The first season of Punisher for me ranks among the best of the Marvel/Netflix shows alongside Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Season two continues what makes the show unique with some new elements added in, though it doesn't quite leave the same impact as before.
I'll start by saying that Jon Bernthal continues to kill it as Frank Castle (pun intended), with the most human portrayal character yet. The range of emotion he shows and the amount of damage he goes through will make you care for what happens to him on different levels.
When we last left Frank, he was given a new identity by the government after helping capture Billy Russo, Frank's former friend and the one ultimately responsible for his family's death. Season two begins with Frank on the road travelling the country, as he attempts to let the past go and find some peace. But in true "just when I think I'm out" fashion, Frank finds himself back in the fight, yet he finds it liberating. Part of Frank's journey this season is accepting who he truly is and what he needs to go on.
Ben Barnes returns as Billy Russo this season to fulfill his villainous destiny as the villain Jigsaw, though it is quite different than one would expect. For one thing, he isn't technically called Jigsaw, though the way things go with the MCU, many villains don't get their comic book name, so it's not a big deal. But the most notable difference from the comics is that his face isn't that cut up despite what Frank did to him in the season one finale. He does still have scars, and while it's not horrific, your eyes are still drawn toward them. Instead, the real damage done to Billy is psychological. After the beating Frank gave him, he suffers from PTSD and apparent memory loss. To me, this makes him even scarier than last season. You never know when he'll go off the rails. It's similar to how I felt about Bullseye in Daredevil. What makes him a deadlier adversary though is that he knows his opponent, Frank, well, and one of his goals is to make him feel as he does and bring him down his level. He also wears a mask he designs to reflect how broken he feels on the inside, which is a real therapy technique some soldiers use to deal with their traumas. A lot of people will be upset that this isn't the Jigsaw they were expecting, but considering the overall theme of PTSD and how a majority of the characters on the show suffer from it, I see it as a clever twist on the character.
Of the new characters this season, the breakout star for me was Giorgia Whigham as Amy Bendix. A teenager caught up in a conspiracy that got her friends killed and now being hunted, Amy is able to find protection with Frank. I love the relationship between the two and how it grows throughout the season, from trying to trust each other to forming a surrogate father-daughter relationship. I also kind of find it similar to the Batman-Robin dynamic. Like Frank, Amy lost everyone she cared about, and while it's not like he's molding a sidekick, he wants to teach her how to defend herself when needed, as well as making sure she can have a more peaceful life in the end compared to him. As a character in her own right, she acts like a teenager would, being impetuous and making stupid decisions, but you can tell she's good at heart.
Besides Russo, we have another main villain in John Pilgrim, a hired gun for a far right church group run by corporate parents of a US senator. On one hand, I like how Punisher is the only other Marvel property besides Captain America to include political conspiracies and corruption, and the nature of the church is almost cultish, which is something new for the MCU. And while I do like Pilgrim's character from his complexities to where his journey ends up and the fact he is able to combat Frank in hand to hand combat, I fear he suffers from the same issues that were present from "Thor: The Dark World." Much like how Loki overshadowed Malekith, I found myself much more interested in the Russo storyline compared to Pilgrim's. Yet between the two, I felt Pilgrim's storyline had a much more satisfying conclusion than Russo's, and I feel like that's a disservice since Jigsaw is considered Punisher's biggest villain. This is my biggest problem with this season; when you mix two different storylines, your audience will be more invested in one than the other. I think what would have helped is if they gave each their own half of the season; have Frank protect Amy against Pilgrim in the first half while building up to Jigsaw for the second half.
It's hard to top the violence that was present last season, but the show creators found new and creative ways to keep things interesting. Episode three features a siege by Pilgrim and his followers on a police station Frank and Amy are being held at, with Frank having to help the officers make it through alive. Episode ten shows Russo trying to make Frank experience the nightmares he did, mixing a physical onslaught with a psychological one. And the finale has a shootout between Frank and Pilgrim through the walls in a hotel; they can't see each other at all but it's almost like they can with how they're able to avoid each other's close shots.
While the first season is definitely better, I don't see season two as a major drop in quality. The direction may get a little zig-zaggy, but I still consider Punisher to be one of the best things to come from the MCU. And for what's most likely the series finale, the show does end on a positive, albeit ironic note that Frank's crusade will continue. If we're lucky, maybe we'll see Jon Bernthal's Punisher return one way or another.
5 down, 1 to go. The last Marvel/Netflix series remaining is Jessica Jones with its third season. Here's hoping this line will go out with a bang as much as it began.
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