‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’s Unrelentingly Action-Packed Hour of Television Marks the End of an Era | Review

The last time we saw Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) was at the end of Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again, where the anti-hero was locked in one of Wilson Fisk's (Vincent D'Onofrio) cages, but with the return of Season 2 this year, the Punisher was curiously missing from the lineup of heroes protecting New York. Now, after The Punisher: One Last Kill, we know where he's been the entire time. In a violent and action-packed hour of television, Marvel gives us an intimate look into where Frank has been since the cage. While the special covers a lot of ground, it also dives deep into Frank's psyche, something fans haven't witnessed since the end of the original Netflix Punisher series.

'The Punisher: One Last Kill' Shows Frank Castle at His Lowest Point

One thing that becomes immediately obvious in One Last Kill is that this is the darkest version of Frank Castle we've ever seen. Gone is the snarky, gruff brawler that trades quips with Daredevil (Charlie Cox); this is Frank at his lowest. He's spent the last few months killing every member of the Gnucci crime family, the last people responsible for the deaths of his family. The streak of vengeance has done a number on his psyche. He's not only hallucinating the ghosts of his comrades, like Curtis (Jason R. Moore), but also his wife and children.

As a man on a mission, Frank is completely checked out of everything around him. His actions against the Gnucci family have thrown New York into chaos, especially in the neighborhood of Little Sicily, where crime runs rampant. People are getting beaten up, robbed, and even killed without a second thought, but it's all going over Frank's head. It's a stark contrast to Matt Murdock, who can't help but help everyone around him, even when he's not able to, and shows the different headspaces of the two characters. It's not until Frank is literally forced to act that he finally picks up a weapon and becomes the Punisher again.

'The Punisher: One Last Kill' Needs To Close the Book on Frank Castle's Trauma

One Last Kill once again focuses on Frank's trauma and specifically the loss of his family. Director Renaldo Marcus Green penned the script with Bernthal, and the two have left no room for subtlety when it comes to Frank's character. Unfortunately, by this point, it's very familiar ground. It proves that the series needs to let Frank grow beyond his trauma. It's beginning to make him feel one-note, and the special essentially knocks you over the head to remind you that this is a man in a bad mental state.

The problem here is that this has been Frank's storyline since we first met him in Daredevil Season 2 over 10 years ago. Since then, we've seen him reconcile his past with his present in various ways, but One Last Kill needs to be the last time it's revisited. Clocking in at under an hour, One Last Kill itself feels very much like a standalone episode or a one-shot comic rather than a true special, like it could be tacked onto Daredevil: Born Again if the season had been longer. Half of the episode is pure action while the other half is pure angst, giving the viewer little time to actually feel settled. It also feels like a bit of a reset for Frank, but as he's had several of these for his character by now, we can really only hope the change is permanent this time.

Disney+ Goes Full Monty on Violence with 'The Punisher: One Last Kill'

If Disney+ has been getting flak for making their shows too sanitized, that fear has been officially assuaged (if Fisk crushing a head with his bare hands didn't do it for you). One Last Kill is unrelentingly vicious when it comes to violence. Within the first ten minutes, we watch an unhoused man get beaten up while his dog is tossed into oncoming traffic. The violence of the special is stomach-churning, especially when there's no Frank to come in and save the day.

When Frank is confronted by Ma (Judith Light), the matriarch of the Gnucci family, he is finally knocked back into focus. And when Frank goes full throttle, it feels like he's as invincible as Luke Cage (Mike Colter). Bernthal adds a good amount of grunting and struggling, but at this point, the number of injuries Frank has sustained while continuing to keep fighting is superhuman. At one point, he falls from a roof down to the ground and manages to get up and walk away like it's nothing. He gets stabbed, slashed, shot, and punched, all while inflicting lethal violence on whoever dares to charge at him.

As was the issue with the first season of Daredevil: Born Again, this once again feels a bit like Disney overcompensating. Showing sequences of Frank killing mercenaries, almost like a video game, while Hatebreed's "I Will Be Heard" blasts, feels a little too on the nose. It's an impressive bit of violence, showing how creative Frank can be at killing people, but it eats up almost the entire half of the episode, oftentimes becoming redundant.

'The Punisher: One Last Kill' Still Wins When It Comes to Character

What saves One Last Kill from being too one-note is, of course, Bernthal's acting. Green splices in memories of Frank's kids and his wife Maria (Kelli Barrett) to show us just which demons continue to haunt him, but it's the quiet scenes he has alone that are the most tragic. His loneliness is suffocating, turning him into a hermit, one who can't escape the ghosts of his past and doesn't seem to want to. While these scenes, along with the ones of Curtis and his fellow marines, can feel almost oppressively sad, there is one moment that becomes a turning point for Frank.

Deborah Ann Woll appears near the halfway mark as Karen Page, her presence shaking some sense back into Frank and offering a reprieve from his extremely dour mood. Although it's short, it acts as a transitional scene between the two halves of the episode as well as Frank's past and his future. By the end of the special, the stage has been set for Frank's appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, while also bringing in potential regulars for Frank's own story, including Light's Ma and Andre Royo's Dre, a local storekeeper who shares some strong moments with Frank.

Ultimately, it's clear that what makes The Punisher work is still the star at the center of it. Bernthal has a very lived-in approach to Frank, one that manages to make his depressing scenes feel somewhat fresh despite retreading the same ground. As much as Cox has perfected the different sides of Matt Murdock, Bernthal has really honed in on what makes Frank tick, and his presence alone makes One Last Kill worth watching.

The Punisher: One Last Kill is now streaming on Disney+.