Marvel's The Punisher: 9 Reasons It's A Disappointment
8. Pacing That Moved At A Snail's Pace
The Punisher is a thirteen episode season that in all honesty should have been seven. Nine, being generous.
Were it not for a lot of filler, The Punisher would have been over much sooner, and we would have been all the better for it. The series has potential, and season two still holds promise. However, the worst way in which the series dropped the ball in season one was how the pacing absolutely dragged.
How do you make the most violent hero in the Marvel universe feel tedious? That's a feat no showrunner wants to accomplish, yet here we are.
With far too much time spent on Department of Homeland Security Agent Dinah Madani, the show went off the rails early. While Madani's investigation of the murder of her partner (which turns out to be by Frank Castle, unaware the man isn't a terrorist) drives the show, it's a convoluted mess that goes on far too long.
Then there's a subplot featuring former soldier Lewis Wilson. Suffering from PTSD, angry at a society he feels has turned on him, Wilson is actually a fantastic case study in how soldiers are abandoned after the fact. The problem is, his story slows an already dragging main plot. It would have been better served if saved for season two, or given just a single episode to play out.