Viewer Log: The Punisher ep 13

Frank and Russo face off.

Or not. As I said last time, Frank is pretty badly mangled, and his status as Number One most wanted man in New York pretty much makes it impossible for the good guys to bring him to a hospital. But, thankfully, Agent Madani knows a guy. Her father, Dr. Madani. While thoroughly freaked out by their daughter bring a bloodied, 3/4’s dead man to their apartment, Dr. and Mrs. Madani do help to get Frank stabilized.

I... don't think Russo is getting his security deposit back.

Meanwhile, Russo treats his own wounds and then tries to make a break for it. He gathers a go bag and starts emptying out his all safe when Homeland Agents enter his home. He kills the two that made it to his floor, and then mows down DHS Agents all the way to the ground level. He firebombs the building for good measure as he walks away. Don’t think he’s going to get his security deposit back on that place…  

At the Madani’s, David does his best to pay his friend back for all he’s done. Literally. Micro gathered some funds from a few disreputable individuals and gave all that money to Frank as payback. Frank isn’t sure if he wants it, but David insists that he take it and run. Madani seconds that idea, promising Frank that she will hunt him down if they ever meet again. Frank leaves, with a smile on his busted-up face.

Back at DHS headquarters, CIA D.D. James and DHS Director Ramirez grill Madani about what happened. Everybody knows she helped Castle escape, but she won’t fess up to it. They eventually agree it’s best to let this sleeping dog lie, and they dismiss Madani to fill out her reports.

Sometime later, Curt is visited by Russo. His old Marine buddy wants to know where Frank is. Curt is able to distract Russo almost long enough for Frank, who was watching from across the street, to snipe him. But, Russo got wise and dodged at the last moment. Frank calls Curt and gets passed over to Russo. Frank agrees to let Russo go if he let’s Curt go, and then to meet him somewhere for them to finish this. Russo agrees, and chooses to meet at Midnight, at he Carousel that Frank’s family died at. Sick weirdo.

A few hours later, Russo kidnaps a few concession store employees at the Carousel and uses them as hostages for Frank. At Midnight, Frank comes in with guns at the ready. He also texts Madani his GPS location, for back up. What follows is a fully automatic blood bath as the two friend-turned-enemies do their damnedest to kill each other. Bullet’s fired, wounds delivered, blood spilled, and chaos everywhere. Madani shows up towards the fight’s climax and takes a bullet for Frank so that he can get to Russo. Frank ultimately get’s Russo in the gut with a chunk of glass, and then puts a knife to his neck, prepared to finish him off. But, instead, Frank decides to go with a crueler method. He takes Russo’s already injured face, smashes it and rubs It against broken glass for a bit, but leaves him former friend alive. Why? So, he can know the pain of waking up every morning and having to relive anew the sense of loss. Just like Frank does. Afterwards, he sits with Madani until the police arrive.

Frank is ready to move forward in a way that DOESN'T involve
shooting people. I'm as surprised as you. 

After things calms down, three days later, Frank is brought in to see Madani. She survived a bullet to the head. What are the odds? Rather then crunch the math on that, we’ll just say unlikely. But, even more shockingly, James and Ramirez inform Frank that they’re letting him go. As ‘Thanks’ for his service and to partially make up for this poop storm, they’ve reworked the narrative of events, making Russo and Rawlins the real baddies, and officially killing Frank Castle. On paper. Peter Castiglione is free to go. They swapped out all of his finger prints and DNA with a dead man in their databases, so that it’ll be impossible to track him.  Russo, as it turns out, is still alive but is in a sort of coma. They aren’t sure when, or if, he may wake up. Ach-sequel bait-oo. Sorry about that. Frank sees David is returned home, and then goes to Curt’s support group, as he’s ready to move forward.

