Sorry this one took a while. Usual
excuses; work is insane, and I NEED to take some free time to defeat Digital
Monsters to blow off some steam. What? I have a thing for JRPGs, and Digimon Cyber
Sleuth 2 hits all the addiction buttons in my brain. Hope you understand. You
do? Great!
So, when we last left Frank Castle
at the end of the second season of Daredevil,
he’d learned that his former C.O. Ray Schoonover was part of a drug running
scheme. Schoonover had Frank’s family killed in an attempted hit to cover up
his drug empire. Frank killed Schoonover, stole a bulletproof vest with the
Skull Logo on it, and helped save Daredevil’s life before leaving town. Where
did he go to? To find every single person connected to Schoonover’s cartel,
and, to use an old classic, make them sleep with the fishes. How’s that journey
going? Let’s get to it.
 |
| Yeah, I'm sure this is the last we'll see of the icon Skull logo. Sarcasm overload. |
We open on a very quick, very sad
scene. It’s a flipping back and forth between Frank showing his daughter how to
play guitar, to him playing it all alone. Kind of a major downer, isn’t it?
Well, not as much as Frank’s more recent activities. In short order, he ran
down some bikers in Alabama, shot a Mexican Cartel leader in Juarez, Mexico
from a building in El Paso, USA, and then strangled a man to death in a
bathroom stall at O’Hare. Bathroom guy was the last member of Schoonover’s
little group. His mission complete, Frank takes his Punisher vest and burns it.
Well that was a short series,
wasn’t it? Ha, I’m kidding… there’s way more to it.
Six months later, Frank Castle is
living in New York again, under the alias Peter Castiglioni. Castiglioni works
as a construction worker, and he spends most of his waking time smashing walls.
He get’s heckled by his coworker, who think he’s a Lennie ‘Of Mice and Men’
kind of simpleton. Frank barely pays them any mind, he just smashes walls, from
sun up to sun down. Day in, and Day out. It’s how he keeps the memories at bay,
me thinks. The only thing of note that happens for a long time is that a new
work joins his company, a young man named Donny Chavez that tries to be nice to
Frank. Over lunch, Donny and Frank bond over a sandwich. Donny notices some of
Frank’s wounds, and upon learning he’s eating with a former Marine, gives Frank
his general backstory. Basically, Mr. Chavez was a marine that survived five
tours in the middle east, but was killed in a robbery state side. Donny’s story
causes Frank to flash back, slightly. He breaks out of his funk, and tells
Donny essentially, “Thanks for the food, but stay away from me.”
 |
| You know, considering how Frank used to take care of his violent impulses, smashing walls is much healthier. |
That evening, Frank listens from a
hallway to some sort of Veteran support group. The group is run by a fellow named
Curtis. Curtis was a former Marine as well, and is one of the handful of people
that knows Frank Castle is still very much alive. Curt is trying his damnedest
to help his friend find peace, but Frank isn’t really listening anymore.
The next day, we’re introduced to
two Homeland Security agents, Sam Stein and recently transferred Dinah Madani.
Madani attempts to look into the death of a partner, but her boss tells her to
back off. With that investigation cut off, Madani decides to look into
something else, namely the death of Ray Schoonover and his former squad mate
Frank “Punisher” Castle. Oh dear.
At the same time, Frank is
continuing his deconstruction as his coworkers go out to the bar. Donny goes
along with the rather dickish crew, hoping to be accepted by them. While the
group are drinking, the lead asshole, Lance, is looking to make some quick
cash. He owes money to bad people, and needs a lot of money, fast. His buddy,
Paulie agrees to look into it. Donny gets stuck with the +$300 bill, but deals
with it because he wants to be liked. Damn you peer pressure!
 |
| The hilarious thing is, this idiot thinks he can intimidate Frank "I've killed literally scores of people" Castle. |
Frank meanwhile, is having
nightmares about his wife. Not healthy for him. The next day, Paulie gets back
to Lance about a job. They’re planning on hitting a poker game run by the
Gnnuci. Not sure if that’s the name of the actual mob family, or a racial slur.
