The Punisher season 2 has similar plot to a comic book story

The Punisher storyline from season 2 is similar to the Punisher Max “Girls in White Dresses” story.

The Punisher season 2, episode 10 ended with one hell of a moment. First, Billy Russo tricked Frank Castle into almost getting killed. After escaping, Frank chased down Billy and shot at him while Billy ran away in the warehouse’s upper level. When Frank entered the room he thought Billy was in he, he froze in terror. Frank saw three dead women. It looked like the Punisher killed three innocent women. The shock was enough to make Frank give up when the police showed up. Punisher broke his rule of never killing innocent people. However, things weren’t what they appeared to be.

In the following episode, “The Abyss,” on viewers learn those women were dead before Punisher started shooting. Billy killed them and made it look like Frank killed them. Billy murdered innocent women just to get Frank off his back. If there was any doubt about Billy being a monster, it was gone now. This was similar to a Punisher Max story by Gregg Hurwitz called Girls in White Dresses.

Image Source: Marvel Digital Comics

The story

Writer: Gregg Hurwitz

Artist: Lawrence Campbell

In this series, Punisher goes to Mexico to help rid a town of criminals stealing their young girls. Punisher begrudgingly agrees and gets to work. When he finally thinks he’s found them, he shoots into a mirror in a building. Behind the glass was a dead little girl from the town he was trying to save. Frank thinks he shot an innocent young girl. Frank takes her back to the town, lays her in a cemetery, and goes back to his room. Frank can’t get over what he’s done and gets ready to kill himself. With a gun in his mouth he says,

"“There is no acceptable collateral damage. I have made an unforgivable transgression. An innocent death. In my private war. At my hands. I have become what I hate the most. I have become my enemy. I must be punished.”"

While this is going on, the image of the little girl appears in front of him and holds a bullet. Frank leaves his hotel room and digs the girl’s body up. She was shot with a bullet the didn’t come from Frank’s gun. One of the people in the town was ordered to set Frank up in hopes of throwing him off their trail. Punisher and the women and girls being held hostage eventually kill everyone involved (including Jigsaw who was also helping the drug runners) and set the town free.

If you were a fan of the Punisher Max series, you knew what was going on when Frank Castle thought he killed those women. The season has had more than a few Easter Eggs and it’s been a nice added touch for the comic book fans. Hopefully this series won’t be canceled so we can get more of this.