The Punisher (Netflix)

Originally posted by TheVaultDweller
I am about halfway through, and I really want to like this, because it's likely the last season, but it has not been good for me so far. Great acting and performances from the cast. Great action sequences.

However, the plot is flimsier than bargain bin, 1-ply toilet paper, and really does not warrant 8 episodes, let alone 13. One of the main characters actually summarises the entire plot so far in a sentence in episode 6, and, rightfully, makes it sound stupid. Because it is. And, because of this, the show is dragging terribly for me at the moment. Because there simply isn't enough story, so characters meander about a lot, and we get things like nothing montages of people putting on makeup or buying laptops and crap, just to fill screen time.

I'm hoping it picks up in the 2nd half though, and ends on a strong note.

I'll admit the plot is flimsy, he just happens to be in the right place at the right time...the person who is after him just happens to be centered in NYC...etc.

I forgive it though cuz it's comics lol. Maybe that's not much of the excuse, but I think the quality of the acting and the action sequences more than makes up for it.

Originally posted by Surtur
I'll admit the plot is flimsy, he just happens to be in the right place at the right time...the person who is after him just happens to be centered in NYC...etc.

I forgive it though cuz it's comics lol. Maybe that's not much of the excuse, but I think the quality of the acting and the action sequences more than makes up for it.

I finished episode 10 and, honestly, it's been a tale of two shows for me. The stuff with Billy etc. has been good, largely due to Barnes' performance IMO. But the stuff about the girl,

Spoiler:
the pictures of the two guys kissing

This season is boring.

Punisher is a chump.

I thought it was ok.
Wasnt this show written by a female? Maybe thats why all this emotion was implemented into the show.
IMO- Punisher works best without too much emotion. Best written Puinisher was the one from DD season 2.

First season was much better, imo.

Too bad, really, because I think Shane fits the Punisher role perfectly. He could have done SO much more with the character if the writers wouldn't have cockblocked him with a subpar plot.

Season 2 DD Punisher was overflowing with emotion lol. His tearful monologue about his kids was one of the highlights of the season.

Originally posted by NemeBro
Season 2 DD Punisher was overflowing with emotion lol. His tearful monologue about his kids was one of the highlights of the season.

Yeah but Punisher was more of a ruthless killer. He had emotion and hatred because of his family being murdered. But other than that he would just kill any criminal without hesitation.
S1 and S2 of the Punisher. He was less ruthless and had more second thoughts when dealing with criminals. Wasn't really a lone wolf like he should be (except for micro).

i dont know though . I just thought he was written better in DD season 2. The writers are the problem not the acting or actors.
Punisher season 1 i liked. Season 2 was just ok. The hot females were nice.

Haven't the Retconned the "His Family Being Killed" out of his origion or reason for being a psychotic killer now?

Punisher needs emotion for his character to work, but it needs to be primarily rage mixed with some guilt about letting his family die.

He should be a focused and motivated killer with righteous indignation towards criminals.

Originally posted by Mindset
Punisher needs emotion for his character to work, but it needs to be primarily rage mixed with some guilt about letting his family die.

He should be a focused and motivated killer with righteous indignation towards criminals.

You said the shit i wanted to better than I did. But yeah, that is what the Punisher should be like or more like.

Probably copied/pasted it from IMDB or somesuch, the sneaky phuck 👆

I described my own psychological profile, except my victims aren't just criminals.

Definitely agree the first season was better. S2 was just okay at best. I dont hate or regret watching it (like I kinda did with Jessica Jones S2), but I did have some problems with it, though I already knew I was wrong about them doing Jigsaw right just from the 2nd trailer. A still good looking Billy Russo with only a few cuts on the face told me they were gonna do more their own thing with him. As it was, Pilgrim stole the show for S2, while Russo stole it with season 1 IMO.

Just finished. I agree that this season was okay. Not near as good as the first season, which held its own against DDs best IMO. There were some good points, but a lot more bad.

