The Punisher season 2, episode 1 review: Roadhouse Blues

The Punisher season 2 starts with some tender moments and ends with blood and violence.

After finally avenging his family’s death and stopping Rawlins and Russo on The Punisher, Frank Castle could finally be at peace. He went to a meeting to help with the memories from his time at war and it seemed like Frank was going to have a fresh start with a new life. We all know that wasn’t going to last too long.

Frank’s life isn’t supposed to be good and there will never be any real closure. He will always mourn his family and he’s always going to have the urge to protect the innocent and hurt the wicked. Season 2 of The Punisher is going to be the first time we’ve seen the Punisher is a setting that has nothing to do with anything except him doing his job. Welcome back, Frank. Let’s see what happens to you now.

Setting the stage early

We knew that The Punisher was going to be violent. However, if you had any doubts going in the first two minutes took care of that. The first thing we see is Frank sweaty with blood all over his face driving while being chased. The camera pans over to a woman in the passenger with a scared and shocked look on her face. They’re cut off by a car and three people exit the vehicle and tell Frank and the woman to get out. Frank opens the window, shoots and kills them and drives in reverse taking out the car behind them.

It’s important to set the stage for a movie or show early. In Logan, the first fight scene let the audience know that this isn’t the Wolverine we’ve seen in the previous movies. For The Punisher, this was letting us know that Frank Castle hasn’t changed. If you’re in his crosshairs, it means you’re guilty and will be punished. This opening immediately gives people hope for the season because Punisher fans will be getting exactly what they want.

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Frank acting happy is weirdly good

In typical fashion, Frank ends up stopping a bully. He prevented a drunk idiot from hurting a bartender named Beth from trying to do her job. While she said she didn’t need his help, Frank said, “Maybe I don’t like a**-holes.” Beth laughed and after some small talk and casual flirting, she ended up inviting Frank back at her place. The two end up talking, sharing a connection, and having sex. Despite seeing Frank being relaxed and normal in season 1 it still looks weird. But it’s also a good thing.

Frank isn’t known for his kind words or doing anything that resembles normal. Not even halfway through the first episode and Frank developed a connection he wouldn’t normally have. Frank even talked about his wife and kids dying and smiled later on. We’re seeing evolution. Frank can’t be monotone and heartless in every scene. The show would be terrible. The times he shared with Micro’s family was awkward because was living a lie knowing Micro’s family thought he was dead. Now, it looks like Frank won’t be as reserved as he was in the previous season and in the comic books. At least as of now.

Old habits die bloody hard

Frank is back at the bar where he met Beth and it looks like Frank is happy. That means something bad is about to happen. There’s a young girl trying to unload something and get out of whatever she signed up for (which is probably illegal). In comes some hired goons to take her out. Frank immediately sees them looking around and awkwardly trying to fit in. He knows this can only mean trouble. He notices they are following the girl and he goes after them and beats the snot out of them in the first real fight scene of the season.

You can’t take the military out of the man. Frank will always pick up on odd things no matter how long he’s been out of the military. Froe example, the two times he was at the bar, Frank always kept his eye on the door. Old habit of where an ambush would come from. If not for this, he wouldn’t have noticed what was going on and the girl would have died in the bathroom.

Frank got into a full-on bar fight with the henchmen after that. While they were good, Frank is the Punisher. He took some hits and even a gunshot, but he still managed to come out on top. It was a brutal and bloody fight scene and this is only episode 1.

Stay tuned for more episode reviews from season 2 of The Punisher.