S01.E13: Memento Mori

[Quark]

3 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Wasn't that the same park where Frank's family was killed? If so, that's why Russo did it, for psychological shock value. Russo knows that while he's been running a mostly bloodless business, the Punisher has been out there doing his thing day in and day out. He knows Frank is the better soldier so he wants any edge he can get to tip the scales in his favor.

Yeah it was the park where they were killed, which is why I think he is an awful person. I just find his urge to beat Castle like this was rather baffling. I mean, where does all this hate come from?

[Kate47]

On 6/6/2018 at 1:34 AM, Quark said:

Yeah it was the park where they were killed, which is why I think he is an awful person. I just find his urge to beat Castle like this was rather baffling. I mean, where does all this hate come from?

I think Billy is a soldier, through and through, and also a sociopath. Someone said in an earlier episode thread that he has a lot of narcissistic tendencies, and everything has to come out his way, and I think that's pretty accurate. He doesn't see Frank as a comrade or a brother in arms any longer; he respects Frank's killing machine, but if it's aimed at him or if he can't use it to his advantage, then he has to take Frank off the board. So he uses the tactical advantages at his disposal to attempt to throw Frank off balance, since (let's be honest) he can't win in a solid hand to hand fight. 

I blew through this season in a couple of days, and enjoyed it a lot. A lot of the criticism for JJ and Daredevil focused on the fact that it felt like they had two or three more episodes than they knew what to do with; the bad guys kept getting caught and then escaping before the finale. I felt like Punisher didn't suffer from this, and narratively was very tight. I liked the sporadic use of ultraviolence, since that carried more weight than a constant stream of gore, and I enjoyed the flashbacks because they make sense in relation to his character. Frank is a man whose brain is hardwired to the moment his family dies. By necessity he romanticizes his relationships with his wife and kids, although sometimes the truth comes through (the scene with his son on the ferry, his confession to Karen, etc). It poses a very interesting question, because his whole life is about getting revenge, and when that's done, what is left? Apparently the comics had him declaring war on all gangs ad infinitum, but the show has a very specific take on Frank and I'm interested to see where it goes.

[Raja]

On 3/16/2018 at 4:55 AM, rmontro said:

The Punisher has never been one of my favorite characters, but I enjoyed this season well enough.  Jon Bernthal was perfectly cast for what they were trying to do.  I don't know where this season ranks among the Marvel Netflix series, I've enjoyed them all to some extent or other.

My only quibble is it seems a tiny bit unrealistic that Frank gets to walk away scot free by the government without legal implications, but I'll take it nonetheless.

On to Jessica Jones season 2!

I guess since Karen Page had access to high powered legal representation for him even if Frank was willing to do the time again they would have let the slip the story implicating the CIA and death squads. It was either kill him and be as bad as the bad guys or let him go into a sort of witness protection and hope his code of conduct holds up.

Perhaps Carrie Anne Moss should have been hired for Attorney Hogath and maybe  Foggy also in that scene.