Overall, this was a good series. I liked following Castle’s journey from broken man to… well, a broken man with a chance at being fixed. Not completely, but enough to be a functional human being again. There was plenty of blood, bullets and character moments to fill any Punisher fans dreams. If you’re wondering why it took me so long to get through it, if I liked it, the short answer is I needed to do this in bursts. The Punisher story is inherently incredibly depressing, I needed to go over it slowly so as not to bum me out. Hmm… what else to say? I guess that the one thing I question is the bit about Frank letting Russo live. I mean, it makes sense in a lot of ways, make him suffer like Frank has suffered and all that, but it’s not a very Punisher thing to do. Frank kills people. He’ll occasionally wound, or maim, but his first choice for targets is to kill them. I know that this was to set up Billy Russo as his Jigsaw persona. Jigsaw is, to my knowledge, one of only a handful of Punisher’s regularly recurring antagonists. In most incarnations he’s a gangster that got his face mashed up by Frank in a confrontation. So, very true to form in that regard. But, here’s the thing, Frank thought he killed him in the incarnations I’ve seen previously, the bugger just refused to die right away and ended up with a mangled face. I think that Punisher: Warzone did it slightly better, having Frank shove Russo into a machine recycling glass and leaving him for dead. But that’s just me. I did enjoy Russo overall, and how they somewhat more subtly showed his motivations. Let’s compare him to say… Diamondback. The TV version of Diamondback is looking to kill his half-brother Luke Cage as he felt his sibling got their father’s love/respect as Luke was his legitimate child. He loudly proclaimed this often after he’s introduced, showing off his hatred for Luke and his love of their shared parent, in a matter, by quoting bible verses. Russo, we know, is about the money. But this is shown by his actions, going to fancy restaurants, dating gorgeous women, driving fast cars, running a successful company, and all that. We see WHY he’s so into this with the visit to his mother a few episodes back. She never wanted him, so he proves his worth by literally being worth a lot. Sure, he shouts about his love of money during the final confrontation, but it doesn’t come up much before. Just saying. So yeah, in the end I’m glad I watched it, and would be interested in seeing a second season. Woo! 

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Viewer Log: The Punisher ep 12

Frank Castle can bleed, but he'll make you bleed worse.

So, it seems immediately after turning himself in at the end of the last episode, Frank and David are immediately brought in to make their statements. Castle is interviewed first. He drops what he knows about Cerberus and the bigwigs mixed up with them. He saves name dropping Russo and Rawlins until the very end. Madani asks Frank about her former partner, Ahmad Zubair. Frank tells her what he knows, including that he was the one that executed Zubair. Said confession clearly shakes Madani. At the same time, David has a ‘sorry I’ve been dead’ speech with his daughter, Leo. He promises to get the rest of the family back. In his interview, David plays harder ball then Frank did. He swears he won’t say a word that Madani wants to hear, until his family is taken care of.

They must come to some sort of agreement, as Frank and David are left at the Docks area. Why? To swap themselves with Sarah and Zack Lieberman. Both are extremely nervous, though Frank is better at hiding said nerves. They get in the middle of a heart to heart conversation, but then the bad guys show up. Way to kill the mood, guys. Zack and Sarah are brought out, and Frank gets a call from Russo. Russo is in a sniper perch with a rifle pointed at them, he tells Frank that they’re going to make the swap and that the two will come along quietly. To keep Frank and David honest, they strap a pair of gas tanks to the Liebermans, poke a hole in them, and send them over. I guess the idea is they’re going to light the gas on fire to kill them… personally I’d just use a gun. Duh. Frank and David march over as Sarah and Zack march back. Before the exchange could be completed, though, Madani and a crew of Homeland guys pull in. The bad guys grab Frank, and David is shot thrice in the crossfire. Well… crap. Russo takes out the tires of the Homeland’s truck tires and makes a break for it.

So... Much... Blood.

Frank is taken back to the lair by the bad guys. He dreams about his wife on their wedding before being woken by smelling salts. Russo is going to force Frank to disengage the timer on David’s computers. Frank, instead, tells Russo he’s going to kill him, and that “all kinds of good $%^#” is going to happen when the counter hits zero.

Madani, meanwhile, unzips David’s body bag. And he sits up. Yeah, he was wearing a vest and blood packs to fake his death. But, unfortunately, they were supposed to keep Frank out of Rawlins’ clutches too, but, shucks, the Punisher just got grabbed. David is brought to see his family. They take seeing him alive after watching him die again surprisingly well. His wife only hits him a few times before the entire family hugs it out. Hooray.

