Liam Hoofe reviews the penultimate episode of Marvel’s The Punisher…
If you weren’t told otherwise, you could be forgiven if you thought that ‘Home’, the twelfth episode of The Punisher, was the season finale, such was the explosive nature of its sequences. With so much to wrap up in its final two episodes, The Punisher wasted no time in dealing with some these issues in its penultimate outing.
The episode picked up following the immediate aftermath of the last episode, with Frank and Micro being interviewed by Madini. This seemed like a distraction really, just to get things rolling towards the big finale, but it was interesting to note Micro’s answers to Madini’s questions. Throughout the show, we have seen Micro and Frank’s relationship grow by the episode, and when he tells Madini that- ‘“You want justice, ’cause you haven’t found out yet that there’s no such thing,’ it becomes clear that Frank has really had a massive influence on his partner, he no longer has the faith in the system he previously had, and now believes that Frank’s way is the only way. Will he change his mind, though, once he is back with his family?
Well, we didn’t have to wait long to find out because before we know it we get an excellent sequence involving Frank, Micro, his family, Billy and several gun-toting goons. The initial plan to exchange Frank for the Lieberman’s doesn’t go down so well, when Madini and Homeland Security decide to turn up to the party, leading to a shoot-out. The whole scene was nail-biting, and watching Micro get shot down in front of his wife and son was a heart-breaking moment. Thankfully, we quickly discovered he was okay.
Frank, however, was then carried off by Billy’s cronies and taken to his own hideout to be tortured by Billy and Rawlins. This is where the episode really become exceptional. Believing Micro to be dead, Rawlins began viciously beating Frank in an attempt to get him to tell him how to disarm the computers. During the beating, Frank began to see visions of his wife and potentially, his own after-life. It was brilliant stuff and really added to Frank’s eventual comeback. Frank is a man with nothing to live for, and the pain he was feeling, despite the excessive beating being handed down to him, was not a physical one, but an emotional one. Bernthal was incredible here and deserves a lot of recognition.
In the end, Billy actually helped Frank to take down Rollins, and the resulting beatdown handed out by Frank, which ended with him gouging his eyes out Game of Thrones style was one of the show’s most gruesome moments yet. Was it a little too graphic? Perhaps, but in the context of the story, it felt justified. Frank’s intent was to make Rawlins feel pain, and he definitely succeeded in that area. In the end, Billy escaped, allowing Madini to rush in and save Frank. Though, with Rowlins out of the way, it looks like we are definitely heading towards a big showdown between Frank and his former friend in the show’s last episode.
‘Home’ was The Punisher at its finest. The show has really done a great job of building its characters, and more importantly, making Frank a human being, and not just a one-man wrecking ball. With only one episode left, the season finale is going to have to really mess things up to ruin this show now.
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