DAMN! This was probably as good of a season as you could get with a show like The Punisher. It was nearly perfect. It did not fall into the trap of some of the other Marvel Netflix shows and drag on for too many episodes. They really made the story work in the thirteen episodes. Spoilers ahead…
The story was pretty simple. Frank runs into a girl who is being chased by bad people. Also, Billy comes out of his coma and he cannot remember what happened to him. The two stories eventually come together and Frank has to deal with both problems.
One of my favorite parts of the season was in the first episode when Frank fights the knife wielding baddies in a bathroom. I love when he goes in and just takes his belt off and starts wrapping it around his arm. The leader says he does not want to mess with them and he just keeps doing his thing. You would think that would give someone pause. And then after he soundly defeats them (multiple times), she just keeps coming at him and saying things like “now you are in trouble!”
At first I did not like the John Pilgrim story, but in the end it won me over. I think my problem was with how he fell back to that old life (drugs and a BJ) after that major fight with his old friends. Not sure how to make that part of the story work, I just think having him slip into that old lifestyle did not push the story forward, nor did it really fit with his ending.
I hope the girl who played Amy (Giorgia Whigham) ends up in more stuff. I thought she did a great job. She pulled off the tough, but not nearly as tough as she thinks, street kid perfectly.
I loved the ending. Since there will be no season three, I think the ending was pretty much perfect. Frank turning down Madani’s offer to join the CIA and then we see him going into a warehouse to take out two rival gangs. Frank has truly embraced being the Punisher.
