Unbelievable.
It really is. I hated the first season of The
Punisher, the show was truly awful. Slowly paced, very little punishing,
story all over the place. However, someone learned from their mistakes and in
the process discovered who the Punisher was. Season Two was the best Marvel
show so far and its last episode was the best single Marvel TV show to date. I’m
not sure what happened, but more like this please.
Recovered
from the events of Season 1, Frank Castle is wandering through the American
Midwest, reveling in his freedom. When mercenaries invade a bar and go after a
teenage girl, Frank steps in to rescue her and gets sucked in to a major
situation. Meanwhile back in New York, Billy Russo, who Frank defeated and
disfigured last season, escapes a mental hospital with help from his smitten
female therapist and goes on a crime rampage. Eventually the two storylines
come together (at least in the same place) and Frank does some major punishing.
What’s
so good is that the producers have finally let Frank Castle just be who he is
meant to be. No evil person is safe. He punishes women, devout religious types,
deranged psychotics and politicians.
The
pacing is a lot better this season, and the story concentrates much more on
Castle and his immediate supporting cast. The girl he saves in the bar, Amy,
becomes a surrogate daughter whom he protects at any cost. And the cost is
high. The story does screech to a halt for a while when all the characters get
to New York, but picks up the pace again quickly. I think in a Punisher show it’s
reasonable that Frank should kill one person in every episode—at least! He does
this in most episodes, a welcome relief from sitting on the sidelines for most
of Season 1. The fights are expertly choreographed, especially Franks’s
hand-to-hand combat with a gym full of Russian gangsters. That was fun, if
brutal, to watch.
There
are very few negatives to this season. Billy, who becomes the villain Jigsaw,
is far too pretty. In the comics, Jigsaw’s face looks like a 1000-piece puzzle.
Billy only has a few scars. They should have gone with a lot more damage. The
pacing was still slow in a few of the episodes, and Frank doesn’t wear his
skull near enough—but those are minor nitpicks. He does wear his chest skull at
all the right times, and the last scene of the show is a triumph right out of
the comics. Thank you Marvel, for finally making an action-filled show that
pulls no punches—literally. The show has already been renewed for Season 3—let’s
hope it is half this good.
Grade:
A
Worth
your valuable time?: Oh, yes.
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