Spoiler:
I'll start off with the good. The villains were phenomenal. Ben Barnes acted the sh*t out of this season, and he was the best part of it up until that last four episodes. After that, Pilgrim stepped it up. I didn't expect him to be as fleshed out as he was. He started off really one dimensional but by the end you got a real feel for his character and his overall development. I also liked their individual stories, but both of them just kind of fizzed out in the end which I didn't like.

Episode 10 was by far the best in the season. Punisher going toe to toe with Jigsaw and his gang is what I've been waiting for this entire series. I only wish we got more of this over the course of the season. Jigsaw being shot by Madani, left for dead by the random underground surgeon, and unceremoniously executed by Frank was lame and anticlimactic.

It's like all this bad and stupid sh*t started happening at the end for no reason. He should have had no problem with Madani. She was injured, and both of them were armed. Castle and Curtis hyping up how much of a beast he was in a gun fight only for him to stand there in the open get gunned down by Madani of all people was ridiculous. Sure, he ended up winning after she fatally injured him, but then he doesn't even bother finishing the job. He just walks off? Stupid. Him and Castle should have had a more epic clash. Their struggle has been built up for two seasons, and he ended up dying like a punk.

Pilgrim was also a mixed bag. Like I said, he started off super one dimensional but then he stepped it up. After that, him and Castle have a pretty good clash just for it to end with Castle letting him live and take off to have a happy ending. I don't care that his motivations were his family. He murdered tons of innocent people (and some not so innocent, of course). He'd gotten away with insanely heinous crimes back when he was a Neo Nazi before he was ever even a hitman. Punisher should have bashed his skull in with that oxygen tank.

That's another big complaint of mine. I've gotten pretty tired of Frank just letting bad guys live. This season alone, he let an amoral russian mob boss, a child pornography photographer/pedo, and a former neo nazi hitman child murderer go. He didn't learn from Russo in the first season? The worst part was the motivation for it. All you have to do is say you have kids, and Punisher lets you walk scott free apparently. The photographer also got off just because a kid asked Frank not to execute him. All the villains in general got off really easy this season. Usually, I fear for the villains in any Punisher media. Russo and Agent Orange getting theirs was biblical in the first season. This season had Russo and the congressman die from gunshots, which is insanely boring for the Punisher.

Like I said earlier, I liked Jigsaw and Pilgrims stories (mostly; wasn't a fan of the psychologist love interest and entire congressmen story could have been better done), but they should have just given them both a half of the season to play out. Running both alongside each other just dragged it out. It was like one of them would just take a break for two or three episodes to let the other one shine before receding into the background for a couple of episodes. Both of them could have gotten more satisfactory endings too if the had a good half season dedicated to their arcs.

Lastly, the supporting characters were pretty hit or miss. Madani was annoying this entire season. I liked her last season but she was insufferable this time around. Amy was annoying the first half but far more likable during the second half. Curtis was great all the way through. Beth was a pointless character that was never revisited. I like Karen but she felt like a pointless addition in that one episode. Krista was a sh*t character and there is no way she should have been able to put up such a good fight against Madani. Personally. I wish her entire story was just cut out and dedicated to more Jigsaw unhinged gangrunning. Brett did his best work this season than any other MCU property he appeared in IMO.

That's about it. Huge step down from the first season, though entertaining at points.

Wow you guys binge through these shows fast! Ive only got around to watching the pilot so far, which I enjoyed.

Pretty sure you need a nuke to actually kill MCU Punisher 😂

Originally posted by Arachnid1
Just finished. I agree that this season was okay. Not near as good as the first season, which held its own against DDs best IMO. There were some good points, but a lot more bad.

Spoiler:
I'll start off with the good. The villains were phenomenal. Ben Barnes acted the sh*t out of this season, and he was the best part of it up until that last four episodes. After that, Pilgrim stepped it up. I didn't expect him to be as fleshed out as he was. He started off really one dimensional but by the end you got a real feel for his character and his overall development. I also liked their individual stories, but both of them just kind of fizzed out in the end which I didn't like.

