No killing."
"Altar boy!"
Yep, this is a superlative bit of telly, just like the last episode. Beautifully acted- Jon Bernthal's monologue as Punisher in the graveyard is extraordinary- and artily directed throughout, it's a triuph of script, theme and characterisation.
It's surprrising in where it takes the arc, though. The Punisher meets his match as a psychopathic Irish godfather from over the ocean (a menacing Tony Curran) shows Frank that he is, after all, mortal, and vulnerable. And so Frank shows his vulnerability in more ways than one, nearly suffering an agonising death in the name of yet another revolution of that stupid cycle of revenge. Unexpectedly, it's Daredevil who saves him and the two of them find a mutual respect, if not agreement. Neatly enough, Daredevil lets Frank's arrest be attributable to the sergeant who blamed him for all this last episode, saying that "Vigilante days are done in this time. "Hah". It is, perhaps, a little too neat for Brett to respond by reassuring him that "You ain't him", but it works.
So, I wonder, is this- complete with Frank's touching backstory- the end of his part of the season, overshadowed by the shock cliffhanger just after we've come to know him a little? I somehow suspect not.
The episode is also, of course, about the touching little budding romance between Karen and Matt, again superbly acted and shot, and a very real and touching thing between characters we like, with Foggy amusingly making it quite clear that he knows exactly what's going on.
But that ending... her?
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