The Punisher

I think that The Punisher on Netflix is a pretty good treatment of the character. He's not someone that I am an expert on - he popped up in several Spiderman comics when I was a regular reader in the 1970s and 80s; and of course he appears in the Civil War comics - I tend to think of him as the guy who kills people.

That's a tricky brief. You can't run a whole season on the premise of Frank Castle going round killing people. And you also can't change the character to make him a nice guy who's just been unlucky.

The Punisher isn't a nice guy. He resolves issues by killing people. He makes himself judge, jury and executioner. That is the character.

So I wasn't expecting the series to be that great. Even though he was well done in Daredevil Season 2. I thought that a whole series of his own might be too much.

But I think Marvel have really pulled this off well. The balance between "justified" killings and wanton violence is about right, I think. As is the balance between "pity" for Frank because of his back-story and "fear" of him as a soul that lost itself to violence long before his family were murdered.

The surrounding story weaves nicely between past and present. Episode 10 is a classic example of reshowing a simple scene from several perspectives out-of-order and revealing a little more each time. Something of a microcosm of the whole season.

In terms of plot there aren't many surprises. You can see most of the turns coming, although there are a few "wow" moments which stand out. It is really the quality of the character development that shines, supported by just enough action to keep you on edge.

Perhaps the only thing I didn't like was the ending. I found myself thinking "no, not like that" as the last scenes played out. It felt quite final to me. Of course there is always a way back for a second season... and he may reappear in other Marvel shows... but it seemed like a definite attempt to say "OK, we're done now".