Marvel's The Punisher Season 2: Ranking Every Character From Worst To Best

It was always going to be difficult to continue the Punisher's character arc in season 2. The season 1 finale saw him take the first steps towards healing himself, but for the show to continue, this necessarily has to be undone. It's sad, then, to watch Frank go backwards and start killing folks again when we'd rather this guy just gets his happy ending.

That's obviously the tragedy of the character - similar to Batman, he just can't get over his traumatic loss - but season 2 also misjudges the approach to Frank's crusade somewhat. Instead of unemotionally wiping out all criminals, his mission is to stop the most dangerous folks in the country in order to save a young girl. It unquestionably casts him as the hero, which leaves some of the fascinating ambiguity about his methods at the door.

Season 2 might drop the ball on how to handle Frank as a character sometimes, but it's still a crying shame that we've likely seen the last of Bernthal's Punisher. He's not the callous murdering machine of the comics, but rather a man constantly at war with himself and the world - ever brimming with rage and pain. It's genuinely one of the best performances to grace comic book television.