What I’m Watching: The Punisher

The Punisher: Season 1, Episode 5 “Gunner” (B)

This was a somewhat slow-moving episode, one that left things looking very bad for our main antihero. Frank can put up with a lot, but he was in bad shape at the end of this hour. There’s no denying that Frank is a force to be reckoned with, hunting down the operatives who were after him in the woods and then looking straight into the camera so that Rawlins would know exactly who was coming for him. David isn’t quite as skilled in the field, and instead he’s busy making sandwiches for himself without bothering to ask Frank if he wants one. Dinah seemed to be most concerned about the state of her car after the events of last week, and brushed off the reaction her bruised body got while she was in the middle of having some very passionate sex. Trusting Karen with the information that Wolf was dirty but telling her not to print it shows that she’s well aware that she shouldn’t know this and definitely shouldn’t be spreading it, and hopefully it’s putting her closer and closer to being able to work with Frank once they inevitably meet again. Rawlins getting offered the deputy director job from the newly promoted Marion James, portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, last seen as a series regular on the sadly short-lived “Limitless,” has nefarious connotations since he doesn’t seem to care at all about the ethics of what they’re doing, which is sure to put him and Marion right at the top of Frank’s hitlist. Frank is going to have to fend off a negative reaction from David’s family, though I think he’ll need to be nursed back to health first.