Frank overhears this, but the two see him. Lance gets into Frank’s face, to
intimidate him. If Frank was even 1% closer to functionally normal, he’d have
cackled with mirth about this guy’s clumsy tactic. The tension is broken,
thankfully, by a coworker getting injured in an accident. This lets Frank off
the hook, and leaves Lance’s crew down a guy. Unfortunately, they pick Donny to
fill the space. Donny is a little apprehensive, but does agree to go along with
them. Damn. You. Peer. Pressure.
The crew hits the poker game. Two
of the guys keep guns drawn while Donny goes around grabbing the money. The, I’m
assuming, head guy (Subtitles say his name is Tony) makes several barely veiled
threats about how they’ll all die really horrible deaths because of this. Said
threats make the already rattled Donny MORE rattled and he ends up tripping.
Spilling the money on the floor. Along with his wallet. Which had his real ID
right up front. Shhhhhhhhooooooooooooottttttttttt. Tony makes a very obvious
threat about how stupid “Donald” was. They crew grab the money and make a run
for it.
Meanwhile, Frank had a quite night
at home, but is jerked awake by one of his nightmares about his wife. He goes
to the construction site to work off some anger. He’s got his hammer in hand,
ready to beat a wall, when the car with the crew rolls up. After some arguing,
the other three guys agree that they need to make Donny disappear. Lance tells
them to fire up the cement mixer, they’re going to drown Donny in the concrete
foundation. Donny makes a run for it, but they nab him and toss him into the pillar/mold
thing. Then Frank shows up. Now, normally, this is where a fight scene would
take place. But, I cannot in good conscience call what happens next a “fight.”
Why? Because even in fiction, a fight needs to have a chance that things won’t
go well for the hero. Frank absolutely slaughters these guys. He uses a hammer
on one, cripples Lance, and then shoots Paulie as he attempts to drive away. He
‘interrogates’ Lance, and learns the name the of the restaurant that they hit
and why. Then, Lance joins his buddy’s in the concrete pit. To be fair, Frank
never once said that he’d let Lance go if he got what he wanted. Frank drops Donny
a rope, anchoring it in place with a note attached saying “Leave Town.”
 |
| This is the face of a man about to do something horrible, but is okay with that. |
At the restaurant, Tony and his boys
are prepping to get Donny. The lights go out, and everyone in the room save
Tony suddenly gets several new openings in their chests. Frank finishes him off
last. As he strolls out of the site of his latest… anger management episode, a
mysterious man watches him from the camera feed. He smiles and simply states, “Welcome
back, Frank,” before the credits roll.
I think I could sum up this first episode,
hell, this entire show probably, with a song. What song? Hurt, as sung by the
late, great Johnny Cash. That’s the sense I get from Frank throughout the episode.
He’s in pain, a constant, gnawing pain that’s eating at his soul. He’s alone, even
in a crowded room. All that he has is the pain. That’s something that the Punisher
films touched on, but the show completely captures. Even his friend, Curt, can’t
help him feel anything more then pain, or numbness. Or at least that’s the
sense I got. Heck, he got his revenge, he killed everyone even loosely
connected to his family’s murder, and it seems to have just left him empty. Forever,
almost literally, beating his head against the wall to feel something. John
Bernthal does an amazing job portraying someone damaged, but not broken. The
pain feels real, at least to me. You get the feeling that, regardless of how
the show turns out, of the evil he thwarts or the lives he saves, all that
Frank can hope for is the numbness. There’s no peace, no hope. Just a sense that
he’ll keep doing his best to punish the wicked until he can’t anymore. Once he gets
the ball rolling again, that is. There’s an immense feeling of satisfaction I
felt when Frank “Punishes” Lance and the crew. I only touched upon it lightly,
here, but these guys were absolute bum holes to Frank. Constantly belittling
him, calling him names, destroying his lunch, and in general trying to torment
him. The funny thing is, you get the sense that Lance is doing it, assuming
that one day Frank will take a swing, and then that’s when he’ll put that re-(offensive
term for the mentally handicap deleted) his place. This is something I think
every one should learn. It doesn’t matter how tough you are. It doesn’t matter how
superior you feel. Fear not the bully, barking angrily and swaggering, beware
the quite man, the man that walks like he has the weight of the world on his
shoulders. Why? Because when the bully snaps, it’s only to massage his ego. To
make himself feel big. When the quite man snaps, he’s going to kill
something. So be respectful. In short, yeah, The Punisher lives up to expectations. I can’t wait for more.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/16665186
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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