SEASON ONE: 10 Stars
It's not Jessica Jones, but it's also the BEST cinematic version of the Punisher to date, including the 1989 Dolph Lundgren version which is arguably the best movie version to date.
Now, I've seen people on IMDb complain about the lack of super powers and the violence involved in the series and, well, clearly they aren't really familiar with the source material.
Especially since The Punisher is essentially Dexter. That is he's a serial killer tolerated only because he kills the bad guys. But still...serial killer.
And with that in mind, you have a series about a killer that kills a lot of killers worse than he is. Only unlike Dexter, he's killing them with guns and not really concerned about getting caught or the evidence he leaves behind.
He's just a killer. And, well, it works. It's done right. And the characters are perfect.
SEASON TWO:
Season 1 I gave 10 stars. Season 2 did something so anti-Punisher that I had to bring it down to 1.
It did the Jessica Jones thing. The first season was amazing, not Season 1 of Jessica Jones good, but it nailed The Punisher better than even some of the writers in the comics could ever dream of (MAX clearly excluded).
And then it does the political thing and unfortunately the politics were "Woke."
Now with Jessica Jones the kind of politics weren't that important...they still killed the show...but at least the politics fit the character.
Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage (to an extent) you can introduce far left politics and it would fit their character. Daredevil is defined more by being a Catholic...but even then you can take the character to the left and it would fit (just not as far). They are all essentially liberal characters....but the Punisher is not a liberal character.
The Punisher can't go woke, Jessica can, but The Punisher is essentially a serial killing super conservative authoritarian. He's not a nice person.
The Punisher is slightly right of Atilla the Hun. He makes Trump look like a liberal. That is the essence of his character. He's an authoritarian.
He's a conservative character, that is his personality. He's more of a Neo-Con than Iron Man, he's more conservative than Mr. Fantastic..and Netflix made him woke.
It is a personality trait that brings him into conflict with so many other Marvel characters, especially very liberal characters like Captain America.
And I realize that woke people are also authoritarian...but it's an authoritarianism that is the direct opposite of The Punisher.
So, not only did they inject politics into my escapism again (which I hate) but this time the politics where in direct contrast to the character's personality.
So congratulations Netflix, you messed up a really good show on two levels.
Injecting politics into a show is irritating when you are watching it to escape the bleak reality on the news...but when the politics contrast the essence of the character it's a tragedy.
