Marvel's The Punisher Review: 6 Ups And 3 Downs

4. The Final Third Is Superb

There's plenty to like about The Punisher across the whole season but, like with all Marvel Netflix shows (and just most Netflix dramas in general, really) it is quite uneven. Such was the case the first time we met Frank Castle, with nothing in Daredevil Season 2 beating the four episode Punisher mini-arc that kicked things off.

Here, however, it saves the best for last. It's in the final four episodes or so that the show kicks things up a notch, finding a true sense of agency in its storytelling and becoming faster and more exciting as a result.

This is where things start to pay off and the plot lines and characters coalesce, from the inventive episode 10 - which tells the same story from different points-of-view and jumps back-and-forth in time - to the resolution of that in bloody fashion, and then ramps up the conflict between Frank and Rawlins/Russo.

It's in these episodes when the show is at its most confident and cohesive, with no bloat, lots of action, and a driving arc that you want to see the rest of.