The Punisher S02E04-05 Review: The Return of Turk Barrett

The Punisher, Season 2, Episode 4: Scar Tissue; Episode 5: One-Eyed Jacks

Episode 4: Scar Tissue
It's been a while since I did a Punisher episode review, but that's what happens when I take a while to catch up to a show, I guess. Punisher is a great show, don't get me wrong. Sure, this second season is nowhere as solid as the first one, being a bit more questionable in its pacing, but recent events and the generally heavier tone of the series does end up with me not really wanting to watch the show for a while. I did, however, watch all the way up to episode 7 in a single sitting -- these Netflix shows do work pretty well watched in batches of episodes at once with a good drink.

That said, though, "Scar Tissue" picks up with Billy Russo and his supposedly mangled face... and it's basically just Ben Barnes with like the most minimal-effort line-shaped scars you could think up of. And it's not that noticeable until the next couple of episodes where Billy yells about how fucked up his face is and... y'know, I'm not expecting Aaron Eckheart Two-Face levels of gory makeup, but this is just very underwhelming, yeah?

That said, though, after a rather disappointing couple of episodes of Billy "Jigsaw" Russo dicking around in a hospital with amnesia, the show quickly reminds us why Billy (and his actor Ben Barnes) is such an effective villain in his debut season, and, indeed, how Ben Barnes's acting at least salvages this otherwise blase amnesiac-villain plotline. And, sure, Billy basically spends the whole episode confused and trying to figure out what is wrong, ironically (as other characters will point out to Frank) the exact opposite of what Frank wanted him to be, which is letting him live and stew in his own sins. He spends a good chunk of episode four sort of just trying to discover himself, going to a baseball stadium that he used to hang out with Frank (that flashback was unnecessary and random, though), going to look for the help of some old dude called Arthur Walsh (who apparently tried to molest Billy as a kid) and ended up killing Arthur with a well-deserved stick through the heart. It's pretty interesting how we're portraying Billy, building him up with a lot of sympathy. Sure, he's capable of great harm due to that hyper-competent soldier instinct, killing Arthur Walsh no problem and also presumably killing that random bus asshole, but he's also not unsympathetic, as he's haunted by the sins of the past -- that he can't even remember doing. And the fact that one of the most prominent things he remembers turns out to unfortunately be the address of his childhood molester is just another in a series of "the world is a dick to an amnesiac Billy Russo". He ends up at the doorstep of Dr. Dumont, which is basically what is expected.

There's also Rachel (whose real name is Amy), who's slowly growing a bit more likable now that the show has decided to let her grow past her whole 'bratty brat' phase and have her grow into the 'lovable asshole teen' phase. Amy also spent a good chunk of the episode sneaking out and researching who the fuck "Frank Castle" is, finding out that he's the legendary vigilante Punisher, and also finding out about his backstory, realizing that they share a similar pain in losing everyone they loved and stuff. Granted, Amy's transition from a bit of a hanger-on into a proper character I like is a bit of an awkward transition, but we'll pretend that any misgivings she has towards Frank has been successfully cured after the police station shootout and the brief argument they have in Madani's apartment in this one. I would argue that the whole "the Punisher bonds with a teenage girl" is a great thing to explore -- many shows (Mandalorian and The Witcher, in recent memory) do a great job with the formula of a hardcore badass being humanized by having them taking care of a young charge, but the chemistry between Frank and Amy didn't really work out as organically as it could. The themes of sharing trauma is at least decent, though, and I absolutely love the bit where Frank tells her to drink coffee to calm down and Amy being incredulous at the notion of caffeine calming her down.

Frank himself doesn't do a whole ton of punishing in this episode, and it's a much-needed moment of down-time between the huge action-packed episode 3 and episode 5. The brief argument with Madani in her apartment about Billy Russo, as well as the later much less emotionally-charged conversation with Curtis ends up with both of them encouraging Frank to be a bit more ruthless and 'end' Billy Russo permanently. Madani out of her trauma and spite, and Curtis more out of a mercy kill. And then Frank basically ends up convincing Amy to stop running away from the people hunting her and stay and fight and stuff.

