As we forge into the second episode of the second season, there truly is a sence that the showrunners and writers behind The Punisher are really trying to lean into the more unglamorous world the character operates in. While the first season had him tangling with rogue elements within the CIA to weirdly un-Punisher like effect, and fellow superhero series such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones had them squaring off against ninjas and failed superhero experiments, this season has Frank stumble into the decidedly unglamorous world of a criminal conspiracy. No secret agents, no jacked up security teams – just good old fashioned organised crime and well trained goons for Frank to butt heads with.
While we’re still no closer to an actual explanation for everything that’s happening thus far, there’s a feeling that this season already has a much better understanding of what the world of the Punisher is supposed to be once he has no one else to frag for the death of his family – even if that means he’s picked up a teen sidekick for his troubles…
After that absolutely insane bar fight that turned into a full blown massacre, we find a bloodied Frank on the run with the young woman he rescued from a cadre of well armed, well trained goons. However, while the girl, who claims her name is Rachel, is eager to flee, Frank just can’t let things go as his Punisher-sense (not a real thing) is telling him that there’s further trouble to eliminate. However, first there’s a few things he has to attend to such as some rest and the rather inconvenient fact that there’s a bullet lodged in the flesh of his ass that needs to be taken care of ASAP – but while he does so, Rachel continues to get ever more squirrely.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Agent Madani is currently getting slapped on the wrist for her continued harrassment of Billy Russo, her former lover and the man responsible for putting a bullet in her head. While the savage beating he recieved from the Punisher has apparently left him with no memory of his recent, shitty deals, Madani is adamant that he’s lying, even though Russo’s somewhat intense therapist, Dr. Krista Dumont, claims otherwise.
Back in Michigan, the strange, religious nan who is tracking Frank and Rachel, gets some info after an ominous visit to wounded bartender Beth and after managing to discover which shithole motel they’re holed up in, sends some more armed goons to catch up with them. However, after Frank’s second gunfight in as many days, he, Rachel and one of the attackers soon find themselves under arrest and carted off to the Larkville County Sheriff station for processing. Figuring that he’s probably due for a third gunfight some time soon, Castle spends his right to one phone call to contact Madani for help only to find his former ally unwilling to dip her toes in his world once more. Guess it’s all down to you again, Frank.
While there once was a school of thought that believed that a perfect Punisher adaptation would take the form of a bombastic, 80s style action movie that would see Castle mowing down acres of bad guys like the climax of Cobra, the makers of Netflix’s version wisely target an earlier decade to model their show from. Yes, going 80s would certainly get you a flashy body count, but evoking hard-edged thrillers from the 70s have proven to be fairly advantageous when separating this interaction from the pack. However, while the first season went down the political conspiracy thriller route (when stuff was actually happening), season 2 seems to be riffing on chase movies where a mismatched pair thrown together by fate and go on the run via a string of backroad motels and honky tonk bars. So far, it seems to be working a treat as the whole matter of Frank falling bass ackwards into some sort of shady plot is playing far better than the tortoise-speed spy games of before.
Of course, something that’s helping to grease the wheels nicely is the fact that the 16 year-old girl Frank’s been paired with isn’t proving to be mind melting annoying as random sidekicks usually tend to be. Yes, Giorgia Whigham’s now-named Rachel isn’t exactly a team player and is practically hopping from foot to foot hoping to escape her situation and Frank’s particular brand of help the second the situation allows it, but the introduction of panicky brat proves to be quite a potential storytelling device to show us where Castle is in his life as a “free” man. You see, helping a young woman – even one as ungrateful as Rachel – when she’s beset by knife welding goons may be one thing, but the fact that he spends the entire next episode keeping her hostage until she comes clean about what’s going on is very telling.
At any moment he could have let her scurry away into the night and chances are she’d have a decent chance of staying ahead of the strange, creepy, religious man who is tracking her; however, after being locked in something of a benign state since he turned Billy Russo’s face into an aching zig-zag, Frank obviously is desperate for another war to fight. Yes, in his own, bullish way (that regrettably involves zip ties and tape gags), he’s helping this girl out – but only so he can let that old monster free once more to pulverise the guilty. It’s a skillfully subtle bit of character work that once again accurately treads that line that barely seperates Castle from being a good man and a total lunatic and once more, Bernthal plays it perfect, even when trying to yank shrapnel out of his exposed kiester.
Yes, it’s still a slow and deliberate plot, but where the first series lacked direction and tension, season 2 has managed to remain quite intriguing when it’s quiet and gripping when it’s not. In fact, it’s almost a shame when we have to shift our attention over to the slowly perculating B-plot to catch up with Madani and Russo. Obviously, this story will grow exponentially over the upcoming episodes, but at least we’re coming at it from the point of two, very fucked up people. Russo is in deep therapy with the rather unsettling Dr. Dumont as he continues to maintain that his injuries have wiped his memory of everything since his time in the military. Of course, a venful Madani isn’t buying it and on her own way, she’s become just as lost as Frank as she keeps a watchful and obsessive eye on him as she waits for him to slip up. But will he, though? Although Billy was pretty handy with a lie on his lips at the best of times, this is a Russo who seems genuinely broken (his visions of Frank’s skull design manifesting in his dreams as an actual death mask is genius) and the fact he’s hiding his lacerated features behind a mask tends to suggest his memory really could be an absolute casserole in there…
After finally getting the slow burn thing right, the sophomore season of The Punisher is going great guns – especially when actual guns are pulled out and used. With a string of important details yet to be revealed, such as the identity of the religious man; why exactly Rachel is on the run; and the actual condition of Russo’s face, the slow drip of information helps punctuate the bursts of animalistic violence that Frank can’t help but live for.
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