#special presentation

The depiction of "rising crime" looks so much like those AI-generated conservative memes about how bad New York is under Mamdani's mayorship. This is so ridiculuously reactionary, bordering on a caricature, but for some reason, it's completely serious and we should treat it as such, and not as a joke. They even kill a small dog, so that the audience would be like: "uh-oh, it's kinda bad-bad". Like, what is this imagery of desecrated US flag on the barbwire? Since when THE PUNISHER is about made-up "problems" of particularly American nation? Like, even Captain fucking America, a guy dressed in US flag, doesn't really tackle it. Show me a single Punisher comic book these bumass writers claim to respect where it's the core subtext of the story.

I hate every single person who dared to say that this is a "realistic depiction of PTSD". Like, sure, PTSD can cause hallucinations (colloquially knows as "Vietnam Flashbacks"), but this is a full-blown insanity, a total brain rot. This is so exagerrated, borderline ableist, that even caveman performance Berthal delivers ever since Netflix S1 isn't funny. The only somewhat plausible explanation as of why it takes such form is a severe brain damage. OH WAIT, MCU Frank has one, but they quickly dropped it as a character trait so audience won't doubt that Frank is a noble hero (which he isn't) and not a lunatic, and all this meaningless hooting and hollering is an "emotional turmoil".

But okay, they wanted to show how fractured Frank's mind actually is. Why not use Jigsaw as the hallucination that haunts him? MCU Billy was the closest dude Frank had to an actual brother, they served together, Billy was in that Cerberus thing, he did the most painful betrayal Frankl ever experienced, being directly involved in Frank's tragedy. It's in Billy's nature to do the mockery, and y'know... It's just metaphorically fits better to have a guy with literally puzzled face to be a representation of shattered mental health. Why Curtis, the guy who, uh, provides therapy and healing for vets, is the one to cackle and mock Frank in his mind? And who are these other dudes? Like yeah, I know it's Bernthal's military buddies, but... Where do they come from? They don't even have actual character names, instead they use "actor"'s ones.

Should I even say that? It is a well-established narrative point that there were THREE gangs: Mexican Cartel, Kitchen Irish and Dogs of Hell, also Blacksmith, who were responsible for the Central Park massacre. Gnuccis actually appeared in Season 1 as those money-launders/racketeers Frank kills in the basement in Episode 1. So the question is, do they not know not only source material, but the TV series they continue?

The very fact that there's was no polar bears is a huge disappointment. Battle in the zoo sounds far more exciting that battle in... multi-storey building. You see, when they said that Garth Ennis' run is the guiding star in adapting Punisher, I actually believed that for a bit. But they just keep bastardize his work, and they waste "Welcome Back, Frank" on this? Remember when "Daredevil" picked a scene from there and it easily became the most memorable MCU Punisher moment? Well, not happening here, because the only thing borrowed from that book is that... Ma Gnucci is kinda there. For 2 minutes. "Welcome Back, Frank" is a story full of dark edgy satire, with creative action, compelling characters and respectful approach to Frank's worldview and his mental state, and it tackle the problem of evil people getting inspired by him (I think there was a MCU project not so long ago with a theme like that...). It's worth of a full-blown television season. And it's turned into a "Raid" pastiche, and not a good one. Also, that bodyguard? That's Barracuda. Yeah, the most dangerous Punisher foe to exist being a background character with no lines. They totally respect comic books and their fans, trust. Expect to never see neither him, nor Ma Gnucci ever again. At least Judith Light is a good actress as always, that's something.

It really takes a lot to make a first in a 10 years somewhat accurate depiction of Punisher, strategically hunting criminals with cold mind and strict determination, presenting him as a classic slasher killer that actually impose dread... ...only to immediately ruin it all by basically symbolic move of police brutality followed up by grievous assault heavily associated with hate crimes and neo-nazis specifically. Am I supposed to be surprised that this Frank became the culprit of a fascist rule in New York and defend him from that? Like, at this point, I'm not even sure that Gnuccis are bad guys, since we never see them actually commit any crimes and instead them being... you know, just some random guys, chilling and everything.

I know that Kastle shippers would rather eat a bucket of shit than admit that there's a text that contradicts their delusions about Karen Page and what she thinks and feels, but this scene solidify the only possible reading of whatever the clusterfuck of a heterobait that is. Which is that Frank just projects his dead family onto other people. Girl from coffee shop is Lisa, neighbour kid is Frank Jr., Karen is Maria. Surrogates, replacements, substitute, not that bullshit about "but it just means that he actually ready to move on yada-yada", and the entire Special is dedicated to his never-ending obsession over avenging his family and how he clings on it even more. And it's so fucking forced (like basically everything regarding this dynamic post DDs2). Like, why it's Karen he hallucinates, not Curtis again? Why is he having almost a wet dream? And if he loves her so much, where that Karen's true love was when she was trialed by City Hall and mocked on national TV, accused of being a terrorist? Barfing after a hangover? If you really think this is manifestation of deep feelings of a hopeless romantic and not an atrocious fantasy of an incel, you should probably revaluate youself as a potential romantic partner, and maybe even a person. And it's certainly a fucking tragedy, like fifteen 9/11s, that this scene is the most popular tumblr post with Karen Page tag, where she's yet again a pillow for tears and not even a character with her own identity, but merely a ghost with no other purpose but to make this fraud "softer". And it's a blessing that Bernthal is too busy doing side-quests to be involved in "Daredevil" series, so he'll never share a screen with Deborah Ann Woll again, as MCU soon-to-happen reboot hopefully will find more available and cheap actor for Frank.

