The Punisher: One Last Kill- 10 Years Too Late

Jon Bernthal has been portraying the Punisher for about 10 years. He’s been in Daredevil Season 2, Daredevil Born Again Season 1, and 2 seasons of his own show. He’s also going to appear in the next Spider-Man movie in a couple months. I’ve enjoyed his portrayal over the years. He has been able to perfectly balance the character’s derangedness and the fact he is not mentally well while also capturing the tragedy and brokenness of his character. Except for this special. By no means do I think its bad. The action as well as the acting is great. But as many other critics have said, they seem to keep on going over his origin story. If this special was a pilot for the original punisher series that would be fine. However, there has already been two seasons of his own show and that was years ago. He kills a bunch of people and then he retires for a bit, only to get roped into killing again. I was fine with it for the first season of the Punisher, but after the second season it seemed like he was going to war with crime in general, not just against criminals responsible for his family’s deaths. The timeline of this special isn’t clear, but if I had to guess it seems that it occurs before Daredevil Born Again. As said earlier, this special is by not any means bad. However, if they just made one change, I would have liked it a lot better. He should have been the punisher before the villain Ma Gnucci confronted him. He could have been killing people, and then something from his past confronts him. The concept of someone going after him because he killed someone dear to them is an interesting concept. It’s basically a reversal of the usual formula. Heck, it could have been an instance in during his war on crime someone innocent gets caught in the crossfire. That would be why Ma Gnucci confronted him. I know in the comics she was already a crime boss, but I think it would have been really interesting if the only reason she became a villain was because of the Punisher. I feel like that would give the punisher self-doubt and wonder if what he is doing is right. I haven’t watched Punisher: Warzone, but I have heard that they do something similar with that concept. I feel like the special should have started with him killing a few criminals, and when he returns home after doing so, then Ma Gnucci confronts him. However, the first half of the special is just him grieving. Now it is acted well, and I like how it shows that grief never truly leaves you. However, I think that portrayal of his grief was more organic and relevant to the plot in the original Daredevil series and his show. But anyways, I hope this special does lead to something, hopefully a revival of the Punisher series. The show wasn’t perfect, but even at its worst it was elevated by Bernthal’s performance. I think the new Spider-Man movie will be a good indicator of the Punisher’s future in the MCU. Hopefully he will be able to finish his arc with Ma Gnucci while still killing criminals. Don’t just have him be reactionary. Don’t have him just kill the criminals connected to Gnucci. There needs to be a balance. On a side note, this special had him hallucinating a bunch of people from his past. If they do a revival of his show, they should continue that but expand on it and add other character. Curtis Hoyle from the original series makes an appearance as a hallucination. However, I think one character they should bring back is Billy Russo. Have the Punisher have visions of him taunting him or egging him on. Curtis could try appealing to the Punisher’s humanity while Billy can be the devil in his ear. Hopefully they can get the actor for Billy to reprise his role because I don’t think this concept works as well without him. People’s opinions on this special over the years will depend on where the MCU takes the Punisher next. Whether for better or for worse.