Marvel’s The Punisher: First impressions

Initial episodes of The Punisher, at least, look promising, boosted primarily by Bernthal's performance. Jon Bernthal is about perfect as Punisher. The pacing is good, too. This series is streaming on Netflix.

• Written by Kshitij Rawat
• New Delhi | Updated: November 18, 2017 11:37 PM IST
3 min read

Marvel’s The Punisher streams on Netflix.

It is strange that Marvel has not had as much success in its TV shows than it has had with the movies, although both fall under the same cinematic shared universe (MCU). Sure, they have a few TV shows like Daredevil that have been consistently great but compared to DC’s offerings like The Flash, Green Arrow and Gotham, they pale in comparison. The Punisher is Marvel’s latest web series on Netflix, and although I have caught up on the first few episodes, I think I have seen enough to get a rough idea of what this show is going to be like.

Punisher is a fascinating character, and in the world of superheroes with a strict moral code (top-tier superheroes like Superman, Captain America and Batman, for instance, will not kill), he is, to put it simply, different. The character, which was inspired from 1970s movies, is a vengeful figure, channelling his rage on what happened to his family, and directing it ruthlessly towards his enemies, or whoever he considers his enemies.

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Deborah Ann Woll and Jon Bernthal in a still from The Punisher.

First things first, Jon Bernthal is about perfect as Punisher as I have maintained when he appeared in Daredevil. Watching him, you really do feel like there is somebody who lost his wife and two children and is taking on and destroying the bad guys (or at least those that are bad according to him) alone. The first few minutes of the pilot show Punisher’s return to killing, and, boy, is it bloody. Which reminds me, this show might be based on a comic-book character, but keep the young ones well away from it.

That’s it. Initial episodes of The Punisher, at least, look promising, boosted primarily by Bernthal’s performance, who I have liked since I first saw him in the first season of The Walking Dead. The pacing is good, too, so far although I have heard that it tapers off further into the season due to lack of material. I would, of course, reserve my full judgement till I have finished it so watch out for the full season review.