The next 15 minutes is just a generic action, well choreographed, I guess, but no spectacle, Punisher is again doing anything but being a Punisher and instead he's just a Hobo with a Shotgun. It's not even as violent and gory as it was promoted. That "Born Again" crunching head scene is more bloodthirthy than the entirety of this Special. So not much to talk about, except for this shot. No matter how hard the crew tried to prove that it's a practical stunt, it's doesn't make it look less of a PS3 game cutscene, which is exceptional, considering that it's technically the only scene where CGI is used.

So, here we are. Never getting an answer on where Punisher was during "Born Again", never seeing a resolution to AVTF subplot which was the most interesting course they could go, never giving an actual build-up to "Spider-Man: Brand New Day", not adding anything to the character, being practically and utterly pointless, butchering one of the essential books about the Punisher, and oozing with crypted political commentaries within the Special backed up by crazy ass statements like "Punisher is for law enforcement and military" and "the best people out there wore the Punisher skull". There's a Russian saying that Jon Bernthal probably has heard during his time at Moscow Art Theatre School, which perfectly describes him as an artist and a person: "Don't bother the performers, coachmen and prostitutes, as they serve any government". So, next time he would approach a writing room, I hope people who care about making a good story even if just a little bit (rather than making a power-fantasy of larping as a cool-ass tragic marine) will kick his ass out.

Before I really get started I want to say that I am shocked that for a special co-written and created by someone who is a certified dog lover, they decided to kill a fucking dog in the first five mins. I am so fucking tired of this happening in movies and tv shows to showcase how serious things are, it was not necessary in the slightest. The dog could have simply yipped from being held too hard or shaken to create this effect without THROWING IT IN FRONT OF A FUCKING BUS.

Bad Jon Bernthal.

Anyways...

What I liked:

- His portrayal of Frank's mental state was something to watch. The scene with him in the graveyard, pressing a gun to his head until he sees his little girl and then screaming for her to come back will stay with me for a long, long time.

- I loved the disjointed recitation of his Marine pledge, the people flashing in and out of his vision, him walking along like he was barely aware of what was happening around him. All of that felt so very real and I was itching to watch more

- Loved the Kastle scene. I wish we got so much more than that and I do feel like creators are baiting fans with Kastle content just to keep them interested and watching but the actors have so much chemistry that every scene they have is fucking awesome

- Loved seeing Curtis again though I also wish we got more scenes with him

- Liked that the fighting and effects of it were realistic. Frank gets visibly hurt by the punches and shots he's taking and we can see him ailing throughout the episode. Up until the last scene, at least.

Which leads me to...

What I didn't like:

- the entire Gnucci storyline. I know they're setting up Spiderman but introducing Ma Gnucci in a show about Frank's mental state didn't work for me, at all. We see that Frank killed her sons in his punishing gear which was presumably before his mental state deteriorated to what we see here so why would he have left Ma Gnucci alive? I don't understand why he would have killed all the sons, their associates, the fucking driver of the car, and then left her alone. That doesn't seem like Frank to me.

- why is Frank living in this family housing unit? He has always been a wanted man, why would he be out in the open like this, just renting an apartment?

- I didn't love Frank simply watching his neighbour's apartment get broken into (someone stabbing and hacking at the door, no less) and her getting assaulted, and him only jumping in when his place is set on fire. Frank would have absolutely jumped in sooner than that.

- the amount of violence was... a lot. Not saying I minded but it didn't really make sense in the broader context of the MCU for like a two block radius in the middle of New York to have apparently gone completely to shit and for Frank to kill so many fucking people with no consequences of any kind. I mean, that whole apartment complex is destroyed and full of bodies.

Which leads me into what I wish we could have seen:

- Frank's fucking fade in the last scene of the special when he's in his punisher gear. Are we to assume that in between him hallucinating his friends and dead daughter, him killing 40-ish people, and then donning the skull again, he went to the fucking barber? The clean look at the end completely ruined the vibe of the special for me, it didn’t follow that he would look so put together.

- I think it would have been way more fitting for Frank's mental state to improve only slightly towards the end of the special and to have him trying to groom himself when he decides to go back to punishing. And SHOW him being out of practice with taking care of himself. The pristine gear and perfect haircut don't match with how badly he was doing at the start of the special

- I wish we could have seen him continue to hallucinate his daughter as he was helping the other girl and only figure out what was happening at the end. Pretend the Gnucci storyline was gone and Frank walks into some violence happening on the street, or hears the girl's screams. And he rushes to help his daughter and continues to fight until he can get to Lisa but it's not Lisa at all but he still saves her. And she thanks him at the end, not being scared of him at all, and that's what helps him get back on track. Her not being scared of him because he helped her and that would mean Lisa wouldn’t be scared of him either.

- I wish this special more explicitly stated when it was happening in the MCU canon. I understand why they didn't, but come on. Is this pre-DDBA? Post DDBA season 2? If so, WHAT THE FUCK. It's criminal to mention Frank so many times in season two and then never explain where he was and what he was doing that he wasn't helping Karen.