I couldn’t figure out if the events of The Punisher were supposed to occur before or after The Defenders. I guess it doesn’t matter too terribly much, but it did make me wonder what headspace Karen was in. Was she mourning a friend and past lover? What do you think about the timeline from what you know?
Deborah had said in multiple interviews that the weight of what had happened in Defenders was still weighing heavily on Karen in Punisher. Her “we’re all lonely” speech wasn’t just about how she knows Frank is lonely, it’s about how Matt’s dead and Foggy doesn’t really talk to her. Deborah said that Karen doesn’t have any friends -- just her boss and coworkers, so seeing Frank and getting to talk to him is essentially a good thing for her mental health. So, it’s after Defenders, it’s just that no one brings up anything that occurred then, because they were actively trying to make this a singular story that didn’t crutch on or get distracted by the rest of the universe.
