WiC Watches: The Punisher season 2

I’m going to remember season 2 of The Punisher as a season of unfulfilled potential. After season 1 examined Frank on a personal level, season 2 looked ready to follow the same path, but it never quite got around to it. Season 2 raises lots of interesting questions, but never actually bothers to answer them in a satisfying way. Had it never raised them in the first place, I might have enjoyed it more. It’s like season 2 told me I was getting lobster but I only got a microwave burrito.

Less philosophically, many of the characters felt superficial and unneeded. We needed Amy to get Frank back in the game, but she never develops into a fully realized character. Ditto Preacher John, although he started to feel a little like a real person in the season finale.

Ben Barnes did wonderful work as Billy Russo, surpassed only by Jon Bernthal. Choosing not to go back on Russo’s memory loss and reveal he had some kind of evil master plan was a smart choice for the show. Barnes is hamstrung by some terrible plot choices later in the season, but his performances in “One Bad Day” and “My Brother’s Keeper” should become part of his highlight reel.

All of this is a crying shame, because Bernthal is a towering titan of an actor here. Ever since he was announced, it was capital-P perfect casting. If this is his final hoorah as the Punisher, I’m not sure I’ll ever get over it. Bernthal’s real-life rage has landed him in trouble more than once in his life, but it’s perfect here. Like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Bernthal is the Punisher, and elevates the series far above what it would be without him.

If we do somehow get a season 3, hopefully the series can scale it back a bit. Multiple villains with different agendas intertwining rarely works, unless those villains team up. In season 2, we were jumping back and forth between separate stories, and they all suffered. The season had some great moments, and most of the action was fantastic, particularly the hand-to-hand combat scenes. The season doesn’t fail to the degree of Marvel’s worst Netflix offerings, but it never gels, and I’m left wondering what could have been.

Final Grade: B-

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