WiC Watches: The Punisher season 2
By Corey Smith
Episode 209: “Flustercluck”
Sigh. We were doing so good there for a minute. The previous two episodes were excellent vehicles for the powerhouse performances of Jon Bernthal and Ben Barnes, but with “Flustercluck,” the show shifts focus to far less interesting characters just when things were getting good between the Punisher and Russo.
But it’s not all bad, so let’s hit the good stuff first. The highlight of “Flustercluck” is Frank’s rescue of Amy, who lands herself in hot water after the Schultzs place a $5 million bounty on her head. Frank shows up in the nick of time to rescue her from a group of thugs, and a thrilling shootout ensues. It’s not quite long enough to equal one of Marvel’s signature hallway fights, but it’s still fun.
At the climax, Amy uses her new skills to finish off the final thug, but with that comes the guilt of committing murder, even if it is to save your own life.
Frank, of course, feels little to no remorse. At the start of the episode, after spending the night at his wife’s grave, Frank tells Madani, Amy and Curtis that he’s always been the Punisher, even before his family was killed. He’s always been different, he says, unable to die and comfortable with death, and has more in common with Billy than anyone else. This touches on a comic book storyline where Frank makes a literal deal with the Devil decades before returning to the civilian world that renders him nigh unkillable, which would explain a lot.
As for Frank’s other half, the show takes everything wonderful it’s established about Billy Russo and flushes it down the toilet. Part of the joy of the past two episodes was watching Russo react to learning that Frank scarred him and caused his amnesia. The next thing for Russo to consider is why Frank would be out to kill him, which would lead Russo to consider his murder of Frank’s family. We start off promisingly, as Russo breaks down at the thought of killing people he considered his own family, but then Russo decides it doesn’t matter because Frank scarred his face.
I’m sorry, what? That’s the stupidest turn I’ve ever seen in a Marvel Netflix show, and I watched the first season of Iron Fist. Russo’s scars look like he had a mildly bad encounter with a house cat, hardly the kind of thing that justifies murdering women and children. A storyline where Russo grapples with the guilt of what he did could have given Ben Barnes more chances to shine. Instead the show shrugs it off, and we’re back to Frank and Russo at odds.
Elsewhere, we spend time with characters I’m no longer interested in. We’re in Episode 9: if Amy or the Preacher were going to be compelling characters, they’d have gotten there by now. We learn a little more about the Preacher’s former life as a White Supremacist enforcer; there’s something about his car breaking down while he was running money for his gang, a bar fight, and something else. Basically Preacher did something bad. I’m not sure he’s worth details.
We also meet David, the Schultzs son, the guy for whom all these bodies have been dropping. David couldn’t care less about running for President; he just wants his dad to love him for he is. And I couldn’t care less about all the characters committing murder over him. Season 2 is dragging. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets.