Frank Castle returns to lead a one-hour special episode between his small role in Daredevil: Born Again and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Throughout the special, Frank is tormented by his past and psyche, as people from his past appear before him. Frank starts the story in a miserable place, both physically and psychologically, as he ignores the violence in his chaotic neighborhood. At his family’s grave, he appears to be finally done with his revenge quest, but he’s encouraged to keep going by a vision of his daughter. On his way home, he is intercepted by Ma Gnucci, the last living member of a family Frank killed. She puts a hit out on him, which leads to dozens of people coming to attack him and even the innocent people of his apartment building. The rest of the episode is mostly a fight scene as Frank works his way through the apartment, dispatching the killers. Once back on the streets, Frank has the opportunity to pursue Gnucci or save a shop owner and his family. Frank saves the family and, in the episode’s final moments, dons his classic skull vest, embracing his identity as The Punisher.
The most notable aspect of this special was its structure, which was split mostly down the middle between setting up Frank’s psychological torment and the massive fight scene. The first half struggled a little bit, especially for those more familiar with Frank’s character in the original Daredevil show or the two seasons of his show. While some of this setup of visions and gravestones was necessary for newcomers, it’s taking up a full half of the episode was strange, as Frank Castle is an extremely simple character to understand. To be clear, his simplicity does not equate to him being uninteresting. Since season 2 of Daredevil, Bernthal’s Punisher has been one of the most interesting live-action comic book characters. That said, there was a lot of setup dedicated to a character who is, ultimately, a very recognizable troubled-action-hero trope. The first half features an incredibly compelling directorial choice: Frank walks through his out-of-focus neighborhood, ignoring the violence.
The second half of the episode was conceptually very interesting, dedicating most of it to a prolonged yet contained fight scene. This worked exceedingly well, especially for a one-off special episode. The action was engaging and decently creative, despite some repeated beats: Frank ignoring someone, being laser-focused on escape until someone screamed for help, and then turning to kill whoever was attacking them. Additionally, Ma Gnucci was an interesting character who challenged Frank’s ideology, especially for a viewer’s first time watching something led by Frank Castle. For those familiar with this version of the character, she offers little uniqueness, as the pain Frank inflicts on others has been explored well enough in his own show. As a contained special, this functions as a cut-and-dry indicative sample of who The Punisher is. With that, the special is not all that interesting and does not tell a very specific story beyond the prolonged fight scene, especially given that Gnucci is now a loose end, perhaps setting up more Punisher beyond Brand New Day. Overall, this special was decent, delivering on its action and reminding viewers of Frank Castle’s very simple characterization.
Rating: 6/10