Unspoiled Reviews - The Punisher Season 2
Following the success of the first season of his own series, Season 2 of The Punisher had a tough job to follow up on the high expectations created by his fans, including myself. Want to find out how it kept up? Well, in the words of Frank himself "You do what you gotta do", and read my take on it here.
Quick note, I've got a couple of disclaimers to add to this review.
Firstly, this show is rated 18, for good and obvious reasons. If you are under 18 and reading this, then I warn you that some of what you might see in the images/video here may not be suitable, but you also have some awesome shows to look forward to when you do turn 18!
Second, this series very much follows the events of season 1, and although I won't talk about the plot very much, there are some things even in the trailer which you need to have watched the first season to fully understand. So if you haven't seen Season 1, then you should definitely do that (unless you're under 18), and also give my review of Season 1 a read too.
Now that's out the way, let's keep going. As with all my reviews, I'm not going to go too deep into the plot, but if you want to avoid the plot of the series all together, the scroll down to past the next photo, to see my review of the rest of the show.
This series follows the events of season 1, with Frank trying to find his way in the world after leaving his mark on New York permanently. Of course this doesn't go to plan, and after Frank meets a young woman in desperate need of help, he returns to New York to face not only his past, but also a new mysterious threat known only as John.
The plot of the series is more complex than the first, with two different sets of events impacting Frank and his companions at the same time, but the execution of the two story lines is easy to follow and they are both distinct enough that there is very little confusion between them. It was a well written series, and many other TV series can follow their example of how to write an awesome plot well.
The cast of this show did an absolutely phenomenal job. All of the acting was gripping and realistic, which kept me enthralled and involved in the character's stories. I've not got time to talk about all of the amazing actor's performances here is as much detail as they deserve, so I'm going to focus on a few key roles for the series. That being said, I will give special mention to John Bernthal (Frank Castle) and Amber Rose Revah (Agent Madani) for their character portrayals which I've talked about more in the review for Season 1, and Jason R. Moore (Curtis Hoyle) and Royce Johnson (Det. Sgt. Mahoney) who both returned with stellar performances from the previous series as well.
I'd also like to praise Josh Stewart (John Pilgrim), who I would love to talk about more but feel that If I did I'd give too much of the mystery of his character away, but sufficed to say that his performance is unforgettable.
First performance I'd like to talk about is Giorgia Whigham, who plays arguable one of the most important characters in the series Amy Bendix. I've not seen any of her previous works, but if this is anything to go by then she has an awesome future ahead of her. Giorgia really made the audience feel a full range of emotions with her, and she gives us a more honest and grounded view of Frank and his actions, through the eyes of someone not used to a world of bloodshed and bullets. From the moment she first appears on screen, she grabs the attention of the audience and keeps you focused on the realism and dire circumstances that all the characters find themselves in. Her performance is one of the best I've seen on TV in a while, and I cannot praise it enough.
Arguably one of the stand out performances of the series was by Ben Barnes, who returned to play one of Frank's old military friends Billy Russo. I didn't get a chance to talk about his performance in the series one, despite the spectacular portrayal, but I have taken more time to talk about it here because of the huge character variation. The events of season 1 changed his entire life and mindset, and Ben does an absolutely fantastic job at making this performance hauntingly realistic, pulling you into the trials and torments of one of the most important people in Frank's life as he struggles with the actions of his former best friend. I've not seen much of Ben's other works, not since he played Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia films, but I will keep my eyes out for him in the future.
You can see a snippet of some of their performances in the trailer for the series here!
As with the first season, The Punisher is full of realistic and captivating effects, which kept the action grounded and, unlike most of Marvel's other projects, gives you the sense that it could actually be happening in the world right now. The show has more gripping and expertly choreographed fight scenes, car chases, and tense standoffs which keep you on the edge of your seat.
But, all good things have to come to an end, and with the future of the whole Netflix Marvel landscape under question, it might be a while until we see what the future holds for Frank Castle and his friends...
Until next time,
Tim
Plot: ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ Performance: ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ Overall: ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