(5 minute read)
"Uuuaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!"
There will be spoilers.
Marvel & Netflix's The Punisher Season 2 aired last week and it was a hell of a ride. Overall the action sequences were dope af and very entertaining to watch. Seriously, hats-off to Jon Bernthal, Ben Barnes, and the entire stunt crew for executing all of those fights with so much energy and purpose. Bernthal did admit in his interview with Jimmy Kimmel that he kept breaking his right hand during production without telling anyone!
However, there were definitely plenty of moments that I didn't like. First of all, how did Dinah Madani survive Russo's rampage once he realized what she did? You're telling me a Marine lost to a bruised Homeland Security agent, who could barely protect herself against a psychologist with zero combat experience? Okay sure. Maybe Dumont does krav maga on the weekends.
"You should have stayed in your hole Bill" ~ Frank Castle
The season definitely regressed a bit in my mind during some moments with Billy Russo. As great of an actor as Ben Barnes is (and man seriously, British actors can really nail our American accents), we already know his character and his relationship with Castle that didn't need to be rehashed several times. "He's my brother...(blah blah blah)". "It was Frank that did this to me!" "He thinks he has the right to judge me." Okay Bill.
I also just couldn't really buy this unhealthy relationship between him and Krista Dumont. Okay she loves him because he reminds her of her father who had PTSD when she was eight, and in order to feel less guilty about not being there to console her father, she turns her life around to loving Russo and supporting his new life of theft and murder? Okay sure. But didn't her father try to kill her and is the reason for her scars/fear of windows? Though if it weren't for Russo, Frank would never return to New York and we wouldn't have a Season 2, right?? Okay.
"My name's not John, it's Robert." ~ Pilgrim
Now that Russo is out of the way, another problem I had was the overall plot with Pilgrim and the Schultz's. Apparently these rich evil white folks who are essentially older versions of William Rawlins are providing for Pilgrim's family, while he goes around as their hitman. Sounds a little like Billy Russo under Rawlins, doesn't it? Minus the family of course.
Pilgrim making the excuse that the Schultz have Pilgrim's boys hostage makes no sense to me when Pilgrim is such a badass that he can literally take out anyone. He single-handedly took out the Russian gang, his old gang, and came pretty close to removing our beloved Frank Castle from his own show. But the Schultz have influence, right? Okay sure.
This series could have benefitted with more Pilgrim despite his weirdness and sketchy habits. I will acknowledge that the writers do give him plenty of screen-time, but I had wished they dove a bit deeper into his backstory instead of spending so much episode time on Russo, which was just simply a distraction. For example, whatever man he used to be when he was in New York could have been a very interesting story to tell and one to compare against Castle's story. Pitting two fearless men against each other with families they would do anything for is something new in Season 2 that I think was a very smart and novel idea.
The Scoop
In the end, despite some of the problems and plot-holes, I genuinely believe the writers did an amazing job managing their secondary characters (Madani, Russo, Curtis, Amy, and Mahoney) and providing us with seat-gripping action sequences. The cinematography was excellent and the small heart-to-heart moments between Frank and Amy were real enough to relate. More screen time for Pilgrim would have been nice, but Billy Russo was probably just too good of an actor/character to pass up on screen-time. There just might have been a better place to put Russo in this crazy storyline. I'll be rooting for a season 3 and for Frank to find peace like he did at the end of Season 1, hopefully back with Beth, the bartender. As well as know, this ain't no ordinary superhero.
BTW, does anyone know where Frank gets his money? He doesn't have a job. How does he eat, pay for bullets, and stay at motels?
"Uuuaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!"
There will be spoilers.
Marvel & Netflix's The Punisher Season 2 aired last week and it was a hell of a ride. Overall the action sequences were dope af and very entertaining to watch. Seriously, hats-off to Jon Bernthal, Ben Barnes, and the entire stunt crew for executing all of those fights with so much energy and purpose. Bernthal did admit in his interview with Jimmy Kimmel that he kept breaking his right hand during production without telling anyone!
However, there were definitely plenty of moments that I didn't like. First of all, how did Dinah Madani survive Russo's rampage once he realized what she did? You're telling me a Marine lost to a bruised Homeland Security agent, who could barely protect herself against a psychologist with zero combat experience? Okay sure. Maybe Dumont does krav maga on the weekends.
"You should have stayed in your hole Bill" ~ Frank Castle
The season definitely regressed a bit in my mind during some moments with Billy Russo. As great of an actor as Ben Barnes is (and man seriously, British actors can really nail our American accents), we already know his character and his relationship with Castle that didn't need to be rehashed several times. "He's my brother...(blah blah blah)". "It was Frank that did this to me!" "He thinks he has the right to judge me." Okay Bill.
"My name's not John, it's Robert." ~ Pilgrim
Now that Russo is out of the way, another problem I had was the overall plot with Pilgrim and the Schultz's. Apparently these rich evil white folks who are essentially older versions of William Rawlins are providing for Pilgrim's family, while he goes around as their hitman. Sounds a little like Billy Russo under Rawlins, doesn't it? Minus the family of course.
Pilgrim making the excuse that the Schultz have Pilgrim's boys hostage makes no sense to me when Pilgrim is such a badass that he can literally take out anyone. He single-handedly took out the Russian gang, his old gang, and came pretty close to removing our beloved Frank Castle from his own show. But the Schultz have influence, right? Okay sure.
This series could have benefitted with more Pilgrim despite his weirdness and sketchy habits. I will acknowledge that the writers do give him plenty of screen-time, but I had wished they dove a bit deeper into his backstory instead of spending so much episode time on Russo, which was just simply a distraction. For example, whatever man he used to be when he was in New York could have been a very interesting story to tell and one to compare against Castle's story. Pitting two fearless men against each other with families they would do anything for is something new in Season 2 that I think was a very smart and novel idea.
The Scoop
In the end, despite some of the problems and plot-holes, I genuinely believe the writers did an amazing job managing their secondary characters (Madani, Russo, Curtis, Amy, and Mahoney) and providing us with seat-gripping action sequences. The cinematography was excellent and the small heart-to-heart moments between Frank and Amy were real enough to relate. More screen time for Pilgrim would have been nice, but Billy Russo was probably just too good of an actor/character to pass up on screen-time. There just might have been a better place to put Russo in this crazy storyline. I'll be rooting for a season 3 and for Frank to find peace like he did at the end of Season 1, hopefully back with Beth, the bartender. As well as know, this ain't no ordinary superhero.
BTW, does anyone know where Frank gets his money? He doesn't have a job. How does he eat, pay for bullets, and stay at motels?
