The Punisher: First Four

The Punisher.

A far and away cry from the whimperingly underwhelming Iron Fist and the stilted gift wrap of The Defenders, Marvel and Netflix’s latest gift has been a return to origin. An indelible reminder on why this whole enterprise is even a good idea; why their stories told in this format matter.

And, in that vein of intrigue, I can safely say that we don’t deserve this show.

Marvel has taken the brilliantly unabashed high road in their unrepentant and heavy-handed close examination of the military code of conduct and the damage it really causes. The depths of vampiric mythology are exhumed through the life and lens of Frank Castle, because no matter how hard one may try, one can never beat story. And in all of the vampire tales - it is the monsters who make the monsters.

Frank Castle is an ex-soldier.
A war vet.
Whose flickering candlelight of waning nobility landed him on the bad side of those whose flame had gone out entirely.

So what do they do to protect themselves?
To shade Castle and avert investigation away from the rest of their mal practices?

They kill his entire family.
So what does he do in return?
He hunts down and kills every single one of them.

Welcome to the dark side of fairy tales, boys and girls, the side they don’t tell you about. The side they clumsily cloak in the tattered robes of “happily ever after,” never once questioning the absurdity of such bliss ridden finality. We cover the essential Punisher story before the first episode even ends, because this isn’t about him executing his vendetta. This is about what comes after.

What do you do when the one thing you’ve been trained to do no longer has any relevance? Who are you supposed to be when your identity has no place in your present society, but the bits of you that you can recall are so terrible that you’re straining to forget them in the first place? And what about that chilling, abhorrent moment when you realize that engaging your inner darkness is the only thing that makes it go away… the only thing that lets you feel your pulse beneath the pain?

Frank, by all accounts, has done the right thing with his aftermath. He got a job, he tried to forget, he goes to counseling, he keeps his head down. The only problem is that his candlelight is still flickering; in spite of his profound loss and undulating darkness, he can’t escape the touch of his core nobility. It’s what draws him out into rescuing some punk kid from their twisted co-workers and then following that bread trail to fight a small mob detail at an underground space in a seedy part of town. But now he’s on someone’s radar- they want his services, his assistance.

And suddenly, just like that, Frank is back in action.

He’s tailing leads, acquiring weapons, engaging in epic car chases- but not without us seeing what it costs him. The flashback scenes reveal his humanity in the most poignant way and we mourn the blood-splattered eroding of it as he embraces the abysmal reaches of what it means to be a soldier in survival mode. Casually mixed into the riveting fray is Special Agent Madani, who has been ordered to drop a case involving a torturing and execution gone wrong that Castle was attached to back in his military days.

Of course she doesn’t and we get to see this shrewd and highly skilled woman navigate the lanes of male power that dominate her field. The cinematic intelligence driving this show is nothing less than outstanding. There is a cleverness to the symbiotic chemistry of the dark and light scenes, that I wasn’t expecting. Occasionally I had to rewind and catch the dialogue, simply because I was watching so intently. That being said, however, it views like a good comic book, in the sense that every “page” or sequence does not require dialogue.

Sometimes it’s just about letting the moment breathe; letting the stakes raise themselves and organically experiencing what that feels like.
Karen Page makes an early appearance, which is a fun callback for longtime viewers. My only gripe with her is that she made such a huge fuss about Matt and what he does and why she can’t be a part of his life because of it- only to embrace and have a heart for Frank based on the same reasons! Make up your mind Karen. I love you, but make up your mind.

This beautiful beast of a saga moves a little slowly in the first episode, but the rhythm and balance of it are quickly established and pleasing to vibe along with. Episodically, the first three installments were kind of their own mini arc, with episode four explosively kicking off with a new hope and addictively enticing energy. Full of grit, blood, earnestness and raw sincerity, the Punisher is off to the races in the most magnificent of ways.

And, honestly, so far I couldn’t have asked for more.

5 Skulls out of 5

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