Marvel's The Punisher

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moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord
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Just finished it. Excellent overall.

That moment in the middle of episode 11 where you see Frank in his punisher armor was the shit. You knew the bodies were about to start dropping.
 
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Malinatar

Lord Nagafen Raider
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237
So good...

I never binged watched anything before, but this did it. IMO, this series was better than most of the Marvel movies Disney/Fox put out.
 

j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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7,471
absolutely outstanding show. i love punisher but outside of comics his characterizations always fail because of the balance between him being a murderer and a good guy. comics seem to be able to pull it off because you have the time to explore that balance to a much deeper degree. when punisher showed up in daredevil i said that having a show with him as the main character wouldn't work SPECIFICALLY because of that.

i am so happy to be wrong. show didn't steer away from violence, but it made a very specific distinction that frank castle is not a mass shooter, he's a tactical nuke. he's a tool created for a very specific job and he does that job perfectly. i think some of the Vet AA scenes were a little heavy handed, but at the same time they served their purpose.

minor mid to late and end season plot spoilers
i am SO happy they didn't go with any real drama of microchip being pissed at frank for kissing his wife. it was perfectly set up to cause tension between the two and then it just played out exactly how it probably would have in real life. your wife thinks you're dead. how long do you want her to stay faithful to a ghost? also, the violence in the show was on point, not gory for the sake of it but wounds bled. but good. lord. russo getting his face dragged across the mirror did me in. that was such a hard scene for me to watch lol
 

Armadon

<Bronze Donator>
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I don't mind the AA social commentary because that is in all comics pretty much. I also think it serves a purpose because that kid could be Castle if he was mentally prepared for it like Frank. As a side note I think this is the best casting out of just about any comic show or movie. The story is really well written also and I haven't felt like an episode has been wasted. I'm only on 8 so far.
 
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j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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rotten tomatoes just released their score... lowest rated netflix marvel show outside of iron fist. i... don't get that score.
 
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Valderen

Space Pirate
<Bronze Donator>
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rotten tomatoes just released their score... lowest rated netflix marvel show outside of iron fist. i... don't get that score.

I skimmed a few of the bad ones, they seem to have issue with the violence. They talk about gun control, mass-shooting etc. So it probably lost 20 points alone just for being violent movie with guns.
 

Rime

<Donor>
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Easily up there as the best, if not close to it, of the Netflix Marvel shows. Bitches moaning about the violence... what did they expect? The characters whole theme is 'punish/kill criminals, because they operate outside of the law'. Reminds me of the reviewers complaining that Dredd was too violent.
 
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Mahes

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I enjoyed the show.

My only complaint is that it is part of the Marvel Universe. This show should just be its own entity or it should be part of the Marvel Universe. There was no mention of any portion of that universe despite taking place in New York City alongside the Defenders and after the total destruction of part of the city by Aliens. I was always anticipating some mention of events having taken place or of heroes that existed by....anybody. It just through the vibe off, knowing what did exist. The reason I like this hero is because he is not super. He is a man that knows how to fight, shoot, and is tired of what he sees happening around him. To make this Hero stronger, the writing has to include, at least in mention, the other "super" heroes that exist. It shows his strength of resolve, despite just being a fantastic soldier. They showed the reporter which connected with Dare Devil, but could not be bothered with mentioning Dare Devil? After what they had gone through, there is no way his name would not have at least been brought up. If you remove the Marvel element, the show was great on its own merit. That was my only real gripe.
 
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Khane

Got something right about marriage
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I think the problem for you is that most viewers don't need to be beat over the head with the fact that Frank was in Daredevil S2 and that Vampire Jessica is a major character in that story. There was also crossover with Luke Cage when Frank takes down Turk's shipping container. I'm not sure why you're upset that the show doesn't blatantly come out and say "Hey remember that Daredevil guy?!". Frank only cares about one thing. Vengeance. He doesn't give a shit about the rest of the superhero world.