At the lair, Russo keeps trying to force Frank to talk. He’s clearly trying to be the ‘good cop.’ Unfortunately, Rawlins aka Bad Cop comes in a moment later. He puts on his black torture gloves and starts beating Frank. Not sure if he’ll stop even if Frank talks, if I’m being honest. After he passes out, Russo wakes him up again and convinces Frank to work with them. Frank disengages the security protocols, using the passwords and the retinal scanner. Lucky Micro added Frank to the safety protocols. Frank grabs a hidden blade at the bottom of David’s chair and stabs Rawlins in the chest several times and bites his ear. Russo pulls the two apart and restrains Frank again.

Frank has been beaten, tortured, is suffering from severe blood
loss and an obvious concussion.
Yeah, my money would still be on him.

Back at Homeland Security offices, David, after chatting with his wife, decides to go against his promise to Frank and helps Madani find him. Using Madani’s computer, David pulls up some wireless footage of the lair and see’s Frank being beaten to death. Crap. The team mobilizes.

Russo tries to convince Rawlins to just leave Frank to die, but Rawlins has clearly lost it. He keeps muttering about Frank owing him an eye and how Russo is his weapon. Russo, clearly tired of this, stealthily snips Frank’s bonds. Frank, dying of blood loss and blunt force trauma, see’s his wife. She tells him it’s time to go home. Subtle. Rawlins sticks Frank with a bunch of adrenaline to keep him going and preps to finish him. Frank, wired by the drugs, breaks free, grabs a knife and stabs Rawlins to death. Russo, having let Frank finish their mutual enemy, pulls a gun and aims to kill Frank. But, Homeland busts in and wings the SOB before he runs. Despite the numerous wounds, Frank survives, but is still badly injured. And, obviously, they can’t bring a wanted criminal to the hospital. Well crap.

A pretty good penultimate episode for the season. It’s nice to see David and his family being brought back together at long last. I didn’t touch on it much here, but David has a pretty solid internal struggle on what to do in this one. On the one hand, he promised Frank to get him back to Rawlins and Russo so that the Punisher has a chance to kill them. On the other, despite everything, the two have become friends and David isn’t super happy leaving his friend on a suicide mission. I’m glad that he broke down and told Madani where to go. The punishment that Frank both receives and dishes out in this one is phenomenal. I was wincing when I saw the blows to Frank’s face. He was a bloody mess, and he really messed up Rawlins in return. I wonder how many gallons of fake blood they used up in this season… I’m getting off track. So, Rawlins is dead. Guess Frank just has to survive his wounds, kill Russo and then everything’s all tidy again. Easy peasy.

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Viewer Log: The Punisher ep 11

Frank is done being nice. Yeah. He's been nice up to this point.

Okay so this time we open to Frank just… ruminating about Billy Russo. Clearly, his old friend betraying him, trying to kill him, and possibly being involved in the very conspiracy that ended with the Castles’ being murdered shakes him to the very core. He spends the night as part of a transient camp, thinking. Once he’s had his fill with that, he heads back to the lair. At the same time, Russo is being interview about Frank. He’s blatantly lying about everything, painting himself as an innocent bystander that is dealing with his friend’s insanity like everyone else. This causes, Madani, watching from Homeland, to toss her mug at the TV, destroying it. Well that was just silly.

I honestly can't tell who looks worse right now.
Shower David!

Frank goes to get cleaned up, as he is still coated in blood from the firefight last night. The bathroom is kind of gross, and his right arm isn’t working quite right, so this might be an exercise in futility. David joins him and takes over stitching Frank’s wounds. They chat for a bit, but Frank reveals he’s furious that David for going to Madani without him. David tries to placate his partner, but Frank is completely done with working with David. So yeah, the dream team is breaking up. Sad. At the same time, the Liebermans learn that their friend Pete Castiglioni is in fact Frank Castle. No one takes it well.

With the law enforcement types, Madani has Russo brought in for questioning. She flat out accuses him of murdering Stein, but Russo is stone face during their little pissing contest. He leaves when it’s clear Madani has nothing concrete. Later, she meets with her boss, Rafael Hernandez. He’s… miffed that she pretty much told Russo they’re onto him and got nothing back. They try and figure out how to best utilize the Punisher and Micro to their advantage but can’t come up with concrete plans.

