Daredevil, Season 2, Episode 4: Penny and Dime
Trying to keep on schedule!
Well, mostly because I really like talking about the Punisher segments of Daredevil. This episode serves like a small end-note to the first 'arc' of this season, which is the Punisher arc. He's obviously not going to just be a once-and-done villain, but these four episodes does a really great job at introducing the Punisher, making him badass, making him scary and making him likable at the same time. Man, I can see why you Marvel dudes really like Punisher!
Also, the Punisher is played by the same actor who played Shane from the first two seasons of Walking Dead, which, holy shit, I didn't even recognize until around this episode. Man, dude's a pretty great actor, isn't he? Not that there really is a bad actor in Daredevil per se, but Punisher and Kingpin are both particular exceptional ones.
The initial premise of this episode is honestly refreshingly comic book-y for such a down-to-earth brutal gangster vigilante show. We are introduced to the family of one of the Irish mobsters that the Punisher killed, one Finn Cooley, who, despite existing for a grand total of one episode, was a pretty memorably hammy and insane villain. (Also, I am told that Finn Cooley was an actual villain from the Punisher comics, which is cool.) And what does Cooley do in his big grand plan to avenge his son get his money back? Kidnap the Punisher's dog.
Yeah. This episode, the Punisher's poor dog gets kidnapped.
The premise was sort of hilarious enough on its own, especially that absolutely pissed-off 'you gotta be kidding me' face that Frank has when he figures out what happened, but it quickly turned to a darker side as Frank gets overwhelmed by sheer numbers, eventually tortured with a power drill, before finally fighting his way out of that mobster compound with some help from Daredevil. It's a cool action scene -- doesn't top last episode, definitely, but still cool nonetheless. We've got the shotgun blast, we've got Frank hiding a blade in his arm, we've got Punisher blowing up a bunch of mobsters with a money truck loaded with a bomb, we've got Daredevil stopping Punisher from killing a couple of times during their team-up....
What really sells this episode was the long origin speech by the Punisher at the end, though, which tells us of the Punisher's backstory. It gives us enough details to see how much he has been broken from the once family-man Frank Castle into the murderous Punisher. Real kudos for the actor to portray the perfect balance between still maintaining the Punisher's hardass attitude while still delivering enough emotion for him remembering how his little kids were massacred that day. I mean, holy shit, there are origin episodes, and there is this.
It really helps that I have no idea that the Punisher's backstory involved dead family. It's an all-too-common trope in superhero land, and it's far easier to list the few superheroes with living parents. But Frank really sells his story. From his allusions to being in the war from the last episode, to his cracking breakdown at the end of this one, as he recalls how he returned from Afghanistan and is scared about returning to civilian life, about how his daughter held him up, how he should've told his beloved daughter that bedtime story (Frank's 'penny and dime' mantra) the night before she died, how he held the ruined corpse of his daughter after the incident...
Holy fuck, that was a painful speech to hear, moreso due to the fact that the scripting was just on point in showing a really hard and stoic murderer like the Punisher break down at remembering how his family died without turning into a pathetic blubbering mess... yet still display enough grief for us watchers (and Matt) to feel a crapton of sympathy for this dude. I actually teared up a little for Punisher, and works of fiction generally don't get that reaction from me. Especially not when it's just a backstory instead of a beloved character dying. How the fuck did the Punisher of all characters get me close to crying? How the fuck did they do that?
Meanwhile, parallel to that, also in this episode Karen is definitely devoted herself into carrying Ben Urich's torch, and manages to, on her own, discover Frank Castle's old house and discover some tantalizing backstory as well. There are also some information that she discovers about Frank's near-death experience, including a mysterious John Doe that disappeared from the site of the shootout (the carousel that was involved in Frank and the Irish mob's fight) and, well, it seems that Frank's near-death experience has some involvement with a government organization. It's a nice little side plot that is nice enough to let her do, because, I mean, who wants to see Karen and Foggy defend some random schmuck of the week in a boring-ass trial? Not me. Having Karen investigate the Punisher's backstory allows her to do things and for the show to reveal things without resorting to Frank introdumping everything.
The police capture the wounded Punisher near the cemetery, with Daredevil giving officer Brett (hey Brett!) the credit to help restore the police's credibility, which is a nice little wrap-up to that Punisher mini-arc. Obviously he's going to show up later on, but it's still a nice spot to tie up Punisher's first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
We also get a highly-welcome slower scene as Matt talks to Father Lantom, whose return was definitely welcomed. They discuss Grotto's death, and it's yet another subtly great character moment from both characters involved and a testament to how much Daredevil is a narrative that explores the characters' growth and motivations instead of just 'oh, how do we get this plot device and then chain to that action scene'. Lantom says some pretty hard yet sensible truth about how a man's death does not invalidate the bad things he's done in his life, and gives Matt some well-needed encouragement and some sage advice regarding guilt. Again, it helps to differentiate Daredevil from similar vigilante-style heroes like, oh, Batman or Spider-Man.
Melvin "Gladiator" Potter shows up again here. I think he showed up in one of the earlier episodes of this season and I forgot to mention it, but it's cool to see him! I really like him, and I really like how he's just this costume-upgrade dude for Daredevil.
Oh and Karen and Matt kinda get a couple extra moments. This season's been quite blatant about shipping them together, though thankfully, unlike some shows (Legends of Tomorrow, I'm looking at you) they're taking it somewhat slower and gradually, which is definitely far more believable and actually nice to look at instead of 'hey Atom and Hawkgirl are totally a couple now haha'.
Also, boom, surprise Elektra at the end of this episode, which will definitely throw a wrench in that Matt-Karen thing. Who shows up randomly in Matt's house. The two know each other from the past, and we've had an Elektra cameo-reference in season one. Plus, we get the subtle note to people who don't know about Elektra that she's a badass... because she snuck past Daredevil's world-on-fire super senses. Woo. So, yeah, the next four or five episodes are probably going to be Elektra-centric. I'm not sure how well this formula of having an entire season be split up into mini-arcs starring Daredevil with a guest-star, but if it gets us the quality of this Punisher arc, I certainly am up for it. It also sets up a nice, different setting from having just our hero climb all the way to the 'final boss' the way they handled Kingpin and Killgrave in Netflix-Marvel's previous two installments. We'll see.
Overall, a very, very solid episode. Again, Frank steals the episode though Matt and Karen got some great moments as well, and episode-villain Finn Cooley was a surprisingly awesome addition to the show... pity he, y'know, got punished. By a shotgun blast. To the face.
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