The Punisher

Okay the week has gone by. I have been away as I was tending to errands on foot so yeah a bit damn exhausted. Moving on, the following write-up will be deemed spoiler country for those that have not seen Season 2 of Daredevil. So for those of you that have not experienced this, scram. Seriously, you don't want to be drenched in spoilers. For those of you that are aware of Season 2, the highlights was Wilson Fisk in prison, the Hand making its play for New York, an old flame Elektra putting her moves on Daredevil and oh yeah, the scene stealer of that season, Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher got started up on his one man war. This is The Punisher.

You sayin' you didn't like The Walking Dead?

Out of the ashes of Season 2 of Daredevil, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal of The Class, Day Zero, Eastwick, The Walking Dead, The Wolf of Wall Street, Daredevil and Robot Chicken) is presumed dead after the explosion on the docks sinking a tanker. Yeah that old chestnut. When in fact, he's...well he's working demolition.   Eating lunch, swinging a big ass hammer (sledge not Mjolnir, that's Thor) and trying to burn through his day without remembering he has no home, wife and kids to go to.

With the help of his old Marine recon buddy, Curtis (Jason R. Moore of Kings, The Unusuals, A Lonely Place for Dying, Wed Locked and The Punisher) Frank is under an alias and trying to piece his life back until...he gets tracked or stalked if you will. Turns out Castle has a fan or accurate to say, an admirer in a similar boat. Going by the name Micro, David Lieberman (Ebon Moss-Bachrach of Damages, Higher Ground, Come Out and Play, The Last Ship, Girls, The Punisher and The Big Take) is a NSA analyst that found something he shouldn't have and faked his death to spare his family. With a wife, son and daughter to protect, Micro has kept his distance from them for their very lives.

With ranking government officials trying to keep a lid of an illegal black ops funded by the selling of heroin, this all reeks of bad.   Mind you, a CIA black ops ran on heroin shipments sounds a bit Vietnam?  Yeah, I did make that connection easily.

What? I'm an equal character and not just eye candy?

Homeland Security Special Agent Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah of From Paris with Love, Everywhere and Nowhere, The Bible, What Remains, Son of God, Silent Witness, Emerald City and The Punisher) lost a partner in the Middle East where this ops was happening and has yet to find any new information. While this is occurring, people are getting shot and killed or quietly removed, as someone in a position of authority is covering his ass from a massive FUBAR of mission that blew up in his face.

Micro finds Castle, threatens to leak to the world he is still alive if he doesn't play ball with him and get back on his war on crime. Yeah kids, unlike our government, Frank's war is bloody and wipes out cartels, gangs, drug kingpins and a myriad of other such criminals.  Micro is showing him how to do this a bit smarter.   Less leveling a city block with a LAW rocket and more stealth and cunning that he is completely capable doing. They are trying to piece together this Middle East mess by finding clues and people connected to it before our man in the shadows gets them.

That may trump boomstick?

Now I know the hard core Punisher fans will not fully agree with me but yeah I think Jon has done an amazing job with the character. Any built guy that can look menacing can play the badass antihero but Bernthal gets to play the grieving widower, the survivor, the badass and the complex man this being is.

Yes, yes they did away with the Vietnam era storyline because honestly a six tour vet would be in his late 70s now and yes Micro isn't a CIA analyst like in the comics. Get over it or don't.

Now we get to some spoilers. Personally I absolutely love that Billy Russo isn't some mob thug pretty boy but actually a fellow soldier that bled and fought alongside Frank. It really makes a greater impact than one mob guy in on the shoot Frank's wife and kids story-line. Instead, we have two soldiers, brothers-in-arms trying to get back to normal life after their tours. Both realize they will never be the men they were and have to be the men that were molded into.

FYI parents, this is bloody, violent and yes there will be colorful metaphors. Or swearing like sailors if you prefer. It's your judgement call on sharing this with the kiddies.

Once again, this series follows its Netflix predecessors in the same MCU timeline and series but as we all knew it was going to be guns blazing, skulls cracking and blades gutting. C'mon, it's the fricking Punisher for crying out loud!

Seeing some familar faces like Deborah Ann Woll reprising Karen Page, C. Thomas Howell, Mary Elizabeth Mastranto and Rob Morgan coming back as Turk. Seriously, I almost feel bad for Turk. Daredevil has smacked him around, Cage has bounced him like a tennis ball but Castle? Yeesh, Castle will probably feed him his own balls.

After seeing the series all the way through, I honestly hope for a continuation, but does Frank have that great of luck? We'll just have to wait and see. 

Next time on Taxi Cab Confessionals...