Written by: Kevin Berge
How can Billy Russo go on now that his face has been slightly scarred? He's almost not Hollywood movie star good looking anymore. (Image Courtesy of: screenrant.com)
Quick Review: The Punisher Season 2 takes many of the elements that made the first season work and throws them into a blender that never stops spinning. It is violent and unrelenting without being all that engaging and fails to understand where it shines best with good character moments sprinkled into what almost becomes parody.
Marvel-Netflix Seasons: Daredevil S1 | Jessica Jones S1 | Luke Cage S1| Iron Fist S1 | The Defenders S1 | The Punisher S1 | Jessica Jones S2 | Luke Cage S2 | Iron Fist S2 | Daredevil S3
***This review will contain spoilers, expecting the reader has seen both seasons of The Punisher in their entirety. If you have not, read ahead at your own risk.***
As we come to the close of the Marvel-Netflix franchise, I look back at The Punisher as perhaps the most underrated series produced from this alliance. Primarily, I am talking about the brilliant season 1, which is brutal but excellently focused.
Season 2 lacks that same cohesion and consistency. It starts strong with focused brutality and establishes its new dynamics clearly, but the follow through is slow and gets problematic down the stretch as the lead voices in the writing team take some strange directions.
This season gives Frank Castle a simple mission: protect a girl from powerful forces out to kill her for what she knows. It's a redemptive arc, allowing Frank to briefly feel like he has a daughter again. The dynamic works and is easily the strongest element of this season.
Jon Bernthal is still a fantastic Frank Castle, and he has a great dynamic with Giorgia Whigham as Amy. The two however feel largely stranded in a show that never quite knows what it wants to say. The central threats are all heavily muddled, and there's not even a memorable action scene.
I would have taken this whole season if it was like its first episode. The debut feels like a promise never fulfilled as The Punisher is allowed to feel what it is like to have a family again and to imagine a life he will never have. However, the show throws away the great potential of his relationship with Beth for some frighteningly bad main plots.
In particular, this season's villains are bland and lifeless. John Pilgrim (Josh Stewart) goes through the motions of being a powerful hitman, but he ends up coming off as a knockoff Preacher character without any of the charm. Ultimately, nothing about his story feels earned.
***This review will contain spoilers, expecting the reader has seen both seasons of The Punisher in their entirety. If you have not, read ahead at your own risk.***
As we come to the close of the Marvel-Netflix franchise, I look back at The Punisher as perhaps the most underrated series produced from this alliance. Primarily, I am talking about the brilliant season 1, which is brutal but excellently focused.
Season 2 lacks that same cohesion and consistency. It starts strong with focused brutality and establishes its new dynamics clearly, but the follow through is slow and gets problematic down the stretch as the lead voices in the writing team take some strange directions.
This season gives Frank Castle a simple mission: protect a girl from powerful forces out to kill her for what she knows. It's a redemptive arc, allowing Frank to briefly feel like he has a daughter again. The dynamic works and is easily the strongest element of this season.
Jon Bernthal is still a fantastic Frank Castle, and he has a great dynamic with Giorgia Whigham as Amy. The two however feel largely stranded in a show that never quite knows what it wants to say. The central threats are all heavily muddled, and there's not even a memorable action scene.
I would have taken this whole season if it was like its first episode. The debut feels like a promise never fulfilled as The Punisher is allowed to feel what it is like to have a family again and to imagine a life he will never have. However, the show throws away the great potential of his relationship with Beth for some frighteningly bad main plots.
In particular, this season's villains are bland and lifeless. John Pilgrim (Josh Stewart) goes through the motions of being a powerful hitman, but he ends up coming off as a knockoff Preacher character without any of the charm. Ultimately, nothing about his story feels earned.
It must take real practice to master the art of looking so bored you don't even care anymore. (Image Courtesy of: denofgeek.com)
Worse yet is the return of Billy Russo (Ben Barnes). The central villain of season 1 that made the show work seems lost throughout this season, frantically shifting between honest confusion and heartless rage.
There's nothing to latch onto, and none of his stories amount to anything especially his romance with his psychotherapist Krista (Floriana Lima). The way these two supposedly fall in love is frustratingly problematic, yet nothing is made of their self-destructive co-dependency.
Russo also drags down the returning Agent Madani (Amber Rose Revah). Suddenly, she becomes a singularly focused character with nothing to do beyond lash out at anything connected to Russo. She seems entirely one-dimensional after an opening season that made her the co-lead.
It feels like this second season had no idea what made the first season work. It drowns in blood and gore without any rhyme or reason. The show mainly seems to think The Punisher is about watching people pull bullets out of their own bodies in gross-out gore displays.
The best parts of this season are its quiet moments: Frank showing vulnerability with Amy, Brett Mahoney (Royce Johnson) once again just trying to do his job as a good cop in a corrupt city, Lewis (Daniel Webber) quietly breaking down as those he tried to support turn on him.
This show can do so much well, but nothing about this second season is focusing on those moments. In its final episodes, it becomes an absolute parody as the series seems to be trying to get at a point that never quite lands amongst the constant bloodshed.
What makes this series works is the connections between the characters, and The Punisher's second season ends with him breaking off ties with everyone because he's cooler as a loner, showing one final time the show has no idea why it works.
There's nothing to latch onto, and none of his stories amount to anything especially his romance with his psychotherapist Krista (Floriana Lima). The way these two supposedly fall in love is frustratingly problematic, yet nothing is made of their self-destructive co-dependency.
Russo also drags down the returning Agent Madani (Amber Rose Revah). Suddenly, she becomes a singularly focused character with nothing to do beyond lash out at anything connected to Russo. She seems entirely one-dimensional after an opening season that made her the co-lead.
It feels like this second season had no idea what made the first season work. It drowns in blood and gore without any rhyme or reason. The show mainly seems to think The Punisher is about watching people pull bullets out of their own bodies in gross-out gore displays.
The best parts of this season are its quiet moments: Frank showing vulnerability with Amy, Brett Mahoney (Royce Johnson) once again just trying to do his job as a good cop in a corrupt city, Lewis (Daniel Webber) quietly breaking down as those he tried to support turn on him.
This show can do so much well, but nothing about this second season is focusing on those moments. In its final episodes, it becomes an absolute parody as the series seems to be trying to get at a point that never quite lands amongst the constant bloodshed.
What makes this series works is the connections between the characters, and The Punisher's second season ends with him breaking off ties with everyone because he's cooler as a loner, showing one final time the show has no idea why it works.
