The Punisher season 2, episode 13 review: The Whirlwind

Frank Castle ties up all his loose ends in the season finale of The Punisher.

The Punisher “Collision Course” set up for the final episode perfectly. First, John Pilgrim finally found out where Amy and Frank were hiding and made his play. Amy and Curtis Hoyle fight him off, Amy runs away, and Curtis gets a beatdown from Pilgrim. Frank gets back to find Curtis beaten and Amy gone. Meanwhile, Dinah Madani and Krista Dumont have an all-out brawl after Dinah finds out the Krista is working with Billy Russo.

The fight ends with Dinah pushing Krista out of the window. Krista sees Billy who was coming to surprise her with flowers. Billy looks up after sobbing over Krista and sees Dinah in Krista’s shattered apartment window.

Dinah versus Billy

It was only a matter of time before they fought. Billy tricked and then shot her in season 1. Dinah owed him payback for that. Now, with Dinah pushing Krista out of a window, Russo had a reason to kill her. It was time for the two of them to have it out once and for all. Their brawl was short but to the point. With Russo in a complete rage, it wasn’t shocking that Dinah got more than a few really good gunshots in that didn’t stop Billy from attacking her. Russo and Dinah started choking each other, but Russo was too strong for Dinah. She was eventually choked out by Russo. Just as she passes out, Billy falls over.

They both survived, but not for a lack of trying. It was a good thing that she didn’t kill him. That’s Frank’s job. However, she did need to get her shots in (pun intended). Billy had been terrorizing her dreams for a year and deserved to be hurt by her. After Dinah wakes up as she talks to Detective Brett Mahoney and realizes that this may not be the job for her. It’ll be great to see if she returns to the show if it’s not canceled.

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The growth of Brett Mahoney

Detective Brett Mahoney went from a side character in season 1 of Daredevil to an important part in this season of The Punisher. In this season, he learned more about life working outside of the law than he has his entire time as a cop. First, he decides to stop chasing after Dinah after Frank saves him from the ambulance explosion and Dinah continuously risks her life to put Billy behind bars.

Brett learned that some things aren’t as black and white as they seem when dealing with this kind of crime. Even in the end, when things went down with Billy and Frank, Mahoney decided to give Curtis and Dinah one more chance to live their lives outside of jail.

Brett’s character added something different. Everyone was operating outside the law and the show needed someone who was straight edge. Brett played that role well. Despite trying to put Frank Castle in jail and getting Dinah fired, he wasn’t unlikeable. He had a job to and the law to uphold.

The big payback

The moment we’ve all been waiting for. The Punisher versus Billy Russo part two. Billy has been escaping Frank for weeks. More than that, he’s been terrorizing New York as well. Punisher just had a drag-out fight with John Pilgrim and Billy has four bullets in him. Both of them nearly lost their lives during their individual fights. Frank meets Billy where Curtis holds his meetings (Curtis told Frank where he was). Unfortunately, Billy was about to die. Billy starts to talk to Frank about how he’s sorry and then bang! The Punisher kills Billy and walks away.

While everyone was expecting a fight, this ending made the most sense. All season long the question was why Frank didn’t kill Billy in season 1 and if he’d kill him given the chance. The fact that he didn’t even say anything to Billy proves that he learned his lesson. This is also the exact moment where Frank Castle embraces being The Punisher.

Roughroad

Amy and Frank’s relationship was the best part of the season. They evolved together and the two of them learned a lot from each other. In the end, Frank not only saved her life, but gave her a new one. On the flip side, Amy gave Frank someone to care about. Something he hasn’t had since his family died. Frank was willing to put his life on the line for her and she was willing to do the same for him. It was great when the season ended and Frank gave Amy the revenge she needed without letting her pull the trigger herself.

The last moment the two of them shared was heartwarming without it being unlike what we’ve seen from the show this season. It was sad to see the two of them split, but it had to be done. To be completely honest, the final episode showed me that this season didn’t need Billy Russo. It would have been just fine with Frank and Amy’s storyline.

Bullet Points

The biggest question is whether or not there will be a season three. The season ending with Frank fully embracing being the Punisher leaves it so another season could happen or end there. If there is a third season, here are some bullet points.

• If there is another season, will Krista seek revenge on Dinah and Frank? She could potentially be the next villain we can’t call Jigsaw.
• What’s going to happen to Karen Page? Even though Daredevil was canceled, she can be a main character in the Punisher series.
• Will Dinah ever come back to New York? There’s no reason why she and the Punisher won’t work together. Especially if they decided to do the Punisher Max: Mother Russia story.

Now, it poses the speculation of a potential season 3 of The Punisher. Despite the respective fates of Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, the Jon Bernthal-led show is still in doubt.