The Punisher episode 10 review: Virtue of the Vicious
Reviewing episode 10 of The Punisher, titled “Virtue of the Vicious.”
In blurred vision, we are shown a figure walking up to the camera. We already get the ominous feeling that something bad is about to happen. Lewis shoots and kills an Anvil security guard through the peephole of his apartment door and breaks in. As Lewis removes the uniform from the dead guard, he notices two caged parrotlets. He attempts several times to let the birds free so they can fly away. Even going as far as to bringing the open cage to the open window, the birds don’t budge and stay put inside the cage.
After the intro, the voice of an NYPD detective is heard saying “Let’s talk about Lewis” as images of a destroyed hotel room are shown to us. The detective is no other than Mahoney who makes a cameo from the Daredevil series. Mahoney sits in the beat up and bloody hotel room questioning Russo for his “negligence” in protecting Senator Ori. As Russo gets up and walks away, Mahoney hits him with a question: “When was the last time you spoke to Castle?”. Russo lies and tells Mahoney its been years.
We flashback to six hours earlier before that attack where the Senator is making plans for a speech he is about to give. Russo steps into the hallway to take a call from Castle who is in the hotel and warns Russo to stay out of the way. The Punisher has unfinished business with Lewis. After Russo hangs up with Castle, he greets Karen who steps off the elevator and begins in the direction to the Senator’s room.
In the present, a distraught Senator Ori is guided back into the hotel room by Mahoney who gently suggests to the Senator to describe the events that took place. We flashback to earlier in the day when Karen was interviewing the Senator in the hotel room about his gun policy. Suddenly a bomb goes off at the door of the hotel room sending Karen and the Senator flying off their seats. Smoke alarms go off and Lewis enters the room killing the remaining Anvil guards.
As Lewis takes Karen hostage, Castle enters the room shooting at the Senator who barely manages to escape. The two men and Karen stand in the middle of smoke as we cut to the present where Karen is laughing at the false description that the Senator gave. She tells Mahoney that the story of Castle and Lewis working together is complete fiction. Another flashback begins.
After some light flirting from Russo in Karen’s direction, he escorts her to the Senator’s room. Lewis is seen entering the hotel wearing an Anvil uniform. So much is going on inside the lobby of the hotel. The fundraiser for the bombing victims is underway, Madani is sitting in the lobby, Lewis is trying to be inconspicuous, and Russo gets off the elevator. Lewis decides to take the stairs up, killing the Anvil guards on the way. After jamming the elevator open for his escape, Lewis proceeds to strapping explosives to the hotel room door.
This time, we are shown Karen’s version of what took place, which we assume to be the real narrative. Lewis walks into the room killing the two Anvil guards and proceeds to stalk Senator Ori who tries to crawl away whimpering. When the Senator stands up pleading for his life, Lewis has his weapon aimed at Senator Ori. Fortunately for Senator Ori, Castle runs into the room and dives into the line of fire absorbing the shots into his bulletproof vest.
In the madness, Karen picks up a gun and stuffs it into her purse, Senator Ori escapes, and Lewis takes Karen hostage threatening Castle to blow her up as he reveals the bomb strapped to his chest. Holding the deadman’s switch in one hand, Lewis pulls Karen away with him in the other towards the elevator he jammed open. Castle manages to escape Anvil’s gunfire.
In the present, it’s now Madani in the room with Mahoney. She’s another voice in the “Frank Castle isn’t the bad guy” campaign. Now, we flashback to Madani’s narrative. She meets with her boss and shows him that her office had been bugged and explains the plot behind the fake tactical plan. Madani also informs her boss that Rawlins was involved in the murder of Zubair. When she’s handed a file of all the dead suspects, one thing pops out: they are all Anvil employees. Thus, explaining why Madani was in the lobby of the hotel that morning.
Madani meets Russo at the hotel to confront him. He’s quick to try to clean his hands of being involved, but Madani doesn’t buy it. It’s not long until the alarm goes off and Russo runs to investigate. Castle, in the meantime, is leaping down steps in the stairwell. Madani catches him in the stairwell and urges him to testify in court. Castle knows now that Lieberman has been to see Madani.
All of a sudden, a bullet grazes Castle’s head. Turns out the owner of the bullet is Russo and we are in a standoff between Russo and Madani. Between the tension, Russo confesses (sort of) that he killed Sam. Police enter the stairwell and detain Russo and Madani, allowing enough of a distraction for Castle to escape the stairwell on a firehose. We cut back to the present where Madani and Mahoney argue about Castle’s innocence.
In the hallway outside of the hotel room, Madani catches Karen. She begs Karen to reach out to Castle and convince him to trust her. We flashback to Lewis pulling Karen into the hotel’s kitchen where he finally lets her go just to pace around stressing about his next move. Castle kicks the door open and limps towards Lewis who grabs Karen.
Castle says out loud how the white wire saved him and Curtis. Karen takes a hint and starts to feel for the white wire as Castle distracts Lewis with his speech, shaking his head until she lands on the right wire. Castle also casually reminds her of the gun she has in her bag. Castle yells “Do it now, Karen!” and she pulls the wire, shoots Lewis in the foot, Lewis pushes Karen and he locks himself in the freezer. Crying, Lewis realizes it’s over as he reattaches the wire wire and “goes like a soldier”. After the explosion, Karen and Castle come up with a plan to get out of the kitchen.
Using Karen as a hostage, Castle limps towards the elevator. In between floors, they stop the elevator where Castle proceeds to open the escape latch on the ceiling of the elevator. When we think that we will finally get a kiss from Castle and Karen, they touch foreheads instead (the rage!). Back in the present, Karen seems to have convinced Mahoney that Castle is not a terrorist as Castle escapes the hotel via zip wire.
Final Thoughts:
The episode title Virtue of the Vicious comes from a Oscar Wilde quote “Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious”. Love for one’s country is great, but it can also breed monsters as we see in this episode of The Punisher. This theme is in line with current world events, making episode 10 all the more enticing.
The direction of this episode was amazing. Storytelling from the characters point of view to build the narrative was a work of genius. It begged the question “what happened next?” making The Punisher an addiction. However, I felt that the Castle-Karen shippers didn’t get their fix in this episode. The biggest tease ever as they look intensely into each other’s eye, he grabs the back of her neck to draw her face closer to his, and… they join at the forehead? Is this a telepathic kiss? Excuse me as I go find a desk to flip.
I also want to point out the scene in the beginning of the episode where Lewis tries to set the birds free by opening the cage door. It’s like the saying goes: you can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. The cage, the things that prevent us from doing, it’s mental. Curtis was attempting to set Lewis free of his emotional cage, but similar to the birds, he did not fly out. And now, we see the results of self-imprisonment in episode 10.
Highlights:
- Madani knows Russo killed Sam.
- Castle knows that Lieberman met with Madani without him.
- Hernandez (Madani’s boss) wants to help Madani with her investigation.
- To incriminate Rawlins, Madani needs Castle to testify.
- Episode 10 marks the end of Lewis’ storyline.
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