Netflix’s Marvel series have all had their peaks and valleys, but nothing is more middle of the road than The Punisher.  With all these titles seemingly being cancelled after their latest entries, the sands in the hour glass of our time with these characters is nigh. While The Punisher may never reach the lows of Iron Fist, it also never ascends to the highs of Daredevil, and the second entry into the series ends up being a mixed bag.

The Punisher Season 2 is much like the first season; yes, there is some good but it is balanced out with plenty of bad. While there is still much to enjoy, this 13 episode long series really only has about 6 episodes of interesting content. Why Netflix feels the need to elongate every one of their series and stretch things out to comical lengths is a bit strange. The moments that are good are great, wonderful even in some parts. But are these few moments worth all the fluff the viewer has to navigate through?

So what exactly is good, then? Well, there was enough material to keep me watching in about 2 or 3 sit downs… but in hindsight, I realize I did not have much else going on or things to get to. So, was the show keeping my interest, or was I just bored and willing to watch anything? It’s going to be a case by case basis with each viewer. The worth of the second season of The Punisher correlates to your investment in the ongoing (and soon to be closing) universe. However you end up feeling though, there is some great stuff here.

Frank Castle

Jon Bernthal, and his portrayal of Frank Castle is tops. Jon embodies Frank in the same ways that Robert Downey Jr embodies Tony Stark. The casting is perfect here, and while that great casting does not extend to every character on the show., there are still some stand outs. Ben Barnes as Billy Russo/Jigsaw is also a great choice, and while his arc may be a bit too long in the tooth, its overall a good arc for a troubled villain. However, elements and reveals of his arc ground the high ambition concept of a villain going through memory loss and PTSD. Josh Stewart as John Pilgrim is outstanding as well. He is quite the presence but his story does not really take off until late in the series, and by then it can feel too late for some.

The action is also a stand out, there is way more hand to hand combat this time around, but that is not at the cost of some great gun focused scenes. The choreography is fantastic, and the visceral moments are some of the best stand out parts of the whole series. You get a good action scene at least once an episode, so it’s hard to feel like the action is pulled back or in reserves.

While the story can feel long, and some of the side arcs seem nonsensical, season two actually sticks the landing. It has a very satisfying ending and all of the lingering plot liens are tied up very nicely… almost as if they knew they were being cancelled. Many viewers will be happy to see a true and definitive ending to Frank Castle’s Netflix journey.

Billy Russo

Sounds like plenty of positive to keep this moving forward, but there are still many criticisms to bring up.

Bringing back the homeland security officer, Dinah Madina, played by Amber Rose Revah, is within the top ten worst choices Marvel has made on any one of their properties. Why bring back this shallow, uninteresting, and logically dumb character? I have no answers for you, and neither does the show. There is, however, a new female character introduced this season, and The Punisher really stumbles as they fail to deliver on her personal arc or constructing an interesting character that elevates the ones around her.

The character in question, a therapist for Billy named Krista Dumont, played by Floriana Lima, whose sole purpose is to destroy the plots of other characters. At no point is Krista interesting or bring anything to the table, and it is hard to nail down this is solely due to a writing issue or an acting one. If I had to guess, it’s an issue with both.  While she is not nails on a chalkboard bad in terms of acting, her scenes are not memorable and she does nothing to elevate the bad writing she is given. Hard to truly say who is at fault here.

Giorgia Whingham plays the young teen in distress that Frank saves. While she can act well, I found it hard to relate to her or her issues, however she was not near as annoying as I thought her character would be. This “badass-saves-the-little-girl” trope has been around forever, and in this it never reaches the highs of The Last of Us, or The Professional. Instead, her entire plot just treads water and never makes much progress, but hey she never truly gets in the way! There was so much more that could be done with her and her arc, and it’s like The Punisher just kind of gave up on expanding it.

The Punisher season two ends up being one of the worst representations of interesting female characters that Marvel has ever attempted. None of their arcs are realized, none realize their fullest potential, and none really offer anything to the most interesting parts of the plot, and that is a shame. Other Marvel entries don’t seem to suffer as badly from this, as Daredevil has Clair Temple and Karen Page, Luke Cage has Misty Knight, Iron Fist even has a great character in Jessica Henwick’s Colleen wing. The Punisher has… nobody. It is quite the shame.

There are other questionable casting decisions like Curtis Hoyle, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, is a mostly stellar character but sometimes becomes the role of Foggy to Frank. He acts like a moral compass despite his actions and support of Frank being to the contrary of this morality. In general, Curtis is an interesting character, but he ends up taking on a roll that is not exactly fit for the actions the script enlists him with.

The Punisher Season 2 ends up being a hard one to recommend. I enjoyed most of my time with it, but I did feel like a hostage through most of its run time. I wanted to get to the good stuff, and knew the awesome things would rear their head…but I had to wade through a lot of bad to experience the small morsels of good. Despite the ongoing issues, I honestly think it is as good as the first season, but that is not really saying much as the first season was plagued with similar issues.  This was its chance to go bigger, to go better, and instead the show just kinda showed up for its last lap before getting inevitably cancelled.

One thing is for sure through; Bernthal embodies the Punisher, and is absolutely outstanding in the roll. I just wish his supporting cast, and various arcs were more worthwhile then they ended up being, and because of these shortcomings the pace is where season two takes the biggest hit.

Go watch it if you are a completionist who wants to finish up everything Netflix Marvel has to offer, but skip it if you do not have a lot of free time to sit through hours upon hours of unrealized arcs, and narrative fluff.

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