Episode 10 was by far the best in the season. Punisher going toe to toe with Jigsaw and his gang is what I've been waiting for this entire series. I only wish we got more of this over the course of the season. Jigsaw being shot by Madani, left for dead by the random underground surgeon, and unceremoniously executed by Frank was lame and anticlimactic.

It's like all this bad and stupid sh*t started happening at the end for no reason. He should have had no problem with Madani. She was injured, and both of them were armed. Castle and Curtis hyping up how much of a beast he was in a gun fight only for him to stand there in the open get gunned down by Madani of all people was ridiculous. Sure, he ended up winning after she fatally injured him, but then he doesn't even bother finishing the job. He just walks off? Stupid. Him and Castle should have had a more epic clash. Their struggle has been built up for two seasons, and he ended up dying like a punk.

Pilgrim was also a mixed bag. Like I said, he started off super one dimensional but then he stepped it up. After that, him and Castle have a pretty good clash just for it to end with Castle letting him live and take off to have a happy ending. I don't care that his motivations were his family. He murdered tons of innocent people (and some not so innocent, of course). He'd gotten away with insanely heinous crimes back when he was a Neo Nazi before he was ever even a hitman. Punisher should have bashed his skull in with that oxygen tank.

That's another big complaint of mine. I've gotten pretty tired of Frank just letting bad guys live. This season alone, he let an amoral russian mob boss, a child pornography photographer/pedo, and a former neo nazi hitman child murderer go. He didn't learn from Russo in the first season? The worst part was the motivation for it. All you have to do is say you have kids, and Punisher lets you walk scott free apparently. The photographer also got off just because a kid asked Frank not to execute him. All the villains in general got off really easy this season. Usually, I fear for the villains in any Punisher media. Russo and Agent Orange getting theirs was biblical in the first season. This season had Russo and the congressman die from gunshots, which is insanely boring for the Punisher.

Like I said earlier, I liked Jigsaw and Pilgrims stories (mostly; wasn't a fan of the psychologist love interest and entire congressmen story could have been better done), but they should have just given them both a half of the season to play out. Running both alongside each other just dragged it out. It was like one of them would just take a break for two or three episodes to let the other one shine before receding into the background for a couple of episodes. Both of them could have gotten more satisfactory endings too if the had a good half season dedicated to their arcs.

Lastly, the supporting characters were pretty hit or miss. Madani was annoying this entire season. I liked her last season but she was insufferable this time around. Amy was annoying the first half but far more likable during the second half. Curtis was great all the way through. Beth was a pointless character that was never revisited. I like Karen but she felt like a pointless addition in that one episode. Krista was a sh*t character and there is no way she should have been able to put up such a good fight against Madani. Personally. I wish her entire story was just cut out and dedicated to more Jigsaw unhinged gangrunning. Brett did his best work this season than any other MCU property he appeared in IMO.

That's about it. Huge step down from the first season, though entertaining at points.

I agree with everything you said. I also had a big issue with-

Spoiler:
when Frank and Pilgrim had their standoff at the trailer and Frank told Amy just to get in the car and drive away. Why in the hell would Pilgrim let her take his wheels?

I also thought the last occurrence between Russo and Frank was a letdown. Frank shows up to a dying Russo and just shoots him? Lame.

I was entertained, but it was long and not near as good as the first season.

Originally posted by tkitna
I agree with everything you said. I also had a big issue with-

Spoiler:
when Frank and Pilgrim had their standoff at the trailer and Frank told Amy just to get in the car and drive away. Why in the hell would Pilgrim let her take his wheels?

I also thought the last occurrence between Russo and Frank was a letdown. Frank shows up to a dying Russo and just shoots him? Lame.

I was entertained, but it was long and not near as good as the first season.

If I ever rewatch this series in the future, I'll probably stick to the first season.

Just finished the 10th episode. Damn, they set up Frank perfectly there.

9 eps in and loving it