The whole story and character of Frank Castle would lose all of its edge if they were constantly talking about heroes with actual super powers. "Hey you're good with a gun Frank but can you fly or shoot lightning out of your ass?"
 
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j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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for the ratings, i read a few. it's weird, some people seem to be upset by the violence, which i didn't think was that bad compared to what else is out there. although it definitely is high for marvel, but whatev. the OTHER angle is some people seem to think it was a good story, just too drawn out. which i also don't get. i thought the pacing was great. very methodical. it's like either you think there's too much violence or not enough... plebes...
 

Mahes

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I think the problem for you is that most viewers don't need to be beat over the head with the fact that Frank was in Daredevil S2 and that Vampire Jessica is a major character in that story. There was also crossover with Luke Cage when Frank takes down Turk's shipping container. I'm not sure why you're upset that the show doesn't blatantly come out and say "Hey remember that Daredevil guy?!". Frank only cares about one thing. Vengeance. He doesn't give a shit about the rest of the superhero world.

The whole story and character of Frank Castle would lose all of its edge if they were constantly talking about heroes with actual super powers. "Hey you're good with a gun Frank but can you fly or shoot lightning out of your ass?"

I did not say that I wanted to get beat over the head with the other Marvel Universe. I thought it strange that "No" mention of it existed at all. Nothing in the news, or the connection between the characters. New York City had a bombing take place and there is no mention at all of other players that exist. Now I realize that perhaps a bomb is squat compared to an alien invasion but care would still exist. I would almost prefer if the Punisher's home was someplace other than New York City just so then that idea would be believable. The fact that he does not fly and shoot lightning bolts out of his ass is what makes him a Hero. You have the comparison as a way to show his strength despite the lack of powers. He is a fucking bad ass with guns and a knife. Again, if he is going to be a part of that Universe, then the Universe needs to exist. Its a minor point and I still enjoyed the show.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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Only a few episodes deep and I'm enjoying this one. It is the rare Marvel-on-Netflix so far where the main character is actually interesting.
 

j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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7,471
I think any mention of Marvel universe at large would feel shoehorned just for the sake of it. Karen page was pushing it for me. Punisher is at his best when he's separated from all that.
 

moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord
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37,844
Anyone complaining about violence in a Punisher show is a fucking retard. Him murdering the shit out of the bad guys has always been his thing.
 
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Khane

Got something right about marriage
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Listen, if I can't let my kids watch whatever the fuck they want without checking the content first and then bitch about it being the show's fault later why am I even subscribing to Netflix? What's the point?
 
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a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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As someone who has ready every Punisher comic the vast majority of his stories very specifically take place in the same universe but with little to no interaction with the universe. He doesn’t do well in the superhero fights and needs to stay in the outskirts of any conflict. They bring him into stories here and there when they remember to also but his stuff is mainly his own fights.
 

j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Yeah... Punisher's shtick is that he kills bad guys. You bring him into fights with supervillians and he'll kill them. You can't have frank killing baron zemo, kraven the hunter, or the leader. He'd be screwing with other hero's stories.
 
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Chinaman889

<Silver Donator>
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Excellent show. Sucks the reviews are tainted because people don't like the violence?! Wtf. What did people expect when they decided to watch this series?
 

Royal

Connoisseur of Exotic Pictures
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I did not say that I wanted to get beat over the head with the other Marvel Universe. I thought it strange that "No" mention of it existed at all. Nothing in the news, or the connection between the characters. New York City had a bombing take place and there is no mention at all of other players that exist.

To be fair the previous Netflix series have only had the most minimal of connections into the MCU by mentioning "the incident" here and there, usually once per season. As for those series acknowledging each other, they were building towards the main characters joining up for The Defenders. Not only is Frank not a part of that team, he already had the strongest connection to one of those characters established by his appearance in Daredevil S2. His relationship to the Netflix sphere of the MCU is already strong enough that it really doesn't need to be serviced any more at this point.