Oh, and officer Mahoney ends up seemingly being a bigger player than I expected in this season. Him getting shot (right in the bulletproof vest, thankfully) by Madani was a bit of dark comedy, but it seems that the good officer is going to butt heads with Madani regarding just how they're going to handle this Billy Russo manhunt, and if nothing else, I do like Mahoney.

Episode four was mostly slow, though I don't mind it as much as the first two episodes of this season. The ball is rolling, revelations are happening that push the characters onwards, and while it's not the attention-gripper that I felt the first season of Punisher was, "Scar Tissue" was pretty decent watch.
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Episode 5: One-Eyed Jacks
Episode five, "One-Eyed Jacks" is one that's a bit more action-packed. In an attempt to figure out what Amy's deal and the mysterious event that led to her friends being massacred by mafia hitmen, Frank ends up recruiting an unexpected ally in the always-enjoyable lovable-rogue Turk Barrett, getting him to strike a deal with a bunch of Russian gangsters and eventually leading to Turk being held hostage and forced to sell Frank out... and, eventually, leading to Frank beating the shit out of a bunch of mafioso with gym equipment, which is a scene that just has the right balance of the Netflix/Punisher quota of gratuitous violence, while also being fun enough of a setting to feel comic-book-y. Drill-toe-torture, this ain't. And while for some viewers this slightly more choreographed fight might take you out of the "realistic" tone of The Punisher, I'm all for action scenes that aren't just samey beatdowns or dark shooting.

And I do like this part of the episode, as formulaic as it is. Frank being a badass and threatening (and later sweet-talking Turk), Frank being a smart cookie and monitoring Turk's meting with the gym Russians to predict them forcing Turk to sell him out, and the eventual springing of the trap. Best of all was the blase way that Frank returns to the apartment, drenched in blood and gore, and just giving a straight-faced two-thumbs-up to Amy. That's glorious. The plotline is basically what you expect from one of these Netflix-Marvel middle-of-the-road episodes. Main character follows a lead, gets into an action scene with a minor villain, who leads him to another minor villain we'll explore next episode.

Also, while I still find it a bit jarring to go from episode four's "Frank and Amy start to bond over trauma and open up to each other" to episode five's super-happy fun-time card trick discussion, it's a character development that I do find necessary even if the show certainly could've done a lot better of a job in building up the character development and the relationship between the two. It's awkwardly done, really.

(Also, poor Amy completely fucked over Madani's credit card. Say what you want about Madani being a bit of a jerk to Frank and Amy, she didn't deserve that. That was a dick move, Amy)

The rest of the episode is still moving things forward. Madani takes Frank's place from season one as a character that's constantly plagued by nightmarish flashbacks, and gets into some decent therapy when she stumbles into Curtis's PTSD therapy session. She also ends up being angry that Frank isn't chomping at the bit to end Billy Russo and is more preoccupied with dealing with Amy's pursuers... and, well, I guess this show's exploring a saner Frank who's still a dangerous killer, but not one obsessed with his past anymore?

Billy spends the episode mostly with Dr. Dumont where they talk about his trauma and how Dr. Dumont is totally aware of how dangerous Billy is but also wants to fix him or something. Dumont's a bit of an enigma at this point, and I do hope at the end of the day there's more to her character than just to provide someone for Billy to talk to and to have unresolved sexual tension with. Billy ends the episode going off and stalking another one of Dumont's patients and sort of befriending them, bonding under the banner of veteran soldiers that the country doesn't properly take care of. Okay? It's a way for Billy to basically gather a bunch of people under him as a cult of personality.

Meanwhile, the Pilgrim continues to be a pretty one-dimensional character, going full-on ham on his perverted over-the-top Christianity parody bit and flogging himself for an unomfortably long scene, before being sent off to New York to deal with whatever his cult wants him to do, which, apparently, is to kill Kazan and the other dudes in the gym that Frank beat up earlier in the episode. Also oh no he's got a sick wife and everything in perhaps the cheapest attempt to 'humanize' him. He's honestly so bland and so divorced from everything that's going on, and I do really hope he gets better down the road. Pilgrim aside, though, another relatively solid, if slow, episode.

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Turk Barrett was last seen in... Luke Cage season two, I want to say? He sure wasn't in Daredevil's final season. 
• Frank mentions how Turk used to work with the Russian brothers that was part of Kingpin's organization all the way back in Daredevil's first season.