat little stylistic twist, the episodes mostly jumps between three seperate scenes that are intercut to play out simultaneously. Split into their own little threads we find the first deals with John Pilgrim’s spectacular fall from grace as his old existence collides with the new with predictably bloody results and while Josh Stewart’s character has been criminally underserved by the second half of the season, we finally get some sort of forward movement on the mindset of Pilgrim. Yes, there’s still problems – his plot thread is still inexplicably very much unconnected to every other character he should have been conflicting with (Amy isn’t even featured in the episode) and his dramatic collapse due to his presence in New York feels like it’s come virtually out of nowhere thanks to the fact that thecshow hasn’t been doing anything with him – but at least he’s getting some traction; even if it’s about hurling himself spectacularly off the wagon. However, while it’s gratifying that Pilgrim’s finally getting some air time, the brutal brawl he has just makes me more pissed that he hasn’t been brought into direct contact with Castle more this season as the segment really does establish how dangerous the character could really have been.
Elsewhere we find that the conversation between Madani and Dumont carries a nicely sinister edge when you realise that the twisted psychologist is actually weeding out information about Frank from the agent who, amusingly, still seems to be at least two steps behind every other character. But while it doesn’t really help Madani’s credibility to be hoodwinked by yet another member of the cast, it does go some way to making Floriana Lima’s Dumont finally have some sort of point beyond simply being Russo’s secret, evil girlfriend. While they have awkward, wine-fueled girl talk about Russo and moral debates concerning Castle’s ethics, she’s actually whipping up a gameplan that Russo carries out with brutal efficiency.
I’ve been having issues with how Russo’s been moving recently and I’ve all but given up on seeing a form of Jigsaw that even remotely resembles the comics, the recent crying and whining that he’s been doing over the last few installments is put in the past as he lures Frank into a trap meant to break him both physically and mentally.
Obviously the physical stuff works about as well as it always does as Castle absorbs an incredible about of damage before getting a second wind, ripping out an assailant’s jugular with his freakin’ teeth and slaughters a room full of his attackers while roaring like a madman. However, with Dumont’s urgings, Russo has used the attack to get Frank to shift into some sort of bezerker role which sees him firing at his prey wildly, but when he gives chase he finds the bullet riddled bodies of some party girls he “missed” during his recon. Of course, I’m guessing it’s an elaborate set up cooked up by Dumont and carried out with spiteful glee by Russo, but it succeeds to giving the season a much needed body blow to take Frank Castle into new avenues of pain. History has shown that you can beat, blast or even drill the Punisher, and his ironclad (if warped) sense of justice will always prevail; however, allow him to believe that he’s cut down innocent people in a rage-fueled fugue state and he’s going to realise that he’s now no longer any better than the scum he violent puts down on the regular. To build some much needed tension, we needed our hero on the ropes and much to The Hearts Of Men’s credit, it most definitely puts him there.
There’s still issues abound as we rapidly reach the end of the season, but it seems that episode 10 has managed to give us the reprieve the show needed to stir up some excitement. However, it does drawn attention to the fact that once again, the season accomplishes more in a single episode that the last two episodes combined and with some tighter writing and a short run, the season could have been legendary.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 