Rawlins meets up with his superior, Deputy Director of the CIA Marian James. Rawlins tells her about Castle, the off the books project in Kandahar, and that Frank knows about the… no two ways about it, illegal stuff that went down there. She’s furious that he kept this sort of thing from her, and that he’s gotten a bunch of men killed trying to take Castle out. He convinces her, though, to give him access to CIA surveillance information gathering gear to track him. Idiots.

Sarah and the Liebermans are prepping for dinner when a cop arrives. He claims that the NYPD got a call from the Castle tip line that he was spotted at their home. Sarah and Zack claim ignorance, but the cop isn’t buying it. He acts really creepy, so Sarah tries to distract him while Zack runs. They’re both caught, but Leo Lieberman was able to escape. She’d been in her room answering a call when the cop stopped by.

At the lair, Frank is ready to make his exit. He’s got a bunch of guns, his battle van, and a new skull emblem bulletproof vest. He’s planning on busting down the doors to Rawlins place and killing everyone he sees. David tries to talk him out of it, but Frank is done talking… that is until he notices the lack of Lieberman’s on David’s monitors. They go back over the footage and realize that the kidnapping happened when they were fighting. Damn. But, they did see that Leo escape. Frank calls Leo and tells her to ditch her battery and sim card, and then wait for a pick up at a park she used to visit with David. Frank orders David to get his daughter, as Frank will be busy… discouraging pursuit. The plan is for the two Lieberman’s to wait at the green terminal for Frank. If he doesn’t meet them by midnight, they’re to go meet Madani without him.

The Punsiher is Back!
Oh, God, The Punisher is Back...

Rafael and Madani call in DD James and interview her. They let her know about what they know about Rawlins, Kandahar, and all the illegal dealings that Rawlins has been doing. James remains stone faced and leaves in a huff. Madani asks what they can do, and Rafael tells her that they need to just wait and see what falls from the metaphorical tree.   

Frank spends a few hours prepping for invasion. He makes sure his weapons are loaded, that a few are stowed in a dozen hidden places, and that a few traps are prepped. He’s ready to fight. Russo’s goons invade the lair. And within a few minutes, Frank starts doing what he does best. What follows is a pretty one-sided gun battle. Needless to say, it ends with all of Russo’s goon’s dead, and with Frank being thoroughly peeved. He steals the phone off one of the dead men and calls Russo. Basically, their conversation equates to “I’m going to kill you,” “Not if I kill you first!” Though they do reach an agreement of The Punisher and Micro turning themselves in exchange for Sarah and Zack Lieberman.

Marian meets with Rawlins again, and is furious with what he’s done. He tries to spin things again, claiming the new plan is to let Russo take out their problems, and then they’ll lay the blame for Kandahar and the heroin dealings on Russo. Marian isn’t having any of it. She is disgusted with Rawlins and his actions, declaring that even if things go as Rawlins wants, he has to resign and disappear. Turns out Marian is a woman of principles, who’d have thunk it.

David and Leo, after having hugged it out earlier, are waiting for Frank. They meet with Madani instead. Castle arrives a moment later, revealing he was waiting for her to arrive before stepping forward himself. Hooray, heroes unite.

I’ve been waiting for Frank to go ape $%^@ on some folks. Watching the Punisher lay waste to fellow trained soldiers is just so satisfying. I mean, he uses gun power filled light bulbs as distractions, well placed weapons, and a grenade stuffed into a severed head to rub salt in the wounds. And I have so been missing the Punisher logo. Frank just isn’t the Punisher without his Skull logo. I wonder how things will shake down when Madani finally interviews Frank about what had happened in Kandahar? I can’t imagine it will go smoothly, but hopefully the Punisher will… Punish everyone who deserves it. Also, I wonder if any of Russo’s guy will think to disable the count down on David’s computer. Since, you know, I’m pretty sure that’s going to release the data David stockpiled on Operation Cerberus to the web. It’d be a pretty boring episode if the series gets tied up by David’s computers. Just saying. 

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