What I’m Watching: The Punisher

The Punisher: Season 1, Episode 9 “Front Toward Enemy” (B+)

I was a bit confused when I sat down to watch this episode after taking a month off since I remembered that Lewis had started to go off the deep end but been much less certain of where he was headed and how he was going to relate to the main plotline. We got that answer in the opening moments of this episode with the three explosions he set off in an attempt to be the latest antihero to take a stand against what he believes to be unjust. Targeting Karen as his enemy and Frank as his ally was intriguing, and both of them weren’t shy about sharing what they thought of what he was doing. Karen did it publicly on the radio, while Frank starting talking down to him when he saw what he had done to Curtis and how he was somehow villainizing a Marine who served his country while trying to prove what he felt. While his beside manor leaves something to be desired, it appears to have worked since he told him which wire to cut to save Curtis’ life. While that crisis was handled for the time being, the bigger issue is that Frank’s face is out there and everyone now knows that he’s still alive. David going to see Dinah just then was probably helpful since now she’ll be able to work with them, but they have just about everything going against them which means that they’ll have to trust each other in order to be able to survive.