Yup, it sure takes a helluva lot to keep Frank Castle down; in fact, not even the languid pace of the majority of his first season was enough to stop the Punisher scoring another season over at Netflix. However, while season one managed to pull it back with style thanks to some stunningly ferocious setpieces and a fittingly brutal mindset, there’s a sense that season 2 is a major opportunity to rectify some of those more annoying issues.
While the majority of Castle’s misadventures in the comics usually see him tackle more ground level, blue collar foes (aside from the occasional unkillable Russian and shooting Stilt-Man up the ass with a bazooka), a plot that saw him laying low alot while tangling with rogue CIA operatives felt more like a cheap-jack Jason Bourne thriller than a vigilante action show. Still, while Frank isn’t a big fan of second chances, season 1 ended with such magnificent flair that my hopes were high for a second run in the skull decorated flak jacket. Don’t let me down now, eh Castle?
After getting a pass from the CIA as thanks to beating a rogue agent to death with his bare hands, Frank is now on the road after agreeing to not only disappear, but to retire his punishing persona for good. We catch up with the guy in Michigan as he stops off at a country bar to soak up some good tunes and some frosty brews, but even though big Frank has kept his word by keeping that oft broken nose of his clean, sometimes trouble does indeed find him.
Of course, it’s not entirely his fault. In fact, Castle really does seem to be making a new go of things after meeting up with barmaid Beth Quinn and hitting things off with her. After a first meeting that sees him defend her honor against a shitty patron and bonding over the spiteful jibe a young woman at the bar made about his grizzled appearance, Frank heads back to her place, spends the night and even comes clean a little about his dark past. However, while he gets to live the life of a normal man once again, if only for a couple of hours, the seeds to his inevitable backslide into violence have already been sewn.
Remember that young woman with the cruel jibe I just mentioned? Well it seems like she’s in some sort of trouble with some sort of organisation that can afford to hire a cadre of trained goons to be after her. Whether it’s because of something she knows or something she has, we don’t know, but it soon becomes evident that someone’s after her in the worst way. When these guys finally make their move on her, Frank seemingly has decided to maybe try and see what life with Beth could be like, but become you know it, he’s knee deep in blood after trying to do the right thing.
But after dropping a wounded Beth off at hospital and making a run with this mysterious girl, a quick glance back at New York reveals that an example of Frank’s old handiwork has come out of his coma. But not only is Billy Russo awake, he’s being watched by none other than Dinah Madani.
There’s a real feeling that the people behind the show have something to prove this season after pissing so much of season 1 up the wall due to the annoying amounts of filler we had to endure that nearly drowned out the good stuff. However, as Roadhouse Blues starts to weave it’s tale, you initially get a sinking feeling that season 2 is going to make all the same mistakes as the majority of the episode literally concerns Frank heading into a bar for a drink and ends up falling for a barmaid. No, seriously – in the opening episode about a show concerning a comic book vigilante famous for having a less than zero tolerance for crime, we spend maybe more than half the runtime watching him have a chilled night out and get laid. However, while we’d annoyingly already covered teasing Frank with the taste of a normal life when he spent long periods hanging around Micro’s family, the connection he builds with Alexa Davalos’ bartender and her son in such a short amount of time is actually quite sweet.
It’s is, unfortunately, also too long and I’m not entirely sure what the showrunners were hoping to achieve with the whole plotline that’s rapidly abandoned once the blood and fists start flying. Did they really think that we’ve believe Castle would actually settle down and we’d get twelve more episodes of heartwarming family drama? Does trying to once again drive home the tragedy of Frank existence really warrent hoovering up half of an entire episode? While the installment is nicely laid out, well acted and ends in typically savage style, it does hint that some of the padding of season one is still around if it can build up a new status quo and introduce new characters while still spending so much time on Frank’s family fake-out.
Still, although I have to admit it’s nice watching Jon Bernthal play an almost gentle everyman for a change, details concerning his newest adventure are only teased at this point. Giorgia Whigham’s mysterious girl-on-the-run is obviously some sort of witness or whistle blower for something, and Josh Stuart’s enigmatic villain of the piece seems to be putting out some creepy religious energy, but the show holds off on giving out answers this early to avoid filling in those gaps. Likewise, the tease for the return of two older characters, Billy Russo and Madani, is also kept understandably vague with the former encased in a mask to keep us wondering about the state of his ravaged mug and the latter watching over him with her usual, brand of obsession getting boosted by alcohol.
However, when it gets down to it, the season premiere remembers that one golden rule when it comes to the Punisher – you can dangle the hint of a good life in front of him all you want, but you’ve got to follow it up with a nasty reminder and the insane bar fight that closes the episode yanks it up by its boot straps into the realms of the fantastic. Be it the balls out knife fight in the toilets that proves that Frank certainly isn’t afraid to hit (or stab) a girl, or the next stage of the fight that spills into the bar and sees Castle ripping into thugs while Janis Joplin belts out Me and Bobby McGee plays on the jukebox, Roadhouse Blues certainly does more than it’s fair share when reminding us just how busted the show likes to get its knuckles when let off the chain.
A worryingly familiar slow start sees Season 2 first offer up some prolonged quiet to get your guard down before bloodying your nose with an absolute barn buster of an action sequence. But while maybe too much time is spent following Bernthal on what suspiciously feels like an actual night out for the actor, we get a pulse pounding reminder that when it wants to, the show can still throw down and get that blood under its finger nails. OK Season 2, you’ve got my attention, let’s see if you can hold it.
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