Punisher Was Awesome: Might Be My Favorite Netflix Series

Yeah it was flat out awesome. Kinda baffled at all the negative reviews too (it was only like 61% on RT) . Jon Bernthal is flat out awesome as the Punisher .

I loved it. But it wasn't nearly as violent as I wanted it to be.

I really liked it, but I still feel they have never been able to match the brilliance of Daredevil.

Some interesting takes here. I posted about this the other day, I'll repost this here in the hopes of generating some discussion:

It lacked perspective on just about every topic it brought up. It was very pro-violence, which makes total sense. But without showing the other side of the argument, there wasn't much to digest here. What made Punisher great in DD season 2 was his dynamic with Matt. The clash of ideologies regarding justice and punishment gave the audience something to chew on. In Punisher, all you got was pro-gun rhetoric from nearly every character, even Karen. The only character with an alternative viewpoint was that senator, who was depicted as a boob and a hypocrite.

The show was filled with missed opportunities. It paid lip service to PTSD but never really explored it. Lewis was just a nut; how about you give us a flashback to him before or during the war so we get a sense of how it changed him. Just showing a guy doing a series of crazier things makes him a villain, not a victim-- which I think is what they were going for? Frank briefly mentions how difficult it would be if he had to shoot a US soldier; but he only had to wound one and mentioned it in passing later. Lewis was a combat veteran suffering from severe PTSD-- the conversational potential there is off the charts. A conversation between the two could've blown away the scene between Frank and Matt from DD season 2 that everyone raves about. Instead Frank just argues with Lewis a few times on the phone and then convinces him to blow himself up. And again there's no emotional response to that from Punisher, Lewis is never mentioned again.

Dinah's motivation throughout the course of the show is finding the trigger man in Kandahar, and when she finds out it was Frank, her eyes get a little wide and it's never addressed again. Where is the moral quandary there? This man who saved your life and is helping you blow the lid off of this investigation is the 'villain' you were searching for the whole time. Can we explore that a minute or should we have another ten minute scene of Frank fixing the garbage disposal at Micro's house? Puzzling creative choices as far as when the show decided to get deep.

If I'm getting nitpicky... Why was Rawlins a stone cold evil genius for the entirety of the show before turning into a raving lunatic right before they killed him? To be fair, he was viciously attacked, but still. I thought it was an odd choice. The audience already hated the guy, no need to make him a snarling beast ready to be put down. I also think Frank's ability to come back from serious injury was a bit absurd, even for an action hero. Is he the Punisher or Wolverine?

Probably my biggest gripe is the finale. The Punisher isn't the Punisher anymore? The government would just allow this madman to walk away? "You know, the only thing separating you from Lewis is you had a specific target to focus your rage on. Now that the target is gone, we're sure you'll just go back to leading a normal life. Good luck." And his face was all over the news, people thought he was a terrorist! He's going to walk the streets looking like Frank Castle the terrorist and show up to meetings recounting his war stories like nothing ever happened? It's ridiculous. I thought the waste of time scenes with Micro and his family in the final episode were there to give closure to one character and remind us Frank will never have closure; that his war will never end. Instead they close on Frank telling us he has no one left to fight. Frank has the world to fight, and no 'just when I though I was out, they pull me back in' scene in season 2 is going to make up for the way they closed the season (which incidentally, is the same way they opened the season).

Frank is far too sane and in control of his emotions in this series. When he loses it, he really loses it. But it doesn't happen enough and they don't focus on the psychological or moral aspects nearly as much as they should. It's decent tv for the most part, but it doesn't possess half the depth you'd expect, considering what it was going for. And as an adaptation of the character, I have to say they really missed the mark. Bernthal was great, but the writing let him down.

New thoughts since I posted this the other day: I thought it focused on the wrong elements and couldn't decide what kind of person it wanted Frank to be. He should be either a soulless killing machine or a devastated shell of a man ready to snap at any moment. He was actually a rational human being for most of this series, he even played house with Micro's family and the whole thing was just awkward. All that stuff with Micro's kids. Again, it should've had more depth. Frank found a replacement for his family but has no real reaction when they get taken. That shit should've put him over the edge. It should've been harder for him to leave them in the end as well. Just another example of introducing an idea but not exploring it nearly enough, this show has a serious issue in that regard.

It wasn't thought provoking, it didn't pack the emotional punch that he had in DD season 2. Hell, there were better discussions about what soldiers do after war on Firefly than there were on this show, and that's a real problem. I was fine with the violence, I just wanted more discussion on what it all means-- on a personal level between characters you're invested in, not just generic commentary from a support group. Anyone can write that stuff. Curtis was arguably the best character on the show but even he had his poorly written moments, most of them came when his perspective should've shined the brightest.

It wasn't a bad show, it was decent but it should've been great. As an aside, I really dug the theme song even though it felt like it was composed for a completely different show.

This is a very good analysis on the problems with Frank's character on the show. Very well put. The series had a lot of potential and set up plenty of interesting issues, but just did not engage with them in any deep or meaningful way. That giant crucifix they always had hanging in the background of every support group scene is a good visual example - the show puts forward something that you think is going to be discussed or processed in some way by the characters, but no, the interesting topics are just left to fade in the background.

And yes, it isn't a terrible show, but it should have delivered a hell of a lot more than it did. Big disappointment in my view.

Really? I haven't cringed so hard in a long time (in regard to the glass scene).