Liam Hoofe reviews the third episode of Marvel’s The Punisher…
Marvel’s The Punisher has gotten off to a flying start, with the show’s opening two episodes both delivering stellar outings for Frank Castle and his buddies. The show’s third episode ‘Kandahar’ is another step up for the series, delivering the show’s most complex and brutal outing yet.
The focus of this episode is very much on the main character’s backstories. The last episode, ‘Two Dead Men’ ended with Frank tying Micro to a chair and knocking him out. This episode spent a lot of time exploring both men, providing two very different backstories about two men who have a lot more in common than they think.
It was established very quickly in the last episode that Micro had a clear interest in Frank but what exactly that was wasn’t made clear until the end of this episode. First of all, we were given Micro’s backstory. A family man also working as an NSA analyst, Micro was set up by the powers that be, framed to look like a traitor to his country and then gunned down in front of his wife, being saved only because he happened to be carrying his mobile phone in his front pocket. Fearing for the lives of his family, he was then forced to operate from underground, which is where we find him now.
We already know a certain amount of Frank’s backstory due to his time in Daredevil, but this episode explored his life in the forces in much more detail. Frank was part of an operation that he wanted no part in, one where he was forced to brutally kill several men and then cover up the actions of his own government. Bernthal was exceptional in these scenes and his exceptional gravitas really helps pad out his character. The war scenes themselves were also violently executed and did an excellent job at highlighting the inane violence of conflict.
Frank was not the only one scarred by these events, though and this episode we got to spend a lot more time with Ben Barnes’ Billy Russo. Barnes is excellently cast here and Russo is already one of the show’s most interesting characters. While he may have been Frank’s best friend back in the service, there is an undeniable ambiguity to the character, one that may see him turn on his former friend when the two inevitably meet later in the series.
While the flashback sequences were wonderfully executed and really helped pad out the show’s key players – the real episode stealing scenes here belonged to Frank and Micro in the present day. The exchanges between them were both difficult and revealing, and both Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach were magnificent here. At the end of the episode, both men were finally on the same page, and I can’t wait to see their relationship develop more as the series progresses.
Kandahar was easily the season’s finest episode so far but if I was forced to pick a problem with it then I guess the storyline involving Dinah Madani kind of felt like an afterthought, with the character only appearing in two scenes. That being said, the backstories for the other two main characters will likely tie into her narrative in the coming episodes so that didn’t bother me too much – it may also have damaged the tone of what was an otherwise incredibly tense episode.
I’m only three episodes into The Punisher so it may be a little early to be calling this the show that saves Netflix’s Marvel universe, but from what I’ve seen so far, this series is Marvel back at its best. Kandahar is one of the best episodes of television Marvel have produced in some time and I hope the rest of the show can maintain the quality shown in the opening three outings.
Are you enjoying The Punisher so far? Let us know in the comments below, and let Liam know on Twitter here @liamhoofe
